Pinterest And Research: An Obvious Match

My official title around here is “Administrative Coordinator” but around the Sylver offices, I’m more affectionately known as the Social Media Goddess.  I earned this nickname in part because I am passionate about watching and keeping up with the latest in social media trends. One of those trends is the fast-growing newcomer, Pinterest.  Unless you’ve been living completely under a rock, chances are that you’ve at least heard of it.

And, if you haven’t jumped in with both feet just yet, I completely respect that you’re probably not looking to add another social media network to your “to-do list.”  Today I at least want to share with you how Pinterest is a potential source of consumer insights.

For the uninitiated, Pinterest is a user-friendly site where users can “pin” photos to a virtual pinboard.  These can be photos from a recipe, craft projects, home interior design ideas and products, and even videos.  The possibilities are endless.  Even though Pinterest is relatively new and technically still in “beta” mode, there are already more than 10 million registered users which means that it’s definitely got potential for all kinds of uses, including capturing valuable consumer data.  But, how do you leverage that information into viable research data? Here are three ideas to help you think about how this new kid on the block might fit into your playbook in the future:

1. Discovery of what consumers interests are from your site.  On Facebook, you have the “like” function to see how many fans you have but that doesn’t really give you clear insights into exactly what people are drawn to when it comes to your brand or products.  With Pinterest, however, you can actually determine what people are pinning from your site.  To find out how popular your images are, simply type in “http://pinterest.com/source/”yourdomainname.com”>_tmp_url_0_yourdomainname.com”  (replace “yourdomainname.com” with your own website domain).

2. Evaluate differences in consumer perceptions.  When a user pins something, they have the option to pin to the board of their choice and even add a description. Because there is such flexibility here, it’s very likely that users will pin the same item in a variety of different ways.  For example, one user might pin a technology product under “Products I love” whereas another user will pin it under “Dream Office Equipment”.  This can give a brand incredible insights on how consumers actually perceive their products.

3. Capture user descriptions, comments, and “likes” for product feedback and innovation.  In addition to being able to evaluate differences in perception, companies and brands can gather detailed information from users comments and descriptions to gauge how users feel about the products and can even often garner information on different uses or recommended changes for future product versions.

These are just 3 simple ways that brands can start to leverage this new Platform in effort to gain Voice of the Customer (VoC) for their organization. I look forward to seeing the many new ways that Pinterest will be used.  In the meantime, I’ll keep pinning!

By the way, if you’re on Pinterest and would like to see what I’m collecting on my boards, you can find me at http://pinterest.com/hjkile. Dulcolax

Categories: Innovation, Marketing, Strategy