Pinterest and the Sales Funnel: How Businesses Can Use Social Bookmarking to Aid in Discovery

Pinterest, the online social pinboard that allows users to pin and share things they love, has emerged as one of the fastest growing websites of 2011.

TIME ranked it as one of the top 50 websites of 2011, Mashable called it the hot new social network, and the Washington Post’s Style Guide voted Google+ out and Pinterest IN for 2012.

The biggest potential for Pinterest for marketers is as a tool to plug the “discovery” gap. Search engines like Google and Bing, or e-retailers like Amazon, require a user to have a pretty good idea of what they are looking for.  For example, a search for “Ski Vacation in Whistler” is going to net much more direct and actionable information than “Where Should I Spend My Ski Vacation”? Along the same lines, a search for “cool snowboard pants” isn’t going to get me very far, but if I know I want a pair of Burton AK bibs, Google’s is going to find me everything I need to make an informed purchase.

This makes search engines and e-retailers great tools for fulfilling a transaction at the bottom of the sales funnel, but what’s missing is a tool  to help us find things when we don’t know exactly what we’re looking for – in that “discovery” stage at the top entrance of the sales funnel.

The tools that consumers have traditionally used to make those “top of the funnel” decisions – word-of-mouth, peer influence, and brand reputation and awareness – are the things that in the internet age transfer really nicely in to the sharing aspect of social media.

Add in the power of visual search and Pinterest could be a powerful tool for users to “discover” their way down to the bottom of that sales funnel.

Back to the ski vacation example. A Pinterest board called “Ski Resorts – Best Terrain” that visually displays a scrap book of the best terrain at resorts from all over the world would be a pretty powerful tool for someone looking to narrow down their options and figure out the best bang for their ski-vacation buck. Someone browsing that board might see an image of someone shredding Blackcomb Glacier (shamless WB promotion), and be inspired to look deeper in to Whistler as their vacation destination.

How Can Pinterest Be Incoporated in to a Business’s Social Media Marketing Mix?

Pinterest is still in it’s infancy. A business incorporating it in to their social media mix would be a brave soul experimenting in a new world. But the strategies that are working for Pinterest’s early adopters, (Etsy.com artists are some of the biggest benefactors of the Pinterest boom), can provide a how-to guide for larger businesses and brands.

• Brand Engagement – At it’s heart, Pinterest is a social tool that encourages sharing and following, and builds communities around subjects of interest to it’s users. In the same way that we use Facebook to build a fan-base and share the things that make our brand authentic, Pinterest can be used to create boards that are relevant to the brand or business, and to pin items that followers will find interesting and hopefully share with other users – all tracking back to your original board, and in turn growing the community around your brand.

• Real Time Trend Tracking - as marketers, staying on top of consumer trends is of upmost importance, but often times the tools that help us do so (including market research, industry reports, trade publications) can be expensive and even out-of-date by the time they become available. Pinterest on the other hand is a free tool, and is as current as the users who are “pinning” items that inspire them daily. A business that is interested in finding out what their consumers are finding interesting could simply search Pinterest for their subjects that are relevant to their business and follow the items that are trending and popular.

• Content Creation / Content Aggregation – content marketers can use Pinterest as a tool to help them both discover and collect content of interest that can be reworked in to a number of different social marketing channels (blogs, Facebook, etc.) It’s also a great tool for businesses (and agencies) to find inspiration for their marketing and advertising ideas – Pinterest has tons of boards related to graphic design, web design, advertising, and other relevant topics.

• Search Engine Benefits – Pinterest is basically a visual collection of links – or as one SEO agencies calls them, “linkable image assets”. Because anything a user pins is essentially a link, it shows up in search results and builds in-bound links to your website – a powerful piece of the SEO puzzle.

• Add Pin It Buttons to your Website – for businesses that are really confident in Pinterest, there is a button that can be added to any item on your website which shares it directly to pinterest, providing further exposure for your products/brand.

The Future of Discovery on the Web

Only time and practice will bring the metrics that prove Pinterest as a valuable piece of the social marketing puzzle, but the most important take-away from Pinterest’s rise is the digitalization of the discovery tools that have traditionally lived off-line.  Pinterest is an early tool that will help consumers find the top of the sales funnel.

What other thoughts do you have for using Pinterest and other social bookmarking services to build you brand? Have you used it and found it helpful? Or a waste of time? Share your experiences with us in the comments below.