In public relations, it is important to understand that social media is always evolving. Our clients rely on us to introduce them to new social media sites that can give them a new way to communicate with their target audience. In order to reach out to a specific demographic, we need to understand their moves. When the public went on Facebook, business and organizations followed and the same continued with Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. There is a new way to communicate with the public and it is through the use of images. This new social media tool is called Pinterest.
Pinterest was launched in 2010 and is a visual bulletin board for the Web. During its first year launch, the site reached 10.4 million users, which is more than Facebook and Twitter’s number of users in their first year. This site is very popular among women, who make up 97 percent of the users. As marketers, it is important to see how Pinterest could benefit our clients. Due to Pinterest’s visually appealing nature, many people believe it can only be used by businesses that produce products. Organizations, politicians, and unions can use Pinterest in creative ways to reach out to their audience and bring traffic to their website.
Pinterest users mainly pin images and content that they find inspirational as well as new things they discover as they browse the web. Organizations can use this site through pinning images that capture the essence of the organization and provide the public with images that tell compelling stories about the work they have done. For example, last weekend, I worked with the United States Student Association (USSA) on a rally against Sallie Mae Corporation and their predatory student lending practices. With the numerous pictures posted on their website, a picture of a protestor with the sign “ Your Profit is My Barrier, Sallie Mae”, can be an image that I want to pin and share with others because it appeals to me. This image posted on my visual board can create traffic toward USSA’s website since it makes people want to understand what is going on and my reason behind pinning this image.
Although Pinterest is a good site to organize and share things, I would not recommend using this as an organization’s starting social media site because it currently does not attract a widespread demographic. If the organization’s aim is to target mainly women, Pinterest can be beneficial. If used in an appropriate way, it provides the opportunity to connect with the public in a different and limited way, only through visual images.
blog comments powered by Disqus
blog comments powered by Disqus