Tech Tuesday: Pinterest

Last year I discovered Pinterest, and realised it was exactly the type of social network that was missing from my life. I love pretty things, cool things, new things; from wanting cake pop decorating ideas (hello, muppets) to needing some infographic inspiration, Pinterest was the virtual pinboard I needed to visually save thoughts, ideas and inspirations.

Although initially the domain of soon-to-be brides, amateur bakers and beauty-holics, last week TechCrunch named Pinterest as the best new startup of 2011. Over the past week Pinterest related posts have popped up across the blogosphere, with every industry asking what Pinterest can do for them. At the beginning of January we created a Young London account, so here are a few ideas about what it can do for the property world…

First things first, the official definition of Pinterest from the creators themselves:

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard.

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

Don’t let the simplistic definition of the site fool you, because Pinterest now drives more traffic than Google+, Linkedin and YouTube combined. It is not something that we are currently measuring, and I doubt we will for the foreseeable future, but it proves that users are active and engaged.

The content we place or repin on Pinterest is focused around a few key areas. As a business we focus exclusively on London, which is why the majority of our boards are centred on that area. London Posters, London Olympics and London Home Products are self-explanatory, as are our King’s Cross, Canary Wharf and Southwark boards which pin images and events in the area. The board that focuses on traffic is Beautiful Homes, as images of our properties (with a link to a live listing if the property is available) are interspersed with images of other beautiful homes across the globe.

As a business we are new to Pinterest and there is a lot more that we could be doing, from sharing coupons for local independent businesses to focusing more heavily on how to customise a rental property without breaking any rules. Right now expanding what we do on Pinterest is not at the top of our priority list, because in the short-term Pinterest is unlikely to generate new business. That said, maintaining an account and engaging with the active community helps to foster new relationships and brings value to the brand, so this is not a network that should be ignored.