Every now and then a site comes along and just explodes into the social media stratosphere. Pinterest is one such site. Just look at its growth. In June, it didn’t even have half a million visits. By December, it had over 11 million! And this is still an invitation-only site. (Email me if you want an invite!)
So what is the site exactly? It’s an online inspiration board, a place to “pin” images and group them together. Say you’re redoing your kitchen and searching online for ideas. Before Pinterest, it wasn’t easy to grab those images and put them all together on one easy-to-view (and share) inspiration board. (You could do it with Evernote but Evernote’s boards don’t render so simply and elegantly.) We built a house a few years ago and I bookmarked and tagged stuff in Evernote and nothing was as easy or fun to use as Pinterest.
If you are a product company, add a “pin it” button to your products, just like you have a Facebook “like it” button. Pinterest doesn’t seem to play well with Java, so check to make sure your images are pin-able. Â Do this now. I wish I’d told you to do this last week because a lot of folks will be cruising around on their shiny new ipads this weekend, daydreaming on Pinterest.
Pinterest is the world’s largest idea board. Images are placed onto boards that are categorized. Looking for a craft project to do with the kids during the winter break? Search the DIY/Crafts boards.
Or a fun recipe for a holiday gathering? Check out this idea I pinned. 
Planning a wedding? Make a board for flowers, one for food, one for dresses, one for decor . . . and share with your groom or wedding planner or mother.
The very social nature of this site is part of the reason for its adoption. It’s also insanely fun and useful. Friends tell me it’s addictive. And that, my friends, is marketing gold. Alas, they aren’t accepting ads (yet) but you can integrate the Pin It app into your site, as I mentioned. I’ve also seen brands create inspiration boards (Whole Foods has some great ones) that link back to their products. It’s a wonderful way to engage with your customers where they are already online and dreaming.