From mild distraction to “very Pinteresting”

Observation:   A story from yesterday’s Marketing Daily newsletter explains that Pinterest—a relative newcomer to social sharing—is beginning to play a serious role in the way that consumers are influencing each other… and companies are starting to take notice.  Click here to see the MD story.

Implications:   Word-of-mouth has long been the omnipotent form of endorsement advertising, as one friend tells another about the positive attributes of a product, service or experience.  Through testimonials, many companies have used word-of-mouth even in their paid mass media.  At its root, whether you’re talking about Pinterest, Facebook or any other social site, social marketing is about giving customers something to talk about… in a favorable way.

Also interesting to note:  Pinterest seems to be the most fun when participants are sharing “person-to-person,” rather than when someone pins a business entity to one of their boards.

Pinterest facilitates word-of-mouth.  Have you done the same?  Before you launch a social marketing campaign… ask yourself whether you’ve launched an experience or product that’s worth talking about.  Someone once shared this simple bit of advice on the topic of successful social marketing:  Before it can be marketing, it must be social. 

Mike Anderson, for the Elm Street Economics consumer trends blog. A service of The Center for Sales Strategy, Inc.