Pinterest: 3 Internet Marketing Advantages to the Social Trend

A new social trend gaining momentum goes by the name, Pinterest. I was confused by the name at first but if you break it apart it is the words “pin” and “interest” or pinning your interests. You could think of it as a virtual bulletin board for all of your internet musings. Users create a profile with a number of custom “boards” which are then open for “pins” or links to post on the various boards. For example, you may have a board called “home décor” and as you search the web you can add links of interest to this board for future reference. In their own words Pinterest’s goal is, “to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people. With millions of new pins added every week, Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests.”

I actually came across the new tool by word-of-mouth this past weekend while at a bridal shower. My friend wanted to show me some ideas she had for her wedding and she took me to her Pinterest account. Immediately I was intrigued by the look of the site and said, “It’s just like etsy.com” and she said, “yeah, except it’s not about selling anything.”

Although no one is directly selling anything via Pinterest, I have found a few internet marketing advantages to the site:

1. Bookmarklet

When a Pinterest member joins they have the option of adding a “pin-it” bookmarklet to their tool bar. This way they are able to add pins to their boards without being on the site. The bookmarket allows users to grab any image from a website and attach it to their pinterest boards. Pinterest automatically copies the link to the image so that others can locate where the image came from. This way anytime someone pins something from your site you automatically gain potential new viewers. The point is that people trust their friends the most. So if you get one viewer to like your product your presence grows to all of their followers as well.

2. “Pin-It” button for websites

Facebook has “like it,” Google has “+1” it, Twitter has “tweet it,” and Pinterest has “pin-it.” Just like the other platforms Pinterest allows you to add a pin-it button directly to your website. The button can be placed next to multiple images on your website so that viewers can pin items to their boards directly from the website. Although Pinterest does not have as many users as the other social sites I would suggest adding the button as soon as possible to get a jump-start on the trend.

3. Start your own Pinterest Account

From an internet marketing perspective I would definitely suggest starting a Pinterest account. The site does not allow business pages but just like with Google+ I would recommend creating an individual account where only your businesses products are featured. Because Pinterest is strictly for sharing and not selling, you must be careful about outwardly selling products but gaining awareness of your products and other related items is allowed.

Pinterest is still in an invitation only period so I would recommend requesting an invitation from their site or finding a friend that would be willing to invite you to it. If you have found any other advantages to Pinterest share with others in the comments below.

About Kristen Riordan

Web Outreach Analyst for WebpageFX - an internet marketing agency.Internet marketing extraordinaire, social media reviewer, figure skating fanatic.

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