How does a manufacturing company compete with viral cat videos and political Twitter feeds and breaking A-Rod news on the web? Ingenico, North America found a way: Pinterest.

When it launched not so very long ago, Pinterest looked like it would be a lovely home for visual content in areas like fashion and recipes and crafts. Its usefulness as a commerce hub, though, was questionable.

It didn’t take long for some companies to realize the potential of the picture-centric social media site. Ingenico, a global leader in payments solutions – 20 million terminals are currently deployed in 125 countries – was one of them.

Svy Nekrasas, Vice President of Marketing for Ingenico North America, acknowledges that marketing his company’s products to retailers, merchants and banks in earlier days was a challenge. Payment solutions are not particularly sexy, nor do they represent ordinary everyday products to pitch. “It was rather challenging to connect and engage with end users in a business-to-business environment,” he says.

A New, Effective Channel

Social media, Nekrasas says, is all about sharing, engaging and interacting. “Selling” and “marketing” come last on that list of attributes. So Ingenico, North America started experimenting with the new non-traditional media environment, adding a Twitter feed to the existing marketing mix that allowed them to communicate with both the payment ecosystem stakeholders and general public in North America.

Understandably, given the confidential nature of business communications, there are many things that companies can’t express outright — especially when it pertains to payments, cardholders’ data security and technology innovation. “But when you use pictures, people can easily draw their own conclusions.” Nekrasas says. “Pinterest gave us a unique platform to present a visual expression of what we do and – equally if not more important – who we are.”

Ingenico’s Pinterest page is filled with images that do just that. There are pictures of some of the interiors from their new head office in Atlanta, showing employees hard at work. There are pictures of products and of the company’s presence at trade shows. There are video demos and interviews, a smattering of infographics and photos showcasing Ingenico’s involvement with Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.

More Benefits

Pinterest also lets Ingenico bridge the generational gap, especially with the “screeners,” today’s young people who grew up engaging with one kind of screen or other. The company doesn’t have to – and shouldn’t — be wordy to communicate with them. Pictures are universal, understood quickly by everyone.

And Pinterest enables Ingenico to show the human side of business. “We’re people. We’re part of the local community.” Nekrasas says. “We’re not just a cold, corporate, faceless manufacturer. People of all kinds of cultures, backgrounds and interests make our business. So Pinterest allows us to crack open the corporate door to show what’s inside and behind the global brand of Ingenico.”

Consumers Drive the Conversation

The old school styles of sales, branding and marketing are gone, Nekrasas says. It’s a fact and we should accept it. Consumers are shaping the process, and it’s up to individual companies and corporations to decide how they’re going to embrace and adapt to this new reality. And if their message is not authentic and engaging, only focused on ‘selling,’ their brand and the corporation itself will miss the opportunity to connect with their audience, and will become obsolete.

So Ingenico, North America has fully embraced new technologies and communication mediums, and continues to move forward with the times by sharing and engaging with consumers on places like Pinterest. “It is really fun to see how we continue to shape our brand because we are adding a human voice to it,” Nekrasas says.