Macy’s Joins the Pin to Win Bandwagon
Macy’s joined the ranks of a growing number of brands using Pinterest to market themselves. In late September, Macy’s launched a new “Pin to Win” pinning competition. Similar in strategy to many brands, including Club Monaco and Hugo Boss, Macy’s launched the competition on Pinterest to help drive user engagement and ultimately online conversions.
The Pin to Win contest revolves around a Pinterest board called “The Magic of Fall”, dedicated to the latest Macy’s fall apparel. The board features images pinned directly from the Macy’s website. To enter the contest, users simply had to create a Pinterest board and repin one of the images from “The Magic of Fall” board with the hashtag “#macysfallstyle. The winner of the competition would be randomly chosen and receive a $1,000 Macy’s gift card. The board can be visited here.
The competition is a great idea, as it gets users involved with the brand, and the images on the “Magic of Fall” board link directly to the Macy’s website. This means that whenever a user on Pinterest clicks on an image from the board (whether it be directly from the Macy’s Pinterest page or a repin from a friend’s page), they’re taken directly to an e-commerce site where they could end up purchasing products. The end result is increased sales for Macy’s. Additionally, the use of analytic tools can provide Macy’s with information on how many sales were actually driven from Pinterest during the competition time frame.
The Pin to Win idea has become relatively popular with many brands. It’s something that any company can do on Pinterest, provided the right strategy and context within Pinterest. Even a local small business can use the idea to help generate new sales and increased brand recognition. That being said, there are many other ways brands can use Pinterest to market themselves, and I challenge them to think outside of the box and offer consumers a unique experience. I’ve included examples in the past- including finding missing images (puzzle pieces) to complete a board’s image, linking videos, and simply posting smartly organized pins.
How are you using Pinterest?
-Bryan Nagy
