Meeting the Challenge · Pinterest is all over the news lately. Every day when you look at your inbox you’ll be amazed to see which brand is now on Pinterest, what to pin to your

Meeting the ChallengePinterest for Businesses

How to Succeed with this new Social Media Platform

table of Contents

1. Introduction2. Overview of Pinterest3. How can Your Brand be Present4. Engagement Opportunities5. Homes.com Pin it if you love it6. What Lies Ahead?7. Conclusion8. About Homes.com9. Sources

Pinterest is all over the news lately. Every day when you look at your inbox you’ll be amazed to see which brand is now on Pinterest, what to pin to your boards and the massive growth this powerful website has seen.

According to a comScore, report for February, Pinterest just hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, crossing the 10 million mark faster than any other standalone site in history. In addition, major players like Real Simple Magazine, Lands End, Mashable and more are using the site to drive traffic back to their sites. In fact, in a recent study by Shareaholic, Pinterest has beat out Google+ for referring traffic and is almost on par with social media giant, Twitter.

Many companies have explored the use of Pinterest for their brand, including Homes.com. It is our goal for this white paper to provide effective insights and strategies for incorporating this explosive site into a company’s marketing mix. The insight and best practices provided in this study will answer some key questions on what Pinterest is, how your brand can use it and the future possibilities of consumer sharing behavior.

introduCtion

Pinterest is a social networking site comprised of virtual pinboards, allowing users to collect photos/videos and link to products they love. Once uploaded or shared on Pinterest, these images become known as pins, which the user can place on customized, themed boards. Users can create boards for any topic imaginable, from home décor and recipes to fashion ideas and wedding planning. Once on the site, users can follow pinboards of other users on the site.

overview of pinterest

9 million

As of February 2012, 9 million monthly Pinterest users connected through Facebook.

visited the site daily

At the begining of 2012

users810,000

97 percent of Pinterest’s Facebook fans are women

97% 3%

1 out of 5 registered Pinterest users visit the site every day.

unique monthly visitors for January 2012.11.7 million

comScore reported

10.4 millionThere are

registered users on Pinterest.

The average user spends98 minutes per month

“pinning” or adding pinsto their boards

Between September and December of 2011, the site grew 400 percent

100%

100%100%100%

September2011

December2011

women 18 - 34The main age demographic of site

visitors is women aged 18 to 34.

9 million

As of February 2012, 9 million monthly Pinterest users connected through Facebook.

visited the site daily

At the begining of 2012

users810,000

97 percent of Pinterest’s Facebook fans are women

97% 3%

1 out of 5 registered Pinterest users visit the site every day.

10.4 millionThere are

registered users on Pinterest.

The average user spends98 minutes per month

“pinning” or adding pinsto their boards

Between September and December of 2011, the site grew 400 percent

100%

100%100%100%

September2011

December2011

women 18 - 34The main age demographic of site

visitors is women aged 18 to 34.

The average user spends98 minutes per month

“pinning” or adding pinsto their boards

Between September and December of 2011, the site grew 400 percent

100%

100%100%100%

September2011

December2011

women 18 - 34The main age demographic of site

visitors is women aged 18 to 34.

9 million

As of February 2012, 9 million monthly Pinterest users connected through Facebook.

97 percent of Pinterest’s Facebook fans are women

97% 3%

1 out of 5 registered Pinterest users visit the site every day.

unique monthly visitors for January 2012.11.7 million

comScore reported

10.4 millionThere are

registered users on Pinterest.10.4 millionThere are

registered users on Pinterest.

1 out of 5 registered Pinterest users visit the site every day.

visited the site daily

At the begining of 2012

users810,000

97 percent of Pinterest’s Facebook fans are women

97% 3%

The average user spends98 minutes per month

“pinning” or adding pinsto their boards

Between September and December of 2011, the site grew 400 percent

100%

100%100%100%

September2011

December2011

women 18 - 34The main age demographic of site

visitors is women aged 18 to 34.

9 million

As of February 2012, 9 million monthly Pinterest users connected through Facebook.

unique monthly visitors for January 2012.11.7 million

comScore reported

SOCIAL SHARInG Pinterest offers the opportunity to login through Facebook and Twitter, which is instrumental for social sharing. By connecting a Pinterest account through Facebook or Twitter, a consumer is more likely to share pins with his/her network. Therefore, exposing your brand’s content to more and more people.

overview of pinterest(continued)

Why Does Pinterest Matter?As with any new social media site, marketers are required to ask “how” their brand can use this site and “why” their brand should be there?

TRAFFICEarly research from major brands shows that Pinterest can drive substantial traffic to a website. According to Real Simple Magazine, Pinterest drives more traffic than any other social media site, including Facebook. From January 2012 to February 2012, Homes.com saw a 237 percent increase in referral traffic, 420 percent increase in page views, a 782 percent increase in site searches and a 500 percent increase in leads completed from Pinterest.

LInkS When a consumer uses the “Pin It” button from your website, a link to the source will be included which allows other consumers to see your content and visit your pages with only one click. These links are no-follow links, which will not influence your SEO ranking, however it still provides value by driving qualified people to your website.

LEADS As we stated before, Homes.com saw a 500 percent increase in leads as a result of efforts on Pinterest in one month (Jan. to Feb.). If used correctly, Pinterest can contribute to lead generation-an important measurement tool in justifying social media participation.

Homes.com Visits (Growth in Millions)

2008 - over 35 million

2009 - over 48 million

2010 - over 67 million

2011 - over 106 million

Homes.com Mobile Visits (Growth in Millions)

2009 - over .9 million

2010 - over 3.7 million

2011 - over 13 million

how Can your brand be present

When Homes.com heard about this new website that’s breaking traffic and user records, our first thought was to determine how our brand could use it. Similarly to other social media channels, I needed to first assess whether or not it made sense for our business.

WHAT kInD OF BUSInESS WOULD BE SUCCESSFUL On PInTEREST? HERE ARE A FEW:

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?After reviewing some of the benefits Pinterest can offer brands, do any of those benefits align with your company’s business goals? If so, organize the goals and start implementing tactics to help you accomplish them. For example, if one of your goals is to increase traffic, then start pinning from your site and encourage followers to help repin, like, or comment on your pins.

DO YOU HAVE TIME?As with any social media site, with Pinterest you must invest time in order to reap the ROI rewards. Before you can tell the world you’re on Pinterest, first create boards users want to follow. Pinterest is not a “set it up and leave it alone” web-site. To really see the benefits, you must pin and engage consistently.

CREATE A PROFILECurrently Pinterest is invitation only, but interested participants can request an invite anytime or have a friend send one. Homes.com can also send you an invite; just email us at [email protected] with the subject “Pinterest Invite.” Once users create an account, they can install the “Pin It” button on their browser, allowing for easy pinning no matter what site you visit. Create boards for pins that are similar, such as recipes, art, music, home décor, travel and more. The possibilities are endless!

• A product or service relating to moms/women (the majority of Pinterest’s users are women) such as Martha Stewart Living. • A design/photography company.• A marketing company such as Mashable.• A online retailer such as ETSY.

• A boutique.• A restaurant or food blogger such as Food network.• A magazine such as Real Simple Magazine.• An event planning company such as The knot.

“I’M HERE! nOW WHAT?”So you’ve signed up on one of the hottest social media sites, now what? Well, dive in and start pinning from your website as well as other websites to create boards. But its important to create boards that others want to follow, don’t make boards simply for the sake of creating them. keep in mind Pinterest etiquette rules while pinning and filling out your profile. As marketers, we want to drive traffic back to the company’s site, but Pinterest specifically discourages blatant self-promotion.

“Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.”

So with the “pin it” tool at the ready and brand goals in your mind, what are you going to start pinning? Here are a few ideas, which can be tweaked based on your industry:

• Those in real estate, such as Homes.com, can pin house hunting tools, home renovation ideas, home décor ideas, landscaping, neighborhood hang-outs and more.

• If you’re in healthcare pin healthy recipes and fitness tips, preventive and family medicine, quizzes, Q&A and upcoming events.

• Retailers can pin their products (apparel, motorcycles, art, etc.) and items featuring their products. For example, a clothing retailer can pin an outfit using their clothing, a person modeling their clothing line, uncommon ways to use items in their clothing line, etc.

• Food industry companies can pin their products, items in the neighborhood and recipes, as well as

uncommon uses for products (i.e., the use of a cookie in cakes, pies, cupcakes, ice cream, and more).

engageMent opportunities

engageMent opportunities(continued)

GAIn FOLLOWERSOnce you start creating boards and filling them with pins, the next step is to gain followers who will see those amazing pins. Accomplish this by putting a pin it button where the social icons are featured on your website, email templates, signatures, social media accounts and blog. Additionally, push special updates to your newsletter distribution list enticing people to follow the brand on Pinterest. On top of that, since Pinterest is still invite only, offer potential followers the opportunity to join this exclusive site. They’ll show their appreciation by following the brand. Pinning consistently also helps; more pins equal, more repins, leading to more people who will want to follow the brand. And, similar to Twitter, the more people you follow the higher the odds are to gain followers.

EnGAGEMEnTUnlike Facebook, Pinterest is not a destination where users go to chat with occasional images and links thrown in; the focus is posting images of interesting things, with the occasional comment. However, there are still plenty of opportunities for engagement.

COnVERSATIOnS There’s the ability to respond and ask questions when someone repins your photo. Create boards of your products and enlist consumer feedback. Also personalize your company through office photos or sharing a cool space.

COnTESTS Engage with users on this site through contests.

hoMes.CoMpin it if you love it

Exhibit 1.1 Homes.com just ran a ‘Pin it if You Love it’ contest in February, in which we asked participants to create a ‘Pin it if You Love it’ board, search Homes.com, and pin at least 10 photos of homes they love. The pins were based on location, interior/exterior design or whatever else might pique the pinner’s interest. Here are some incredible results we saw:

Homes.com on Pinterest

Pinterest Follers

Boards Created

Links Pointing Back to Homes.com

421

300+

8,000

Increase in Percentage (during the contest period)

Page Views

Site Searches

Leads

420

782

500

Pinterest was transformed from just another social media site to the second social media referring traffic source into Homes.com.

After running this contest there were several lessons Homes.com learned regarding the contest logistics.

• While the entry platform on the blog was free and allowed for entrants to browse other topics, a contest could also run on the Pinterest platform itself with comments/entries on the pin. This would allow for that pin to circulate more on Pinterest, in essence drive more brand awareness.

• Using the “linky party” link on the article itself was instrumental in the entry process. It was easy to use and allowed entrants to view the other boards for creative ideas. Plus, a Homes.com staff member was alerted when another board was submitted with the entrants contact information. A little side note with the “linky party”: get intern or someone who has the free time on the emails so he/she can view and keep track of location of entrants. Information like this will be great to track the reach our contest advertisement has across the nation. Additionally, it could serve as an

opportunity for local advertising.

• Engagement from a brand can be accomplished by repining participants’ pins, commenting on the pins with questions to encourage conversation and responding to comments promptly on contest platform.

• Provide clear instructions on how to enter and troubleshoot should entrants have problems. With the Homes.com contest, we found some entrants did not know what to “link-up” in order to enter. Therefore, we scanned through the entries to make sure the links work (error pages), no spam (business profiles) or linking to profile versus board. We elected to contact the entrants t0o encourage them to correct their mistake.

• Finally, given the amount of consumers on mobile devices, we decided to move the

contest board on our profile to the top, to help on-the-go users spot the contest immediately versus searching.

pin it if you love it (continued)

Enter for a chance to win one of five $250 gift cards!*

Pin it if you Lo e it.

Congrats! You’re now on your way to becoming a Pinterest master. now it’s time to look into next steps.

Here are a couple ideas:• Add a “pin it” button on the company website. It serves as a direct call to action for consumers to

quickly and easily pin your content.

• Have good quality images on the site and blog for consumers to pin. Be sure to also pin them on your Pinterest profile to encourage sharing.

• If you have an infographic, chop it up into digestible bits for pinning.

• Add branding or watermarks to your images. That way, when images are pinned, people will know the original source.

• Think of ways Pinterest can drive traffic to other social media channels, like YouTube. According to Mashable, independent film and entertainment studio Lionsgate stated that within five days of introducing video content to its Pinterest profile, Lionsgate BeFit’s YouTube activity doubled!

what lies ahead?

ConClusion The secret to succeeding on Pinterest isn’t about showing off your products or services directly. It’s about finding creative ways to showcase how those products and services fit into the lifestyles of your target audience. If your business finds ways to do that, you’ll have what you need to make Pinterest an integral part of the marketing mix and accomplish company goals.

PInTEREST.COM/HOMESDOTCOM/

Homes.com, part of the Homes Media Solutions division of Dominion Enterprises, is a leading provider of real estate marketing and media services, including brand advertising, property listing exposure and syndication, search engine marketing and instant response lead generation. Homes.com is visited by more than 10 million consumers each month to search nearly 4 million properties for sale or rent, to locate real estate agents in their area, and to find useful home buying tips. For more information, visit www.homes.com.

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