Social Media Analytics: Starting Points for Measuring Interest on Pinterest

This Pinterest Board, featuring an embedded Google Hangout Video, is an example of what Pinterest users typically discover and how unique content can make a difference

If you are like most people with a smartphone and a penchant for conversation, you want to share images with friends and family. One of the most popular for image sharing has been Pinterest. And if you are running a business or developing a marketing strategy for a business, you may want to take a closer look at analytic tools to measure Pinterest performance.

Stats regarding Pinterest as an attractive platform for women are well known. A Pew Institute study in late 2012 revealed a now well-known discovery that women were 5 times as likely as men to use Pinterest. More recently RJMetrics noted a sizable female presence in its study, suggesting topics that garner pins from women.

This trend plays a critical role in retail strategy. Women have been influential in major consumer purchase decisions - this Carconnection.com post notes women extending an influence in car purchases to friends and colleagues. Understandably this demographic aspect has been valuable to marketers looking to build a brand.

But other trends on Pinterest have developed since that Pew report:

• Consumers are discovering the search capability on Pinterest. In July 2014, Pinterest redesign its subject pages to displayed more nuanced sub-topics. This change introduced new ways for a product, service, or brand to be discovered and shared.
• Although usage remains low, men are acknowledging that Pinetrest influences their decision to buy. According to comScore, 25% of men survey make purchases after they had discovered the product or service on Pinterest
• Pinterest is influencing eCommerce. Business Insider noted that 23% of global commerce is attributed to Pinterest influence. So Pinterest a key in online retail strategy almost irrespective of region with a robust internet commerce environment.
• Pinterest is a way to access people while mobile. TechCrunch reported that 75% of Pinterest users access the site through mobile.
• Pinterest is increasingly introducing marketing tools as a result of all the, er, interest. Website magazine reported on the successful insights gained from a beta run of promoted pins. These are pins which brand pay to have pins exposed with a broad reach similar to other earned media such as paid search ads. Advertising on Pinterest is expected to widely available during 2015 according to Business Insider.
• Mashable noted that Pinterest had a higher referral traffic rate than other social media platforms such as Linked In. This is extremely meaningful for analytics practitioners. The

These stats plus other discoveries is making Pinterest an excellent referral traffic source for segments. This makes the platform more targeted than other social media platforms in some instances.

So where do you start to measure its Pinterest activity?

Monitoring the number of pins over time may feel like the obvious first metrics choice. Pinterest makes this metric available in Pinterest Analytics, a set of dashboards with each profile.

But analytics reporting only on the number of pins does not delve into the potential reasons for why people share and pin images. The end result for businesses analyzing the activity is an overlook of meaningful behavior that can influence strategic marketing decisions.

To increase the sophistication, look at the metrics under the three dashboard segments in Pinterest Analytics:

• Your Pinterest Profile - this displays three engagement metrics: Impressions, Repins, and Clicks. The results are shown in a time graph, with adjustable date ranges available. Top Impression and Repins are also available, as well as 30 day historical data. This is helpful in gaining a sense of the top pins and impressions.
• Activity from Your Website - This board appears similar to the Your Pinterest Profile; The same metrics and dimensions appear on both boards, as well as the historical data. The significant difference lies with where the data is sourced. This board is meant to related a company website assets (pin buttons, etc.) to activity on the Pinterest profile. This helps to relate corrleations between Pinterest board activity and conversion activity at the website. One installation note: This dashboard requires website verification to reveal the data, so check at the Pinterest site for verification procedures.
• Your Audience - This board offers demographic metrics - country, city, language, and gender breakdown of the board visitors. There is also an interest picture board to display additional topics that your board visitors typically see. The Your Audience board initiates discussion regarding what would interest Pinterest followers further - from local topics such as sports to language specific description on images.

Other Analytics Tools Available

Like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest has berthed a series of support tools that make managing the platform easier. Here are a few resources that can be used alongside Pinterest Analytics reports

• Pinerly is a tool that permits users to create a pin from an uploaded image and URL. An analytics dashboard is included. This makes a great option for adding analytics tags to the URL in a similar manner to paid search ads.
• Vraltag (originally called Pingraphy) is a scheduler application similar to Hootsuite and Tweetdeck. Pins can be deployed to be posted later. Using a scheduler can save time in increasing engagement without having to log on every time.The platform cost is $4/month and up.
• Piquora - this is also a scheduler platform for Pinterest and Instagram. The features allow users to schedule pins and image shares, respectively.
• PinAlerts - This platform operates similarly to Google Alerts. It lets users know when someone has pinned something on the site
• Tailwind (Pinreach) - Tailwind acquired Pinreach in 2014, and renamed it as . It has an scoring system to measure performance, trending number
• Curalate - This platform, like Piquora, also extends usage beyond Pinterest to other social media platforms. It monitors image analytics on Pinterest, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr. The solution offers pin-to-purchase tracking, which helps marketers attribute revenue to pins.

Overall, businesses are discovering new ways to measure Pinterest pins performance. These analytic solutions can reveal a branding story about products and services, and potentially bring companies closer to their customers.