As Social Media Traffic Grows, Pinterest Stands Out
By Hannah Ash, contributing writer
For Integrated Retailers, Pinterest Effectively Converts Social Content Into Sales Channel
No two social networks are alike, and, when it comes to converting social content to actual sales, newly released data shows Pinterest may be winning the race. It’s quite a race to win: according to the Experian Marketing Service’s 2014 Digital Marketer study, social media sites today are responsible for 7.72% of all traffic to retail Web sites. “Many of today’s marketers are leveraging the power of social communities to increase customer engagement and expand their brand’s reach. For retailers, all eyes are on Pinterest,” commented global research manager Bill Tancer, in the report.
Convertro, a marketing performance tracking company, in 2012 revealed that Pinterest yields a higher ROI: 4 times more revenue per click than Twitter and 27 percent more per click than Facebook. The 2014 Digital Marketer study reveals that the top five stores that have most utilized Pinterest are: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Nordstrom, and Zulily. A report released in 2013 by Searchmetrics indicates that Walmart, Amazon, and Apple are the three most shared retailers on Pinterest. These top retailers are finding ways to spark native conversations with Pinterest users. Target’s team, for example, created an online shop powered by Pinterest user recommendations called “Target Awesome Shop”; the shop seeks to deliver a curated experience that also includes data from Target’s trending products in addition to pinned items, Target communications manager Eddie Baeb explained.
Technology analyst and former America Online CEO Barry Schuler reflected, “Most of us think about social networks as just one of many things we do on the Internet. But they are evolving into something bigger--in fact, they are becoming the very fabric of the Internet.” As social media traffic continues to increase, and drive sales, those retailers who have embraced an omni-channel strategy are starting to see the pay-off: brick and mortar retailers Walmart, Target and Nordstrom all stand alongside online retailers Zulily and Amazon as Pinterest’s top retail brands. A 2012 Blogher study revealed data that 47% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from Pinterest: as social media traffic rises, this percentage surely will follow.