In the last 7 or 8 years, social networking has crept deeper and deeper into our subconscious and has, to a large extent, changed the way we communicate. A whole new aspect of marketing has grown into a speciality practice in its own right with millions of pounds spend every year on running Facebook and Twitter campaigns that will affect businesses as small as a one-man-band, right through to big brand giants like Coca-Cola and MacDonald’s. At First, it was Facebook and Linked In then came Twitter, not to mention FourSquare and Google+. Now – well now, a new player has arrived in the form of Pinterest which is growing in popularity faster than you’d imagine.
I have to admit to being a total Pinterest junkie. It’s an online pin board where you can share things you are interested in by either pinning something to the board or sharing and commenting on something that is already up there. It launched in 2009 but it was only really towards the end of 2011 that it started to show any strength, entering the top 10 Social Networks list in December. It’s reported to be the fastest site in history to break the 10 million unique visitor mark, having registered 11.7million in Jan 2012 according to a recent comScore report. The thing I love about it is the potential for absolutely anything to be shared. Anything from a new cake recipe to a news story that got you going. The potential for it’s use as a marketing tool is remarkable as well. If you were launching a new brand onto the market and wanted a little feedback on the look and feel of the thing – just pin it to the board and see what comments come back. If you were promoting an upcoming event or looking to generate new customers you could just pin something to the board to create some commentary around it. Job hunters and Recruiters are already starting to see the potential for it all too. Is it going to be the next big social media platform...so simple to use, so clever and so open. It has almost limitless potential. Or is it another SM phenomenon that gets swallowed up by another fad in a few months? Get involved, have a go, you can lose yourself in it for hours...
