Just before the holidays, my boss asked me about  Pinterest . Now I have to admit that when she asked I had never heard of it, however afterwards I noticed everyone I knew was talking about Pinterest. It turns out that Pinterest is a visual bookmarking social media tool. 

Pinterest acts as a digital corkboard that lets you organize and share visual things that inspire you. It has a little something for everyone no matter what your interests are, including cooking, arts and crafts, design, DIY things, architecture, things for kids, etc.  As a designer I have to say I’m in love with Pinterest and wish I had more time to create boards all day long.

With the growth Pinterest is experiencing it is becoming an important tool for brands and companies looking to push products online. According to  Mashable, the site has 3 million users and surpassed 421 million page views (as of Oct. 2011). While 70 percent of “pinners” are female, according to Open Forum and other sources, one simply can’t avoid the discussion on how to use this tool to market products and services, especially if the target audience is women.  

Here are a few brands that have jumped at this opportunity. Based on the number of people following them and repining their images, I have to say it is a success for the brands below:

Brands on Pinterest Board

Whole Foods Market - Grocery | 12,171 followers
West Elm - Furniture | 9,894 followers
Mashable - Digital news source | 8,934 followers
General Electric - Products | 289 followers
GAP - Clothing | 1,615 followers
Food Network - TV cooking network | 2,429 followers
Lowes - Home Improvement |  1,553 followers

If you know of other companies worthy of mentioning that I have missed please share them.

Follow me on Pinterest