Pinning = Winning

There are all sorts of social media sites available for people all over the world to interact and share interests, but Pinterest is taking the social media world by storm and ultimately changing marketing. 

Pinterest grew from 2.5% of referral traffic in December to 3.6% of the referrals in January. Pinterest is showing other social media sites such as Google + and YouTube a run for its money and even causing them to lose referral traffic.

Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/
pinterestingly-enough-interesting-pinterest-stats/45328/

Pinterest allows for users to follow profiles, boards and even comment on pins to stay connected. The benefit to gaining followers as a company via boards or pins is the link building that is created which increases search engine optimization and increases keyword ranking.

Pinterest users who shop online follow 9.3 retailers, while Facebook users follow 6.9 retailers and Twitter users follow 8.5 retailers. Of the users on Pinterest, 80% are women, 50% have kids, and are more likely to live in the Midwest. During the average 1 hour and 17 minutes spent on there leads to 80% of pins being shared or "repinned".

Pinterest is great for companies who utilize boards and pins properly. In order to do so, there are some recommendations to take into consideration when creating a Pinterest marketing strategy which include the following:

• Profiles
• Pins
• Boards
• Research
• Images
• Collaboration
• Contests
• Copyright

Companies who understand the Pinterest user and their targeted customer can develop a marketing strategy that increases traffic and customer and brand awareness. Pinterest is a prime example of how social media is changing the way companies market to customers and the power of customer interaction.