If your brand still isn’t using Pinterest, then it’s time to step in and take advantage of its enormous popularity – by now, it’s certain that Pinterest isn’t a fad, so don’t wait anymore. Since Pinterest has been made primarily for the B2C market, running contests in one of the most effective strategies on Pinterest: it is easy, can be inexpensive and it will help you engage with your audience in the ways that will increase referral traffic to your website and generate buzz about your brand. Really, any business that relies on driving a high-volume of website traffic to increase sales, should consider joining Pinterest. Research indicates that Pinterest is more effective at driving traffic to websites than any other social platform, even Facebook.
Here is why you should run a contest on Pinterest:
- Pinterest is the third most popular social network in the U.S. in terms of traffic.
- Pinterest has accumulated 14.9 million users as of July 2012.
- Pinterest is retaining and engaging users as much as 2-3 times more efficiently than Twitter was at a similar time in its history.
- Over 80% of pins are repins, demonstrating the tremendous “virality” at work in the Pinterest community.
- Pinterest accounted for 3.6% of referral traffic as of January 2012.
- Shoppers referred by Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase than visitors who arrive from other social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.
Several brands have already started launching contests using Pinterest. The idea is to get users to create a pinboard on their own account to demonstrate what they love about your brand, products or services. Here are two examples:
Zulily “Win $100 Cash – Pin to Win Contest”
Zulily’s ”Pin to Win” contest got customers to create a board on Pinterest and pin items for their kids’ fall wardrobe from the Zulily website. They even incorporated Twitter into the marketing mix by adding the hashtags #zulily and #fall in each caption. Here’s the gist of the contest.
- Follow Zulily on Pinterest
- Sign up for their emaill list, unless already subscribed
- Users created a pinboard called ”Kids’ Fall Essentials”
- Users pinned one of ”Fall Essentials Pinables” to their board
- Users pinned at least 20 kids’ fall essentials from Zulily
- Included #zulily and #fall in the caption of each pin
- Users submited board’s URL and kept pinning until the contest ended on 8/10
- Winner received $100.00
Victoria’s Secret Most Repins/Votes Contest
In this type of contest, entrants create pinboards/pins based on contest rules. Users like/repin or vote on the entries, and as the name suggests, eh entry with the most votes wins. Take a look at how Victoria Secret ran this contest.
World-famous brand of women’s wear Victoria’s Secret is making great use of Pinterest contests. After successfully running their Dreaming of a PINK Summer Pinterest contest and receiving thousands of entries, Victoria’s Secret launchedanother alluring Pinterest challenge: My Victoria’s Secret Summer, from July 6, 2012 to August 20, 2012.
To participate in the contest, users have to go to the contest details page at Victoria’s Secret Facebook page. Participants then pin at least three images from the Victoria’s Secret fan page or website and create a pinboard.
The six best pinboards are selected, and the one that receives most votes wins the grand prize. Victoria’s Secret has also created a detailed set of terms and conditions for the contest, which is a great thing in order to protect the company in case of any disputes.
The best thing is, Victoria’s Secret is not only promoting their products, but also is increasing traffic to their Facebook fan page and website through the contest. This is an excellent strategy to maximize the returns on your contest, while also making the contest more interesting for participants.
Here are the details of the contest:
- Create a Pinterest board and name it “My Victoria’s Secret Summer.”
- Pin the entry image from Victoria’s Secret Facebook page, at least three images from VictoriasSecret.com, and summer-inspired pics to your pinboard.
- Once done, submit email-id and the board’s URL on Victoria’s Secret Facebook page.
- A panel of judges, including Victoria’s Secret model Candice Swanepoel, will select six finalists from all eligible entries.
- The finalist entries will be displayed on the Victoria’s Secret Facebook page and visitors will vote for the grand-prize winner.
Prize: One grand-prize winner will receive a $1,000 Victoria’s Secret gift card. Five first-prize winners will each receive a $200 Victoria’s Secret gift card.
Check out how other businesses are using Pinterest in their social media marketing strategies. Pinterest has dedicated a board focusing solely on businesses that are running contests on Pinterest. Check it out! http://pinterest.com/pinterestbiz/pinterest-contests/
Pinterest Contest Best Practices
- Review Pinterest’s terms and conditions before creating your contest.
- Set goals and objectives you want to achieve with your Pinterest campaign.
- Create a contest with your target audience and goals in mind.
- Choose a prize that will excite and engage your audience.
- Have clear and simple participation rules.
- Create an attractive landing page, clearly describing your contest, including terms and conditions. Encourage social sharing of the contest.
- Utilize your existing audience to promote the contest, blast out the contest to your email lists, blog, Facebook/Twitter or other social media presence.
- Make sure that images are repinnable and linked to the correct landing pages.
- Utilize pin descriptions to include clear copy. This will help you reach a wider audience—beyond the first repin.
If your business has had success in crafting contests for Pinterest, please share your successes and “lessons learned” with us!
Source: Social Media Examiner
