Each year has been defined in many ways to a type of technology or new social media platform. 2009 was the year of Twitter while 2010 was where we saw an increase of use of geolocation applications such as Gowalla and Foursquare. 2011 was focused on the use of QR codes and applications where people could update, check in, or share information as well as receive information from various personalized applications on their mobile devices (smartphones and tablets).
One of the new social networking sites that has been generating some buzz across the social media community has been Pinterest. Pinterest is a social media platform that allows you to share various visual elements via pins (photos, pictures, info graphics, etc) to the community that you have found online. Another way to look at this is a visual interactive platform where users can place specific tags (or in this place pins) on these visual documents which are then organized in similar categories. From looking at favorite ideas for weddings to specific info graphics related to a topic such as social media – Pinterest allows you also to network and follow other users who are placing these pins in these categories as well as comment and like each of these visual documents. Mashable has a great guide that is very informative about Pinterest – so you may want to check it out.
So – why would this be important for PR and crisis communications professionals? This was one question that I thought would be interesting to explore and discuss what are some ways Pinterest may be informative in both of these areas.
For public relations –
- Use for visual sharing of photos of products: The fashion community would love to post pictures of some of the upcoming fashion trends to get real-time feedback on what will be successful and what will not be successful. Other industries can feature their products in this manner as well on Pinterest. Victoria’s Secret and HGTV are just a few brands leading the way.
- Posting announcements to get feedback and dialogue among users: PR firms and other professionals can use Pinterest to be able to curate, collaborate, and comment on various photos and other documents posted on the site in real-time that may be useful for both research and practice purposes.
- Understanding our audience in a new way: This is a big research opportunity for PR professionals to look at what motivates people to come to a site like Pinterest to connect with others in similar interests and what drives them to start a networking conversation. I would be interested in looking at the impact eye tracker research would have on a site like this – definitely a good study to explore! 🙂
- Determining another element of social media influence: It will be interesting to see if there are influencers that are on Pinterest and this is the only place they are at – or if they are also on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites. It would be interesting to see what are their personality traits they are showcasing with this site that is either different or similar to their online personas on other social media platforms.
- Testing logos and visual components of campaign: Great way to get feedback and thoughts if this is a case for a PR campaign.
For crisis communications –
- Testing advertisements addressing crisis messages: There have been various brands (ex. Toyota and Taco Bell) who have taken to the traditional manner of having advertisements to address the crisis situation the brand faced. What about posting this on Pinterest – would this be a worthwhile venture?
- Early warning detection via photos: Like Flickr – one way to look at Pinterest is to monitor what people are sharing and placing brands into various categories. This is something that we can look at in terms of not only our external stakeholders, but also employees.
- Proactive measures in addressing new site into social media policies: One of the risks that a lot of brands and professionals run into is the fact that technology is increasing moving at a rapid speed, so we have to be aware of where our stakeholders are going to share and curate information.
- Education among key team members about Pinterest: This is an opportunity to have fellow team members look at the site to be aware of the new site and its risks and opportunities it has for crisis communication professionals.
- Opportunity to create and adapt research metrics: This would be another category for public relations professionals to look at what are the main metrics related to Pinterest like Facebook and Twitter have their metric items to be aware of.
In summary, these are just some ideas I have regarding Pinterest. I would be interesting in hearing what you all think about this new emerging social media platform and if 2012 is going to be the year for Pinterest. More discussion and conversations among both public relations researchers and practitioners (as well as those specializing in crisis communications) need to occur to initiate more research into this area.
Have a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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