Brands, get ‘pinned’ for profit with Pinterest

Brands take note. Pinterest is showing all the right signs of becoming a mainstream player on the social media front. ''Pinterest - Best Practice Guide'', by leading independent digital marketing agency, Greenlight, spells out why this matters.

"Brands serious about leveraging this medium to boost revenues from online and mobile channels are advised to get themselves firmly 'pinned' to the Pinterest 'board' as opposed to hanging on its fringes," says Greenlight.

Conceived in November 2009 and launched four months later, this 'visually styled' social network platform is already driving the social shopping experience. It offers a way for consumers to share images of anything - from fashion to pets, pots to plants. Users can create their own online pin boards to suit any theme and share it with likeminded people.

''Users are often 'buy hungry' when they visit Pinterest. As such, it presents a very 'ready' opportunity for brands to sell products to users actively seeking them out,'' explains Charlie Elliott, Content and Creative strategist at Greenlight and co-author of the guide.

''By joining Pinterest and sharing, brands can learn a huge amount from their followers as they are offering up a whole load of information into their personal interests. It is typically the sort of insight and intelligence a brand needs and would have to go to great lengths to get, in order to create and/or tailor its product offering to its target audiences taste. Among others, those retailers early to the game include Gap, ASOS and Etsy.''

However, Greenlight points out that this social platform is not a broadcast mechanism in the same way as other social networks.