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Gee, I can’t spend any time on social media anymore without running in to something about Pinterest. It is definitely the “flavor of the month”.

I don’t think there’s a social media trainer out there who’s not strategizing a Pinterest webinar or blog post to capture the attention of all those people in business who are hungry for information (and that includes me).

Pinterest is certainly #1 with a bullet.

The Hype

They went from 0 to 10 million users faster than any other standalone site in history. That’s according to comScore. Users are flocking to Pinterest and they’re pinning and repinning at a fervent pace.

I recall hearing on one webinar I attended that Pinterest users repin at a much higher percentage than Twitter users Retweet. They’re a sharing bunch all right.

Pinterest drives traffic, too. Lots of it. According to an infographic posted on Mashable with data from Shareaholic, Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google +, LinkedIn and YouTube combined.

That’s a statistic that really caught me by surprise.

I would have guessed that Pinterest might beat any of these social networks mano a mano, but all three combined? This upstart social network is already a force to be reckoned with by the social media establishment.

So, if Pinterest has plenty of US users, who are spending major minutes on the network (by one account even more than Facebook though I’m skeptical), and following links to pins’ originating websites, this should be an ideal place for a business to throw up a board, right? Especially if you want to use social media as a traffic driver to your website.

The Demographics

Not so fast. Before you start thinking about adding Pinterest to your social media mix, I want you to be familiar with the typical user. With this information you can make a more informed decision.

Every webinar I’ve listened to; infographic I’ve viewed; and stats page I’ve read says the average Pinterest user is a woman between 25 and 54. I’ve also gathered she lives in the burbs and is well-heeled.

A simple way to corroborate this demographic information is to see what accounts are being most followed on Pinterest. A selection of the top accounts are Nordstrom, Real Simple, Etsy, Kate Spade, and HGTV. Now my gut tells me that the aforementioned demographic profile would match the type of person who would like these accounts.

Interestingly, Mashable also has a top account, too, which is likely because there’s an overlap between people on Pinterest and those interested in all things digital.

The Decision

Now that you have some idea of the merits of Pinterest and who’s on the network, it’s time to consider the value of establishing a business presence.

Is your business visual? Or can it be? Do you primarily target women between the ages of 25 – 54? Are you in the fashion, arts and crafts, or home furnishings industry?

If you answered yes to these simple questions, then Pinterest just might be a slam dunk for you in terms of giving it a try if you have the bandwidth. Did you answer no to most of the questions?

In that case I think you can keep your focus where it is. What I want you to avoid is getting swept up in hype and noise. Don’t be a lemming. Be educated. Be thoughtful. Do your homework. Time is precious and you need to protect it like the gold it is.

This is true with all social networks by the way. Just because they’re popular it doesn’t mean your business should be there.

Your Input?

Let me know in the comments if you’re using Pinterest or just considering it.
What kind of business are you in? Are you seeing some positive results?