Pinterest is a social media network that’s been around for a couple of years now, but only in recent months has it opened up to the public. Before August 2012, the network was still “invitation only” and its popularity grew at a much faster rate than MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter. Not long after it became popular, Internet marketers started thinking of ways to use it as a promotional tool. Can it help your online business succeed?

What Businesses are Best Suited for Pinterest?

Pinterest is the ideal platform for arts and crafts, recipes, and home décor, though many other businesses are starting to see benefits from it. The key is to create “pinnable” content, which means it needs to have an image to go with it. Even if you’re promoting an affiliate product, work it into a Top 10 article, and then create an image that says “Top 10 X for X” to encourage pinning and sharing. If you’re business isn’t one of these “pinnable” areas, you may have to work harder to see benefit, which means you may not want to invest all your time there.

Once you’ve decided to use this platform to promote your business, here a few tips to help you.

Pinterest Tips: Build Your Profile

Find people to follow. Run through your contact list and see if there’s anyone who you know who is already using Pinterest. Reach out to your networks on other social media platforms and ask who’s using it, and let them know to follow you there. When you sign up, you should be given the option to follow a few people.

Add Pinterest to Your Other Social Media Network Profiles

To help drive more traffic and followers to your Pinterest profile, you should connect it to your other social media websites and profiles. If you’ve not done so already, add a Pinterest icon to your website, so people can see you and follow you from there, as well. The idea is to have them all interconnected so that if someone who uses Pinterest finds you on Twitter, they can connect with you on Pinterest, too.

Pinterest Tips: Don’t Just Self Promote

As we’ve said with other social media networks, don’t just self promote. If all you ever do is talk about yourself, people will not listen, and you’ll lose ground. Make sure you get to know your followers and pin things that are relevant to them, whether they come from you or not.

Pinterest Tips: Keep It Simple!

The platform is incredibly easy to use, with just a few clicks allowing you to share something or re-share it with others. Keep your images visually appealing and you’ll be one step ahead of the game. Remember each pin includes a link back to the site it was pinned from, so this is why pinning stuff from your own website can be beneficial.

Many businesses, particular those in the food or DIY niches are seeing this become their number one source of traffic, even ahead of Google. This is why it is worth investing time in to help your marketing efforts.