Part online scrapbook, part engine of commerce, Pinterest is a growing force in online marketing.

What is Pinterest?

Think of Pinterest as an online, social scrapbook. This site allows users to pin images and links to interest boards of their choice and, at least in the United States, it focuses heavily on lifestyle topics that include recipe-sharing, home decorating, beauty and fashion, and family topics. Logging into the site feels like opening the pages of a glossy magazine, as high-impact images dominate this channel. Written content is limited to short descriptions, and each image links to an external website. Many Internet users may be surprised to learn that Pinterest is the fourth largest driver of online traffic in the world.

Who is the audience?

Nearly 80 percent of Pinterest users are women, and 20 percent of women in the United States who have Internet access use the site. Those female users have an average of 67 followers each. The audience is relatively evenly split among different ethnic groups, and usage goes up for higher wage-earners and those with more education.

Why do I need it?

The site offers a great way to capture the attention of an audience with a beautiful image that leads directly to your company’s website. Also, quite significantly, Pinterest users tend to be in more of a spending mode than visitors to other social media sites. Research shows that more than 70 percent of Pinterest users use the platform to get inspiration on what to buy, and 20 percent of social media referrals to e-commerce sites come from Pinterest. As such, the top categories on Pinterest are connected to commerce. Average spend by consumers who buy something based on their Pinterest activity exceeds that of both Facebook and Twitter.

Average spend, per transaction, after activity on social media leads a consumer to a purchase:

Pinterest = $179.36

Facebook = $80

Twitter = $68.78

Also, consider these statistics:

• 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual.
• We can process images 60,000 times faster than text.

Put all that together, and it’s easy to understand why Pinterest is a visually based e-commerce generator.

What to post?

Again, this site is all about images. Post high-quality, attention-grabbing photos with compelling and concise descriptions. Videos can also be pinned to Pinterest. You can stack pins and create online “scrapbooks” of related imagery. If you’re trying to sell a product, don’t limit your images to product shots. Think about related items—lifestyle photography that portrays your brand, other products in related areas that pair with your products, inspirational images that fit with the overall “feel” of your company. You are creating a mini visual ecosystem with each set of pins, so consider the feelings that ecosystem will elicit, and how it can be used to promote your brand.