Introduction
The social media is a phenomenon that has taken the world by storm. Due to the simple idea of connecting people through the internet, the world has witnessed the development of several platforms through which people can network with business partners, communicate with distant friends and relatives, share opinions and pictures, and market their products and services.
Pinterest has recorded the fastest rate of growth in the social media industry having attained the level of receiving ten million original visitors per month within the shortest period (Boorstin par. 1). This was a faster growth rate as compared to the likes of Facebook and Twitter which are the largest social media sites (Shabat par. 6). This paper evaluates the growth rate, size, profitability and positioning of Pinterest so as to boost the level of understanding on how social networks prosper.
Growth rate
The growth rate of Pinterest has been impressive since its inception in 2010. Boorstin reported that between mid January and mid February 2012, Pinterest grew at a rate of 85% (par. 2). This was marked by the entry of millions of new users as visitors browsed through the website to familiarize themselves with the new social media.
This was the same period in which the company achieved 10 million registered visitors. The fast rate of growth however slowed down in the next month since Pinterest only managed a rate of 18%. However, Comscore reported that there was a growth rate of 52% in March which saw the social media gain a total of over 17.5 million registered users (Hempel par. 2). In comparison to Pinterest, Twitter grew from 4 million users to 20 million users within a period of three months.
By March 2012, Pinterest had recorded history as far as the World Wide Web is concerned.
Graph showing Pinterest growth rate between October 2011 and March 2012
Image retrieved from Web.
Table showing Traffic report for Pinterest in February 2012
Image retrieved from Web.
The social site took advantage of developments such as the Amazon cloud services which made scalability easier (Jackson par. 1). What attracts visitors to the site is the way Pinterest enables users to organize and gather information and have others view the results. In short, this social media uses images to achieve what Facebook and Twitter did using wordings (O’Brien par. 1).
Size
According to Jackson, Pinterest operates using only 12 members. Among this team is the CEO and co-founder Silbermann, Sharp the other co-founder and Tim Kendall who previously worked as the director of monetization for Facebook (Hempel par. 5). This is hard to believe since the social site handles large amounts of data and millions of users.
In March 2012, the social media managed 100 million visits (O’Brien par. 1). Pinterest is not yet the size of Facebook and Twitter which are the largest social media available. In March 2012, Pinterest recorded a total of 17.8 million registered users to make it the fastest growing social media in history.
In October 2010, Pinterest was valued at $200 million from after the deal with Andreessen Horowitz which raised $27 million (Hempel par. 4). O’Brien brings out that Pinterest would currently be worth approximately $550 million. The value of the company would however increase to nearly 4 billion US Dollars if it were to be taken over by Twitter or Facebook.
This is in light with the recent acquisition of Istagram by Facebook which was worth $1 billion. If Instagram could be bought at that price, then the worth of Pinterest will be much more going by its growth rate. This is why its valuation is estimated to be worth four times the price paid by Facebook. The price of acquisition would be higher than the actual valuation of Pinterest because if any process of a take over is initiated at the moment, it would be a move to gain mileage from aggressive competitors.
Positioning
Pinterest makes use of people’s desire to be social through the use of images. The use of images was a modification to the popular use of text by other social sites. It was however a unique idea given that Pinterest gave more attention to images as opposed to text. Pinterest thus positioned itself as a social media that focuses on the promotion of images.
Images are an essential part of advertising since they create visual stimulation. Images attract the attention of an audience because of the observable characteristics and details of the visual effect of things that are posted. Pinterest therefore attracts many people who wish to advertise their products since the social media promotes the use of images.
Pinterest is an effective marketing communications tool for many companies. Because of the millions of surfers who visit social media, there is a large audience from which marketers can identify potential customers. The process of developing effective marketing communication involves identifying a target audience, determining objectives, designing communications, selecting channel, establishing budget, choosing media mix, measuring results and finally managing IMC.
Pinterest makes it easier for marketers to communicate to the customers who have been identified as potential buyers. They can post pictures of their products (the message) on the social media and have millions of viewers see and provide feedback on their opinions. Pinterest also makes it easy for marketers to manage the marketing communications process since their accounts are adjustable due to administrator rights which allow them to remove unwarranted comments and edit where wrong information is posted (control).
Pinterest is also used by marketers to implement advertising programs. Kotler’s 5Ms that are useful in advertising are adopted in this case to address elements of money and measurement (Kotler 5). After the mission is decided by an advertiser, the images act as the message while the site is the media.
The large numbers of visitors that flock this social media make it the ideal platform for marketers to display their products. If someone opens the Pinterest website, what comes up on the screen even if it is a new user are dozens of products that different people are advertising.
Pinterest appeals as an ideal media because it saves marketers millions of advertising costs since it is free to operate an account. The audience targeted also does not have to pay so as to be able to access information on the site. Pinterest also does not charge per post and so advertisers can post as many pictures as they want. This is also a good advertising media since geographical location does not influence the reach of marketing communication messages.
Profitability
Pinterest obtains profits from advertisements made by large corporations such as multinationals. The company also strategically benefits when the site’s visitors make purchases as a result of clicking certain links of adverts found on the social media page. This works out in the sense that the advertisers offer a sales cut whenever purchases are made by visitors of Pinterest.
According to Segall, these links refer visitors to online shopping sites such as eBay (EBAY FORTUNE 500) and Amazon (AMZN FORTUNE 500) (par. 3). This approach to revenue creation has been objected by some people while others support the company’s strategy of meeting its technical costs. Hence, Pinterest generates revenue without having to interfere with the activities of surfers as it simply adds moneymaking links to advertisements.
Branding marketing mix
Pinterest has successfully implemented the marketing mix in its strategy. It has branded its services through its positioning strategy. The company’s implementation of the marketing mix has contributed to the successful branding process since Pinterest has become very popular. The product of Pinterest can be described as pin design organization in social media. The pricing strategy involves no cost to users of the site since it is social media.
By operating in the internet, the place element does not bother the company since the internet is available globally. Promotional activities involve Pinterest marketing itself through blogs and adverts on other sites. Pinterest uses a small team to handle all operations and this enables them to be effective in dispensing duties and implementing strategies.
The people element simplifies the process of management and operations of Pinterest. The physical evidence of Pinterest is the most observable element of the marketing mix since an attractive display of products, images, text and banners are brought to the screen when the site is opened.
Conclusion
Pinterest is the fastest growing social media in history. The innovative idea to develop a pin design has taken the world by storm. The social media has managed to attract visitors who have a shopping mindset to its site. This has made advertisers to flock in large numbers as they display images of their products in an attempt to generate sales. Hence, Pinterest has grown to become one of the best platforms for marketers to implement their marketing communication strategies.
Works Cited
Boorstin, Julia. Pinterest’s Growth Comes Back to Earth. 2012. Web.
Hempel, Jessi. Is Pinterest the next Facebook? 2012. Web.
Jackson, Joab. Amazon Cloud Set Stage for Rapid Pinterest Growth. 2012. Web.
Kotler, Keller. Managing Mass Communications. Web.
O’Brien, Sara A. Why all of the Pinterest: New website brings your offline collections to Internet. 2012. Web.
Segall, Laurie. Pinterest quietly profits off its users’ links. 2012. Web.
Shabat, Omri. Pinterest At The Top 30 US Sites, Sends More Referral Traffic Than Twitter. 2012. Web.