Fire up the grills! Father’s Day is this weekend, bringing with it an afternoon filled with burgers, baseball and gifts for dad.
How can you connect with Father’s Day shoppers? You might start with Pinterest – the image-driven platform for perusing and planning products and ideas. It’s more relevant than ever this Father’s Day, too. Over the last year, Pinterest has been pining after the male demographic with a slew of guy-friendly features. Among the more notable changes are:
- Improved search results, which personalize pins based on interests (e.g. whether you prefer products geared to women or men).
- Gender filters, which can be found and updated in a user’s settings.
These two algorithmic updates have had a big impact on Pinterest over a short period of time. Pinterest’s male user base, for example, increased 73% year-over-year in 2014. The volume of content that one might categorize as “male” is growing too.
On Pinterest, car and motorcycle pins have spiked 134%, and men’s fashion has increased 122%.
Pinterest recently listed 10 of the top content categories among men:
With this in mind, we sought out a few of the best branded boards for Father’s Day. We hope it inspires your own Pinterest strategy – and some cool gifts for dad, too.
1. Sony: For the Techy Dad
Behind men’s apparel, technology is the second most common search category among men on Pinterest. To that end, the team over at Sony has done a great job of presenting the latest gadgets for, in their words, “the techy (or not so techy) dad.” In short, there’s something for everyone – cameras, headphones, smart watches, gaming systems, TVs.
PINTEREST BEST PRACTICE: TITLE BOARDS THOUGHTFULLY
While it can be valuable to include the term “Father’s Day” in your board name, particularly when it comes to search, Sony took a different path. Rather than limiting their board to a single holiday, the brand opted for something more universal: “What Dad Wants for His Big Day.”
This headline makes Sony’s Father’s Day board relevant throughout the year, turning a timely tactic into a perennial play. Need a gift for the man in your life? Sony has you covered – for birthdays, anniversaries or “just because.”
PINTEREST BEST PRACTICE: USE RICH PINS
Today’s consumer uses Pinterest not only to find products but to buy them too. This makes Rich Pins—pins that include important product details on them—an important feature for brands. With Rich Pins, Sony ensures that pinners who engage with their products can see how much that product costs and whether it’s in stock.
PINTEREST BEST PRACTICE: CURATE RELEVANT CONTENT
Something else that sets Sony’s Pinterest strategy apart is how versatile the content is. When a consumer encounters a product on Pinterest, it’s important that they see not only what that product is and how much it costs, but also why they should care. Pairing your products with relevant content, curated from other brands, bloggers, influencers and Pinterest users, can be an effective way to achieve this.
To complement their products, Sony’s board is peppered with:
- Inspirational quotes, which say to the user, “Your dad is great. He really deserves these gifts.”
- Infographics. “Building the Ultimate Man Cave,” for example, validates why dad needs Sony’s awesome, but perhaps indulgent, electronics. Help dad build the space he deserves!
- Cute animal pics. Because everyone loves animals, but also, because that a7R Full Frame Mirrorless Camera would be perfect for that family safari you’ve always aspired to go on.
- How-To’s. How-to content (e.g. how to take a family portrait) helps Sony’s customers to envision how their technology can be used. In other words, in case a safari isn’t in the cards, here’s another way you can use that nifty new camera right now.
2. Lowe’s: The DIY Stuff He Really Wants
If there’s one thing Lowe’s knows, it’s that few things are as satisfying as the feeling of accomplishment. The brand’s Father’s Day board—simply titled Father’s Day Gift Ideas—achieves just that. It features a panoply of products that can help dad tackle any project.
PINTEREST BEST PRACTICE: OPTIMIZE LANDING PAGES
In addition to individual gift ideas, Lowe’s is using single pins to driving users to category-specific landing pages, where they can explore a collection of products more extensively. It’s like transporting consumers to the aisle they’re most interested it. For instance, the “For the Woodworker” pin shown below drives shoppers to a landing page with 20 different woodworking tools. Other similar pins include “For the Mechanic,” “the Griller,” “the Outdoorsman” and “the Do-It-Yourselfer.”
3. Lacoste: For the Fashionable Dad
Men’s apparel is the most popular category among male pinners. It’d be smart for brands to tap into this trend. A prime example of this is Lacoste’s “For Father’s Day” board. On it, you’ll find the brand’s classic, gator-clad polos, wallets, watches and more. Pin captions point to Father’s Day as well as “father and son moments.”
PINTEREST BEST PRACTICE: CONSIDER RETRO CONTENT
On image-led channels like Pinterest, consumers appreciate a good throwback. By pinning vintage photos from the archives, Lacoste is able to tap into their brand history – a subtle hint at the durability of their product and the timelessness of the brand.
4: Thrillist: More Food! More Booze!
Burgers. Beer. Anything slathered in BBQ sauce. That’s what Father’s Day looks like for many families around the country, and that’s what digital lifestyle publisher Thrillist focused on when crafting their board: Father’s Day Food & Booze. In addition to mouthwatering images of fattening fare (like beer-battered bacon onion rings and potato chip brownies), Thrillist employs some serious Pinterest smarts too.
PINTEREST BEST PRACTICE: SHOW AND TELL
Something we love about Thrillist’s content strategy is the use of bold, editorial-style text, which they overlay on images. This copy quickly tells pinners whether the content is of interest to them. Most pins consist of “Listicles” and “How-To’s” – headers that tends to draw engagement among today’s digital consumer.
5. Crate & Barrel: Gardening, Grills, Gadgets
Crate & Barrel’s secret to success: a host of activities that can keep any family entertained from sunup to sundown, whether yard work in the morning, lawn games at lunch, or an evening filled with dinner and wine. Products range from practical (for instance, a bocce set) to pretentious (kettle pizza oven, anyone?), providing variation both in product and in price. Rich Product Pins are enabled too, which as we learned earlier makes it easier for pinners to act on their desire to shop.
PINTEREST BEST PRACTICE: LEVERAGE CAPTIONS
Something else Crate & Barrel has mastered: Pinterest captions. Keep in mind that search is a significant part of the Pinterest experience; the more relevant your captions are, the easier it will be for consumers to discover your pins. You have 500 characters to work with. Don’t be shy!
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Oh, Boy! 5 Pinterest Boards For Your Favorite Fellas
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