A Marketer's Quick Guide to Pinterest

Everywhere you go, Pinterest has reached new pinnacles of interest among marketers and small business owners (see what I did there?). According to Mashable, Pinterest is driving more traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined.

But what is Pinterest, what’s it good for and why should you care?

Here are a few insights into the emerging social sharing site and what it means for your business:

• If you’re completely unfamiliar with Pinterest, Mashable offers up a handy beginners guide to Pinterest.
• Meanwhile, eConsultancy uncovers the demographics of Pinterest users.
• Jeff Bullas looks at 7 ways you can use Pinterest to promote your business
• Not to be outdone, Search Engine Watch highlights 7 creative ways your brand can use Pinterest.
• HubSpot ups the ante by providing examples of brands using Pinterest successfully.
• Regular readers of our TravelStuff blog will appreciate TIG Global’s look at how the travel industry can use Pinterest.
• Sharable content holds the key to Pinterest’s success among consumers — as well as most social success. Fortunately, Search Engine Journal reveals what makes content sharable.
• Finally, Forrester asks whether Pinterest is overhyped. Spoiler alert: They believe the answer is yes.

As it happens, I don’t agree with Forrester. Yes, Pinterest has attracted tons of hype. And, yes, it’s entirely possible the site will fail to live up to its early buzz (’cause, y’know, that’s never happened).

But, Pinterest—as well as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr—also highlights a key shift in social media. The traditional world view suggests that 1% of all users in social media create content, 9% comment on it and the remaining 90% consume that content.

And while that certainly used to be true, I suspect the numbers have shifted heavily in favor of sharing content, too.

Now, people who used to comment can do more than just comment; they can spread the word about something that catches their Pinterest… whoops, excuse me… interest, with just a click (along, of course, with their pithy comment). More importantly, the formerly passive consumers can do the same thing. Social media is as much about curation as it is about creation. Which is why I suspect Pinterest, or at least the behavior it inspires, will be with us for a long time to come.

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