How Brands Can Leverage the 'Interest Graph'

This SXSW coverage is brought to you by Red Square Agency. The agency that also brought you shamelessness.

In a SXSW panel that jumped on the topic du jour, Pinterest, moderator Jolie O'Dell, a reporter at Venture Beat, carefully crafted a discussion that steered clear of the usual social media blather that all too often pervades conference panels.

The panel, while acknowledging the importance of the social graph, advocated consideration of what they dubbed the "interest graph." The interest graph is a focus on, as the title suggest, what people are interested in. And services like Pinterest have brought this to the forefront.

Noting the potential importance of mining interest data, Mullen Chief Innovation Officer Edward Boches told the audience he is an avid biker and has been an American Express Card holder for 35 years yet he still receives continuous offers for the Cheesecake Factory, a restaurant in which he has no interest.

Boches added while many brands are learning, most don't capture interest expressed of these new social platforms as much as they collect typical social media metrics like tweets, retweets and likes.

Answering O'Dell's query as to how brands can start leveraging the interest graph, panelist Farah Bostik said "If you just show people, they will just look. Brands need to offer a commerce mechanism, a data platform. Set up notebooks. Become a trusted source and celebrate your best advocates."

In terms of tactics brands can put into place to get started, the panel closed with a simple list od to do's:

- Brands should explore all "interest" sites
- Establish a presence
- Don't commit to just one service
- Learn conversation strategy
- Measure and track everything
- Create relationships with platforms
- Understand data and market to it
- Do it yourself (personal account)

This SXSW coverage has been brought to you by Red Square, a small national agency that just happens to be located in the SXSE.