House of Current

Here is yet another sign that Pinterest has become a legitimate player in the social media field – a Top 10 list of the site’s most followed brands has been released. And to media traditionalists, the list may seem surprising. Only three of the top 10 are media brands (Real Simple, HGTV and Better Homes and Gardens) and Kate Spade New York is the lone fashion brand represented. Topping the list is The Perfect Palette, a wedding blog that explores “the color palette possibilities for your wedding” and serves as a resource for other wedding ideas.

Another interesting note about these rankings, is how they compare to the most followed individuals on Pinterest. While The Perfect Palette leads all brands with 240,000 followers, that total wouldn’t even crack the top 50 on the list of most-followed individuals.

The rankings speak to both the site’s format, and the type of user and brands that have been among the first to embrace it. Given the site’s explosive growth rate, we expect more brands to stake, or rather pin, their claim with in this fertile social territory. So expect this list to be very fluid.

We’re obsessed with Pinterest. If you haven’t tried Pinterest out yet, it’s basically a virtual bulletin board where you can “pin” items from other websites and organize them by category. Once an item is pinned, a photo of it appears on your board as well as a link back to the original site where the item was found.

It can be a wealth of inspiration, and a huge expenditure of time. It just takes a second to pin something you like, and a quick glance to see what others have pinned. The next thing you know, an hour has gone by. So it definitely passes the likability test, but is it more than just cool?

Well, the first way we found to put our obsession to good use is as a platform for collaborating with each other, clients, photographers, web designers and anyone we need to share our ideas with. Instead of having everyone get together for one brainstorming meeting, we can simply invite them to join our Pinterest board to post ideas and examples of things they like. So far, we’ve used it to help plan photoshoots, window display projects and web designs.

Pinterest hasn’t quite achieved mainstream status, but signs indicate it is well on it’s way. Which means we’ll soon have another tool to engage consumers and strengthen relationships with them. But please, don’t go nuts posting sales, coupons and generally treat it like a classified ad section. Instead, try a few of these tactics to forge a stronger bond with people who share your interest: PinterestTactics

To see what we’ve been pinning lately, click here.

Just make sure you have some time to spare. Happy Pinning!