Not Just for Cupcake Photos: Real Companies Use Pinterest Correctly

Building your company’s Facebook page was quite the conquest, and your Twitter following continues to successfully grow. All that hard work is finally paying off. Good thing you already made the decision to pass on Pinterest, right? Well, maybe you shouldn’t dismiss it just yet. The photo-sharing community isn’t just made up of fashion bloggers and stay-at-home moms. It’s also a profitable community of customers, clients and leads. Pinterest is a virtual space for company branding, cross-promotion and product marketing.

lululemon athletica

More than a high-end athletic clothing store, lululemon athletica is an inspirational fitness and wellness brand that promotes healthy living. The company primarily targets running and yoga as top ways to stay active and live well. It’s an apparel company, yet also a lifestyle brand that promotes its manifesto for living excellence, including sayings such as “the pursuit of happiness is the source of all unhappiness” and “your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself.” The company’s Pinterest page is no different, and has about 2 million followers who use it as a source for fitness inspiration and health information. Fool.com notes that lululemon “generated 14 percent of its revenue online last year, earning $197 million.” By creating a socially strong, visual, and inspirational presence online, the brand also drove traffic to its online store and boost sales.

SalesForce

SalesForce, a B2B customer relationship management company “celebrates its own customers on Pinterest,” explains Business2Community.com. It does so by linking YouTube videos from its SalesForce YouTube channel to Pinterest for sharing client success stories. SalesForce uses Pinterest as a social platform to promote content from other SalesForce social media sites. Pinterest is a business marketing tool that isn’t just for infographics and product pictures. Upload visually pleasing videos to Pinterest for customer engagement and then cross-promote on Facebook and Twitter. The more cross-promotion you participate in, the more re-pins, likes, shares and re-tweets you’ll experience. Call it digital word-of-mouth marketing.

iAcquire

Like SalesForce, digital marketing and SEO agency iAcquire uses Pinterest to connect with audiences on a professional, and personal, level. The digital search agency invites the marketing, social media and SEO Pinterest community into its offices to virtually experience its company culture. iAcquire visually shares what the company is about by posting to boards such as “This is iAcquire” and uploading fun photo pins of iAcquire and its team. As a business, think of pins as visuals. Strong, captivating images equate to user engagement. “Translate your data into charts and infographics. Infographics are insanely popular,” recommends Forbes. On iAcquire’s Pinterest page, social media enthusiasts and experts can use the infographic pins as valuable, informative industry resources.

Nordstrom

With more than 4.5 million followers, the fashion specialty retailer Nordstrom is Pinterest royalty. The upscale fashion retailer has more than 60 boards that range from Prep Club and Pop of Color to Shoe Lust and Shiny Things. Socially and strategically, Nordstrom links from pins to the Nordstrom website so pinners and customers can shop fluidly between Pinterest and the online store. Pinterest basically serves as a beautiful, image-driven extension of shop.nordstrom.com. Nordstrom’s Pinterest community and online shopping relationship is so solid that it’s welcoming in-store shopping into the dynamic and becoming a Pinterest shopping trifecta. Nordstrom is now spotlighting “Top Pinned Items” in 13 store locations. Shoppers alerted by a Pinterest logo will know that particular fashion accessory or outfit is highly popular online.

Adopting Pinterest Brand & Business Strategies

Through a self-evaluation, determine if there’s a need within the Pinterest community for your company, mission and identity.

• lululemon athletica brands itself as a fitness guru and friend; the company creates relationships not only with its apparel and active gear, but through its wellness inspiration and clever branding.
• SalesForce uses Pinterest as one of its marketing weapons in its social media arsenal and spreads content throughout multiple channels.
• iAcquire invites clients and customers to experience the company culture and goals through Pinterest-pinned photos, videos and infographics.
• Nordstrom connects the Pinterest community with its online and physical stores — driving business between the social Web and its retail stores while enhancing digital shopping experiences for customers.

Ask yourself, how you can benefit from any of these marketing strategies by using Pinterest?