Any marketer who has been awake this year has heard about Pinterest and its amazingly rapid climb up the social media ladder. In fact, it climbed so quickly our website started receiving traffic from it before I had a Pinterest account of my own.
The Stats
Statistics already indicate that in North America, women rule Pinterest. Just ask Martha Stewart, who reportedly receives more traffic from Pinterest than Facebook and Twitter combined. Other websites that primarily target women, such as women's magazines, cooking sites, etc., are also naming Pinterest as their top traffic driver by a mile. It isn't only trampling other social media websites but also major search engines like Yahoo.
Not only are they women, but they're mature, shopping women. The top age demographic on Pinterest is 25-34, followed by 35-44 and 45-54. RJ Metrics reports that the most popular pinboard categories of all-time are Home (17.2%), Arts and Crafts (12.4%), Style/Fashion (11.7%), and Food (10.5%).
What does this mean to the petfood industry? The third most popular pinboard name is "Products I Love," and products are most commonly "liked" by Pinterest users. Most women are still the primary buying influence in family shopping, especially when it comes to groceries and pets. Now many of them are spending more time on Pinterest than they do on Facebook. Food is the fastest-growing pinboard category and also the most likely to be repinned, according to RJ Metrics.
Pinning pet food on Pinterest
If you search Pinterest for "pets," you'll quickly find out just how popular they are. The results will also provide you with prime examples to base your own uploads on. You can upload products and add prices to them on Pinterest, but the social rules of shareable and engaging content apply. If you've hired a social marketer with design skills, shareable graphics are the way to go. Each graphic should have your website URL or logo added subtely to the graphic. These graphics may also be shared on other social networks, so they're worth the time invested.
Popular pins include:
- Photos
- Posters with quotes or humor
- Charity messages, such as encouraging pet adoption.
Once uploaded, you should click "edit" and link the image to your URL.
You will also want to illustrate your blog posts with attractive graphics or photos. When you "pin" the image from your blog post page, it will automatically be linked to the post. To easily pin images from specific pages, go to Pinterest and select Help from the About drop-down menu, then select Goodies from the left menu. You can drag a "Pin It" button to your browser menu. You'll also find Pinterest "follow me" buttons and scripts under Goodies.
Following people, businesses & charities and sharing their pins is a great way to get started on Pinterest. You can learn from them, and they'll often follow you in return. We recently published a list of rescue organizations on Pinterest that will help you get started.
I have found precious few pet food brands on Pinterest, so you have a terrific opportunity to get ahead of your competition:
Holistic Select
Wellness
Purina Friskies
Best Bully Sticks
Hawaii Doggie Bakery
All Natural Pet Care
Please feel free to add your brand's Pinterest URL in the comments below so we can follow you!
Sources:
Mashable - Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Women’s Magazines
RJ Metrics
Modea
