• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, December 22, 2015

Social media analytics outfit ListenFirst is adding Pinterest to its social engagement measurement service for brands, allowing marketers and brand social media managers to see how they (and their competitors) are performing on the image-centric scrapbooking site.

ListenFirst, which powers MediaPost’s Digital Engagement Index, announced it is now tracking over 10,000 brands on Pinterest, tracking user interactions with over 50 billion Pins to determine which brands are driving consumer engagement, and with what strategies. The measurement service, built off of Pinterest’s new application program interface, allows marketers and advertisers to track board and Pin level data over time in order to understand the impact of different campaigns.

The addition of Pinterest to the ListenFirst measurement set reflects growing interest among marketers in the site’s potential as a channel for reaching consumers (especially women) who are likely prospects for e-commerce or retail conversion in categories including cooking, crafts and DIY. According to a study by Moovweb published in September, Pinterest accounts for an outsized share of revenue from social referrals to mobile e-commerce sites, at 16%.

Pinterest joins over 40 other online channels measured by ListenFirst, including major social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. ListenFirst is working with clients across a range of categories, including Pepsi, Jose Cuervo, Michael Kors, A+E Networks, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, among others.

As noted, for just over a year MediaPost has been working with ListenFirst to analyze companies in the Redbooks 500 ­- a group of leading companies based on a brand's revenue, advertising spend, social media engagement and other factors -- with the Digital Engagement Index, tracking a range of social engagement metrics across various social media channels.

Designed as a benchmark for digital consumer engagement with brands on a daily basis, the DEI is meant to serve the same function in the marketing world as the S&P 500 does in the financial world, by providing a perspective on how brands are trending, while giving a reference point on how they are performing as compared to the market as a whole.