Pinterest has established itself as a social media front runner in recent years with its focus on users sharing their inspirations and desires by pinning pictures of their dream holiday destinations, homes, cars and even recipes. But what if you want to turn these desires into a reality? Well, most Pins don’t come with a link to the website that they came from and if they do these are often out of date or to some obscure web page.
Enter Luvocracy
Based in San Francisco, the tech startup uses the same concept as Pinterest. The similarities lie in giving the user the ability to pin pictures they find interesting to digital boards. However what makes Luvocracy different is that all images are linked directly to their source.
Everyone from small e-commerce sites to high street giants will benefit from this because it enables users build an online catalogue of products they’re interested in and also allows them to purchase directly the store. Friends and family can also see the users catalogue which is perfect for the most popular form of advertising, word of mouth.
Luvocracy quietly launched last Autumn and has been growing steadily since. The focus appears to be on quality over quantity, with co-founder Nathan Stoll sending a personal thanks to all new members. This personal touch encourages a community feel to the site.
It seems that Luvocracy could be the next step in brand promotion as it combines the popular judgement of style bloggers with the fun of Pinterest. Retailers are tripping over themselves for Facebook Likes and product Retweets, so it would make sense that they would benefit from Luvocracy and a repin on this would be likely to have a higher conversion rate than a shared picture on other social media sites.
Is there space for both Luvocracy and Pinterest? I think yes. What Pinterest does for creative types (or at least those who think they are), Luvocracy will do for shoppers looking for the next trend alert.
What do you think?