Whilst reading an article by Business 2 Community, I was suprised to learn that Pinterest is the leading socal network for gift inspiration. Beating other huge game changers such as Instagram and YouTube by a huge percentage, Pinterest, with 47.7% of holiday inspiration spreading the word about products- in contrast with Instagram at 2.1% or Twitter at 4.4%. 

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(Infographic from Business 2 Community)

It is clear from this how Pinterest should be a huge priority for your holiday marketing strategy- if it wasn't on the straregy before, after seeing these statistics, I'm sure it will be!

Macy's and Jo Malone

Macy's boards are the top two here, 'Gifts for her' and 'Sparkle and Shine' and Jo Malone's board is the bottom screenshot, ''tis the season.' Despite both being popular brands with many followers, the engagement levels on the boards surrounded solely on their products, are almost half of what they recieve for more generalised- whilst still brand led- images on other boards- for example, a photo of a house gift wrapped in the Jo Malone bow with falling gift boxes on the board 'World of Jo Malone' recieved 74 repins, yet a photo of the Christmas cracker packaging some of her festive products are wrapped in, has just 4 repins. The same is said of Macy's demographics- they are much more likely to repin items which aren't emblazoned with the words 'Buy Now' on them, which is suprising since both boards are centered around those wanting to actively shop for themselves or loved ones since they're about gift guides. It is clear from the trends here, that hard selling on Pinterest isn't going to be as engaging to users, and so we're going to have to take a different approach. 

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Anthropologie

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This board from Anthropologie is a whole collection of fun ideas to help with your gift wrapping. Using images from their products, mixed in with submissions or things the creator of the board has found, the board has high engagement levels with some pins recieving 600+ repins it mixes ideas and their products together- and there is the underlying thought that you could use these techniques or creative inspiration to gift wrap one of Anthropologie's products. This board isn't new for Christmas 2015, you can see the progression of it, but the fact engagment is so much higher proves some creativity over products is definately a winning formula for Anthropologie.

Lush

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As always, there's an exception to the rule. Whilst people might not want to repin products from brands' gift guides, they seem to enjoy the prospect of limited edition products. Year on year, Lush bring out a seasonal Christmas range- it is these repeat products that seem to recieve the highest engagement, Lush seem to be doing great festive marketing by only releasing the products for a few short weeks which could be why their board has recieved a high level of excitement.

Obviously, we don't know the return on the engagement we are able to view; if Macy's and Jo Malone get a higher click through rate, however, we do know, that if someone pins, likes, retweets- the list really does go on- your product, there is a much higher percentage they will buy your product.

Some quick tips:

– When pinning your products from your website, make sure each product has individual captions, even for similar products, e.g. the same design but different products- showcase the individuality of each product, it will make your board more of a captivating read- prolonged attention on your product is more likely to lead to a sale

– Don't cram your boards with all your products. If a consumer wants to view your products, they will go on your website. Put photos your customers have taken of your items, related photos, images of your items in different environments or on different models- someone buying a dress for example might seek out other images before they buy them to see them in further detail/ wish to view them on a body type similar to their own

– Have a variety of good quality photos different to those you have on any other platform, it will show people they have to follow you on multiple platforms to see everything your business has to offer

– Pin across a range of boards and add new pins gradually instead of all at once

– Board titles and Pin descriptions are searchable on the Pinterest search bar- use keywords!

– There are now 5 types of 'Rich Pins' where you can add price and a buying function to your products, if you do this, remember not to have every product you produce on one single board- space them out!!!

– Comment and like other users pins that are relatable to your own so they may in turn click on your profile and engage with your content

– When pinning, ensure you're pinning legitimate websites- don't have your customers clicking on links to dead end websites or something that has a wrong link attached that leads off somewhere random

– Create Christmas festive boards that aren't completely based on the products you're selling, take inspiration from Anthropologie and think outside the box, you can always relate it back to your product (note how they did by using their products as gift tags) but this will increase interest and engagement.