Simon Leps, our CEO, was quoted by IT-Online

The rapid rise of Pinterest, the virtual pinboard website, has piqued the curiosity of many brands. However, although it can drive sales by referring users to a brand’s web site, there are many risks involved when stepping into the realm of social media.

Latest research by Statcounter reveals that Pinterest has overtaken Twitter in terms of popularity and is now the world’s fourth largest social media site, behind Facebook, YouTube and Stumbleupon.

According to Simon Leps, CEO of Fontera Digital Works, the rapid growth of Pinterest in South Africa, combined with its ability to drive users to web sites, makes the site an extremely powerful tool for local businesses.

“Based on Alexa traffic data, Pinterest is the 19th most popular website in South Africa. South Africa has the 12th most Pinterest users globally and is responsible for 1,6% of all Pinterest page views worldwide. In January alone 328 000 South Africans visited the social media site.”

It has been estimated that the rapidly growing social media site attracts close to 20-million to 37-million unique users per month. “Pinterest also recently became the quickest web site ever to reach 10-million unique visitors,” says Leps.

Leps believes that Pinterest can potentially be a very powerful marketing tool. However, he warns that if implemented incorrectly the results can be severely damaging to a brand’s image.

“Poorly managed social media platforms can often become the victims of irate consumers who use the page as cannon fodder to vent their frustrations with the brand in question.”

He believes that six tips will help businesses “Pinterestify” their brands:

* Is your brand suited to Pinterest? If you can visually represent your brand and use images to communicate your marketing messages, then Pinterest will work to amplify your brand. There are many perfectly suited industries in South Africa, such as the hospitality and restaurant sectors, that have not fully utilised this ideal opportunity.

* Reach the right target market. Currently 80% of Pinterest users are female, ages 25-34 and predominantly fall into the middle- to upper-income bracket. If your brand speaks to this audience, Pinterest could potentially be an ideal marketing tool in your arsenal.

However, there are other similar smaller social media websites available that reach different market segments, such as Gentlemint, designed for male users.

* Find your audience and build relationships. Find your core target market by identifying users that have already pinned about your brand thereby progressively widening your reach. Pinterest users engage through mutual interests rather than mutual relationships.

It is therefore important that you engage with users who share your brand’s common interests.

* Be social. Marketers should be very wary of excessive self-promotion, which can compromise a brand’s credibility. By creating a profile with a unique brand personality, your messages should support your desired image. Sharing images that are relative to your followers’ interests and your own, will help drive brand trust.

* Let your followers help you. One of the best ways to engage consumers is by designating certain users as ‘contributors’ on specific boards. Allowing followers to contribute their own material will not only stimulate deeper engagement but will further personalise your brand image. This is an effective way to demonstrate your product or service by allowing users to pin images of themselves engaging with the brand.

* Integrate Pinterest with your brand’s existing online presence. One of the biggest advantages of Pinterest is its ability to convert user engagements into sales via direct links to the site where consumers can directly purchase the items online, or find out more information on the product/service. Data recently released, from Shareaholic, found that users visited more pages by clicking on weblinks (also known as referral traffic) within Pinterest than sites such as, Twitter, Bing, LinkedIn, YouTube and Stumbleupon.

By attaching a ‘pin it’ button to images on your site you will be increasing your referral traffic.