Pinterest, one of the fastest growing social media sites, is starting to gain interest among businesses. And rightly so. It can be a valuable marketing tool to businesses with retail products looking to gain an edge with online consumers.

Launched in 2010, Pinterest is already experiencing wild growth. The site registered over 7 million unique visitors in December of 2011, up from 1.6 million in September. Pinterest is driving more traffic to company websites and blogs than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined, according to a recent Shareaholic report.

So what does this mean for your business? If your product is visual in nature, it could mean a lot. Let’s first see what Pinterest is, and then you’ll understand how you can make good use of this image-based social delight.

So what is Pinterest?

Pinterest allows you to organize images into boards for specific categories. When you “pin” something new, your followers will see it. They can like, comment or re-pin it to their boards. Just as with Facebook content, your Pinterest pins can go viral and spread like wildfire if they are interesting.

How Pinterest is Used

The most powerful application for your business is the ability to post images of your company’s products on your Pinterest board and then link them back to your website. Then it works kind of like a virtual catalog. You can do the same thing with designs, photographs, or screen captures and make a portfolio of sorts.

But remember: this is social media. If you just display your own stuff and don’t share or re-pin other people’s content, then you will find that you won’t get much traffic. In this way, it’s very similar to Facebook and Twitter. You must continuously remain involved and engaged with content. Savvy social media users already know not to get too promotional.

What can you, as a business, do with Pinterest?

Businesses are already seeing an increase of traffic when involving themselves with Pinterest. Pinterest is not built for businesses by any means, but it does offer another intriguing way to get your products out there. The only way to determine if you’ll get positive results is to try it. It’s not like it will cost you an arm and a leg to set it up. It’s free.

So go ahead. Give it a try. You’ve got nothing to lose and it could be a great way to market your business or products.

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