While Facebook and Twitter continue to be the go-to options for sports teams, there’s a new rising star in social media that is gaining major attention. With over 10-million registered users already, the visual online pinboard called Pinterest could soon find a place in every team’s digital marketing plan.

Currently, there are only three MLB teams, four NBA teams, four NHL teams, and five NFL teams utilizing the new platform, but how many more will join? While the benefits are unclear for now, the potential is intriguing. Could Pinterest be the next big thing in sports social media? To gain a better outlook on this topic, we sat down for five good minutes with Interactive Media Director, Peter Stringer, of the Boston Celtics and Social Media Producer, Neil Horowitz, of the Anaheim Ducks who both continue to be leaders in not only Pinterest, but sports social media overall.

Sportsdigita: What made Pinterest appealing for your organization?

Neil Horowitz: “It was hard to ignore Pinterest’s exponential growth. Of course, with every fad/emerging social network, I evaluate whether it’s worth our time and resources. While I don’t yet think Pinterest will be a direct revenue generator [we tend to push purchases of merchandise more from our Team Store than online, but there is that element] and we do not yet have a large enough following where it is worthwhile [at risk of alienating new arrivals to our page] of posting ticket promotions, Pinterest has a number of ways to engage all users with the Ducks in a powerful manner and can breed more super-fans as a result. The ability to easily repin [share] is always attractive and yet another way to spread the word to a [potentially] previously unreached consumer base/market segment.”

Peter Stringer: “Well, right now there is a lot to be discovered, but it is receiving a ton of buzz. Of all the social networks, this one is getting the most traction and attention at the moment. It’s a place where we need to be, and although we don’t know what it can do for us, we’re hoping it can help drive merchandise sales and some traffic back to the web store. It’s definitely worth exploring as an option given the amount of users and attention.”

Sportsdigita: Do you think the new platform can help the team tap into different markets, considering the demographics of users on Pinterest?

Neil Horowitz: “What interests me about Pinterest is the skewed female presence. It’s a widespread notion that, more often that not, the women in the household have more influence on [or tend to make more] of the purchasing decisions, particularly family entertainment activities like attending sports games. This was certainly a decisive factor in convincing me this was a worthwhile network on which to get the Ducks involved as a lot of our organization’s marketing goes to youth, families, and, of course, mothers. A lot of our most active fans on Facebook and Twitter, as well, happen to be female — their propensity to share on social is indeed higher than that of males. It’s not a new market per se, just a new way to reach this market segment. I also don’t want to get married to the idea that Pinterest is a female-only marketing tool; at this point, it’s probably more of a self-perpetuating belief than anything else and, while startups like GentleMint are trying to find a male alternative, Pinterest may find a way to seamlessly integrate more male users and we are right there ready for them.”

Peter Stringer: “The audience skews towards females, which is the opposite for our audience in general, and Pinterest could be a different way to reach that demographic who we might not be reaching in traditional channels. The audience on the platform might be a mom shopping, so we’ve included ticket packages, promotions, and merchandise, but right now it’s hard to track whether it will generate sales because it is so early.”

Sportsdigita: What does the future hold for Pinterest in sports social media? What ways will you look to monetize your actions on Pinterest in these early stages?

Neil Horowitz: “As our use of Pinterest develops, I think the most obvious method is to use it to promote merchandise, especially limited or seasonal items. I think a lot of brands, from what I’ve seen, can miss out on this opportunity by not taking the time to link their pins back to an appropriate website. A board of ticket promotions is also a simple way to capture some eyes that are already visiting our boards and fans following our pins/boards. I’m anxious to find a trackable way to test this out, perhaps a discount offer unique to Pinterest.”

Peter Stringer: “There are just so many resources out there today in social media. Eventually, if Pinterest doesn’t prove successful for us, we will continue to primarily focus on Facebook and Twitter as usual and update Pinterest sparingly. Fans expect usage on Facebook and Twitter, while there is not an expectation yet for sports content on Pinterest, so it’s harder to make a case for it but we’ll give it a shot. We’re excited about the potential, but there’s no analytics platform available and not a lot to track besides pins and followers. We only have about 200 to 300 followers as of now, which is high compared to other teams, but it’s just too early to tell. When looking at referral traffic to our web store of team merchandise, we’ll look at referral traffic from Pinterest, which will be our main indicator anecdotally of return on investment.”

So, while it remains unclear of just where exactly Pinterest is headed in sports social media, the exciting potential is appealing for any franchise.

We’ve recently joined the Ducks and Celtics by hopping on the Pinterest bandwagon as well. Make sure to check out all of our pinboards here.

Happy Pinning!

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