品牌营销爱上照片共享

    对有些品牌来说，在这些平台上占据一席之地就像建设Facebook主页一样重要。“作为一种生活方式品牌，现在怎么能够不用Pinterest呢，”West Elm创意总监瓦妮莎•霍尔登称。“它是一个热闹非凡、活力四射的所在，人们就等种种话题分享创意、激荡思维，设计、厨艺、娱乐、工艺、制造，一切应有尽有。”星巴克（Starbucks）全球数码营销副总裁亚历克斯•维勒则表示，相对容易使用是促进Pinterest迅速发展的一大原因。“这个平台的美妙之处是其优雅与朴素。”他还说，Pinterest使星巴克与其粉丝可以“围绕生活中非常私密的时刻分享共同价值观与产品体验”。

    有些品牌的Pinterest和Instagram营销策略结合了该品牌自己拍摄的照片和用户上传的照片——这就创造了一种超越传统方式的新兴品牌营销活动。以美国航空（American Airlines）的社交图片活动为例，旅客们可以根据每周一个的主题上传他们在旅途中拍摄的照片。“与这些主题相关的图片更有力地号召消费者行动起来，为该品牌创作图片，效果好于普通的营销活动，”负责本次活动的The Marketing Arm公司的数码战略副总裁汤姆•爱德华兹说。“通过引人注目的照片，企业可以促使消费者助其创造品牌内容，在用户自身的社交活动中吸引更多人的关注，从而使顾客在采购商品或服务时更多地考虑该品牌。”

    可是，617,994张带有#starbucks标签的Instagram照片，是否一定能带来更多的消费者，点一杯Frappucinnos咖啡呢（顺便提一句，以这种咖啡为标签的照片也有16,782张）？答案尚未可知。星巴克的维勒表示，该公司专注于使用这一媒介，使消费者交流时更多地提到星巴克。全食超市的迈克尔•比珀科则告诉《财富》杂志（Fortune）。“2011年12月至2012年3月之间，Pinterest上指向全食超市网站的流量增加了337%.”如果流量增长如此迅猛，这些品牌的销量想必也会得到拉动。

    译者:小宇

    For some brands, having a presence on these platforms is just as necessary as having a Facebook page. "As a lifestyle brand you can't not be on Pinterest right now," says Vanessa Holden, creative director of West Elm. "It's a bustling, incredibly vibrant place of inspiration and sharing around design, cooking, entertaining, crafting, making, you name it. Pinterest really enables us to have a visual conversation with our community." Relative ease of use has been a big boost, says Alex Wheeler, vice president of global digital marketing at Starbucks (SBUX). "The beauty of that platform is its elegance and simplicity." It allows Starbucks and its fans to show "shared values and product experiences that are very personal around life moments," Wheeler says.

    Some brand's Pinterest and Instagram (FB) sites are a combination of brand-created and user-curated images -- and that is creating a kind of brand ing that exists outside of the typical indenties. In the case of an American Airlines social photo campaign, travelers could submit pictures from their trips based on a single theme each week. "The visual images associated with the themes provided a more compelling call to action and structure for consumers to create on behalf of the brand versus a standard promotional call to action," says Tom Edwards, vice president of digital strategy at The Marketing Arm, which worked on the campaign. "Via compelling images, brands enable consumers to drive the creation of branded content, which drives additional attention in a user's social activity stream, thus driving additional consideration for the brand."

    But does 617,994 photos tagged #starbucks on Instagram equal more people coming in for Frappucinnos (which, by the way, is tagged 16,782 times)? The answer is still unclear. Wheeler of Starbucks says the company is focused on using the medium to get into customers' conversations. And Whole Foods' Michael Bepko told Fortune that "between December of 2011 and March of 2012 we saw a 337% increase in traffic referral from Pinterest to Wholefoodsmarket.com." With metrics like those, brands are betting sales can't be far off.