Pinterest Growing for Retailer Engagement
According to a 2012 social- and mobile-commerce study, Pinterest is leading the way in engaging consumers and retailers with social media. The study—a joint research project by Shop.org, comScore and The Partnering Group—reports that consumers follow an average of 9.3 retail companies on Pinterest, compared with an average of 6.9 retailers on Facebook and 8.5 retailers on Twitter.
Nearly 38 percent of online consumers follow retailers through one or more social-networking sites, with YouTube, Facebook and company blogs commanding the majority of consumers’ social activity, according to the report. Seventy percent of consumers who follow a retailer’s blog click through to the website, and more than two-thirds of shoppers use YouTube to browse and research a retail company.
“Retailers have done a commendable job embracing social media—engaging their customers where it makes sense while keeping their brand relevant, interesting, appealing and exciting on each platform,” said Vicki Cantrell, executive director of Shop.org. “Specifically, Pinterest has given retailers another channel to ‘listen’ to and interact with both existing and new customers, telling an ongoing visual story through images of their products and their brand ‘spirit’—a story that customers can then tell again to their friends and family members.”
The study found that discovering good deals is still the leading reason consumers follow retailers on social media, but obtaining information on discounts and promotions is not as popular as it once was.
Last year, 58 percent of consumers said they follow a retailer for this reason. This year, the number dropped to 51 percent. More than 40 percent are looking for product information, and 36 percent follow in order to post or read comments about merchandise and services, the report states.—Deidre Crawford
