I admit it. I’m an addict. Pinterest has got me. I check it in the morning, I pin throughout the day, I spend evenings searching for photo ideas. I learn about social media, I drool over shoes, I plan home decor projects and I show my fiance funny things I’ve recently pinned.

In case you’re not familiar with this “new” craze, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Users create boards based on interests and share photos and videos (with or without links). Other people with common interests follow boards and/or people, and repin images they like onto their own boards.

It sounds simple, and as a business owner, you may be wondering how something so simple could really be so popular. Could something so simple do anything to drive people to my website or help me get new customers?

Well, according to Clean Cut Media, “Pinterest has been growing rapidly, increasing 400% just in the last quarter. In December Pinterest had 7.51 million unique visitors. Many retailers are also showing Pinterest as a top 5 referrer.” The site is currently driving more traffic to businesses than Google+. So yeah, it’s working for many businesses.

There are many pins that are links, visually appealing enough to hook us and get us to click the link and read the article. This is how businesses are using Pinterest to drive traffic. It’s a simple, visual way to put the hook out there.

The simplicity and ease of use is the appeal. It’s like a visual Twitter, where you can pick and choose the topics you want to see.

And it’s addictive. So addictive.

But why?

Part of it has to do with us as visual creatures with short attention spans. We have a love affair with infographics, regularly share humorous images and are drawn to aesthetically pleasing photos. Pinterest allows us to quickly evaluate and categorize images – I scroll past it, I like it or I like it so much that it deserves to be something I claim and share.

For many of us, Pinterest is also a way to bring personality to a brand.

While this blog, my Twitter feed and all of my other social media accounts feature mostly social media & small business marketing talk, my Pinterest account shows some of my other interests. It is a way to show the world what I’m all about without opening up my entire life and/or pushing my personal interests on you.

Perhaps you are interested in my Social Media Goodies board, but you don’t care about my love of shoes or coffee. That’s fine. The beauty of Pinterest is that you get to pick and choose exactly the interest you care about and filter out all of the ones you don’t. It allows people to express themselves as multi-dimensional people, without fear of spamming or offending fans.

I laugh. I learn. I share. I make myself believe I could actually be crafty (I’m not at ALL.) I’m absolutely hooked. If you are too, please join me.

I’m curious… How are you using Pinterest? What do you love about it?

About the author

Melissa Reyes wrote 71 articles on this blog.

I’m Melissa. I’m a mom, a coffee hound, a full-time communications & social media manager and the owner of Social Amateur. Thank you for reading, for commenting, for sharing and for being a part of my social media journey.

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