Like many social sites, Pinterest has taken a while to break into the mainstream. Founded over two years ago, it has only come to global prominence within the last six months or so. Now though, the image sharing site has over 18.7 million active users, including photographers, bloggers, designers and marketers.

The simplicity of Pinterest has acted as a catalyst for its incredible growth. Users are able to create themed boards and pin various images, sharing them with followers and other social sites – including Facebook and Twitter. As a result, you can generate huge interest in pictures, products, infographics and the websites on which they were originally featured.

So how can ecommerce sites use Pinterest?

All online stores sell products, and most feature images. As a result, the majority of ecommerce sites already have more than enough to get started on Pinterest. However, as with any social network, the key to success is building a strong following by sharing quality pictures that others will want to pin and pass on.

Consequently, some businesses will find it easier to succeed on Pinterest than others. For instance, art galleries may have more to offer the image sharing community than a store selling plumbing supplies. That’s not to say that you can’t carve out a niche, but you have to be creative with what you share and also realistic about what you can achieve and the best way to go about it.

Choosing an effective strategy

As you may be aware, there are potential SEO benefits to pinning your images, particularly as each picture contains a link to the original source. Up until February 2012, these were all followed links, which meant that they passed on more strength to the targeted page. However, these are now nofollowed, reducing the benefit for third party sites and spamming by overeager marketers.

The reason for mentioning this is simply to dispel any potential myths surrounding Pinterest. It shouldn’t be viewed as an easy optimisation technique, otherwise we would all be sharing thousands of images and reaping the rewards. The true value of creating a Pinterest account will only ever be realised when you share for the benefit of the wider community, not just your own site’s needs. By engaging with others and linking through to existing profiles on social sites, you can create genuinely sharable content that will improve your business’ visibility online.

Getting the balance right

As with any social site, the quality and quantity of the content you share will determine whether you succeed or not. If you decide to instantly upload hundreds of low resolution images directly from your ecommerce site, each with keyword-rich descriptions, it’s not going to look natural. So handpick a few of the more aesthetically appealing products and begin creating simple, themed boards.

In fact, one of the great things about Pinterest is that you don’t even need to have your own images to share. Some brands ask customers to upload their own photos, with the best examples then be displayed as part of themed groups. Others simply go out and “repin” favourite pictures from Pinterest or upload them from blogs, Flickr and other websites.

Creating a good blend of your own images, which can then be shared by followers, and repinning or hosting pictures from other sources can really pay dividends. A good example of this can be found on the Petplan Pinterest page.

As a pet insurance provider in the US, they have a great subject matter to work with – animals. But whilst they could just feature a random selection of images from their own website, Petplan have chosen to collect pictures that promote the brand’s personality. As such, you will find boards dedicated to cute accessories, all of which contain links to non-related sites, funny photos from around the web and their own pet facts. The reason this works, and why it’s likely to attract much more public attention, is because it doesn’t just feature monotonous marketing imagery.

You have to give people credit, particularly on social sites. Nobody wants to have brands forcing advertising down their throats and most can spot such flagrant efforts from a mile away – whether it’s done covertly or overtly. So don’t just upload every image on your site, including banners, buttons and small icons, and try not to use it solely as a vehicle to further your marketing or SEO campaigns.

User-generated content

Coca Cola offer a slight exception to this rule. The reason that their branded images work is simply because they have all been uploaded by followers on their well-established Flickr account. Therefore, whilst most pictures feature Coke in some capacity, it’s within the context of user-generated content. All images are categorised into five simple boards (‘Be Together’, ‘Be Active’, ‘Be Giving’, ‘Be in the Moment’ and ‘Keep Discovering’), with each one evoking core brand values and encouraging interaction.

Ultimately though, you can only do what your resources and subject matter will allow. Pinterest offers a range of opportunities and rewards those who are able to be particularly creative and engage within a community. This is nothing new of course, it is a feature of all social sites. But as this is an image-centric concept, being able to attract and maintain interest needs to be achieved through eye-catching aesthetics.

Be unique and be creative

As the examples above highlight, there’s no need to feel as if you are restricted in the content that you can share. Campaigns and boards can be created around any related subject with content being pulled in from a number of sources, not just your own ecommerce site. However, in order to build more interest for your profile and gain links through to your domain, you need a decent share of original imagery.

So if you’re a boutique fashion house, feature some of your latest designs. If you sell bespoke wooden gifts, take a picture and share it. Every ecommerce site has a niche and a specific target audience, therefore all you need to do is to give the public what it wants.

Pinterest is a platform for you to promote your brand in a visual capacity. Whilst it may not have hundreds of millions of users like Facebook and Twitter, it is a very strong community with ample opportunities for any business to raise their profile. Integrate it with your website, social profiles and other online marketing efforts to create a cohesive and comprehensive strategy that reaches all corners of the Internet. As always though, a clear strategy and a little common sense are going to serve you well when starting out on this platform. Take the time to understand how Pinterest works, what people share and proceed with confidence.