The public relations and media world is changing rapidly and those who are just starting out are well placed to face the challenges that the new media has created for businesses in general and public relations firms in particular. The rapidly maturing Internet generation are now entering the industry and are uniquely placed to understand the workings of new media from a personal and professional standpoint. However, even those who have had a Facebook page since they were five also face the challenge that the Internet lays down for all of us; change happens quickly and although it may seem well established the Internet is a very new technology and a very new public relations tool.
One new, rapidly developing site that demonstrates just how quickly this change and growth can be is Pinterest. In the summer of 2011 the site had a mere 608, 000 unique visitors each month, a year later that figure had topped twenty million. Pinterest, for PR professionals, is a growing area of interest as companies begin to see the advantage of this type of social media from a marketing perspective. Here are a few facts and tools to help you make your marketing campaigns more ‘pinteresting’.
Basic Facts of (Pinterest) Life
Pinterest has some very specific demographics that should be your first point to note. The site was, in its early days, more heavily used by women than men. Although the split was relatively even to begin with it has in fact become more ‘female’, with reports suggesting that female users account for almost three quarters of total users.
The age range of users is roughly between mid-twenties to mid-fifties and of the 1.9 billion (yes, billion) page views 1.5 billion originate in the US. The simple lesson here is, if you’re selling men’s thermal underwear in the North of Scotland the site may only be of limited use! However, the number of users alone means that many firms, particularly Internet firms, will be able to make some use of Pinterest.
Analytical Tools for Pinterest
A presence on Pinterest is likely to have some benefit to many organisations, in multiple locations. However, for those looking to make the most of social media campaigns and presence for their clients, analytical tools are essential. There is a good range that work well with Pinterest and make tailoring, monitoring and tweaking campaigns extremely successful.
Curalate is ideal for PR professionals, allowing you to monitor followers and gauge their engagement. It also offers an effective communication tab to manage conversations. Identifying trends with Curalate is simple and this tool is particularly useful to ensure you make the most of your strategies.
Some content can fall hopelessly flat, while other content goes viral. It can be hard to establish what is and isn’t working anywhere on the web but on Pinterest, Pinerly helps to measure campaigns by linking them to a range of analytics tools. The tool also features a graph that measures engagement over a period of time to help establish which of your campaigns have been the most successful.
PinReach is an excellent Pinterest analytics tool that helps you to measure your own Pinterest campaigns and compare your most popular boards. It also helps identify profiles that are popular and can help you to link in with related members who have strong Pinterest followings of their own.
Trending Trends
Twitter and Facebook have illustrated just how popular social media sites can be and just how quickly they grow to become household names. Pinterest too has already grown rapidly and its growth seems to be a continuing trend.
‘Traditional’ blogging remains a popular PR and marketing tool, but this type of social visual blogging is likely to become one of the staple parts of any media and PR strategy; managing effective Pinterest boards, and measuring their reach, is likely to become one of the key requirements in any PR professional’s strategy.
What do you think of Pinterest? Is it here to stay? Does it reach your target audience? Let us know by leaving a comment.
