In June 2012, Pinterest had already acquired over 10 million users, clearly continuing to drive their record of the fastest rising social media platform. Pinterest has become a sort of cult obsession, namely among women. It’s a core audience group that has labelled Pinterest as a flimsy distraction and kept more serious users at bay. Well, most anyway.

Pinterest is like the internet. Users will find what they’re looking for. If you’re looking for DIY ideas and baked goods, you’ll find a thousand solutions for each and know exactly how you can waste eons of time on absurdities like creating artistic ways to paint nails.

Assuming however you’re a marketer, a PR expert or in communications, you’ll find there lies a secret arsenal of data you use to your advantage. This is because those who have been paying attention (and willing to play with Pinterest) are catching on. They know that what they see on Pinterest will be defined by who they follow and what they specifically search for. If you’re in marketing, you’re exposed to the newest trends, creative ideas, new brands, vendors, clients and more. Small businesses have learned the same thing; they can target key markets that share similar interests. Nonetheless, both sides are stonewalled when it comes to reaching beyond standard expectations and usages.

This is where Dobango comes in. A social gaming company at its core, Dobango has also named itself the “first Pinterest Social Marketing Solution.” What does that mean exactly? While the presentation is a bit sketchy, Dobango seems to be on to something.

Following their case example for Kno, it’s pretty clear how the company has launched a potentially effective way to do with Pinterest what marketers are already doing with Facebook and Twitter. Through Dobango, Kno can run a contest where users submit images for any specifically themed contest that aligns with a company’s brand. All relevant user profile data is also submitted at the time. Users then follow the company’s Pinterest page and vote for their upload image entry by “liking” it. As with other contests, like the recent search for a new Gerber Baby, votes are counted by the number of likes. Contestants, of course, are encouraged to get their friends and families to “vote” as well.

If Pinterest is one of the top three platforms after Facebook and Twitter, it makes sense that users should be able to manipulate it the same way in order to run contests and boost visibility. However, the drawback here is the third party page that has to be relied upon to the host the contest. It would be preferable if Dobango could somehow work with a company’s unique self-hosted landing page or better yet, integrate a Facebook app. Dobango balances drawbacks by seeing to it that they offer a complete campaign/content management platform. The platform includes a campaign sites, rules, entry form, real-time data sync, real-time Pinning, a live leaderboard, automated winner management and an activity panel that lets contestants see how they rank.

作者简介:

作者 Shireen Qudosi

Shireen Qudosi is Benchmark Email's Online Marketing Specialist and Small Business Advocate. An Orange County based writer, Shireen specializes in online marketing and public relations. She has written for over 75 publications and has launched nine successful new media campaigns to date. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Denver Post, the Oklahoman and Green Air Radio, among others.