If your brand has bravely chosen to join the ranks of companies using digital productively, two things are true: 1. Your brand is a successful content producer and 2. Your content marketing strategy no longer relies solely on Facebook and Twitter posts. Pinterest has quickly risen to the top as an effective social marketing tool for a brand’s business. But without a good foundation or lay of the landscape, how do you know if your brand is pinning for success or just pinning and burning? Let’s discuss the major successes and missteps for fashion brands on Pinterest.
Some Common Missteps Your Brand is Making on Pinterest
1. Solely Pinning Your Brand’s Images: If you’ve gotten into a groove on Pinterest and you feel comfortable sharing, back up for a moment and ask yourself, ‘Are my brand’s pins sourced from my own content?‘ Pinterest users follow your brand because you’re an authority on all things fashion and luxury. They want to see your products, but they also want to engage with your brand experience and have immediate access. Users want to see what you like, what you eat, what makes your team excited. Give them an inside look into the brand’s lifestyle through your boards and pins. Barneys strikes a great balance of pinning product images from their e-commerce site along with street style snaps, favorite recipes and city sightings.
2. Forgetting to Engage with Your Followers: As much as Pinterest is personal and caters to our taste, it’s also a vital social tool. If a new follower comments on how much they love that red skirt you pinned from your resort collection, respond using the user tag system. If not to say thank you or to continue the conversation, then to share when and/or where they can purchase that red skirt. They’ll appreciate the acknowledgement and will keep coming back for more.
3. Your Website Isn’t Equipped for Pinning and Sharing: Sure, Pinterest users can pin images on your website using the bookmarklet, but don’t you want to make every experience that a possible consumer has easy and pleasurable? Add the Pin It button to your webpages to make your products easy to share. Or, take it a step further and have your web developer create a customized Pinterest button like Moda Operandi has – its easy on the eyes, fun and will be sure to make users pin-happy on your website.
Some Outstanding Triumphs For Your Brand on Pinterest
1. Make Your Boards Interactive: Brands are on Pinterest to drive business and inspire sales. Create a strong connection between users and your brand with an interactive experience. For example, Kenzo uploads images tagged with the #Kenzo hashtag from Instagram and Twitter onto their board titled ‘Kenzo People’. This stream of photos allows other fans of the brand to see how and where in the world people are rocking Kenzo looks and products, creating more interest around the product.
2. Running Pinterest-Centric Brand Promotions: Oscar de la Renta wowed social media mavens when they decided to live-pin their bridal and resort shows. They worked with talented photographers who each brought their own perspective to the collection and many repins ensued. Work on innovative ways to market your campaigns and special promotions on Pinterest. For example, consider inviting brand-aligned tastemakers to guest pin or host giveaways. Your community of users will reward you with brand loyalty for adding value to their Pinterest experience and keeping things fresh.
3. Repin + Following Your Community: We see this all too often: a fashion brand has over 200,000 followers and follows only fifty fashion insiders. All of the potential consumers that follow your brand on social media are seeking your validation. There’s value in paying attention to who’s repinning and returning some love. If you visit their page and see something you like, repin, like or follow a supporter of your brand. After all, creating authentic dialogue on social networks can drives sales and strengthens the brand-consumer relationship, especially on the ever-growing platform of Pinterest.
Lala Lopez is a digital strategist and fashion blogger based in New York City. More of her musings can be seen on her blog, www.lalalopez.com.
Photo credits: Arne Thaysen
