The “Pinning” Generation

What is a pin or what is pinning?

• Pin = “An image added to Pinterest”
• Pinning= “The act of visually sharing content”

Times have changed from using pens to clicking “pin,” from pinning a dress to “pinning” an image. What does all this mean for retailers, for marketers, for customers? It’s a a new dynamic of viral sharing where images begin to dominate the internet on “pin-boards” at a speed faster than most can view them.

Facts:

• As of March, Pinterest followers were spending “1 hour and 17 minutes,” pinning and re-pinning (the act of adding another followers image to your personal pin-board). That is more than the average time spent on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

• 97% of users are women; Aged 25-34

• Accounts for 3.6 referral traffic (Twitter is at 3.61)

• More than one-fifth of Facebook users are on Pinterest (2,000,000)

• 10.4 Million registered users

Statistics are numbers and terms that the mass public could care less about, but as marketers it is key to establish the numbers and understand the new terms. Pinterest main marketing objective is to:

Focus on the concept of a person’s lifestyle and encouraging users to share their interests with others and discover like-minded people

This objective demands a strategy not just based around return of sales. Yes, Pinterest is already tied in referral traffic statistics with Twitter, so the ROI is there, but what is the entirety of the return?

We are heading into a direction where the brand and lifestyle image on the Internet will become just as valuable as the product sold itself. This theory is not generated on statistics alone, but on the watchful eyes of yours truly. Brands have begun to generate images to share, to “pin,”and to ultimately attract customers to their “lifestyle.” The return lies in the beauty of lifestyle brand awareness. It’s a tool to describe your brand and all the reasons you love it yourself! There are boards ranging from Real Simple Magazine to ORECK vacuums. There is no brand left out of this “pinning” generation! Get creative, do some research, and build your strategy.

Whether we all understand it right away or not,  we must see the “pin” is our new online utensil!

Yours Truly,

- Jessica, B.B. Media Intern

Resources Used:

Hanson, A. (2012, February 23). 18 stats to sell your boss on pinterest. Retrieved from http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/18_stats_to_sell_your_boss_on_Pinterest_44442.aspx

Dugan, L. (2012, March 12). Retrieved from http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/pinterest-twitter-traffic_b19333