An Introduction to Brands on Pinterest

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INTRODUCTIONWhat is Pinterest? Pinterest is a social media website that lets you organize and share all the things you find on the web through pinboards. Pinboards are very visual and look similar to collages. You can browse others’ pinboards to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.  What do people make pinboards about? Popular pinboard topics include weddings, fashion, crafts, beauty, home décor and recipes. Who uses Pinterest? Anyone can. Many bloggers, designers and small retailers are joining Pinterest to reach new audiences and drive site traffic.  How does it work from a brand’s perspective? Currently brands are expected to behave as the individual participants of Pinterest do. Pinterest is about individual expression and sharing, not about selling or broadcasting. Pinterest’s Etiquette Guide stresses that self-promotion is frowned upon.

Brands doing Pinterest well: Whole Foods, Today Show, Shape Magazine, In Style, Lucky Magazine, Real Simple, Gap, Anthropologie, Kate Spade, Nordstrom, Tarte Cosmetics.

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PINTEREST STATISTICS

7 Facts to Know:

1.Pinterest hit 10 million unique users faster than any independent site in history

2.Pinterest is generating more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined

3.In the US, 97% of users are female

4.The biggest demographic on Pinterest: Women ages 25-34

5.Women Trust Pinterest more than Facebook or Twitter for product purchases

6.Only five of Interbrand’s Top 50 Global Brands are using Pinterest: Coca-Cola, General Electric, American Express, Accenture and Volkswagen

7.The most-followed brand is The Perfect Palette, a wedding blog focused on color palettes

Brand Case Studies

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TARTE COSMETICS

Tarte Cosmetics’ Pinterest is playful, fun and personal. The brand posts “get the look” makeup pinboards, but also takes creative liberties with boards inspired by colors, inspirational quotes, travel and other themes not directly related to their cosmetic products. The Tarte Pinterest emphasizes brand personality, with boards including “meet the tarte team,” and “Maureen’s favorite things” – a pinboard of the CEO’s favorite products, TV shows, foods, etc. In December 2011 Tarte held a sweepstakes challenging users to create pinboards of their New Year’s Style while incorporating Tarte products.

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REAL SIMPLE

Real Simple’s Pinterest is an interactive and visual extension of the magazine and its website. All of the content is taken from RealSimple.com, which helps drive traffic to the brand’s website. The brand recently announced that Pinterest has become a major traffic referrer – recently surpassing the brand’s Facebook page for referrals.

Real Simple’s pinboards focus on food, home, beauty and are useful and relevant to their target audience.

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BIRCHBOX

Birchbox is a subscription service that delivers beauty product samples to users on a monthly basis. The Birchbox Pinterest covers a diversity of topics, including events, celebrities, beauty tutorials and cross-promotional product highlights. Branded pinboards such as “Un-boxing Videos” show photo and video content from actual Birchbox subscribers.

The brand stays on-trend with pinboards about relevant current events, such as New York Fashion Week.

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NEXT STEPS

For more information on how Pinterest can benefit your brand, contact Sloane Berrent at sberrent@lippetaylor.com