Why Marketing on Pinterest is Different

Posted by Leon Cho in Understanding Pinterest | 0 comments

Now that we understand how Pinterest is different from other social media from the perspective of the Pinterest user, what does this mean for marketing?  We’ve seen that Pinterest works in a fundamentally different way than Facebook and Twitter.  It’s more emotional, anchored by interests rather than conversation, and more aspirational.  These differences open up some completely new ways to approach marketing that would not work in other marketing channels.

• People with the right affinities find you. This is backwards from how marketing usually works.  Typically, you start by identifying the interests or affinities of people who are most likely to purchase your products. Then, you find out where those people are and you reach out to them.  On Pinterest, the right audience finds you.  They self-identify their interests through the choices they make about which boards to create and follow.  Then, they are self-motivated to scour the Pinterest site looking for things that fit with their interests to pin on their board.  Of course, there are still important tactics you can use in the “Pinterest Marketing Tactics” section to help more people find you, but the Pinterest model can be very advantageous to marketers.

• You can connect more emotionally through images.   Research has shown that the majority of purchase decisions are driven by emotion rather than logic.  On Pinterest, you won’t be tempted to try to explain your product with logic because Pinterest doesn’t give you a lot of room to write text.  You essentially have only a visual image to stir emotional curiosity and sensory excitement.  If you can do this well enough to stand out in a sea of other photos on Pinterest, you will have created an emotional connection that will be hard to shake – even when your audience starts to evaluate other competitors with logic.

• Your content will be shared further.  People on Pinterest share their interests, not their personal life.  This means far fewer privacy concerns and a willingness to share great pins or connect with other Pinterest users who are complete strangers.

• You can market a lifestyle, not a product.  You are marketing a lifestyle.  Even if all you sell right now are wedding gowns, you can still pin images of flowers, wedding cakes, hair, and other design inspiration for the perfect wedding.  This will give you the ability to expand your product and service offerings in the future and to associate your brand with a larger, aspirational vision.

• Reaches underserved demographic of women and their families. As you can see from the “Pinterest Demographics” section, a large majority of Pinterest users are women.  Women feel underserved by existing advertising and Pinterests represents a tremendous opportunity to communicate with them more effectively.  In fact, 91% of women say that advertisers don’t understand them (Greenfield Online for Arnold’s Women’s Insight Team) yet they account for 85% of all consumer purchases from homes to autos to healthcare (Marketing to Women conference).

The previous article was excerpted with permission from Pinterest Marketing Bible: The Definitive Guide to Marketing Your Brand and Products on Pinterest by Leon Cho.  Refer to the book or ebook for more on marketing strategy and tactics.