As our generation surrounds itself more and more with social media, Pinterest is becoming more prevalent as an upcoming advertisement strategy for businesses. Only existing for 3 years now, Pinterest has skyrocketed to the third most popular social network site. Businesses have started to see the opportunities Pinterest can offer when marketing their products. Jim Cockrum, author of Free Marketing: 101 Low and No-Cost Ways to Grow Your Business, states “Pinterest has unimaginable potential as a marketing and customer relationship building tool”. Small companies have begun to expand their clientele greatly due to the publicity that Pinterest generates for them. Similar to Twitter and the concept of “retweeting”, social media users do the work of advertising for businesses just by pinning their posts. Pinterest is like a multimillion multiplier, there simply is no end to where it can and will go.
Another advantage of Pinterest is the ability for consumers to shop when they are not intending to do so. Pinterest gives consumers the feeling of leisurely browsing, similar to a shopping mall. However, we can get ideas from all over the world, put them in an electronic file and remember them all later. Products are directly displayed to the public and the person who pinned them, but all of their friends on Pinterest, as well as others interested in that topic, can view them as well.
Jason Miles and Karen Lacey (shown above) wrote the book Pinterest Power revealing how they have made millions based solely on Pinterest. In 2008 Liberty Jane Clothing was cofounded and took off when it launched its page in 2011. Pinterest also led Liberty Jane to growth on Facebook with over 14K likes and on Youtube, with a channel consisting of 7,600 subscribers with 1.2 million video views. James Miles has also worked with over 600 small business owners to launch their Pinterest businesses as well.
As you can see, Pinterest might be a valuable marking tool for businesses to look into in order to increase sales and publicity. However, there is one issue consumers might want to stay clear of. Consumers should be aware of the dangers of mixing private and public spheres on Pinterest. Graham K. Henning, writes in Corporation and Polis, that “The polis emphasized the importance for public and private spheres to stay separated. Blurring of the spheres creates a social sphere”. He compares the social sphere to a shopping mall as well, and claims it to be unethical. I think consumers need to draw a fine line between their private and public worlds on Pinterest, but from a marketing standpoint this is the best customer relationship tool you can have!
IMC Hawks Blog 
The most interesting part of Pinterest as a form of advertisment for companies is the easiness and convinience, like Kelsey Raskbob mentioned, the users do the work for the business. I think it would be extremely smart for companies to jump on the Pinterest boat, especially as the third most popular online social media. I think it is similar to WOM (Word of Mourth Advertising). If customers like your product they repin it and share it with all of their other friends. I think this would boost a brand’s reputation as well, with all of the “repins” it will make the brand look more and more popular and when friends see that other people like the product they will have a more positive view of the product. I also somewhat disagree, I do not think Pinterest is harmful to the polis. I think Pinterest is not crossing the line or creating a social. If a social is created I think it is purely in the consumer or user’s doing. Pinterest is in the hands of the user. Every Pinterest is different and is what the user makes of it.
I think the best point Kelsey made was that shoppers look at pinterest in their leisure time, which makes them feel as if they are in the mall. Except they do not have to buy right then, they can save whatever they want to buy for another time ( i.e. after pay day). WOM as Jessica stated I believe is a HUGE part of pinterest. For example I bought a dress for formal there and after everyone was asking where on pinterest I bought it and they found the boutique and started buying from there as well. I agree that the fine line between public and private is the best consumer relationship tool!
Pinterest is an amazing piece of advertising. It’s extremely convenient when you see something you like on Pinterest and can click on the photo and it takes you to the website where you can purchase that item. I find it extremely annoying when I find pictures of products I like and would like to have that aren’t correctly attached to the link where that product comes from. With that said, when the product is attached to the site, Pinterest gives that company an extreme boost of advertisement because that person will not only look at that one particular product or item, but search the entire company website. Pinterest is also beneficial for a number of venues when it comes to weddings and parties. If someone shares their wedding information and shares where it was held, who they used for catering, flowers, and so on, all these companies and businesses feed from that acknowledgement and advertisement. Although Pinterest may be blurring the line between the private and the public, it is up to each individual to decide how much they blur this line; the same with any other social website. Pinterest is an extremely useful and beneficial advertising website and I don’t think it will be gotten rid of anytime soon.
As an avid Pinterest user, I can’t attest to how beneficial it must be for companies to consider the website. I agree that users are actually shopping, even if that was not their initial intentions. For example, I have found many small online boutiques with adorable clothes, and purchased from them, when I was only checking out the fashion page. I intiallialy was just looking for some style ideas and ended up adding to my own wardrobe! I think that from a companies standpoint, you can really do no better than to get involved with Pinterest, but how that effects the polis is another story. Is it worth blurring those public and private lines?
I agree with you, pinterest is an excellent tool for advertisers. Consumers don’t view this social media site as an online shop, but essentially, that is exactly what it is. There are so many items to look at, you may go on to search for new DIY tips and end up finding a cute dress at a great price. The ability to repin items is the closest WOM advertising as online can get.
Previous comment was from Skylar Gosnell, not sure why it didn’t post my full name.