photo courtesy of cherylstinchcomb.com
Pinterest has been in our FSC Interactive online marketing toolkit for some time and we’ve seen enormous referral traffic to our clients’ websites. Now, Pinterest has introduced Analytics to measure what’s trending on your boards. If there was any question that Pinterest is a legitimate social media channel, this new development is a strong signal that it has a bright future ahead. But, before you jump in, as with any online marketing strategy, it is important to think long and hard about your audience, goals, and bandwidth before embarking in a new direction. Luckily, the new metrics can help provide insight into the Who, What and Why at the foundation of any good approach.
1. Who Are You Pinning For
The Pinterest Analytics will show you who is pinning your content the most. This is a sure fire way to identify your prime audience. Use your top pinners as advocates and reach out to them to create loyalty. Find popular pinners who also have a strong presence on other channels such as Twitter or a blog and approach them to review a product, endorse a service or just to say thanks for the support. Knowing your audience and showing your appreciation for their attention is an authentic way to enhance your brand reputation. Is your audience not what you expected? Good to know. If more pre-teen girls are pining than professional moms, this is important R&D to help better hone your messaging. Speaking of messaging…
2. What Are You Pinning
The Pinterest Analytics will let you see how many people have seen your content and what is the most popular. The ease of entry makes it possible to quickly jump on a trend and see how it works. For example, think about how you can use popular news topics to create a quick Board or Pin. Leverage viral content by customizing it for your brand. Try a contest, giveaway or promotion. Test new boards and ideas to get a better sense of what your audience wants and how they interact with your brand. The numbers won’t lie!
3. Why are you Pinning
Ultimately all online marketing efforts should have a goal in mind. Just like Facebook, there are several ways to measure engagement on Pinterest; users can RePin a specific post, comment on a post and Follow a particular board or entire account. Which is most important to accomplish your goals? Using Google Analytics, FSC tracks referral traffic from Pinterest to see how pins translate to website conversions, be it be newsletter sign-ups, purchases or multiple page visits. By combining the new analytics, we’ll be able to compare the popularity of a pin with its success driving actionable goals.
In the coming weeks, FSC Interactive will explore the possibilities of Pinterest Analytics. So, stay tuned for more. Any ideas on how your brand will leverage the new metrics? We’d love to hear about it in our comments!