Pinterest is the hot new social media platform for brands. So how can a company get the word out to fans and customers that they have a presence on the social media “pinboard”? For Lowe’s, the answer was easy: use Facebook. According to MediaPost, Lowe’s is one of the first major brands to use the new Pinterest Tabs module (part of social marketing firm Vitrue’s platform) to feature its Pinterest presence on Facebook.
Can a brand efficiently promote its presence on one social media platform through another? Lowe’s created a custom Pinterest tab on its Facebook page, which automatically takes content and activity from the brand’s Pinterest site. Lowe’s Facebook fans can see the brand’s 25 Pinterest boards, follow them on Pinterest, and interact with content (liking and pinning) — all without having to leave Facebook.
Vitrue’s tool includes analytics so brands can track how Facebook fans are interacting with Pinterest. What were the results of adding the Pinterest tab to Facebook?
- a 32% increase in followers of Lowe’s main Pinterest page (to more than 3,100)
- certain featured boards have seen gains of nearly 60% in followers
Lowe’s effort is based on a connection that is already happening: in February alone, 2 million people accessed Pinterest daily through Facebook, according to Facebook CTO Bret Taylor (MediaPost). Pinterest’s Open Graph app for Timeline allows users to easily share what they pin with Facebook friends. And Pinterest is also driving traffic back to Facebook – last November, Pinterest’s referrals to Facebook grew by 57%.
Lowe’s is playing up to what Vitrue calls the site’s “advertiser-attractive predominantly female demographic” by pinning images realted to home décor and DIY projects. Followers can then pin and share their own product pictures, videos and ideas on the Lowe’s Pinterest boards.
“The platform certainly lends itself to visual content and activities like remodeling, design, painting and other home projects. Consumers like to share and show off their projects – big or small,” says Brad Walters, Director of Social Media and Emerging Platforms at Lowe’s.
Vitrue says it plans to introduce additional Pinterest-friendly features in both publishing and analytics to its Social Relationship Management platform.
The Lowe’s increase in Pinterest followers happened while the Pinterest tab was the ‘default’ landing page for fans opening Lowe’s Facebook page. Now, a new sweepstakes is featured as the landing page, and soon default tabs will be a thing of the past as Facebook transitions all brand pages over to the new Timeline format by March 30th.
What will happen to this type of approach when Timeline becomes official for all brands? How will Lowe’s continue to make its Pinterest presence available to the brand’s 1 million Facebook fans, without the aid of a dedicated tab connecting to the site?
