Pinterest: Promising Future?
Mar 9th, 2013 by Nadia Gunderson
I recently read Gemma’s Blog, “How Users Interact with Pinterest”, and since I have had quite a bit of experience using Pinterest both personally and professionally, reading it made me reflect on the social media channel and the questions Gemma raised in her blog.
As Gemma points out, the delicious pictures of food and the dreamy travel destinations lured me into signing up for an account about a year and a half ago. I typically go on Pinterest to browse through great images; I rarely post or re-pin. I became a lot more familiar with the channel last summer when I was an intern for ivivva athletica.
Ivivva athletica is a new brand that targets young girls who love to dance. The brand was created by lululemon in 2009, and is still in the early stages of raising brand awareness and developing a loyal customer base. As an intern this past summer, I was responsible for managing the brand’s social media channels, Pinterest being one of them. Ivivva was new to Pinterest and I was in charge of growing its presence. Over the course of my internship, I noticed that Pinterest is so small in comparison to other social media channels (eg. Facebook and Twitter), that it is extremely difficult to develop a following.
Based on my interaction and experience with Pinterest through ivivva, and in response to Gemma’s comments on whether or not Pinterest is an effective advertising tool for companies, in my view Pinterest is more effective as an avenue for users to browse images pertaining to their interests rather it is a place for corporate advertising. Personally, I find it refreshing to log onto Pinterest and simply see images…no brand names or logos. Therefore, to answer Gemma’s question at the end of her blog, I believe that currently, there are more effective marketing means for companies than Pinterest. Pinterest users are a niche market and therefore it may be challenging for any particular company to gain a significant following using the channel. Having said this, I am also very aware that not that long ago, people thought computers were a ‘fad’. So, while today Pinterest does not have the reach to be dominant element of a marketing plan, I have no doubt that some companies will soon find a way to capture their customers through this channel, and move Pinterest from a “tool for collecting and organizing the things you love” into a marketing machine.