For a very long time, Facebook and Twitter have been the two most important social media platforms for many small business owners. Now, however, Pinterest is attracting more and more attention. The platform is growing more and more robust – the recent integration of Vevo gives users three options for video integration in addition to the traditional image based posts – while aggressively pursuing strong relationships with leading media outlets like Buzzfeed and the New York Times. The result? Effective traffic generation: Pinterest is now the second-most powerful source of referral traffic, outpacing Twitter nearly six to one.

Here are some other things you need to know about Pinterest:

80% of Pinterest’s active users are female; this may be responsible for Pinterest’s reported focus on scrapbooking and crafts. However, it turns out that women are pinning a lot more than lovely inspirations. More than 5 million news and feature articles are pinned daily, pointing to the fact that users are taking advantage of Pinterest’s structure to create their own virtual libraries of content they find valuable.

Pins are proving their worth as sales tools. Market research firm Piquora has found that for brands, a typical pin will generate two website visits and six page views. In the same report, we learn that a typical pin will generate 78 cents in sales, and most exciting of all: pins work as an effective selling tool for a long term basis. Over 50% of all orders spurred by pins in the research process occurred after the pins had been posted more than 3.5 months.

Understanding Pinterest’s steadily expanding role in users’ lives, the long useful life of pins as selling tools, and the power the platform has in creating referral traffic means that the time is now to reconsider your overall social media strategy. Are you comfortable with the results you’re currently getting from Pinterest? Could you make changes that would result in more website traffic and sales? Are you focusing your energy on the most effective sales platform for your audience? If you’re having a hard time answering these questions, give us a call. We’d be glad to help!