PinInterest, A Visual Market

PinInterest was founded by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. It is a pinboard style website, where users can create themed folios with a collection of images based around a certain interest. It allows users to interact with one another based on their similar interests and can browse, re-pin others images for inspirtation or has the option to ‘like’ other photos.

The platform that was launched in 2010, has readily become one of the social media favorites and undoubtedly has become a huge influence in the retail market. According to a BizRate Insight study, 70% of PinInterest users used the site to gain inspiration for what to buy. For companies looking to increase sales, using PinInterest as a platform to connect with consumer could be a very smart move.

Especially as the medium has started to cause quite a flurry amongst other social platforms, after Compete released a blog post this month which showed a graph displaying that PinInterest was taking the lead of unique visitors from Tumblr. Cross referencing with comScore the results were quite different, but PinInterest is definitely closing the gap and to add, at a rapid pace. Already this year it has surpassed LinkedIn and Tagged.

As the figures show that more PinInterest users are there for the commerce-related purposes, it is a sure thing they are in buying mode. With the amount of users growing rapidly and with the social media being built on the foundation “connect everyone in the world through ‘things’ they find interesting”, it will be an easy way to develop and source followers.

I highly suggest that if your company is within the retail industry to use PinInterest to your greatest advantage. It will be a great step to market your products and connect with target consumers. It will also help your business become more widely known and build brand authority.