Leading Brands on Pinterest: Who’s Doing it Right?

The latest social site is breaking all sorts of records these days. From driving more traffic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined, to the top traffic drivers for retailers and more, the growth has been enormous.

If you're not familiar, Pinterest is most commonly referred to as an online scrapbook or bulletin board, which attracts a user base that is 70% female, highly engaged (3.3 million users with 420 million pageviews). It’s likely a place you should be if your audience is predominantly female and is active in social. 

Not to brag, but I’ve been a Pinterest user for over a year now. As an early and frequent user, I feel that there are several brands that are doing it right. In particular, these really stand out for me:

1. Chobani

Already praised for their social strategy, Chobani uses Pinterest boards to segment followers so that the content they deliver is relevant and engaging. In addition, their in-house social team is quick and nimble, responding to fans on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, as much as they can.

2. Whole Foods 
While Pinterest makes perfect sense for finding and sharing recipe photos, Whole Foods is leading the way by sharing their own content, as well as other relevant content, from holiday foods, to organic gardening, vegetarian diets, and kitchen gadgets. 

3. West Elm 
With 11,000+ followers on Pinterest today, West Elm is fitting in nicely with the home decorating pins these days. Segmenting boards by decorating trends, as well as their own content highlighting photos from Smilebooths in their stores, they have taken the lead as the modern home brand on Pinterest.

When evaluating if Pinterest is right for your brand, we’d recommend considering these use cases from American Express Open Forum:

- Promote a lifestyle
- Use like a focus group
- Crowdsource
- Run contest
- Inspire your team

In your opinion, what brands are doing it right on Pinterest? We’d love to you’re your thoughts! Share in the comments below…