I’ve found a way to be a hoarder without being disgusting — it’s called Pinterest.

If you’ve heard of Pinterest, it’s probably been in the form of people raving over being hopelessly addicted to ‘pinning’, with you wondering ‘what is Pinterest and why should I care?’. The premise of the site is that any product or image you see on the web can be ‘pinned’ to your pinboard on Pinterest, via a bookmarklet you drop into your bookmarks in your browser. You can also browse pinboards by category, friends or keyword search. The result is an endless supply of eye candy, accessible from your desktop, mobile device, or with an iPhone app.

The site is growing wildly, in a way some compare to what Facebook did in 2006, with 3.24 million unique visitors per month. I do see a lot of potential for Pinterest to grow like Twitter did a few years ago, with people slow to get on board but eventually shaping what it can be used for.

 

Women vs. Men

From what I’ve learned since being hopelessly addicted to it, it seems women are more into ‘pinning’ than men. 50-74% of Pinterest’s user base is female. One comment that piqued my interest while asking around about the site for this very post came from Facebook, where my friend John had posed the question “Why should I use Pinterest? I already know what I like.”

This generated a discussion: “To admire beauty, express creativity, and pine after expensive things you may never own. In short: eye candy. It’s basically an inspiration board where you can ‘collect’ images of products, clothes, home decor, etc.”

John expressed that his Amazon wish list already does that.

“Ah yes, but with Amazon you can’t pin an entire room or a craft idea or photography you find stunning.”

He, being a guy, said he’s not sure why he’d want to do that. So, whoever said men are more visual creatures than women may have been wrong about that! The majority of the boards I’ve seen are fashion, home decor, recipe, or bridal themed — things many men might shy away from. But there is so much more to it than that, and I’ve slowly been seeing more men join the Pinterest party.

 

Why We Pin

So, for the women reading who are still with me… what makes Pinterest appeal to us so much?

Lust
Well, for one thing, it’s envy… lusting after something we can’t have, which we always love to do. It’s the boots we can’t afford, the garden we don’t have time to tend to, the dress we don’t have an occasion to wear, and the wedding to the man who hasn’t asked yet. It is a place to collect fantasies.

Organizing
It’s a way to organize and keep track of things we don’t want to forget. This makes it especially appealing for gift ideas (presuming the people you are gifting don’t follow your boards) and brides-to-be. Virtually any product you like on the web can be pinned to your own board, for you to reference and click through to purchase later.

Discovery
Are we wasting time, pining over things we can’t have? Is Pinterest feeding into a never ending fantasy that we can’t have? For me, Pinterest has inspired me to experiment with fashion more, to find out what kind of engagement ring I really might like to wear for the rest of my life, and see a pattern of colors that make me happy. Of course, there are also pins of hairstyles I’ll never be able to pull off, or workout moves represented by a woman with a perfect body that I’ll never get. It may sound silly, but I’ve discovered a bit more about who I am (and who I’m not) as I peruse these gorgeous homes and hairstyles.

Happiness
Pinning the things we love is a way to ‘have’ them. After all, most of the fun in having something is the anticipation BEFORE actually having it. In that way, Pinterest satisfies the basic need more than actually having it. Studies show our happiness level is highest right before our pending purchase or our upcoming vacation. The act of simply anticipating happiness can give you more bang for your buck. So, pine away!

 

How Brands Can Use Pinterest

“Paint a picture of what life will be like for your customer after they have your product.” –Great advice from our friend Noah.

Pinterest allows us to paint a whole world of fantasy. But, if you are a business, how can you use it to paint a world for your customers? Like any social media platform, you can leverage your business by using it as a way to interact with them. Pinterest allows a highly visual way to do this.

I absolutely recommend using Pinterest as a brand. If your product has any kind of visual appeal (housewares, appliances, jewelry, shoes, furniture, gifts, toys, books, photography, etc) you may want to start some pinboards of your own. For example, a jewelry retailer might want their designer to pin all the products that have inspired him or her to design jewelry a certain way. Or an artist may want to pin all the images that inspire them, as well as their own favorite products that they’re selling on Etsy. Use your imagination!

Additionally, if you have  dedicated product pages for apparel, crafts, gifts, etc, you may want to consider adding a ‘Pin It’ button for websites (shown above) alongside your ‘like’ and Google+ buttons. This is a simple way for users to pin items from your catalogue that appeal to them. For those looking to explore and grab images from around the web, add the Pin It link on the Pinterest Goodies page to start pinning.

Do’s and Don’t's

Do:

• Ask for an invite. It takes a while to get one when you request the typical way through the website – but if a friend invites you, you’re in immediately.
• Follow lots of people. Follow your friends and follow strangers. Think ‘Twitter’ not ‘Facebook’.
• Explore. Check the everything tab. Follow through on pins you love and find who was the original pinner. What they like, you may like.
• Use captions (they will auto-fill when a user is repinning, but each user can edit the text – they don’t stick with the repin). Use hashtags, yes hashtags work!
• Use search. Recently, I have been in the mood for ruffles, chevron, and pencil skirts, and when I search these terms I find a treasure trove of ideas.
• Pin from the web. Don’t just re-pin, go on a discovery spree. Remember, with the ‘Pin it’ bookmarklet, you can pin anything you find!

Don’t:

• Don’t auto-share to Twitter or Facebook, because that’s just obnoxious.
• Don’t use Pinterest as your personal sales floor. People can see through that on Pinterest just like they can when you’re spammy on Twitter or Facebook.
• Don’t forget to credit the source if possible. Linking back to a product page or providing a dollar amount of a product is a good idea (and when the dollar sign and a number is added to a pin description, it appears in the corner as a cute little price tag!).

What are your thoughts on Pinterest? Have you found it as addicting as I have? I’m curious if any men out there have found themselves pinning as much as women have. I think men could grow the brand in their own way, it will just take a while. Share your thoughts in the comments!

 

 

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Anne Munkwitz is a Project Manager at Roll Mobile. She is a gadget geek, fitness fanatic and Twitter addict. Suggestions for a BLOG@ROLL topic or inquiries about how YOU can be mobile can be sent to anne@whyroll.com or on Twitter via @RollMobile.