We’ve had Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Linked In etc.…now there is Pinterest.

Launched in 201o, Pinterest is now really starting to enjoy a huge growth in popularity.  Essentially a ‘virtual’ pinboard, the site allows individuals to ‘pin’ up a collection of their favourite images for their ‘followers’ to view, like and ‘re-pin’.  For example, a bride-to-be may use the site to ‘pin-up’ images of dresses, cakes and themes to share with her ‘followers’ for their opinions and reviews.

Like Facebook, the ability to ‘re-pin’ means your ‘pins’ can be shared and go viral.  This can be of particular interest to businesses and organisations as it offers another affordable social medium through which they communicate with their consumers or target market and can also give a valuable insight into the interests of their consumers.

Although the temptation for e-commerce businesses in particular may be to showcase their products and use the site as a virtual catalogue, this is still social media and it is therefore more important to use it as medium for engaging and developing relationships with existing and potential consumers rather than simply shifting product.