Pinterest affords it users the ability to pin pictures from any website they are browsing to a virtual pin board. Users can create as many pin boards as they wish and add to each board countless pictures along with a personal description of the image they are adding. Other users of Pinterest can search the site for illustrations of interest to them, comment on them, follow a particular pin board of interest and even re-pin a picture to their own account.

So how does this help a small business?

Part of the programming built into this site is that when a user pins a picture from a website to a pin board, the website address from where the image came is listed clearly and concisely and there is no option with which to hide to this information.

Let’s say Jane Doe is planning her wedding. She can create pin boards for a dress, cake, shoes, jewellery and so forth. As she browses the internet for inspiration and comes across pictures of these items that she likes she can pin them to the specific boards she has created in order that she can peruse them at a later date. Each picture will list the website from where they came so there is no need whilst browsing for Jane Doe to have to remember an address or write lengthy lists.

Friends, family and other users of Pinterest can see the pin board Jane Doe has created and they can add comments such as their opinion on the item they are looking at or they can re-pin the picture if it is of interest to them to a board of their own. The website address from where Jane Doe originally obtained the picture will automatically appear on this new board.

Not only can a small business rapidly have its products and services visually represented to a high number of prospective clients along with its website address but they can also get feedback about their merchandise by way of the comments that users of Pinterest leave.

Pinterest is growing in use on a daily basis to collate information for a number of reasons from planning a wedding to re-decorating a home and is accessible through the most popular social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. Therefore if a business is using the visual side of promoting itself and its products on its website, there is scope to create awareness with many potential clients as people are browsing pin boards within Pinterest and re-posting pictures for their own followers, friends and family.

Currently Pinterest is not restricting the way in which a user signs up, therefore both private individuals and businesses can create an account as long as they have a valid email address. However it is worth noting that you cannot simply upload a picture to a pin board from your computer database. Only those images already available on a website can be added, therefore if you wish to create an account for your business you will need to ensure you have a website and that any images you wish to add to a pin board are readily available on your website too.

Take some time to view the Digital Ark Pinterest page.  If you would like more details on how social media can help your small business marketing, please visit our website.