Pinterest is amazing and fun to use. I have a Pinterest invite if you need one. If you submit your email address in the form box to the left labelled, “Subscribe Now and get a Pinterest Invite!”. You will also be subscribed to my email newsletter. Read on an find out why I love Pinterest so much.
Here are 10 reasons for you to use Pinterest.
1. Drive traffic to your website.
You can pin images on your own website or blog to Pinterest and drive traffic back there. You can even put prices on your images if prints or the item pictured is for sale! Pinterest is driving a competitive percentage of traffic versus other social media sites today.:
2. You can share your passions and interests.
Use Pinterest to share what you are in to. If you love birds, or cars, or beautiful sunsets, make a pin board for that. Pretty much you can create a board for whatever your heart desires. I have set up many pin boards for my interests. Some of mine are these Pinterest boards: Men’s Fashion, Social Media, Shoes, San Francisco, Travel, and Illustration.
3. It’s so easy to use.
The highly graphical layout of Pinterest makes it simple to use. The images are so beautiful to look at I can stare at them for hours. All you need to do I click “Like” or “Repin” on the images you choose. If you choose “Repin”, you will be asked to add to one of your existing pin boards or you can even create a brand new one. Use the Pin It bookmarklet in your browser to pin images or videos from other websites including your own.
4. It is growing like crazy.
There is a great inforgraphic in this Mashable article about retailers online and Pinterest.:
http://mashable.com/2012/01/29/pinterest-retail-infographic/
Estimated unique visitors up 429% from September to December 2011.
Some very interesting demographics:
http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-networks/pinterest-demographic-data/
http://www.quora.com/Pinterest/Whats-the-demographic-of-Pinterest-users-and-how-did-it-get-that-way
As of late Jan 2012:
• 80% female
• 55% of users are within the 25-44 age range
• Pinterest has over 4 million users and growing
• 1.5 million visitors daily
• 14+ minutes per visit
Pinterest has a highly engaged audience of over 4 million users. 80% are women and 20% are men. 1.5 million unique visits per day and they spend a huge 14+ minutes average visit. Unique visits have increased 429% since Summer 2011. Pinterest has become a top referrer ahead of Google+ on top retailers sites.
5. It is well connected.
Take it on the road with the Pinterest app for your iPhone. Their is no official Pinterest iPad app version yet, but the iPhone app will work. You just need to use the 2x zoom to fill the screen.
6. It is very social.
There is an RSS FEED link from each profile.
Pinterest RSS feed: feed://pinterest.com/[username]/feed.rss
My Pinterest RSS feed: http://pinterest.com/petertrapasso/feed.rss
You can tweet your pins and repins if you link your Twitter account. You used to have an option to post to Facebook, but it has been removed.
7. You can friendsurf.
Friend surfing was originally mentioned by Chris Brogan. It is a way to see and follow your friends of your friends. What a great way to find and follow other people who likely share at least some of your interests.
From your profile page look in the upper left corner for your “following” link http://pinterest.com/petertrapasso/following/ and click on it. Choose any of the people you are following and click on their name. Now look in the upper left hand corner of their page and click on their followers or following links and choose which people to follow. You will follow all of their boards by clicking on their red Follow button. To just follow specific boards, click on their name and click the white follow button under each board you wish to follow.
From your profile page look in the upper left corner for your “followers” link http://pinterest.com/petertrapasso/following/ and click on it. You can follow your followers people as well.
8. You can get a free invite from any member.
If you submit your email address in the form on my left sidebar, I can send you a Pinterest invite. Once you are a member you can invite anyone via email or through your Facebook Profile friends.
9. It’s fun!
Pinterest is an enjoyable break during your work day. Is is a great stress reliever or just a big time sink? Either way it is really fun.
10. 10 people to follow on Pinterest.
Here are 10 great people to follow on Pinterest:
Ben Silbermann, Chad Syme, Nina Garcia, Lilia Ahner, Amy & Jocey, Warby parker, Evan Sharp, mashable, DashBurst, Reg Saddler.
And more:
Here is another list of pinners to follow on Pinterest, Pinners to Follow that includes brands, celebs, tastemakers and just awesome pinners.
My wish list
* Please make a link or button available to return to the Home page after you click on a photo to view it.
* Find a way to let us pin photos on our Facebook pages.
* Integrate Pinterest with Buffer app.
* Pinterest metrics? Missing analytics tools to measure and track key Pinterest metrics over time.
About Peter Trapasso
Peter Trapasso is a self-taught social media expert, and owner of PeterTrapasso.com which is listed on the Alltop Social Media topic page. He is a Social Media consultant and Freelance Writer based in San Francisco, Ca. As part of a 15+ year corporate career in technology he worked for Fortune 500 and startup companies. Now he is one of the Top 75 most followed people on Twitter in San Francisco. And a Top 1% Kred Social Media VIP, Klout Influencer, and Socialbakers Ambassador. He is dedicated to social good and making the world a better place for all of us.
I'm Peter Trapasso, self-taught social media expert, and owner of 
Hi Peter,
Thanks for this posts, it shows the great opportunities for brands and marketers on Pinterest.
Let’s hope Pinterest will not be misused by Spammers who just want to spread their links. Maybe we will see some change here about passing link juice in the future.
Cheers
Nick
Agreed Nick.
Thanks for stopping by!
You make Pinterest sound like so much fun. I haven’t tried it as yet but after reading your post, I’m tempted to try it even though I’m up to my ears involved in so many different social networks! Great post. I also like your wishlist at the end – things Pinterest needs to improve upon.
Gazalla,
You should try it sometime, Pinterest is really fun.
Thank you for your comment.
Peter
Some great tips. I have a Pinterest account but haven’t really explored to see what I could do with it. Now, I’m feeling a bit inspired to work on it over the weekend. ; )
Absolutely Liz! have fun with it. And have a great weekend too.
Peter
I really like Pinterest and it has also sent some traffic my way, but due to the lack of time, I haven’t leveraged that more.
However, it’s on my list this month and I will see how it goes.
Great post!
Very well written story. It will be supportive to anyone who employess it, including myself. Keep up the good work – for sure i will check out more posts.
[...] images, you can also link to videos for even more exposure. From my recent blog post, “10 Reasons to Love Pinterest“, “Pinterest has a highly engaged audience of over 4 million users. 80% are women and [...]