High degree of usefulness as consumer wish list tool; and, as a result, very appealing to retailers and those selling tangible goods.
CHALLENGES: Young channel; will be in state of continuous evolution as it looks to grow, better serve users, and monetize its traffic to satisfy investors.
While it is growing quickly, and is a top referrer for many consumer product brands, its overall adoption is a fraction of that of Facebook, Twitter, and other, more mature social media channels.
User growth may lead to the need for comment moderation.
Lower appeal to less creative or visual consumers.
a A loving hat tip to mine, @CraftTestDummy.
b Nick’s married to my cousin, Allison. Another sign of Nick’s good taste.
1. Tom Simonite, “Q+A Ben Silbermann,” MIT Technology Review, February 19, 2013, www.technologyreview.com/qa/511096/pinterests-founder-algorithms-dont-know-what-you-want/.
2. Chris Crum, “Here Are Some Clear Business Uses for Pinterest,” WebProNews, December 6, 2012, www.webpronews.com/here-are-some-clear-business-uses-for-pinterest-2012-12.
3. Cameron Scott, “Pinterest Drives More Traffic to Niche Retailers Than to Major Sites,” SocialTimes, December 21, 2012, http://socialtimes.com/pinterest-drives-more-traffic-to-niche-retailers-than-to-major-sites_b114245.
4. Justin Smith, “Facebook vs. Pinterest: You’re Investing, But What Are Your Goals?,” The Bloomreach Blog, April 25, 2013, http://bloomreach.com/2013/04/facebook-vs-pinterest-youre-investing-but-what-are-your-goals/.
5. Daniel P. Maloney, “Pinterest Followers and Engagement: NOT The Same,” Business2Community, January 16, 2013, www.business2community.com/pinterest/pinterest-followers-and-engagement-are-not-the-same-0378642.
6. Nicholas Carlson, “Pinterest CEO: Here’s How We Became the Web’s Next Big Thing,” Business Insider, April 24, 2012, www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-founding-story-2012-4?op=1.
7. Josh Horwitz, “Semiocast: Pinterest Now Has 70 Million Users and Is Steadily Gaining Momentum Outside the US,” The Next Web, July 10, 2013, http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2013/07/10/semiocast-pinterest-now-has-70-million-users-and-is-steadily-gaining-momentum-outside-the-us/.
8. Reuters, “Pinterest Is Worth $2 Billion Because Its 25 Million Users Are Rich, Female, and Like to Spend,” Business Insider, February 28, 2013, www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-is-worth-2-billion-because-its-25-million-users-are-rich-female-and-like-to-spend-2013-2.
Chapter 18
SMS: Cutting through the Clutter
[SMS] is really the most cost-effective way to reach consumers. It is low cost, easy to execute and it reaches a wide variety of people.1
—Ever Santana
Ever Santana is a bit different than most of the other folks I’ve quoted thus far. He didn’t start a social media company, sell a million records, or play any of the leads in Mad Men. Instead, Ever is the President and Founder of Heritage Restaurant Group, an IHOP (@IHOP) franchise owner in the New York City area. In this role, he discovered something far too many marketers forget.
SMS works.
In the case of Ever’s IHOP, a direct mail piece instructed recipients to text in IHOPFREE to receive a coupon for a free short stack of pancakes. In the first month of the program, participants redeemed over 105 coupons—far more than any other marketing promotion. The program also allowed the franchisee to build a proprietary SMS SUBSCRIBER database that enabled future SMS communications with less than 10 percent attrition.2
The key to the SMS channel is its ubiquity. While over 50 percent of U.S. cell phone owners have smartphones, nearly 100 percent of those same owners have cell phones capable of sending and receiving text messages. The increase in all-you-can-text plans have made consumers far more willing to engage with brands via SMS than they were just a few short years ago.
At the same time, the cost and effort to create SMS programs have dropped sharply. Campaigns that once took days or weeks to set up (thanks to the labyrinth of mobile carriers) now takes mere minutes to create due to send-side innovations. As a result, SMS is no longer only a channel for brands with deep pockets; it’s one that any company, regardless of size, can consider for its marketing mix. You may want to consider SMS if you:
Want a way to build mobile SUBSCRIBERS
Who may or may not have smartphones
And who may not have Internet access
I know it’s hard for some to believe, but yes, there are still places without Wi-Fi. And those are locations where SMS becomes a creative option to:
Alert event ATTENDEES of agenda changes and weather conditions.
Connect with trade show ATTENDEES.
Convert BROWSERS, SHOPPERS, and VISITORS with cell phones into SMS SUBSCRIBERS and/or EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS via SMS opt-in.a