Social Monitoring Informs Pinterest Marketing Strategy

Can the Man Behind the Axe Brand Bring Men to Pinterest?

Over the past 50 years, the labor market has changed dramatically. Instead of workers rising from the production line to the corner office, today’s top performers compete in a global labor market where firms search for specialists who have built careers in any number of positions and industries.

The best and brightest are well aware of the diverse places their talents can take them and they frequently search out new opportunities, looking for positions that will propel their careers forward. Advertising, word of mouth, and social media offer veterans and up-and-comers the information they need to find top firms interested in their talents.

Businesses also have access to a wide array of information, from polished Linkedin profiles to long forgotten but not lost spring break photos on Facebook, that may make or break a candidate’s chances. While all of these factors are important, resumes and references fail to answer an important question: how do your candidates’ previous projects align with your business’s goals and expectations?

Numerous recent hires at Pinterest, a popular social media platform, suggest that the brand is targeting marketing and advertising veterans to strengthen its branding strategy. An analysis of Pinterest’s recent hiring of David Rubin, a VP at Unilever, will highlight how comprehensive social media analysis can inform the hiring process.

Rubin was hired to develop Pinterest’s global brand marketing and marketing strategy as well as increase activity on the platform. It is also hoped that Rubin will help Pinterest attract more male users, given his contributions to Axe body spray campaigns.

However, Pinterest may be at risk for reinforcing gender stereotypes and gendered social expectations, addressed in a recent Salon article, driving away its female base. Social media analysis helps executives delve into a candidate’s portfolio, analyzing audience composition and response to candidate’s prior marketing campaigns.

Over the past 3 months roughly 1.5 million Tweets were written about Pinterest. While total post volume decreased by 15% over this time period, the conversation remains strong with approximately 15,000 to 20,000 posts authored per day.

The topics of conversation are generally broad and highlight the popular features that Pinterest offers its users. People talk about pictures, Pinterest boards, and Pins in addition to specific interests such as fashion, food, and photography. A word cloud highlights some of the most prominent words that appear in the Pinterest conversation.

Pinterest’s audience Affinities parallel the most prominent topics of conversation. For instance, Pinterest fans are 68 times more interested in interior design and 28 times more interested in crafts than the general Twitter audience. Their disinterest in other topics also distinguishes them from their fellow Tweeters. They are ½ as interested in video games and ⅓ as interested in One Direction than the general Twitter audience.

In addition to an interest in art and fashion, the Pinterest audience is also unique because of its gender composition which is 64% female and 36% male. Rubin has been tasked with the responsibility of attracting more male users. A comparison of men who discuss Pinterest and Axe will highlight the relevance or irrelevance of his previous endeavors.

Interestingly, male and female Pinterest fans appear to be talking about similar topics. Both genders are interested in ideas and tips that they find and save with Pinterest’s Pins and Boards. The male conversation also highlights art and photography as two popular interests.

In addition to analyzing topics of conversation, Affinities can be used to highlight the differences between Pinterest fans and audiences discussing other marketing campaigns or products like Axe.

Pinterest men are 321 times more interested in real estate, 316 times more interested in personal development, and 224 times more interested in contemporary art than the Axe audience. In contrast to their Axe counterparts, they are also ⅛ times as interested in homework, ¼ as interested in Sportscenter, and ½ as interested in video games.

These interests can be explored in greater depth by looking at interest segments and the topics that are trending for those segments. For instance, personal development is related to a number of other segments including self-improvement, health, and healing, top hashtags like #success and #happiness, and top influencers ranging from Deepak Chopra to Brian Tracy. Insights like these offer analysts the ability capture the depth of the similarities and differences between audiences.

In an increasingly global labor market, businesses must make well-informed decisions to compete with competitors. Businesses can compare the work of top experts by analyzing past campaigns. They can measure volume, sentiment, and topics of conversation in addition to audience interests and demographic features with increasing ease and accuracy. This information can be compared to brand conversation, helping them to determine which candidate’s experience aligns with current brand goals.

While men make up a minority of Pinterest users, they are actively Tweeting about their experiences. Social media monitoring highlights issues that may arise with a male oriented marketing campaign that mimics Axe. While Axe attracts young men interested in video games, comics, and sports, Pinterest attracts a more mature audience that is interested in business, creativity, and design. Pinterest should build upon their male base, highlighting the distinct features that successfully attract men and women to their social scrapbooking platform.

For more insight into how social media monitoring and analysis can help brands build campaigns to specific audiences, we invite you to download our Under Armour use case study on identifying customer affinities.

Read more:

• Brands Defying Pinterest Stereotypes to Their Advantage