The latest hot social media platform is Pinterest, which is the fastest growing web site ever and already has over 10 million people visiting it each month.
The site allows users to post, organize and share pictures of things they are interested in. Think of it as an online, photo-sharing pinboard of interesting pictures - hence the name.
Users can "pin" their own pictures, or easily "pin" pictures they find on the web. Doing this creates a virtual bulletin board that can be viewed by others.
One of the more popular applications of Pinterest is wedding planning. Future brides, grooms, friends and family members can add and comment on pictures of things they may want as part of the wedding.
One of the key reasons Pinterest is so successful is its ease of use. Great quote on this from a New York Times review:
"There are several keys to Pinterest’s success, but one of them is the simplicity and pleasure of adding a photo to one of your boards. As you surf the Web each day, whenever you see something that looks interesting or inspiring or funny, you click the Pin It button on your bookmarks bar."
Another interesting quote comes from a Washington Post article, which calls Pinterest "digital crack for women".
Not surprisingly, businesses are starting to discover Pinterest. Two good articles covering the how's and why's of small businesses using Pinterest are:
1. Duct Tape Marketing's How and Why to Use Pinterest for Business.
2. Hub Spot's 6 Compelling Reasons You Should Use Pinterest for Marketing.
The hype cycle around Pinterest is just beginning, so expect to hear a lot about this service in the near future.
Pinterest is a very cool service and can be useful even if you're only sharing with yourself or your work group. We use it to store and share interesting visuals we see on the web. For us, it's kind of a picture-based Evernote (which we've used for years). But given our business, it's unlikely we will use it with our customers or as a lead generation tool.
Our Pinterest advice to small businesses is the same as all social media - it's a great tool but it's not going to be effective for all small businesses. Small businesses should learn about Pinterest, explore and test it as a business tool. If the tests show a strong ROI (remember to include time spent in your ROI calculations), use it. If not, don't.
Pinterest is a great way to generate trafficl I red that some sites derive more traffic from Pinterest than any other sources. It's important to pin pictures that are interesting and fascinating; it's about the visual aspect.
Posted by: Online Advertising | April 16, 2012 at 07:36 AM
I hope Pinterest will not just be a fad but something that will be useful even in the long term.
Posted by: Carl | March 09, 2012 at 03:57 AM
Pinterest has definitely been popular for wedding ideas from what I've seen (themes, venues, hair styles, you name it). A few girlfriends of mine are actively using it for their wedding, but one of them just started using an additional site that saves all of her finds and brings her back to that original link. I'm in her bridal party this May and she used clipix to compare prices for our dresses. She seems to be planning more with clipix while using pinterest for ideas.
Posted by: Courtney Pierce | February 22, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Great reviews of Pinterest. I looked at it and found very interesting photos. It looks like if I sign up an account, I'll enjoy being there.
Posted by: small business crm | February 22, 2012 at 04:59 AM