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How to Win at Pinterest

These marketing managers weigh in on how they’re making the most of Pinterest, the imagery-focused social media platform. 

Jennifer Pinto
01/31/2018
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Three-season porch with plants, one chair and a lamp overhead
What are you pinning to your Pinterest boards? This one is on LIghtology's Junalo theme board.

A picture is worth a thousand words, or if you’re Pinterest, better make that two million. The social media platform's app recently broke the 200 millionth user mark. And for those of us who have unwittingly spent the better part of a day drooling over spa-inspired bathrooms, mixed-metal fixtures and living rooms with over-sized wall art, the milestone comes as no surprise. Pinterest is a feast for design-hungry eyes, and with literally billions of pictures to sift through, design lovers can’t get enough. Apparently, we’re not alone. 

“As of today, more than 200 million people use Pinterest every month,” wrote company co-founder Evan Sharp on the Pinterest blog in September 2017. “That’s 200 million people discovering new ideas and trying them in their real lives, from Salt Lake City to Rio to Tokyo. We’ve grown nearly 40 percent since last year.”

Pinterest’s continued success spells good news for designers and home decor retailers who use their company’s page as a marketing tool. Read on for a look at how these three industry players use Pinterest to boost their brand. 

Dominion Electric Supply Co., lighting showroom

Resident Pinterest guru: Patricia Jordan, marketing manager

Why we’re on Pinterest: We started out as an electrical supply business, but today we have three lighting showrooms in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area. Our showroom clients are very visual, and Pinterest is, obviously, also very visual. By posting regularly, we’re establishing Dominion as a great resource for home decor ideas and inspiration. It also allows us to showcase projects our designers have worked on as well as the gorgeous lighting people can find in our showrooms.

How often we pin: Weekly is ideal, but we post more often during and after a market when our buyers come back with news on all the trends. 

What we’re pinning: Anytime we’re able to get professional photography of one of our designers’ projects, we want to get those up onto one of our boards. I also love our market trends boards, where we post what’s trending at Lightovation. 

Living room with gray sofa and three white pendants hanging above
Dominion Electric’s pinned this beauty shot of Murray Feiss’ Kellen fixtures to its 2017 Trends from Market.

www.pinterest.com/dominionelecsup/

323 followers 

Progress Lighting, lighting manufacturer

Resident Pinterest guru: Jennifer Kis, director of marketing communications 

Why we’re on Pinterest: We love engaging with Pinterest to provide visual inspiration through the use of stunning imagery featuring Progress Lighting products. We also love learning how designers, architects and DIYers use their creativity to create unique spaces of their own. It helps fuel our passion when it comes to product development and spotting emerging trends within the industry. Our goal is to create boards that feature beautiful room images from our builder partners, design firms, social media fans and influencers to bring the Progress Lighting story to life. These projects define affordable luxury living while also highlighting the experience, expertise and creativity our partners bring to the table for residential design projects. By working together, we’re furthering a vision of providing whole home solutions to those who are looking for inspiration.

How often we pin: We recognize the importance of providing content on a consistent and reliable basis, so we create and/or update our boards weekly.

What we’re pinning: One of our favorite boards is our Builder & Designer Spotlight. We love seeing the creative ways our builder and design partners incorporate Progress Lighting fixtures into their projects—and even their own homes. It fuels our passion and allows us to introduce our products to potentially new customers through the use of their images and ideas. We’re also excited to show off the versatility of some of our most popular collections through our One Fixture, Four Ways pins. With this board, visitors and followers can discover the many ways to style on-trend fixtures from Progress Lighting.

Progress Lighting's Pinterest image showing four ways to use their Piedmont fixture
Progress Lighting’s One Fixture, Four Ways board helps its Pinterest followers visualize the company’s fixtures in multiple scenarios. 

www.pinterest.com/progressltg/

3.5K followers

Lightology, lighting showroom

Resident Pinterest guru: Mark Thiel, digital marketing manager

Why we’re on Pinterest: It’s the ultimate platform for designers and creative types. We see thousands of designers and homeowners planning projects, dreaming about their future homes, mood boarding and trend spotting. At Lightology, we want to be a part of that conversation. Our end goal is to drive traffic and build awareness of our brand, but as creatives, we enjoy using Pinterest for the same reason designers and homeowners use it — to do something creative.

Where we rank it: At the top. Facebook and Instagram are increasingly pay-to-play, but Pinterest is still in that sweet spot: inexpensive, easy to use and visited by our key demographics — designers and design-enthusiasts.
 
How often we pin: Weekly. With most social platforms, timing is everything. You post today; it’s gone tomorrow. Pinterest’s shelf life is much longer. Many pins that we put up years ago are still grabbing people’s attention and spreading throughout the site. 

What we’re pinning: The key to [our] success is pinning something that’s visually captivating like a beautiful room, an abstract angle of a light or an aerial shot of shoes on a beautiful rug. We typically pin interesting new products, beautiful rooms and trends we’re noticing. For example, we’re working on a board now called Tart Deco that plays off the bright colors and symmetrical geometric shapes we’re seeing everywhere. It’s a platform to have fun with. We don’t like to take ourselves too seriously.

Three-season porch with plans, one chair and a lamp overhead
Pins like this to Lightology’s Junalo theme board are eye candy for design and home decor enthusiasts. 

www.pinterest.com/lightology/

11.9K followers

 

What do you pin to your company’s Pinterest page? Share with us in the comments!

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