The visually engaging social site is already making the social shopping scene popular and users are coming to the site to see what other consumers are finding in fashion, pets, books, and so on.
The recent growth of Pinterest is definitely something to acknowledge with visits from mid to the end of 2012 increasing by a staggering amount. A report by Hitwise said the site received 11 million visits during the week of 17 December 2011, which was 40 times the number of visits it received six months before, during a week in June 2011.
The start-up lets users pin items that are interesting to them and it has seen a quick and steady surge of traffic and mentions in social circles. The site began at the end of 2009 and was named among the 50 best websites of 2011 by Time Magazine.
Users can create themed image boards and can add items to their own board found online using the "Pin It" button. The Pins that users share show up on a Pin Feed on the home page. The pins can be divided into discussion, pictures, videos and even gifts.
Brands need to pay attention to the potential benefits of jumping on board the Pinterest train. Interacting on the site can be a lucrative online channel to boost revenues as users on the site tend to be buying-oriented. Brands not investing time into Pinterest risk playing a game of catch up against those who already realise Pinterest is a leading site where people choose to interact.
"Users are often ‘buy hungry’ when they visit Pinterest. As such, it presents a very ‘ready’ opportunity for brands to sell products to users actively seeking them out," says Charlie Elliott, Content and Creative strategist at Greenlight and co-author of the Pinterest – Best Practice guide.
However, Pinterest is uniquely different from other social media sites and brands will have to find a somewhat artsy approach to the site in order to catch user attention.
"Pinterest does not encourage product pushing. Therefore brands will need a different approach to the likes of Twitter and Facebook and will have to be creative in their output," says Elliott.
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