A new website has netizens all over buzzing about it— a site that serves as a sort of “virtual bulletin board” where people can “pin” anything they find on the web that they intend to remember for years to come. That new website is Pinterest, a site that allows people to keep tabs on everything they find interesting on the web—from DIY home renovation to fashion ideas.

Pinterest has not only captured the interests of typical web-goers, but also the local Greenville, SC marketing pros who recognize its potential as a business tool. It’s actually not surprising, considering that in 2012, e-commerce hub Shopify.com found that the average order value from Pinterest traffic was double that of Facebook at $80. The following excerpt from a Forbes article further strengthens the position that businesses should look at Pinterest as a new marketing asset:

Not to add to that challenge (but we’re about to), the time has come for all small businesses to take a look at the new kid on the social media block, Pinterest. Realizing that you could be using Pinterest to engage with your online audience is a far different thing from knowing how. And even knowing how is sometimes a far cry from knowing how to best engage with them.

If you’re already convinced to tap into Pinterest’s inherent marketing capabilities, here are a few tips.

Plan your boards ahead – You have to make sure that everything you put into your account directly identifies your brand and perfectly suits your target customers and industry. Take Lowe’s’ Pinterest boards, for example: they have specific boards that cater to a single topic, like “50 Projects Under $50”. Lowe’s’ 3.6 million followers more than sums it up for their strategy’s effectiveness.

Pin strategically – Businesses must remember this simple Pinterest marketing mantra, “Pin, Repin, and Follow.” In other words, companies should never consider themselves as entities entitled only to being followed; they also must follow other related boards and re-pin items from them. As a result, anyone who re-pins items from other links will have created tracks that links back to their site in the end.

Focus on quality – In Pinterest, people always care about quality. Businesses must be wary of “pin dumping,” or the practice of overloading the feed by posting more than 5 new pins every hour. After all, online marketing is still about quality, and never solely about quantity.

If you’re still a bit confused on how to properly use Pinterest to market your business, you can consult a trusty Greenville, SC ad agency like Spark Local Marketing for help in designing a marketing plan utilizing the right social media platforms for your business.

(Source: How to Use Pinterest for Small Business, Forbes, June 7, 2013)