Pinterest is growing fast with new numbers from a Compete study showing close to 20 million users. But what is really getting the attention of marketers is the purchase intent of users (who are 2x more likely to purchase than Facebook users) and referral traffic that is higher than Twitter (1.19% versus .92%).

To better understand Pinterest, we conducted a check-in with 50 members of our GigCoin Influencer Community.  Given the demographics of Pinterest (82% women) and it’s ranking as one of top sites for moms, we selected mostly mom bloggers (47 out of the 50 influencers) who are active users of Pinterest (70% visiting daily).

A major focus of the study was brands impact on Pinterest. Influencers weighed-in on which brands stood out and top tips for brands on Pinterest.

Overall, we were surprised that Pinterest is still not very commercial. Brands have started to set-up shop but for now it’s dominated by individuals. Even some of the larger brands on Pinterest like Real Simple with 138K followers are only at a fraction of followers of some of the top users. Jane Wang ranked as the Pinterest user with most followers by Repinly has 3.2 million followers. In fact out of the top 20 Pinterest users per Repinly, there are no big brands. Followers are not everything but it’s an indicator that Pinterest content is very indie for now.

Understanding the indie nature of Pinterest content is a key to a brands success on the network.  Brands that get that Pinterest is more about curating versus promoting are thriving. Here is our infographic summarizing what we learned about brands and Pinterest:

 

Here are my top takeaways for Brands looking at how to build a successful Pinterest strategy:
  • Build your boards around topics: Understand what topics users are interested in that are related to your product. Food company? Research the types of recipe pins being shared and how you fit into that community. Build your boards around those topics.
  • Visualize the use of your product:  Make sure to develop a board that helps showcase how-to use your product.
  • Find your brand fans on Pinterest: Search out Pinterest users already pinning about your brands and re-pin to your boards.
  • Seek out top content creators on Pinterest: Find popular users posting pins related to your boards and pin.
  • Partner with content creators: Look at opportunities to partner with popular Pinterest content creators to ramp-up your efforts and add instant credibility and personality to your boards.
  • Launch a simple contest: Consider launching a contest but make them simple and about fans showcasing their creations or their product favorites
  • Experiment and Iterate: Go slow and conduct small experiments to get the right approach for your specific brand.
  • Add Pinterest buttons to your site: Simple but some of the top performing brands on Pinterest have “Pin it” buttons that are easy to find and use on their site (e.g., Sephora, Real Simple, Martha Stewart).
Come visit our Pinterest & Brands Study board on Pinterest to see the brands mentioned by influencers.
What do you think brands should do or don’t do on Pinterest?
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