A little while ago, Allison Dean wrote an interesting article for E-junkie.info, where she talks about how Pinterest is increasingly becoming a necessity. It is needless to say that every business or brand has to adapt itself with the latest trends, and there's no denying that Pinterest is the hottest thing around these days. Every body is busy pinning away to glory, but very few stop and think 'why?'

That is when I started reading various articles by authors who are not skeptical about speaking their minds. I found some interesting tips and advice, but then I also found criticism and some articles that shed light on the fact that this latest fad might be short-lived.  So I decided to bring all these articles together, so that you can learn every thing that there is about Pinterest, and come to a concrete conclusion whether Pinterest is worth your time or effort. Have a look:



Pinterest CEO: Here's How We Became The Web's Next Big Thing (Business Insider)

"Ben Silbermann is the CEO and visionary cofounder behind Pinterest, which grew from 5,000 users in August 2010 to 17 million this month. 

With Instagram off the market following a $1 billion sale to Facebook, Pinterest is now the hot social startup in Silicon Valley. Investors are beating down its door, hoping to fund the company and ride it to a multi-billion dollar exit.

Earlier this year, Silbermann gave the keynote speech at the Alt Summit 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 45 minute talk was all about how he abandoned his long held plans to become a doctor, founded Pinterest during the recession, survived early failures, and built a company for the long-run.

Silbermann used slides to illustrate his story. We've got them and a few more here." - Nicholas Carlson 

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Pinterest’s Unlikely Journey To Top Of The Startup Mountain (TechCrunch)

"Pinterest’s founders are smart guys, but they’re not prodigies. The product is huge now, but no one liked it when it launched. They weren’t well funded and for a very long time. These are things that normal, non-rock star entrepreneurs like me (and maybe you) can relate to.

Raised by doctors in Des Moines Iowa, Ben assumed he would follow the same path as his parents. He attended Yale University starting in 1999 and soon realized that he didn’t want to be doctor. After a consulting gig in Washington DC, he headed to Silicon Valley in 2006 to join Google working in customer support and sales." - Derek Anderson 

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 Why Pinterest Is So Dang Amazing (Design Shack)

"The secret to Pinterest’s success is incredibly important. In a time where social media is a multibillion dollar industry, a truly successful formula is the holy grail.

There are no doubt several pieces to the Pinterest success puzzle but the one we’re going to focus on today is design. How did Pinterest not only set itself apart with design, but actually surpass what everyone else was doing and create something that engaged users on an entirely new level?" - Joshua Johnson 

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Why Pinterest Is So Addictive (Fast Company)

"The human instinct to collect things--be it baseball cards, miniature spoons, or teacups--is as old as stuff itself. But it took Pinterest to perfect this process online. So no wonder it’s having a moment: comScore found that Pinterest just hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, who spend an average of 98 minutes a month on the site, compared to 2.5 hours on Tumblr, and 7 hours on Facebook. It’s also driving more referral traffic than Google+, YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn--combined, according to Shareaholic.

But why would Pinterest, which has been around since 2008, be attracting such swarms of devotees now? Fast Company turned to the experts to uncover the psychology behind Pinterest’s winning formula, and why it’s resonating with thousands of new users." - Lydia Dishman 

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8 Strategies for Launching a Brand Presence on Pinterest (Mashable)

"Many marketers have heard of Pinterest, but despite this, most brands have yet to hop on the hottest new social network. In this article, we’ll look at why Pinterest is important to brands and provide seven simple steps for leveraging brand presence on Pinterest.

Pinterest has quickly become one of the top five referring traffic sources for several apparel retailers. A study by Shareaholic in January showed that Pinterest drove only a fraction less referral traffic than both Twitter and Google, and more than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. 

Despite the powerful numbers, most brands and merchandisers are not present on Pinterest. There’s no DKNY, Macy’s, Walmart, Target, etc.

For those brands looking to develop a Pinterest presence, try these seven simple steps." - Charles Nicholls 

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26 Tips for Using Pinterest for Business (Social Media Examiner)

"Are you wondering how your business could use Pinterest?

To say there’s been a lot of buzz about Pinterest in recent months would be putting it mildly!

Pinterest’s ease of use for visually bookmarking, organizing and sharing things you love has made it a hit among individuals and businesses alike.

What follows are 26 tips, an A-Z guide for creating a business presence on Pinterest." - Debbie Hemley.

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9 Tips: Boost Your Business With Pinterest (Inc.)

"What’s the fascination? For Amy Larson, a special education teacher who uses the site for about two hours per day, the whole purpose is in finding interesting design ideas. She pins pictures to her Pinterest board, where she has a few dozen followers, as a reminder about what is cool and stylish. And, by the way, she does not use Facebook much at all, which is more about forming social connections. 

Pinterest had an estimated 3.3 million unique visitors in the month of October. While there's no mechanism for potential customers to buy your products directly from the site, consider the marketing potential: Popular images (with links back to the original source) can get repinned on hundreds of other users' boards. 

Here are nine proven ways to attract the attention of people like Amy, improve your click-throughs, and spread the word about a new product:" - John Brandon 

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Pin and Prosper: Analyzing #Pinterest Success (Likeable)

"Pinterest is officially the number three social network in the U.S., and an ever increasing number brands are either getting started with or are fine tuning their strategies and campaigns.  A crucial aspect of any typical social media campaign is the analysis, and a Pinterest campaign is no different.  To meet these needs, a handful of free reporting tools have started to emerge.  Here’s a list of the top three tools and a brief overview of what they each have to offer." - Katie Kearsey 

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35 Statistics That Fuel the Battle Between Pinterest and Google+ (HubSpot Blog)

"Before the internet, we used to browse beautiful things for free by roaming the aisles of shops, or cutting pictures out of old magazines and sticking them to the wall. Now we have Pinterest and a range of social curation sites that enable us to search for and pin gorgeous images to virtual boards, and then share them. Eventually Pinterest will have to make money, but it will have to be from browsers, not buyers, because Pinterest won’t drive significant purchasing.

But hold on, you say. Haven’t we been hearing how Pinterest is the fastest-growing website ever, with over 17 million users visiting every month (Comscore)? Aren’t people “liking” products in their millions and adding them to their “Products I love” boards? Isn’t social commerce the next big thing, and US sites like Fab.com, Birchbox, Rent the Runway, Threadless, Etsy and the like all the rage? Yes, but there is a difference between social curation and social commerce." - Julian Green

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Pinterest: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Forbes)

"Simple hasn’t hurt Pinterest, though—in fact, it’s half the appeal. Pinterest is easy to use, easy to browse and offers such a wide range of content that almost everyone can find something to enjoy. 

Of course, a big part of the buzz around Pinterest lies in the reality that the largest demographic in that 10 million (and growing!) visitor base is a red-hot marketer target: twenty- and thirty-something women. What’s more, women of all ages make up 80 percent of the subscriber base –perhaps attributable to the highly visual nature of Pinterest boards, often curated according to themes like, “My Personal Style” or “Kitchen Reno” or “Wedding Ideas.” 

But what about B2B marketers? Does Pinterest hold any potential for you? The answer isn’t quite as straightforward as it might be for, say, Crate and Barrel… but there is an answer. Let me break it down, Clint Eastwood-style:"

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I hope you enjoyed reading these article as much as I did and also got a better understanding of Pinterest. If you know of some more 'Pinteresting' reads, then do share them with us in the comment section below.


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