By Chris
Palmer, BoxFox
Every small retailer knows that Pinterest is one
of the most loved sites by women (71% of the company’s 72.5 million users, to be
exact). But getting started can be downright confusing. With so many posts
about exercise routines, top recipes and house cleaning tips, how can an
independent retail store or small chain utilize this channel to drive interest,
provide helpful resources and ultimately promote merchandise?
On top of that, it’s key to understand the
audience of a retail store and the merchandise being sold. For some industries — such as
those focused on beauty and athleisure — the
audience is likely made up of mostly females. Others selling sports gear or
auto accessories may be made up of mixed audiences.
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Why
Pinterest Matters To Retailers
Why does Pinterest even matter to small retail
chains or independent retailers? With so much competition (a.k.a. big brands
with huge marketing budgets) and direct-to-consumer brands that skip the
middleman retailer, how can anyone else stand a chance?
A recent study from Neustar reported that Pinterest paid
impressions were 30% more effective at driving in-store (or e-Commerce sales)
than online display ads, the next best performing channel. In addition, the
report showed that user clicks gave retailers a 6X boost in sales, beating out
impressions, image close-ups and re-pins, per the study.
If that’s not enough to make retailers perk up,
then this will be: Pinterest ads also delivered an impressive 28-to-1 return on ad spend. It’s
hard to ignore data like that.
3 Ways To
Win At Pinterest Marketing
1. Think of Pinterest as a search
engine
It may be tempting to think of Pinterest as a
social media tool as users browse, like and interact with posts, similar to the
way they do on Twitter and Facebook. But in actuality Pinterest acts more like
a search engine that serves up the right content for the individual, based on
prior activity and interests. Retailers have gotten accustomed to using
hashtags for social media, but with Pinterest, retailers should hone in on
important keywords. For example, a sports retailer in
Indianapolis should focus on inventory keywords (Brooks running shoes or Adidas
apparel), along with geographical location (Indianapolis).
2. Test Promoted Pins campaigns
Promoted Pins are just like regular Pins, only
those promoting paid to have them seen by more individuals browsing Pinterest,
ultimately helping people discover and save ideas. According to Pinterest Business, more than 75% of Pins
saved come from businesses, meaning browsers aren’t turned off by organic brand
Pins or even Promoted Pins (in fact, they love them!). Even small retailers can
separate themselves from the big brands by promoting a post which in turn will
be seen by a larger, tailored audience. Also, it won’t break the bank as
retailers can set their own budgets.
3. Try the new autoplay video
functionality
Now Pinterest is pushing into autoplay video ads, a format
popularized by Facebook. In today’s day and age, consumers are enticed by
short, snackable content that’s easy to digest. That’s
what makes the new autoplay functionality so popular for retail brands. As a
consumer is looking through her Pinterest page, videos start to play as she’s scrolling,
grabbing her attention for a few quick seconds. And if the video is helpful to
the target audience — perhaps demonstrating how to perform the perfect burpee — then
Pinterest users will slow down and pay attention. Small retailers can produce
snackable content in the form of short, 8- to 10-second videos, and then
utilize Promoted Pins to gain even more brand attention.
What Does
Pinterest Success Mean?
Many brands are publishing content on Pinterest
like a pro, and they’re getting a ton of likes and comments to their pages. But
so what? Unless that results in sales, then why does it matter? Pinterest, like
other social channels (looking at you, Twitter), can be very hard to measure.
For independent retailers or small chains, here are the three key metrics to consider when evaluating
whether or not Pinterest is worth the time:
●
Track visitors from Pinterest to
your web site (and vice versa);
●
Understand who is pinning the
content and how fast the engagement is spreading; and
●
Determine the most popular content
(and perhaps the merchandise that will sell best in-store).
While there are many ways to measure conversions
for e-Commerce retailers, it’s more difficult for brick-and-mortar retailers or
those that take a more traditional approach to retail. But the name of the
game? It all comes down to engagement.
Chris
Palmer is a social, retail and technology entrepreneur focused on solving big
problems to effect positive change in the world. As the Founder & CEO
of BoxFox, he has created a way for
vendors, retailers, distributors and wholesalers to evaluate, buy, and sell
aged inventory using their B2B marketplace and inventory appraisal technology.
