Gauging Interest In Pinterest | Central Mass. businesses test potential of new social media platform
Would your business use social media websites for something entirely unrelated to the product or services it sells?
Maybe not on Facebook or Twitter. But on Pinterest, the world's fastest-growing social media website, such practices are part of the allure.
Worcester-based Bulbs.com, an online lighting retailer, has a "board" on its Pinterest profile titled It's Yellow! "Pinned" to the board are photos of bright yellow trees, bathtubs, shoes and myriad other items unrelated to light bulbs except for their bright hue.
"I think that stuff's going to be more engaging than just having our product up there," said Bryan Trainor, Bulbs.com's vice president of marketing.
Not that they won't post work-related items too. But Pinterest is bringing out the creativity in businesses looking for free marketing.
Pinterest, which links to Twitter and Facebook and is similar to those sites in some ways, is decidedly visual. And it encourages corporate users not to over-self-promote themselves, so Bulbs.com has the right idea.
What Is It?
Pinterest launched last year and has been called digital scrapbooking. It's fueled by users posting photos or videos, known as "pins."
Users can follow each other and post items to boards, which are created by users and often organized by topic. They can range from vacation spots to items a user wants to buy.
Users can also "re-pin" others' pins as a way of showing mutual interest in an item or topic.
Internet surfers can add a "pin-it" widget to their toolbar, allowing them to pin images and video to Pinterest from websites they visit. And companies can also add the widget to their own websites.
Jodie Boduch, owner of Much Ado Marketing in Sturbridge, uses all the major social media websites in her job. But she said the visual aspect of Pinterest sets it apart.
On Much Ado's Pinterest page, there are boards for clever ads, foodie heaven and humor, among other topic areas.
"It's interesting to tap into a different kind of creativity," Boduch said. "It's a way of us saying who we are in addition to the blog and the Facebook and the Twitter account."
Just like marketing, Pinterest is about what catches the user's eye, Boduch said.
'Perpetual Window Shopping'
"I have a lot of platforms to keep up with but this is catching on very quickly," she said. "It's like perpetual window shopping on the Internet."
As for advising business clients about using Pinterest, Boduch said every company is different.
"If you have a brand that makes sense for that, sure," she said. "I don't really think financial advisors would be well suited to it."
James McNamara, digital media specialist at Aubuchon Hardware in Westminster, agreed that visual businesses might be able to get more out of Pinterest.
The collaborative sharing of ideas, especially for a company in the hardware, lawn and garden and home design business, is valuable, he said.
"It's great to be able to work with consumers and fellow companies and brands to inspire and help them create," McNamara said. "That's the whole point."
What about real estate?
Katherine Wellington, principal of Investment Property Specialists in Framingham, said Pinterest could represent another stepping stone in the evolution of social media and communication.
"I don't see it as a marketing opportunity for particular properties as much as it is an opportunity to understand who we are and what we do and how we think," Wellington said. "Maybe you could say its relationship building."
Social Media ROI
Businesses continue to try to wrap their heads around how to best use social media. And it's no different for a fledgling site like Pinterest. They see the potential, but how will it develop?
"Social media is the biggest time investment with the hardest-to-figure out ROI of any business tool in the world," McNamara said.
Wellington said Pinterest could lead to new customers, but only if the chemistry is right.
"In my mind, it would be similar to the blog," she said. If someone thinks that our line of thinking about the marketplace is something they find in line with theirs, then yes."
Trainor said it's unclear how Bulbs.com's use of Pinterest will evolve. He admits there is some uncertainty.
"So far, I don't see how it's really going to do a ton for our business in the short term," he said. "We've got to figure out what need Pinterest is going to fill on our website."
The long-term plan, he said, is to include more how-to and informational videos about lighting, which has become more technical with the advent of energy-efficient bulbs.
Bulbs.com has started posting those videos on YouTube and recently found that, for the first time, its website was getting more traffic from "inbound" marketing than it was through paid online advertising.
Trainor said the company is also wary of distracting potential customers. If someone surfing Bulbs.com for lighting or fixtures pins something they find, they might end up surfing Pinterest instead of buying their items.
"What you don't want to do is take them out of the shopping experience," he said.
Boduch can vouch for the fact that Pinterest tends to draw you in.
"You can kind of meander forever," she said.
McNamara said companies should not discount Pinterest. He thinks it's easy and fun to use and it has all the right pieces that could drive web traffic for companies because pins can be traced back to their original location on the web.
"It's in its early stages and people kind of forget what Facebook was like at its early stage," he said.
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