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Pinterest – The Art Deco of the Social Space

We are trying so hard…so hard to find a way to cram all of our short lived pre-conceived notions into this perplexing visual space. Pinterest intrigues us, fascinates us, and allows us to touch the visual cues that we once allowed technology to overshadow.

Have you walked through an art gallery, finding yourself lost in a see of visual stories positioned vertically and horizontally for you to ponder. Have you found yourself in this art gallery stopping to gaze and then find yourself conversing with another on-looker.

What makes us vertically scroll the horizontally decked board of visual cues that we call Pinterest. What makes us stop and look a little longer at someone’s daily art? What makes us want to engage a new set of friends that allow us to connect in a different language.

Pictures have a special place is our visual hearts…to explore, share, and gaze. They allow us to dream, cry, laugh, wonder, and explore just a little bit.

Wikipedia defines art deco:

“At its best, art deco represented elegance, glamour, functionality and modernity…Although many design movements have political or philosophical beginnings or intentions, art deco was purely decorative.”

Yes…I would have to agree. Now, this is a romantic view of this new social technology…one that has spread across the social space like a fire storm. It has made us wonder why it is now the third largest social network. It has also made us wonder how it creates such rich SEO and digital connection for blogs and online retail outlets. It also makes us wonder if the marketers are going to take the art deco out of the visual exploration.

I don’t know about you, but I have chosen carefully this time. I have chosen which boards to follow, which person to follow, and eagerly un-follow people that do not bring something interesting, innovative, and new to my stream of images.  Pintest has become for me the art deco of the social space. My Pinterest stream is one of “elegance, glamour, functionality, and modernity.”

As I sit in marketing meetings, discussion strategy after strategy how to leverage this explosion of paint and color dominated by female artists…I wonder if Pinterest can be quantified.

Well…this is what I know if we marketers are going to try to figure out this social canvas.

1) Users communicate strictly through visual cues. Yes…we find an image to save or share and we pin it to a board that fits the respective category. From birthday wishes, favorite Porsche’s, most intriguing tattoos, cake decorations, and even decorations for that new room…we have visual categories to segment these images. Each image that inspires us might inspire others to think, ponder, share, re-pin, or even comment. What we might interpret and categorize a 356 Bathtub Porsche as “Vintage Cars”…that image might also be re-pinned and categorized as the “Childhood Memories.” We communicate through visual cues…cues that spark emotion and memories.

2) You cannot use the same social strategy used with other social outlets. Pinterest has another human emotion built upon those visual connections of emotions. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, well each image encompasses those words and releases us from the burden to explain it other than just pinning it.

3) Think visually and imagine how people would share art. If you are really trying to figure out to leverage Pinterest in your social strategy…you have to think beyond the digital connections. You have to think past the how to get people to click and find your contest or campaign. You have to think…what images are going to inspire people to stop and look for just a bit. What will make someone stop scrolling and look at the visual image you posted. What does that image communicate and how will it inspire them to take the next step.

4) Are you marketing or are you inspiring people to think visually. Think of your favorite photos, images, drawings, fonts, colors…what makes you stop and take notice. How can you design visual content so it can be pinned to connect with individuals in a different way. If you are a realtor, why just post pictures of a house…that is why you have MLS and your home website. Why not post pictures of those homes that inspires those buyers to see a residence as his/her residence (well mainly her residence). What visual details about that house will inspire someone to take notice and click. Think…it is more that a shot of the master bedroom or bath, how about shots of fixtures and moldings that represent the construction detail.

Think visually…think about social through the visual lens of an artist sharing his/her favorite artwork. If you are interested in the Psychology of Pinterest, here is an interesting post: http://luckierethinktank.com/2011/12/the-psychology-behind-pinterest/

Do we really want Pinterest to become the next Social Marketing Outlet?

How many of you are on Pinterest.? I know I am and have been for about a year…especially after my wife told me about this neat little social network. She had to send me an invite in-order to join and ever since then…I have been pinning away.

What do I use it for? Well, between creating a board for my favorite photography gadgets, my gift wish lists, books I want to read, and even vacation destinations for Sarah and I…I am hooked!

Lately, Pinterest is starting to get lots of interest with the mainstream media including USA Today and Mashable.com.

In October 2012, USA Today wrote an article about Pinterst, “Pinterest stands out in crowded social media field.” They state:

“Time magazine called Pinterest — a website where users post collections of images of their favorite food, clothes, places and everything else — one of the five best social media sites of 2011, along with Google-Plus and Klout. The company has raised $27 million in venture capital led by the firm Andreessen Horowitz, which several tech news outlets have reported as valuing Pinterest at $200 million.”

Mashable.com started posting articles about Pinterest this past June and ever since have been featuring articles about this social outlet, leveraging the holiday audience. To date, you still need an invite to join Pinterest…but if you have a friend, they can invite you to this “some what private” social outlet.

Is the Mashable Effect starting to set-in, since they are the online social media magazine. You can see articles listed headlines including “The Top Brands on Pinterest“, “5 Ways Brands Can Use Pinterest to Boost Consumer Engagement“, and my favorite “Pinterest: A Beginner’s Guide to the Hot New Social Network.”

If you are a growing social network and you want to grow to the masses, you want an online media outlet like Mashable to write about your organization…and write regularly.

But as social consumers and connectors, do we want Mashable to take interest? Do we want main stream media to take interest. Facebook is no longer Facebook with the slick marketing of brands. Twitter is becoming overwhelmed with daily satire of “he said” “she said” quickly jumping to headlines. Between athletes, political outlets, and other individuals…it has become the first place to find people in the match-up of “one-ups”.

Yes…many people are in social media overload. I know I have been…my Facebook page is overloaded with friends, family, and others ranting political discourse leveraging digital word-of-mouth. So…can we keep Pinterest closed…fun…private…and enjoyable?

Do I really want to be influenced inside Pinterest? Do I want brands trying to build an experience for me inside my digital repository of fun-ness? It is the next big un-tapped market…I guess. I have sat through many marketing meetings thinking and wondering if Pinterest is a place to build a brand presence.

Econsultancy.com writes in the article “Revealing the demographics behind Pinterest’s users“:

“comScore says that the blossoming social curation site has over 4m registered users and is growing rapidly, while Google Ad Planner shows that nearly 1.5m people visit Pinterest every day – spending 14 minutes on the site on average.”

Google Ad planner shows that Pinterest users are:
– Largely women (a 80% to 20% ratio)
– Aged mainly between 25 and 44 (accounting for 55% of the group, 30% are 25-34, 25% are 35 – 44)
– Just 25% of users have a bachelors degree or higher
– The majority live off a household income of $25-75k”

YES to this statement in the article: “So there’s some truth to Matt Buchanan’s post on Gizmodo yesterday that proclaims Pinterest as ‘a Tumblr for ladies’.”

No wonder brands and marketing staffs are trying to find an open path…this is a rich, wide open playing field. Even though these stats are wide in the bell curve, they seem every similar to the bell curve most healthcare marketers are looking for when connecting their brand to the end consumer.

Well, Facebook must see the value…now you can have a certain area to show off your pins in the new Facebook timeline. Yep…Facebook and Pinterest together connection people to brands. Hmm..

So…WHY. I want to keep it closed. PLEASE??? I want to enjoy pinning, sharing, and interacting with my little want lists. Well…I am not sure we can hold of the wolves, let’s get ready as brands and marketers like myself begin and continue to infiltrate Pinterest. Or maybe it has been open the whole time…we are pinning brands on our boards.

 

Pinterest for the Holidays!

I am not sure if you have checked out Pinterest, but it is a cool, new, and emerging social network. I love it and finding quite useful this holiday season. I have so many different wish lists on so many different websites. From Amazon.com, BandHPhoto.com, Apple.com, and on and on and on…I wanted to have one place to share Christmas list with my family. Pinterest just made sense.

I started checking out Pinterest about 8 months ago when Sarah was using it for Rose (our little girl). She was using it to store ideas for  the baby room, decorating ideas for showers, and also look through other people’s ideas when thinking of ways to get ready for a new baby. Pinterest is a place for Sarah to visually bookmark or “Pin” a link that she might want to refer to at a later date. Pinterest was also a place to look at other people’s “Pins”…to see their ideas.

You can organize “Pins” in categories or “Boards” grouping based on your idea of themes or content areas. So how does Pinterest define a “Pin”?

What is a pin? A pin is an image added to Pinterest. A pin can be added from a website using the Pin It button, or you can upload images from your computer. Each pin added using the Pin It button links back to the site it came from.

Does this make sense yet? Well this is how Pinterest describe their social network:

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.

So back to how I am using Pinterest this holiday season…to create a board of ideas and wants for Christmas. My “Christmas Gifts” board is a wishlist to share with everyone…everything in one spot. Then I have a link to share with my family and friends. I do not have to send them to four or five different online retailers to see my different ideas. I can just pin each idea here, each link here, a link directly to the item I would like…then share this board with others. I can even share this link on other social outlets like Facebook. Pretty cool?

People are using Pinterest in so many different ways…I would love to hear how you are using it!

Here are a few articles about Pinterest:

Mashable.com – http://mashable.com/2011/11/27/niche-social-marketing/

USAToday.com – http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-10-28/pinterest-Ben-Silbermann/50979542/1