Utilizing Possession Rituals in Pinterest to Enhance Communication Strategies

Cassie Wandersee, Jennifer Ray, Katie Rohling, & Lauri M. Baker

Benchmark study (Topp, Stebner, Barkman, & Baker, 2014)

• Census of 428 agricultural industry accounts in 8 industry segments from USDA• Aquaculture, fiber, fruits, grains and oilseeds, livestock, nuts, specialty crops,

vegetables• Identified as local producer, state level, national level, or other• Possession rituals: claiming, storing/hoarding, sharing, personalizing

• Local producers most active• Personalizing most prominent• Claiming the lowest

• Majority storing and hoarding• Strategy

• consider possession rituals when creating content• If visual content available and fits with organization mission can be a useful tool

Current study

• Initial data from a sample of 298 accounts• Population size of 1,197 accounts

• Four commodity groups were added to USDA list• Agritourism, agroforestry, aquaponics and biomass

• Expanded search to include “farm”, “ranch”, and “agriculture” (Topp, et al., 2014)• Excluded state departments of agriculture

Possession Rituals• Storing & Hoarding• Personalizing • Claiming• Sharing

• 1-5 Scale to Measure Possession Rituals1 - 0%2 - .001 - 24.99%3 - 25- 49.99%4 - 50- 74.99%5 - 75- 100%

Storing and Hoarding• Pins that lead to content not created by the account holder• Pins are marked as “Pinned from (outside website)”

Mean = 3.97Standard Deviation = 1.24

100%1

0 25% 50% 75%2 3 4 5

Personalizing• The extent to which the account holder has provided information

to personalize the Pinterest account• Includes:• a profile photo or logo, website link, Facebook link, Twitter link, Location,

description of the account, verified account, location and commodity described

Mean = 3.46Standard Deviation = .83

10 25% 50% 75%

2 3 4 5100%

Claiming• Pins that lead to content created by the account holder• The organization’s website, blog, or social media site

• Pins are marked as• “Pinned from (organization link)”• “Uploaded by (organization name)”• “Pinned by pinner”

Mean = 2.77Standard Deviation = 1.18

10 25% 50% 75%

2 3 4 5100%

Sharing• The extent to which account holder pins have been repined by the

audience• Pins that have been repined at least one timeMean = 2.67Standard Deviation = 1.04

10 25% 50% 75%

2 3 4 5100%

Engagement RateEngagement rate = Repins + Likes + Comments

Number of account follower

Engagement rate calculation based on Smitha (2013) which uses likes, comments, shares and followers to calculate an engagement rate for Facebook.Mean = 4.13Standard Deviation = 1.25

10 25% 50% 75%

2 3 4 5100%

Why Pinterest?• January 2014, 74% of adults are online• As of September 2014:• 71% of online adults use Facebook• 23% of online adults use Twitter• 26% use Instagram• 28% use LinkedIn• 28% use Pinterest

• 22% of adult males that use the Internet are on Pinterest

Pew Research, (2014); Pew Research, (2015)

Performing a Self-Audit• Condensed version of codebook used in study• Frequency of occurrence of possession rituals are used to calculate score• Score is then compared to calculated engagement rate• Learn about our behavior within Pinterest accounts• Compare your account to others

Engagement rate = Repins + Likes + Comments Number of account follower

Pinterest Business AnalyticsMust have a business account to use Pinterest analytics

• Pinterest profile• Your Audience • Activity from website

scottstebner.comfacebook.com/stebnerphotography

twitter.com/ScottStebnerinstagram.com/scottstebner

Pinterest Business AnalyticsPinterest Profile

Impressions

Repins

Clicks

Pinterest Business Analytics

Audience Analytics• Demographics

• Average monthly views• Average monthly engaged

• Country, Language, Metro, and Gender

Pinterest Business Analytics

Audience Analytics• Interests

• Visual look at audience interests• Boards from audience that contain you Pins• Other business pages your audience follows

SEO & Search Terms, Lessons Learned• Sample used 85 search terms based on the AgMRC commodity

group descriptions • Added terms “farm,” “ranch,” and “agriculture” (Topp, et al., 2014)

• Discovered what appears to be a connection between search terms and search results in relationship to the account name

Rich Pins• Pins that include additional information on the Pin itself• Six types of Rich Pins• Only available on a business page – must have metadata on

webpagePromoted Pins• Waiting list• Only available on business page

10 25% 50% 75%

2 3 4 5100%

Claiming Mean 1.3, SD = .82 Storing & Hoarding 4.12, SD = 1.59

Rich Pins – Pinterest Research

Rich Pins – Pinterest Research

But wait…..Buyable Pins are Coming Soon!• Ability to buy directly on Pinterest• Identified by a blue price on the pin• IOS only, Android platform in the

future• Launching with a few major retailers

and two commerce platforms• Waitlist to sign up

Helpful Pinterest Guides

How to set up a business account:https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/set-your-business-account

Business best practices:https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/business-best-practices

Website Verificationhttps://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/verify-your-website

Rich Pins and Meta Datahttps://developers.pinterest.com/rich_pins_overview/

Thank you!Lauri M. Baker – lmbaker@ksu.eduCassie Wandersee – wande@ksu.edu