As one of the fastest growing social networking sites and recently equaling Twitter in terms of membership, Pinterest has evolved from being an online scrapbooking site to a powerful marketing tool. Now, with the recent unveiling of Pinterest Web Analytics for verified websites, businesses can gain deeper insights on what role Pinterest plays in their overall marketing mix and how they can use visual content to reach more audience and ultimately, make more sales. After being confronted too many times with the question“what are people pinning from my websites?” Pinterest Web Analytics is definitely a milestone in solidifying its position as a social platform with a strong business purpose.
How Can You Get Access to Pinterest Web Analytics?
There are a few things you need to do before you can get access to the brand new Pinterest Web Analytics. First, you have to make sure that you have a Pinterest business account. For existing Pinterest users, you can convert your “regular” account to a business account. The next step is for you to get “early access” to Pinterest’s new look.
The Pinterest Web Analytics only works for business account holders with verified websites as this allows Pinterest and your site to exchange information and track traffic between the two sites. If you’ve just verified your site, you will not see the information you need immediately as Pinterest is still culling the data it needs for it to run analytics.
What to Look for in Pinterest Web Analytics
In the Site Metrics tab of your Pinterest Web Analytics, you will be able to collect data on the number of people the pinned images from your site, the number of people that have seen these pins and the traffic that are being redirected from your Pinterest account to your website.
There are also three other tabs which will show you the most recent, most repinned and most clicked pins.
More specifically, Pinterest Web Analytics will give you the following information:
- The pins and repins your site is getting and the number of unique visitors that are pinning and repinning within a specific timeframe
- The impressions and reach your pins are generating and the number of clicks they are getting, as well as the number of site visitors you are attracting through your pins. Pinterest Web Analytics also displays the percentage increase or decrease between two periods
Seeing the Bigger Picture: Impact of Pinterest Analytics on Social Media Marketing
Pinterest said that there will be more tools that will be launched in the near future but the launch of Pinterest Web Analytics is enough to send social media managers jumping up and down in joy.
Just like how Google Analytics has helped SEO professionals to track links and determine which keywords or search terms to target, Pinterest Web Analytics can give marketers an idea how successful their Pinterest campaigns are. More specifically, Pinterest Web Analytics will give social media experts insights to the following questions:
- What visual content is resonating with your target market and prospective customers?
- How is your audience interacting with your pins and your website?
With Pinterest Web Analytics will allow businesses to pinpoint what their most engaging and effective content are resulting in more targeted campaigns. It’s also a great jump off point to collect empirical and measurable data if you want to test a new visual content strategy – run it for a few days and check whether it’s getting traction from your audience.
And if you think this will only impact your Pinterest marketing strategy, it’s much bigger than that. Just a couple of weeks ago, Facebook announced that it will be revamping its Timeline format to sport a more photo-driven design. The idea of using Pinterest as a testing ground on which photos would work on Facebook is not far fetch.
Using Pinterest Web Analytics to Boost E-Commerce
Among all social networking sites, Pinterest is driving the most sales, both in terms of volume and transaction amount. This is especially true for B2C enterprises (the benefit of Pinterest to B2B businesses is yet to be explored).According to Bizrate Insights, 69% of online shoppers who go to Pinterest have seen an item they purchased or wanted to purchase, compared to 40% of Facebook users. Further, according to popular open source ecommerce platform Shopify, the average order amount from Pinterest is $80, twice the $40 average order amount from Facebook.
With the newly launched Pinterest Web Analytics, you can now identify which pins are driving traffic to your ecommerce site and which ones are generating sales.Additionally, you will also gain insight on which product photos your customers are pinning from your online store that you should be pinning as well.
Overall, B2C businesses can now approach Pinterest marketing with a more targeted methodology. With Pinterest Web Analytics’ solid and concrete data, businesses can accurately identify which tactics and strategies are producing positive results.
Pinterest as a More Solid Player in Social Media Marketing
The rise of Instagram, the newly redesigned Facebook Timeline and the new Pinterest Web Analytics – all are proofs that visual content is dominating the social media space. With its number of users growing exponentially, even catching up with the more established social networks such as Twitter, and with statistics showing that its users are high converting, Pinterest is showing good potential as a strong marketing tool for businesses.
That being said, there are still Pinterest skeptics out there who are not yet convinced whether they need to include Pinterest in their marketing mix. The truth is, you may or may not need Pinterest to promote your products and services. However, best marketing practices dictate that you should be present in all customer touch points to increase the reach of your business.
With Pinterest Web Analytics, you can scientifically determine whether Pinterest is working for your business or not. If you’re new to Pinterest, you can sign up for a business account, be active for a specific period of time and check whether it’s producing the results you need. For existing Pinterest business users, you now have access to a wealth of information to make adjustment in your Pinterest campaigns.