Are you Pinterested in golf??


By: August 30, 2012


There is no day when we hear about a new social media platform is emerging. Intentionally I check them how we could use it in the golf industry (golf courses, golf HR, golf architecture, golf apparels etc.). This is how I found Pinterest. Today more than 20 million people (my estimation) are using Pinterest. To my greatest surprise we spend more time here (15.8 minutes/day) then on Facebook (12.1 minutes/day).

Pinterest visitor stat in January 2012
Even more impressive that Pinterest is now the 4th biggest traffic driver to websites on the internet, according to new data released by shareaholic.

Pinterest shareaholic

Needless to say that not all social media platform are equal and not all of them fit to our specific need(s). There are certain social media channels where men are dominating like Reddit.com, Google+ or LinkedIn. Accoriding to Digital Flash NYC, reddit seems to be the guy’s version of Pinterest as they dominate the social aggregator with 84% of the membership. Retailers and lifestyle companies (including golf courses) can gain the most benefit. I think LPGA will be happy to read this. So when we define what kind of people we would like to reach and get in conversation with them the above mentioned stats should be taken in consideration.

Some golf mediagolf apparel companies and golf courses have already discovered and using Pinterest. One of them is Callaway Golf. Throughout this example I will explain how we can utilize Pinterest.

CallawayGolf_Pinterest

First of all, Pinterest is a virtual (Read: V.I.S.U.A.L) bulletin board. It’s imperative to have a plethora of large, easy-to-see, high-resolution photos. Pinterest is based on this, so if your brand does not have a brand-based content it could make things extremely difficult.

What to pin? I recommend the followings:

  • images of your products (golf club, golf ball, golf shoes, golf apparels other golf related products) and services (golf course photos: every interesting part of your golf course that can be interesting to people)
  • Photos of your workplace (including employees as well!!)
  • Infographics with useful info
  • Videos – it can be also funny
  • Customer testimonials
  • To show that you enjoy the same/similar thing they do

Callaway Golf focused more on its golf clubs and golf balls without showing the company from inside. They should add a "board" that shows real moments within the company or create a new page for it.

Relevant business areas where Pinterest can be a lucrative social media platform/tool: 

  • PR – both for golf course, golf architecture and golf apparel
  • Marketing – product communication, event marketing, golf club membership etc.
  • HR – recruitment – to show how great to work in your company
  • KPIs: all depends on your brand and what you want out of it. I would choose more brand related metrics.

Callaway Golf focused on PR and marketing. I think it is early to think about how we can drive more sales via Pinterest due to its size and the missing technical solutions. 

We should not forget to add on our website "Pin it" and/or "Follow us on Pinterest" like we we already added similar buttons for Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Callaway Golf should add this on his website. Similar to Twitter and Facebook posting automation, you can do similar on Pinterest by using PinGraphy

If you want to know what are the most popular pins on Pinterest.com, then go to Repinly.

 Here are some of the pioneers of the golf industry on Pinterest.com: