I’ve opted for one of my personal favorites this week, a site that I use purely for personal interest, but could be a marketers dream if they’ll ever truly embrace the move towards ‘personalisation’ in the way in which we engage with people.

Pinterest is a space where you can collect and categorise things that you see that you like, and share those things with others. In my mind, it’s a little like a beautifully designed, easy to use, and highly visual social bookmarking site. But most of the stuff that people ‘pin’ (read ‘bookmark’) are actual objects and things (or things to do/make, etc) rather than ideas (though you can pin those too if you wish, but it needs an image to go with it). And, quite frankly, it’s a space in which I come across stuff pinned by others that are truly cool, creative and inspiring. It’s nightmare for the bank balance though as it triggers the ‘I want’ reaction. Here are my pins.

So, how does this translate to marketing and communications? If you look at very targeted, highly personal campaign approaches like KLM Surprises (thanks Chris Gibbons for alerting me of this), then it provides a great way for companies to get a personal insight into the things their individual customers or stakeholders like and to surprise them with a gift or something they have pinned. Likewise, you’ll also want customers and potential customers to ‘pin’ your products since this is social sharing, and others might make purchases off the back of what they see on Pinterest. And for universities or independent schools, if someone is paying several thousand pounds to attend your institution or send their child there, a few quid spent on something that they truly like and want to say ‘thank you’ could be money well spent in terms of forming a lasting relationship with them. So, check out if they’re ‘pinning’ anything perhaps?

Happy pinning folks!