Pinning Politics: Why You Should Care about

Right Online 2012Las Vegas, NV

Adrienne RoyerJune 15, 2012

Pinterest Basics

• Pinterest is a digital bookmarking network designed to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting.“

• Started in 2008

• Launched in 2010

• Valued at $1.5 billion in May

• Employs 36 people

Why is Pinterest Successful?

• Pinterest breaks down the silos of creative, lifestyle and female-oriented blogs• Allows research to be informative, social and FUN!• Saves & bookmarks “I might need that one day” information in a visually appealing and simplistic order

Why Are Women Important?

• 9 out of 10 women are the primary shopper for their family

• Women buy or influence 85% of all consumer purchases

• American women spend about $5 trillion annually, which is more than half of the U.S. GDP

• 22% shop online at least once a day

• 92% pass along information about deals or finds to others

• 171: average number of contacts in their e-mail or mobile lists

• 78% want to be part of a special or select panel

• 58% would toss a TV if they had to get rid of one digital device (only 11% would ditch their laptops)

• 51% are moms

Source: She-Economy.com

What Do Women Think?

• 59% of women feel misunderstood by food marketers• 66% feel misunderstood by health care marketers• 74% feel misunderstood by automotive marketers• 84% feel misunderstood by investment marketers•91% of women in one survey said that advertisers don’t understand them•70% of new businesses are started by women

Source: She-Economy.com

Pinning PoliticsIndirect way to engage female voters on political issues

• Never directly be “Go vote for Mitt or Obama” but good way to present facts about each candidate and personalize them

• People will tune out political information, but Pinterest is a backdoor sell

Pinning Politics• Good use for parody: fakemittromney, mrsobama• Potential to be used as a public form of oppo research/monitoring• Track how much Michelle Obama spends on clothes

• Advocacy: easy to share simple messages• Share photos and simple calls to action (Samaritan’s Purse)

• Infographics• Quotes• Photos• Great way to get official campaign photos out there

• Event/grassroot organizing ideas• Just as people use Pinterest to plan a wedding, you can use it to plan a tea party or

AFP event• Fundraising• Have a board to thank donors (if willing to be disclosed)• Feature items for a silent or live auction

Benefits of Pinterest

• Linking account to Facebook & keeps activity going that is indexed by Google

• Pin descriptions use keywords and hashtags

• Adding “pin it” buttons to sites, connects the two & encourages visitors to capture links to your site

• Pinterest information in Google Analytics is more descriptive

Pin EtiquetteUnlike Facebook and Twitter, it’s acceptable to pin in bursts throughout the day. *Be careful if your Twitter and Facebook accounts are linked to your feeds.

• Try to pin at least once a day to keep your boards fresh.• Always link back to the original source of a pin

for attribution.• Always click through the link before re-pinning

to make sure the link is correct and works.

How to Use Pinterest?Build Relationships• Pinterest is a 2-way communications method

•Follow people back! Following is voluntary. Your followers are brand ambassadors.

•Re-pin and like other people and brand’s pins. Don’t pin in a vacuum.

• Comment on other pins

• Track who is re-pinning you and follow back!

• Make your pins sound like a real person wrote them. Don’t wrote in Press Release!

• Use other networks to build followers from Facebook, Twitter and email

• Add “pin this” and “Follow us on Pinterest” buttons to your site

Be a Pinterest Pro• Always use descriptive content for each pin. • 500 character limit

• Like Twitter, you can use hashtags to emphasize keywords

• Connect with other pinners by using the @username like Twitter

• Adding the $ to pins, automatically categorizes them as gifts

• Make sure to add a description and category to each of your boards

• Be mindful of links. Make sure pin goes back to a webpage and not just a graphic

• If you have Flash on your website, make sure you have some graphics.

Websites need to have graphic files or videos to be pinnable.

Pinterest Needs PersonalityUse Personality• Authenticity is key. You need to be genuine and develop a voice for your brand.• The Obama campaign marks pins made by Michelle Obama as “-mo”• Be honest about who is pinning

• Don’t “sell” stuff. Drive relationships and traffic through information and visual elements that identify your organizations.

•Have fun!

•Not everything is about the bottom line. Social media won’t drive sales but it can assist them.

•Pin things that aren’t necessarily attached to your brand or organizations but relate to your identity.

Want More Information?

To see this presentation and additional infographics and articles, go to this board:

http://pinterest.com/adrienneroyer/pinning-politics/

Questions?

Contact me at aroyer@gmail.com or @AdrienneRoyer

Follow me on Pinterest! www.pinterest.com/AdrienneRoyer

Pinning Politics: Why You Should Care about

Right Online 2012Las Vegas, NV

Adrienne RoyerJune 15, 2012