What is one of the most creative ways you’ve seen a brand (other than your own) use Pinterest recently? Why does it work?
The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.
1. Freshfully’s Recipe Posting
Freshfully, a food store located in Birmingham, Ala., posted more than 500 recipes on a Pinterest board in the hopes of motivating customers to buy its products. The company is projecting nearly $500,000 in sales in its first year.
– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
2. Sharing Travel’s Color Pins
Sharing Travel Experiences (http://pinterest.com/sharingtravel/) curates several boards based on color found during travel. It’s an interesting take off the beaten path for travel sites, and it has created incredibly alluring boards. I’m ready to book half a dozen trips when I look at their pins.
– Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting
3. Peugeot’s Panama Puzzle
Some brands are starting to do cross-board pins, where two smaller images will span two boards to create a larger image. I think it’s an extremely clever way to catch people’s eyes if they’re looking at the Pinterest brand page. Peugeot’s Panama Puzzle was a great example of this.
– Stacey Ferreira, MySocialCloud
4. Zappos’ Second Storefronts
Zappos offers “Refined Western,” “Winter Wonderland,” and many other boards on its Pinterest page that are built simply to drive sales. If that’s where their audience is, it’s a powerful way to reach them.
5. Uniqlo’s Takeover
For one day in June, Uniqlo staged a guerrilla “takeover” of Pinterest. They timed their pins so that their products — colorful, fun, affordable clothes — would be seen in a pattern. Not only was the event striking to pinners, but because of how cleverly it was executed, the company earned a ton of media afterward. (http://www.viralblog.com/guerrilla-marketing/uniqlos-guerilla-pinterest-campaign)
– Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches
6. Tim Ferris’ Book Contest
Tim Ferris, author of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” recently pinned the cover of his new book “The 4-Hour Chef.” He asked followers to repin it for a chance to win a signed copy. It’s an easy contest, and it gets more eyeballs on his new book — simple and effective.
– John Hall, Digital Talent Agents
7. Sephora’s Sweepstakes
With nearly 100,000 Pinterest followers, Sephora has done an exceptional job of building its profile on this hot new social network. One of the neat ways that Sephora uses the platform is by running sweepstakes devoted to pinning and re-pinning. It’s a great way to grow a presence on Pinterest that other brands can also implement with ease! (http://pinterest.com/sephora/)
8. Modify Watches’ Concept and Design Board
Modify Watches, a company that creates awesome interchangeable watches, posts pictures of new concepts and designs and lets the community (the “ModiFamily”) vote on which designs get produced. Here’s the concept board: http://pinterest.com/modifywatches/modiconcepts-and-designs/
– Bhavin Parikh, Magoosh Test Prep
9. A Central Storefront
Sportiqe Apparel (http://pinterest.com/sportiqe) is licensed by the NBA, NCAA and other brands to design t-shirts. Since not all of these t-shirts are sold on Sportiqe’s website, Sportiqe uses Pinterest to communicate where customers can buy the designs for the teams and brands they’re a fan of. Pinterest can be an effective storefront for retailers who don’t sell everything they design.