Pinterest - The Only Social Network Needed for Luxury Brands?

Katie suggested I write this blog post after we listened to Jo Malone at a recent Red Network Event talk about how her brand, Jo Loves, uses social media. When Jo told us that she was debating the future of the Jo Loves Facebook page, the audience gasped! Pinterest is the social network of choice for the future of her luxury brand.

What is Pinterest?

'Pinterest is a tool for collecting and organising the things that inspire you' according to the Pinterest team and I think the word 'inspire' sums up what Pinterest is perfectly... a place to gain inspiration from, whether it be for your next adventure, wedding or interior design - there's a pin for nearly everything!

Going back to basics, Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo-sharing social network. Users can create 'boards' containing theme-based photos or videos (pins). Pins can be uploaded by the user, repinned (similar to retweeted) from other people's boards or taken directly from a website. Users can also like and comment on their favourite pins and follow other people's (and brand's) boards.

Although development of Pinterest began in only 2009, it's now the third most popular social networking site in the world. It gains 104 million hits per week but still a lot less than Facebook's seven billion! 

Take a look at Pinterest's 'Pinning 101' for the basics here. 

Who Uses Pinterest?

Ok, we know how popular Pinterest is but who actually uses it? If I tell you the most popular Pinterest boards are DIY/Crafts, Recipes then Quotes and the most popular pin source is handmade and vintage online store Etsy... would it surprise you to know that 80% of Pinterest users are female!?

The average female users are aged between 23 and 34 (Facebook's is 18 to 24) with an increased disposable income than those on other social networking sites, plus users follow 2.4 more brands on Pinterest than they do on Facebook. If we go back to the title of this blog post, we can start to build an understanding of why luxury brands often choose to focus their efforts on Pinterest.

Who's Doing it Well?

Mashable reported that the most popular branded boards are surrounding food, fashion, home and weddings - topics already popular with Pinterest's female users.

The rundown of the three most popular boards by followers...
1. L.L. Bean – Woodland Creatures
2. Jetsetter – Daily Moment of Zen
3. Nordstrom – Garden Wedding Ideas

Two brands that I follow and admire on Pinterest are Sephora and Jetsetter, with Jetsetter being featured in the top three above.

I first stumbled upon beauty brand Sephora when I visited Paris with my mum and best friend for my thirteenth birthday and automatically fell in love with the place so I suppose I am a little biased, but I love their activity on Pinterest. The brand really engages and gives something back to their followers through their design inspiration boards (Nailspotting), how-to boards (Get the Look and PRO Tips), shopping inspiration boards and also 'Sephora Sweepstakes'. Interestingly, according to Sephora, their Pinterest followers spend 15 times more than their Facebook fans.

Onto Jetsetter which fits in perfectly with Pinterest's aim of being a tool to inspire... it is an online travel site that gives members great offers on everything related to travel including hotels and tours along with sharing expert knowledge on the world's best destinations. Pinterest users love their inspirational travel images, insider tips and travel quotes. They have 4.5 million followers!

Why Luxury Brands?

Pinterest is an inspirational, visual and positive and, above all, aspirational social network. The reason luxury brands work so well on the platform is that users pin things they aspire to have and create a visual map through Pinterest of going ahead and achieving it, whether it's booking that five star hotel or treating themselves to luxury products.

Luxury brands aren't missing a trick when it comes to Pinterest as the network generates 27% more revenue per click than Facebook and drives more referral traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined! Plus, Pinterest users are 10% more likely to make a purchase than if they were referred from Facebook and spend 10% more!

 As I've said before, along with Instagram, Pinterest is my favourite social network due to the positive and inspirational elements of the platform. It is addictive though due to its simple design, the minimal effort needed to use the site and the separation from all the personal (and often very boring!) status updates and picture uploads you will find on Facebook. Due to its addictive nature, I'd recommend you, like me, limit yourself to pinning a number of pins in any one session (mine is five!) this stops you getting carried away with endless pinning into the early hours!

I'm off to pin just five pins now... find me on Pinterest here and our 'Katie & Jane' Pinterest boards here - have fun!

Jane x