with our fashion and beauty partners.” In an industry that is in constant flux, it
is critical to build key relationships with advertisers via a new site and/or stronger presence on a social network (it’s easy to believe that the release of a whole site’s worth of ‘Pinnable’ content will significantly boost Self’s Pinterest presence).
And Self, with a reported 40 per cent
of ad revenue coming from beauty advertising, is in a good position to beef up its fashion revenues (at around 6.1 per cent, according to McEwen). It’s also worth noting that at the time of this writing, the magazine boasts 73,342 followers on Pinterest and 253,965 likes on Facebook – almost 6 and 20 per cent respectively of its subscription base of 1.3 million.
It’s “a logical fit for most of our
lifestyle brands,” Deborah Curtis, director of audience development for Time Inc’s Lifestyle Group, told eMedia Vitals. “A lot of our brands are all about beautiful imagery, and that’s what Pinterest is all about. It’s much more visually engaging and more stimulating.”
Tina Imm, general manager of Time 82
Inc’s Lifestyle Group, takes the synergy of lifestyle brands and Pinterest a step further – the group’s first thought on seeing Pinterest, she said, was “why didn’t we think of this ourselves?” To date, five of Time Inc’s lifestyle brands have active accounts, including Real Simple, Cooking Light, and Southern Living.
Real Simple in particular is showing a
high return on investment. In December 2011, Pinterest referrals to RealSimple. com were “second only to Google”, according to eMedia Vitals. Pinterest is a top referrer for Martha Stewart Omnimedia titles “often surpassing both Facebook and Twitter,” according to Ad Age.
Hearst is also jumping on the Pinterest
wagon: Elle is actively experimenting with Pinterest content. “What works for Facebook isn’t necessarily working for Tumblr isn’t necessarily working for Pinterest,” Elle.com’s editorial director, Keith Pollack, told Ad Age. “With each one of these platforms, it’s just a completely different behaviour and different need, and we try to approach each one with different objectives.” Asked about Hearst’s interest in the site, Pollack added, “It’s predominantly female, 25 to 44, an