Social Media Room - Part 6: Old School Room Renderings Being Replaced By Pinterest Profiles

Furniture World News Desk on 12/2/2013

By Mary Lou Denny, Executive Vice President
Walt Denny Inc.

Obviously the best way to sell home furniture and furnishings is with real samples in the store. But with more consumers doing pre-shopping research via their laptop, tablet or smart phone, retailers must make the most of evolving social media tools to grab the attention of potential customers before they go elsewhere to shop.

Pinterest is an online bulletin board for sharing (aka “pinning”) favorite images, is the latest social media phenomenon. Since its 2010 beginning, it reportedly crossed the 10 million user mark faster than any other independent standalone site in history and today it has 70 million+ users worldwide. Currently, it’s driving more traffic to company websites and blogs than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined.

Early adopters of Pinterest – overwhelmingly women ages 25-44 – helped propel it to success. This key demographic is among the top decision influencers for the home furnishings industry. Thus, Pinterest has great potential to boost engagement for brands that have visually appealing images to share. Can your store really afford to not be on Pinterest?

Pinterest is also one of the fastest growing B2B social media platforms, with over 500,000 manufacturers creating and regularly utilizing pages and pins to market their products to retailers, as well as direct to consumers. Furniture Brands International is active on Pinterest, utilizing it to promote brands including Thomasville, Lane and Creative Interiors.

Getting started with Pinterest is easy. Simply set up an account with a profile and selected settings. There’s an option to automatically connect to your company’s Twitter account and Facebook page. You can also elect to: make your Pinterest profile open to search engines, set your location to better attain geo-targeted traffic, add your company’s website URL and relevant keywords to your profile.

Once you set up an account, install a button to your browser’s toolbar that is used to “pin” an image that you want to save. After that, it’s a matter of “pinning” other people’s content, attracting followers (like Facebook and Twitter) and eventually adding your own boards with images and descriptions of your products or projects.

Perhaps the most powerful business application for Pinterest is the ability to post images of a specific branded products on separate Pinterest boards titled however you like, and link them back to your website – in essence, creating a virtual store catalog. Other ways a business can use Pinterest: create a special deal or coupon for your followers, host a sweepstakes or other contest, collect valuable feedback, display a brand’s personality, or recognize and thank customers.

For more on making Pinterest work for you, contact Walt Denny Inc. at 708-246-4211, email walt@waltdenny.com or visit www.waltdenny.com.

Since its founding in 1989, Walt Denny Inc., a full service public relations and advertising agency, has been The Home Products Agency, working with a national client base and building each organization’s positive brand awareness through bold results and individualized strategies. Client experience includes industry-leading organizations such as Whirlpool, KitchenAid, HomeCrest Cabinetry, Knauf Insulation, The Tapco Group, Johnson Hardware, Amerock, a division of Newell-Rubbermaid and Leaders Bank. Follow us on twitter @waltdennyinc, join us on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/WDILinkedIn or like us on www.facebook.com/WaltDennyInc.

  


Early adopters of Pinterest – overwhelmingly women ages 25-44 – helped propel it to success. This key demographic is among the top group of decision influencers for the home furnishings industry.

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