If you’re a retail brand, now is the time to make your relationship with Pinterest official. You should move beyond the flirting stage. You know, where you occasionally head there and Pin some stuff and Re-pin some others. The courting period should be complete too. Now it’s time to go steady. That’s right, make Pinterest your girlfriend and your lover. Okay, am I sounding creepy yet?
The bottom line is that Pinterest is to retail what milk is to Oreos. It’s a perfect compliment and Pinterest knows it. They’ve maximized their platform for you. With their rich pins and new sales alerts, Pinterest is your dream network. And if you sell to women, your audience is already there, so my question is: Why aren’t you?
J.Crew jumped on the Pinterest band wagon and will make history. They’ll be releasing their entire Fall category on Pinterest before anywhere else. If you want to see the line, you best be on Pinterest. From a marketing perspective, this is smart for a few reasons.
Why Does This Work?
1. Pins Drive More Sales
Pinterest drives more sales than any other social network. On top of that, each sale is of a higher value. Since the full line will be on Pinterest with (I assume) direct buy links to the pieces, I expect this to be a very strong launch.
2. Re-Pins
If you aren’t following J.Crew, you’re still very likely to see the line, regardless. It’s word of finger marketing and it will be saturated. Since more people tend to Re-pin, rather than Pin original content, it’s going to spread like wildfire. J.Crew could even offer an incentive for those who Re-pin in order to get maximum exposure.
3. Direct Audience
J.Crew’s audience is on Pinterest already, so it makes sense to showcase there. Because the audience on Pinterest is highly female and very interested in fashion and shopping, J.Crew is, essentially, tapping into a gold mine.
4. Buzz
The buzz is building. I know that I’ll even be sharing some Pins from the new line, and I’m not even a J.Crew-wearing kind of girl. Thing is, one of my followers might be, and they just might buy it directly from a Pin they saw on my board. That’s buzz worthy.
What You Can Learn
You can do the exact same thing J.Crew is doing. The best part about this campaign, as opposed to a lot of other large brands using social media, is that this is a very cost-effective approach. All it requires is a bit of planning, announcing to your current followers via newsletter to prep them, and a little man power.
I think this is a stellar campaign and I can’t wait to see the results.
How do you use Pinterest?
