Part 2 of 3 in a series!

Earlier I blogged about our newest fascination on the web, Pinterest. Today, I want to answer the question I left you with: Why should this social networking website, addictive and beautiful as it may be, really matter to businesses?

Social Media’s Next Big Star

I think I made it clear in my last post how fun Pinterest can be. I’m not alone in feeling that way. The site is shaping up to be a big player in the digital game. Mashable recently wrote that Pinterest drives more traffic to websites than Google+, Youtube and LinkedIn combined. Those are not piddly platforms, ya’ll. Twitter is actually just barely beating Pinterest out… and Pinterest is a social networking site that’s only been around about a year.

Why has it taken off so much? It’s still too soon to answer that question in a scientific manner, but there are some tried-and-true principles of marketing and social media that Pinterest appears to be capitalizing on. For one, it’s been proven that women are more social creatures, and therefore more prone to share online and be more active on social networks. While the site is not too frilly, it lends itself to a feminine audience. There are similar sites like Tumblr that are more unisex in nature, but the reason Pinterest is such a dynamo is because it’s so popular with women. Don’t forget, women hold the purchasing power in most households. And while women are clearly the site’s target audience, the variety and volume of content shared by its users means that regardless of your budget, background or interests, there will be something for you there.

The thing that really impresses us about this site is that it allows businesses to do what they have been trying to do for years – get people to remember you. Whether you’re a blogger with a recipe you want folks to try, or a brand with a spankin’ new product you want everyone to know about, Pinterest allows you to not just get in front of your audience’s eyes, but it allows them to decide to save you, and share you. In fact, that’s the whole purpose. It’s like ripping an ad out of a magazine and mailing it to all of your friends. How many of us do that 20 times a day? Multiply that by Pinterest’s 13 million (and rapidly growing) users, and you get an idea of just how powerful this platform is.

How To Make It Work For You

So we know that Pinterest holds great potential for reaching new audiences and driving lots more traffic through its ultra-visual, user-friendly format. But how do you harness that potential? Plenty of folks, from bloggers to big brands, have been testing the waters with different techniques and having exciting results. Whether it’s a big time Pinterest contest integrated with a campaign, or simply taking a temperature check of what your target audience is pinning from your website, there’s a bunch of ways to utilize the platform as a marketer. I’ll get into the nitty gritty of just how to do that in my next blog post!