Unlike other photo sharing sites, Pinterest emphasizes the discovery and curation of other people’s content, not just storing your own. This is part three of five in our series about how to get started on social media.
Pinterest allows you to use visual assets like photos, videos, or infographics to garner likes and “repins,” which are the equivalent of shares on Facebook, or retweets on Twitter. You can easily post images from other websites to your Pinterest account using the “Pin it” task bar button, or you can just browse the Pinterest platform to discover, like, or “repin” content others have already posted. Each pin includes a link back to the originating source.
With over 20 million active users, Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social networks. This visual aspect of the site is one reason why it’s captured the interest of so many businesses, from retailers to photographers and designers, who are using it as a portfolio or product catalog. Customers and clients can say which products they love and want to buy for themselves, and their friends can further the endorsement by pinning the pictures to their own boards.
Tip for Success
The content that you share will link back to its source on your website or blog, so your Pinterest board serves as a source of web traffic for your business.
Check out the Pinterest board for inspiration here.
What’s good about Pinterest?
- Pinterest is the most visual social network, and lets businesses showcase their products and services through pictures.
- While Pinterest has seen incredible growth, it is still in the early stages and there are opportunities to catch the attention of new users.
- Users want to grow their presence on Pinterest and in doing so they act as marketers on your behalf
What’s not so good about Pinterest?
- The visual appeal of Pinterest may limit the sites usefulness for certain industries.
- The demographics are a bit lopsided, as of March 2012 – 70% of users are female.
