Cheers to Pinterest!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since Pinterest exploded onto the social media scene. While many have questioned the site’s place in marketing there is no denying that the social network has evolved into a space well-suited to achieve certain brand objectives.
Case in point: in 2010, our client RELAX Wines launched RELAXnation, an online community filled with lifestyle focused content for its active, female millennial consumers. A few months later, Pinterest emerged and quickly began picking up speed. After watching the network for a few months, we recognized this as an opportunity to reach and activate a larger, like-minded audience for the RELAX brand. As a result, sharing RELAXnation’s content on Pinterest and shifting the community to the emerging platform became a 2012 social media initiative.
Platform strategy and tactics, in a nut shell. 
Since the launch RELAX Wines’ Pinterest account, our team has carefully curated and pinned content that aligns with the RELAX brand lifestyle. We’ve developed the account so it takes full advantage of Pinterest’s boards, dividing pins by topic so followers can engage with what is specifically of interest to them.
RELAX’s boards contain both usable and inspirational pins: recipes that pair well with the wines, entertaining and hosting tips plus lifestyle topics that fit our target demo. Consumer blog reviews, plus fan photos culled from Instagram, are also shared. Our content strategy follows an 80/20 rule, 80% of the content shared is from other sources, 20% from and of the brand. We hold a high quality standard for the shared content so we make sure every pin directs to a website with information directly related to the pin and frequently adjust the layout of our boards to ensure that they are seasonally relevant. We also use Pinterest findings for content on RELAX’s other social platforms and test pins to see what type of content resonates with our core audience.
Grassroots research and analysis? Oh yeah!
In the spring of 2013 we ran a #ShareTheLove promotion to get insights into core consumer opinions on RELAX as well as a few other Schmitt Sohne wine brands.
To keep in check, we monitor using Pinterest’s analytics dash as well as other insight providers to measure the account’s success with the goals of increasing the online reach of the product (SEO, SOO), driving loyalty and affinity for the brand, and ultimately impacting sales.
Results? We got ‘em.
After two and a half years of careful curation and platform development, we’re happy to report that this has resulted in an active community that is not only a hit with RELAX consumers and our client, but others in the social media and advertising industries. We’ll raise a glass to that!