Pinterest is the hottest social network since twitter. It’s the fastest site ever to break the 10 million unique visitors mark, and a recent comscore report from January 2012 shows the site is attracting nearly 12 million individuals a month and driving more referral traffic to retailers than Linkedin, Google+ and YouTube. This begs the question–is it time for your brand to hop on board?

1. IS THE WEB’S INTEREST IN PINTEREST RIGHT FOR YOUR BRAND?
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IS THE WEB’S INTEREST IN PINTEREST
RIGHT FOR YOUR BRAND?

2. IS THE WEB’S INTEREST IN PINTEREST RIGHT FOR YOUR BRAND?
© MWW GROUP, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2
Pinterest is the hottest social network
since twitter. It’s the fastest site ever
to break the 10 million unique visitors
mark, and a recent comscore report from
january 2012 shows the site is attracting
nearly 12 million individuals a month and
driving more referral traffic to retailers
than linkedin, google+ and youtube.
This begs the question–is it time for
your brand to hop on board?

3. IS THE WEB’S INTEREST IN PINTEREST RIGHT FOR YOUR BRAND?
© MWW GROUP, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
Pinterest describes itself as a virtual online
pinboard that allows users to organize and
share all the beautiful things they find on
the web. It’s being used to plan weddings,
decorate homes, share favorite recipes,
find new fashion inspiration, and celebrate
lifestyles and interests. Users that see a
pinned image have the ability to “like” it,
comment on it and/or “repin” it, which then
reposts that image into one of their own
pinboards for their followers to see.
Data shows that Pinterest’s audience is
overwhelmingly female (over 80%) and its
most popular age group is 25-34 (30%). 85%
of Pinterest’s audience is college educated
and 57% earn over $50,000 a year (fig.1).
This highly sought after demographic is
ripe for many brands.
Somebrandswerequicktocreateapresence
and test the waters. Unfortunately for many
of these early adopters, they are struggling
to find the appropriate way to integrate
Pinterest into their communications and
marketing mix. Put simply, Pinterest is not
for everyone.
PINTEREST’S INTEREST
Pinterest discourages
self-serving content on
its site, so simply “pin-
ning” one’s products is
a huge no-no. One way
that brands are making
Pinterest work for them is
to create pinboards that
capture the essence or
lifestyle of its customers.
+ $50,000 / YR
57%
30%
25-34YRS. OLD
80%
FEMALE
85%
COLLEGE EDUCATED
(fig.1)

4. IS THE WEB’S INTEREST IN PINTEREST RIGHT FOR YOUR BRAND?
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The visual nature of pinterest is a perfect
fit for the retail industry and it’s why brands
are finding such high referral traffic from it3
so if your brand is one that uses aesthet-
ics to peak the interest of potential custom-
ers, pinterest may be very beneficial. If your
brand is not one that relies on visuals to sell
products or experiences, you’ll need to get
very creative in order to make an impact.
A great example of this is Whole Foods4
,
whose pinboards consist of collections of
innovative kitchen gadgets, creative ed-
ible art, recipes and images of gorgeous
kitchens. By promoting the beauty of food
and the inspiration and technology behind
cooking, Whole Foods is promoting an es-
sence that goes well above that of any other
grocery store.
One doesn’t need to be strictly in the retail
business to use Pinterest effectively. The
popular social media news website Mash-
able.com has pinboards on its profile5
that
highlight infographics, web humor, tech
gadgets and other visual content that aligns
closely with the editorialpieces readers
have come to expect from them.
(fig.2)

5. IS THE WEB’S INTEREST IN PINTEREST RIGHT FOR YOUR BRAND?
© MWW GROUP, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 5
Pinterest can also be a wonderful
complement to experiential organizations,
such as a college or a fitness center.
Colleges can create pinboards that highlight
school sports, dorm life, nature, nearby
entertainment and other images that
capture the essence of campus life while
a fitness center can pin images of workout
technology, muscular bodies, healthy
recipes and fashionable athletic apparel.
Visible content curation has been the hottest
trend in social media over the past year or
so and is the primary reason that Tumblr
has seen such success. Pinterest, which is
sometimes referred to as “the next Tumblr,”
is taking bite-sized sharing to a whole new
level and allowing the right brands a new
way to connect with prospective customers.
While the networks fostering these
connections may be in a constant state of
flux, one constant is the fact that creativity
rules all.
Another way for visual brands to capitalize on the Pinterest
momentum is to include a “Pin It” button on their web-
site. Social sharing buttons provide users with a one-click
method to pin their content and can be a simple way to
increase referral traffic.

6. SOURCES
1. Pinterest Hits 10 Million U.S. Monthly Uniques Faster Than Any Standalone Site Ever –comScore
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/07/pinterest-monthly-uniques/
2. Pinterest Demographic Data: The Marketers Guide to People Who Pin
http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-networks/pinterest-demographic-data/
3. Pinterest Rivals Twitter in Referral Traffic
http://www.briansolis.com/2012/01/pinterest-rivals-twitter-in-referral-traffic-pinteresting/
4. Whole Foods Market
http://pinterest.com/wholefoods/
5. Mashable
http://pinterest.com/mashable/
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
David Herrick
Chief Operating Officer
212.704.9727 | dherrick@mww.com
Mitzi Emrich
Chief Social Media Strategist
646.837.9418 | memrich@mww.com
MWW
304 Park Avenue South, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10010
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