Just Pin It

A Foray into Pinterest

The Infographics have it: the strong case for Pinterest

You may have ventured into Pinterest-land recently – just looking at a friend’s pin that happened to come your way and lure you to the Pinterest site, where you glanced at one appealing image. And then another. And then another. And then… Oh yes, a moment on Pinterest can easily turn into an afternoon.

Consider the beautifully constructed psychological/sensory joyride that is Pinterest. First, look at that great recipe! (Happy discovery!) Hmmm… Looks great, so I click the “Like” button. (Feeling of community) Ah! I see the original “pinner” has collected other great recipes! (Fascination) I pin some to my board. (Satisfaction; the thrill of the hunt – score!) Within minutes I’m receiving emails that someone else has repinned my repinned recipes. (Validation!) This cycle is so simple and rewarding; what’s not to love?

If you love Pinterest, and your friends love Pinterest, then you can bet that marketing people around the globe are adoring Pinterest. Pinterest has rapidly grown to prominence among image-based social media sites. It’s not hard to see why—the addictive nature of the site results in long visit times and high “conversion” rates. Having shot to the top tier of social media platforms, Pinterest is indeed the darling of marketing professionals everywhere.

Pinterest’s impact has not been restricted to marketing fashion, art, and other non-essentials. Now social campaign managers charged with publicizing their respective causes also are finding that “Pinning for a Cause” is a great way to reach an audience and launch a call to action. As this platform matures, so grow the ways in which it can be used and delivered.

In this age of exploding “second screen” use, the highly visual Pinterest shows tremendous potential as an auxiliary platform for print media and for big screen entertainment, particularly television. This appears to be especially true for performance and award shows. This past summer’s Olympic games and recent music awards shows are a case in point, as shown in these infographics found on – where else? – Pinterest.

Four Peaks host Hanson Hosein shows his inner diva in a segment with Christine Deavers of Teatro Zinzanni.

The television show Four Peaks – a flagship offering of the MCDM program and UW TV – is now exploring how Pinterest and other image-based platforms can enrich the viewing experience for its audience. The Four Peaks production team and MCDM Production Studio students are using Pinterest to display behind-the-scenes photos and other collateral content to add a new dimension to the viewing experience of Four Peaks viewers. As a member of the student team working to produce and promote the show, I’ve become intrigued by the potential offered by Pinterest as a promotional vehicle and a “second screen” to augment viewing.

We believe that this flagship news and talk show for the MCDM program provides the perfect laboratory to find new ways to delight viewers and surround rich content with an even richer over-all viewing experience. To see what we are doing, learn more about our fascinating guests and how we create this unique show, visit us on Pinterest.

Tags: Four Peaks TV, image, image-based, Pinterest, social media psychology, television

This post is categorized in: Business, Social Media