Thursday, October 24, 2013

Why Public Relations Professionals Should be Interested in Pinterest


Introduction

Pinterest allows users to create their own virtual pinboard, where they can research, organize, and share information they find online. Although this social media site is dominated by women who make up
80% of users, men are just now catching on to the trend and finding out what Pinterest is all about. 
So what is so interesting about Pinterest? There are several different ways people are using Pinterest
including, to gain inspiration and ideas for their careers and hobbies, to save images of things they want to have, to keep their ideas organized, and to share content with others. All of these opportunities have created a significant interest in Pinterest since its development in 2009. Today, Pinterest has become the fastest growing website in history with over 70 million users. 

Pinterest's Relevance to PR

Public relations practitioners would be ignorant to ignore this free tool and miss out on the opportunity to promote their brand over this social media site. Pinterest allows pr professionals to tell a story with their images and indirectly promote their brand. According to PR Daily, one important thing to avoid when using Pinterest in PR is to refrain from using blatant promotion. This tactic helps practitioners gain credibility with consumers because the content they post does not make them look like they have an ulterior motive.

In the past, practitioners were convinced Facebook would make brand websites go extinct. Today, social media sites like Pinterest are making these websites more important than ever before. One of the advantages to having a Pinterest board for your brand is the ability to share content and have consumers be immediately directed to the main brand website. It is on this website where consumers have the ability to find more information, other products, and ultimately purchase items from the brand they found on Pinterest. This successful social media site has now become an easy way to drive consumer traffic to the brand's actual website.

Pinterest is also an easy way for practitioners to engage in two-way communication with consumers by commenting on pins and pinning certain items. The goal of public relations is to build relationships between consumers and a certain brand.
By creating a successful Pinterest account, brands have the ability to easily communicate with consumers. Pinterest users can pin certain items to their own board which spreads the potential reach of that specific post. One way to calculate the success of a brand's Pinterest account is to use PinreachBy simply typing in the title of a Pinterest account, one can access how active and successful a brand is on Pinterest. Disney is a very successful brand that understands the relevance of this social media site and utilizes Pinterest to enhance its name.

How Successful is Disney Using Pinterest in PR?

Disney's Pinterest account
Disney is a very well established brand on Pinterest. According to Pinreach, Disney has a total of 63,038 followers and gains approximately 935 followers each week. In addition to this, Disney is pinning items about 4.07 times a day, and has 27 boards in 12 different categories. These statistics solidify Disney's exceptional reputation on Pinterest, but there are many other factors that can prove Disney has figured out how to use Pinterest to its advantage.

One advantage Disney has above other brands is the company does not have to target a specific age demographic. Disney has become a brand that caters to adults and children equally. By accessing Disney's Pinterest board, users can find pins relating to a variety of topics including movie quotes, Disney vacations, recipes, and even items for their children. Previously stated, Pinterest gives users the option to leave comments on pins which makes two-way communication fast and easy for brands. This easy two-way communication is one area that Disney needs to enhance. Comments that are left unanswered are one way relationships can be harmed between brands and consumers. There are always ways brands can improve their image on social media networks. Disney is one brand that understands consumers' interest in Pinterest, and uses this social media site to its advantage.