As Pinterest is fast becoming the third major pillar of social media (Facebook and Twitter having already arrived) brands are scrambling to find ways to leverage this new powerful community of visual taste.

Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest isn’t all about you. It’s all about what you like. There are some brands out there, doing poorly on Pinterest, because they treat their profile like a campaign microsite. This will not attract the Pinterest community. Pinterest is not a place to be over stuffed with hashtag strategies or to serve as a dumping ground for coupons and print ads. Brands that approach Pinterest in this way will fail.

The brands that are succeeding, and have already earned tens of thousands of followers, have done it by following a very simple mantra: PIN INSPIRATION. Only through authentically pinning images and content that people will have an emotional reaction to, will your follower count and engagement levels rise. The great brands on Pinterest are human. They repin great content from other users. They only pin their own content if it is stylish and fits into the aesthetic of Pinterest.

The quickest way for a brand to fail on Pinterest is for them to start pinning out of desperation. To start worrying about posting schedules and corporate social media guidelines. The brands on Pinterest to only selectively pin and repin when they find an inspiring image, will continue to rise to power within the Pinterest community.

Pinterest is not a microsite. It’s not Twitter or Facebook for that matter. Pinterest is a place to collect, categorize and archive visual inspiration. Without inspiration, it’s merely hoarding content. Hoarding brands will never find success on Pinterest. Pin with soul and the user base will come.

(To view my personal Pinterest profile, with over 70,000 followers, go here.)

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