What’s the hottest social networking site around right now? It’s not Facebook or Twitter, but a rapidly-growing picture and video-sharing site known as Pinterest. So, what’s so special about Pinterest to make it capture 11 million views a month, and already have over 10 million active users? All the numbers come together on Arik Hansen’s blog, but, it’s a simple truth: it’s addicting and fresh.
Pinterest’s biggest market so far has been young women, who happen to be a hard nut to crack when it comes to social networking sites. While Facebook’s active users are mostly moms and housewives, those numbers took a number of years to build. Pinterest, however, single-handedly took the demographic by storm in basically a year. Now that’s impressive! But, Pinterest goes beyond just young women sharing pictures they like–it can also be a very powerful tool for cable channels.
Yup, that’s right: cable channels. Online businesses have already hopped on the Pinterest bandwagon for social media marketing, but, cable channels have an untapped market sitting right in front of them that’s ready to be used. How exactly can Pinterest help cable, though?
Teasers, trailers, and incentives
Everyone has their favorite show and advertisers love to tease their audience with production stills, 30-second trailers, and other little incentives. These are all usually shared online through a social media marketing campaign, but, Pinterest can take care of all of that. Got teaser pictures? Put them up on Pinterest!
Behind-the-scenes gets more personal
What’s another thing fans love? Seeing their favorite characters being, well, out of character. Behind-the-scenes pictures can really bring in the numbers for cable channels, especially when pinning them on Pinterest to be shared by fans.
Community-driven pinboards
A great little feature on Pinterest is the ability to create a “pinboard,” which anyone can share a pin on. This can be especially great for television shows to help community-driven involvement.
Play-by-play pinboards
Another cool idea for a pinboard is a “play-by-play” picture gallery for different television shows as they’re happening. Fans of the show can repin content as the show is going on, just like how topics on Twitter trend about famous shows like The Walking Dead or Mad Men.
Meet the actors
Dedicate boards to actors, letting fans to get to know their favorites ones without having to search for a Wikipedia page or main website. This is also an awesome way to share breaking news about a certain actor (did they just get married? have a kid on the way?).
Contests for cool swag
Everybody likes free stuff, especially from their favorite show. Another way to promote a social media marketing campaign is holding a contest on Pinterest for some cool swag.
Sharing with the viewer beyond traditional media
Lastly, cable channels can really show their age sometimes. But, having a strong social media campaign and implementing Pinterest into it makes a world’s difference. Don’t be an old dinosaur, embrace online media!
Sure, Pinterest is still new and still has a way to go before becoming a household name like Facebook. But, with the rate it’s going, it should be there in no time. For now, some cable channels have already started to wise up to the website and are becoming early-adopters for others to follow.
Two early examples are Bollywood Hits On Demand and International Media Distribution. These are two of the first cable channels to get active on Pinterest and start a whole new trend. Granted, both are in the early stages of building their boards and followers, but as they invest more time and energy into this platform, they have potential of being trend-setters within the cable industry on Pinterest.
Social media marketing shouldn’t have to be reserved strictly for sites like Facebook or Twitter, which rely heavily on text-based content. Content should be intereactive and multimedia, and both of these cable properties are really showing some out-of-the-box thinking for a medium many consider “old.”
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