Sunday 26 February 2012

A new social media player in town…

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With a staggering figure of 1 billion users expected to be using Facebook by August of this year, Google + reported to have reached the 100 million member mark earlier this week and Twitter to reach 500 million uses by the end of March, there may not be a better time for businesses to exploit these platforms – however have we got a new player on the social media horizon?
Largely gone under the radar of many social media users, Pinterest has slowly become ever more popular over the last year and with this week’s announcement of Facebook’s IPO filing there have been many people looking into the competition that the market leader will face going forward – and there is one on the tips of many tongues…and that is this latest social media craze.
Pinterest can be best described as a virtual pinboard which allows users to post, collect and share their favourite images and ideas from anything from photographs to recipes with other users. One benefit that is brought to light by Pinterest is that “Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests” and this one major user ‘selling point’ discussed by the platform – the sharing of interests.

The site has been around since March 2010 but has recently exploded into life reaching over 5 million users at the turn of the year. Currently getting set up on Pinterest is only achieved through requesting an invitation but with the current high demand and media interest surrounding the platform this is likely to change in the near future to help build its social profile presence in the market.
The ideas surrounding this latest concept are seemingly endless, but one area of interest is how this could be used in the world of business as part of a social media marketing strategy. One difference that Pinterest will bring to companies is the ability to visually illustrate the company and connect with customers through a vastly different marketing channel – a major difference to the likes of Facebook and Twitter that is mainly based through text. A further highlighted feature that could be incorporated into a strategy is the use of ‘group pinning’ which would allow brands to promote within a topic related community pinboard – potentially targeting specific market segments.
Going into the new year social media will continue to play a major part role for organisations to utilise as part of their marketing strategies. However it is key to remain alert and at the forefront of this ever changing social media market, so could this be the year for yet another major player to make their introduction? I believe it’s just around the corner…

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