Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that allows users to organize and share images from around the web. While still in early adoption, brands are starting to use Pinterest to engage with customers and expand their online communities. Brands can curate content related to their brand, engage with users by commenting on pins and creating contests, drive traffic to their website from pins, and create online catalogs for users to pin products.

1. For Brands

2. Pinterest Overview
• Pinterest is a virtual pinboard that lets you organize and
share all the beautiful things you find on the web.
• It is one of the Top 10 Social Networks with over 10 million
unique users.
• Although still in an early adoption phase, brands are
starting to use Pinterest to engage with and expand
their online communities.

3. Pinterest Overview

4. What Users Can Do
Pin: Pin any image from the
web to a pinboard.
Re-pin: Put a pin someone else
has pinned on your own board,
similar to a RT.
Like: Like a pin that someone
else has pinned, similar to a
Facebook Like.
Comment: Let someone know
what you think of a pin.
Follow: Follow all of a user’s
boards, or just a select number
of his/her boards.

5. Hot Topics
Food, Cooking & Dining
Tourism & Travel
Style: Fashion, Hair & Makeup
Fitness
Weddings
Home Décor
Art: Photography & Paintings
Inspirational Typography

6. Key Features
Content Exploration: Surf the site aimlessly to discover different
kinds of content you may have never thought to seek out.
Content Curation: Create, discover, gather and share the content
YOU find relevant, and organize it in a way that makes sense to YOU.
Content Control: How users share, bucket and use the content is
completely up to them. There’s no hidden agenda, no call for
repins, likes or comments – it allows members to truly tap into
the core of what social does, connecting people via content.

7. Pin Etiquette
Evan Sharpe, Pinterest Designer and Co-Founder discusses
“Pin Etiquette” in an interview with Mashable. He explains
how Pinterest can best be used by brands as a marketing
tool in a space that is not designated for self-promotion:
“A lot of brands are using Pinterest to share more about their
brand; a good example of that is Whole Foods. They’re not
just sharing the produce available at Whole Foods, they’re
sharing [images of a healthy lifestyle. West Elm isn’t just
sharing the furniture they sell, they’re sharing interior design
tips. And the Today Show isn’t just pinning that day’s guests
[to promote the episode]. For most consumer brands, the
idea behind your brand makes sense on Pinterest.”

8. What Can Brands Do
Enhance the brand and product offerings, fulfill the
brand promise and promote the brand’s core values
Curate content, from loosely brand-related to product-specific
Engage with pinners to build an online community
Drive traffic to website and other social channels
Hold visually stimulating contests and giveaways
Create online catalogs to drive sales and product awareness

9. What Can Brands Do:
Curate Content
Brands can pin content that is directly relevant to their brand.
Saveur Magazine has boards for entertaining, cooking and
cooking tools.

10. What Can Brands Do:
Curate Content
Brands can also pin content that is more loosely related to their
brand. For example, the paper design company Minted pins not
only products, but also inspiring images for weddings, dinner
parties and holidays, such as Halloween. They are essentially
using Pinterest to support the ideas behind their products.

11. What Can Brands Do:
Engage With Pinners
Brands can engage with pinners by following them, commenting
on or liking their pins, or by re-pinning their content. A Des
Moines-based home and personal accessories shop called
Domestica has done an excellent job with this, which explains
why they have developed such a large following.

12. What Can Brands Do:
Engage With Pinners
Some brands, such as ModCloth, have also created
“Guest Pinner” boards, providing other users with
the opportunity to contribute to their boards and
brands. This is a fun and exciting way to engage
users and to encourage them to interact with
your brand.
In addition to normal users, an opportunity lies in
the ability to invite celebrity pinners to create their
own boards. This would further drive engagement
and follower growth.

13. What Can Brands Do:
Drive Web Traffic
Brands can pin content directly from their website, which
enables users to click through and drive web traffic. Real
Simple does an excellent job of this.

14. What Can Brands Do:
Contests & Giveaways
High Point Market held an engaging
contest in October. Selected Style
Spotters, or trendsetters in the
home fashion world, attended the
Market, took pictures of their favorite
products, and pinned them to a
designated board. Other attendees
could then either like or repin the
Style Spotters’ pins for 1 or 2 points
respectively. The Style Spotter who
received the most points won a trip
to High Point in April.

15. What Can Brands Do:
Create Catalogs
Brands can create shareable, online catalogs for Pinners to re-pin,
like or comment on. Nordstrom has done an excellent job of this
by creating boards for each product category.

16. What Can Brands Do:
Create Catalogs
Brands can also add price tags to these online catalogs to remind
users that they can purchase the items they are pinning. These
pins then appear in the “Gifts” section of the website.

17. Other Brands To Explore

18. Whole Foods
Whole Foods pins a variety of content that is both directly and
loosely related to food, ranging from dinner suggestions to
beautiful kitchens.

19. Travel Channel
The Travel Channel capitalizes on travel as a hot topic on Pinterest.
They have 16 boards for a variety of destinations, and encourage
the pinning and re-pinning of content.

20. West Elm
West Elm does an excellent job of growing their following and
engaging with users. They pin their own products, but also re-pin
interesting content from others.

21. Other Brands
Matchbook Magazine Drake University
Club Monaco Pretzel Crisps
HGTV Land’s End Canvas
Bergdorf Goodman Celebrations.com
Martha Stewart AARP
Women’s Health Nina Garcia
Williams-Sonoma Threadless
The Today Show Better Homes and Gardens

22. Thank You!
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