The Pinterest analytics space is largely uncharted. Social intelligence company Brandwatch extensively researched and developed this Pinterest analytics tool guide for PR News' upcoming Book of Social Media Strategies & Tactics.
Let's take a look at 9 tools you can use to see how your Pinterest strategy is working.
Pinterest Analytics: You don’t have to travel far to find Pinterest metrics for a brand account. Pinterest released its own web analytics dashboard in March 2013, and it's free. Overall, Pinterest's own analytics platform provides a good range of metrics, but it doesn’t allow you to analyze all activity and it lacks the ability to customize data charts.
Curalate: Curalate is a comprehensive Pinterest analytics tool for brands with big budgets that are serious Pinterest users looking to grow their online communities. It offers all the key Pinterest stats you might wish to measure (pins, repins, boards, interactions, followers, following, etc). Using image-recognition algorithms, you can track the impressions of your top content and discover how well your content resonates with your audience. Other popular features include competitor benchmarking, campaign measurement, scheduling and engagement.
Cyfe: Of all of the tools mentioned, Cyfe has the most basic Pinterest analytics features. Cyfe’s most popular features are exporting reports and benchmarking growth numbers (for boards, pins, likes, followers, following) over time. It integrates with over 25 other popular services such as Salesforce, AdSense and MailChimp. It features real-time reports and allows you to track your likes, pins and number of followers over time.
Piqora: Piqora is a marketing analytics suite for Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram. You can use it to identify and connect with influential pinners as well as measure your reach and brand engagement. Retail businesses often opt for this tool to run and track their Pinterest contests, promotions and sweepstakes. Other features include competitor benchmarking, campaign tracking, Pinner360 (showing your most engaged and influential pinners) and a Gallery mode which uses image-recognition tech to discover trending pins.
ViralTag: Looking to automate Pinterest pins for improved results? Viraltag offers a simple solution. Spreading out the content you pin over time will likely lead to better results. However, the tool is overly focused on scheduling activity rather than insight on the audience and Pinterest referrals.
Viralwoot: Viralwoot is a free Pinterest directory designed to increase your following and engagement. It's a free tool based on a gamification system where "seeds" are the virtual currency. It runs on the premise of earning seeds by following new Pinterest accounts, favoriting pins and repinning content. Automating pins and promoting them cost seeds. Viralwoot is still in the initial stages of development and does not offer insights into basic pin metrics that some of the other Pinterest tools already have.
Ahalogy: Ahalogy is more of a pay-for-performance marketing optimization firm than a fully fledged Pinterest analytics tool. Brands using Ahalogy can dive into a network of Pinterest-ready content through a community of bloggers, writers, photographers and other content creators. Ahalogy is different from most analytics tools in that it’s a community in itself, allowing others in the network to view your images.
GoPixel: GoPixel helps brands and online merchants understand the commercial benefits of using Pinterest. It’s a handy campaign management and image editing tool offering analytics as well as recommendations for your account. One of its best features is that it recommends actions for you to take based on the data it gathers, such as the best/worst interactions with your audience.
Tailwind: Much like the others, Tailwind (formerly PinLeague) allows for tracking growth over time, measuring social ROI and tracking competitors on Pinterest. This robust campaign management tool for Pinterest helps you discover trending pins and identify influential followers and fans. Your dashboard is customizable, meaning you can search for certain key terms, pins and dates that are of interest to you. Best of all, it integrates with Google Analytics, one of the shortcomings of Pinterest’s free web analytics dashboard.
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Follow Brian Greene on Twitter: @bw_greene