Lauren Orsini says, “Pinterest has lowered the hammer on affiliate links—a way for social-media users to make a small commission in return for recommending a product. Ostensibly, the move helps keep the site tidy. But unsurprisingly, money is also involved. According to an email many pinners received Thursday, Pinterest is removing all affiliate links on “pins,” the Pinterest term for a image-centric post. The pins themselves will remain live, but Pinterest is officially encouraging users to find other means of making money on the visually oriented social network. Pinterest has... [...]

Andy Eliason says, “When Pinterest emerged as a popular and effective network for reaching new customers, businesses jumped on the new platform as fast as they could, filling up boards with pin after pin of content. Naturally, with so many new pins demanding attention every day, people with something new or original to say were getting buried under the sheer weight of the constantly growing content. With so many companies still vying for a limited amount of attention, pinners need to do something to stand out from the crowd. It’s not enough that the pin looks good… It also has... [...]

Martin Beck says, “Pinterest, already the most commercial of major social networks, is planning to introduce a “Buy” button as soon as this year, according to a report by Re/code today. Citing multiple anonymous sources, the Re/code story says the button could be rolled out as soon as three to six months and would likely start as a limited test. One of the sources cautioned that Pinterest might wait longer to launch. Whatever the timeframe, the apparent plan is no surprise. Both Twitter and Facebookare experimenting with Buy buttons of their own, but Pinterest has long been seen as the... [...]

Entrepreneur team says, “If social media marketing were a race, Pinterest would be that one guy who comes out of nowhere with a killer kick to win the race. Yep, Pinterest is for more than collecting pictures of your next DIY craft project. In fact, it’s become one of the strongest mediums for marketing your business with the rise of new features and tools just for business. The trick is, you have to know how to use your Pinterest for Business Account to see your spike in website traffic and sales conversions… So MadeFreshly has put together this infographic with the most important... [...]

Amanda Hinkle says, “If you’re looking for more ways to reach a targeted set of consumers, but you haven’t paid a lot of attention to Pinterest, now is the time to perk up. The social bookmarking site will be offering advertisers the ability to target consumers with “Promoted Pins” and potentially even couple data in your own database with their algorithm for serving targeted ads on Pinterest. Let’s review a brief timeline of steps in Pinterest monetizing its business. Fall 2013: Pinterest announces they will be testing Promoted Pins, its first advertising concept. Promoted Pins can... [...]

Ginny Soskey says, “When you first start out on Pinterest, many of us imagine it’ll be the best way to organize all the things that inspire you. Instead of haphazardly storing bookmarks in your browser or keeping a long Evernote file of things to remember, you set up a few tailored boards, and start pinning away. But pretty soon after you start, you’ll realize that it can actually be hard to stay organized on Pinterest. For example, you probably come across content every day that doesn’t quite fit the board descriptions you’ve already made, but wouldn’t warrant... [...]

Martin Beck says, “In a move that should improve its ad targeting ability, Pinterest today announced that it has acquired Kosei, a Palo Alto-based marketing startup that specializes in personalized product recommendations. Kosei’s machine learning technology maps the 400 relationships between 30 million products, which maps nicely with Pinterest’s move to accelerate its efforts to make money. Unique among major social networks, Pinterest is a place where people explore and bookmark product information. The site has moved cautiously with its advertising products, finally extending its... [...]

Nate Elliott says, “I’ve been thinking a lot about Pinterest for the past year. I first planned to write a report about the social upstart last summer. When that deadline passed, I was certain I’d produce something in the autumn. Now here we are in the dead of winter, and at long last today we published our report on how marketing leaders should use Pinterest. The reason it took so long? Pinterest is confusing. It’s a bundle of contradictions: at once it offers marketers huge potential and huge frustration. On the one hand, there’s so much opportunity: Pinterest boasts a fantastic... [...]

Erin Hogg says, “When your product is highly visual, finding a platform that is most conducive for showcasing those products is essential. Publish content on the wrong platform for the wrong audience, and you could end up hitting a brick wall. Murals Wallpaper leveraged Pinterest as a way to generate new visitors to its online store as well as engage with highly motivated prospects in the research phase of interior decorating transformations. See how the brand successfully created engaging Pinterest boards, managed a blog and leveraged collaborative boards that led to more than 5% of site sales... [...]

Jeanette Anzon says, “When it comes to marketing your business, social media engagement is the best way to go. The question is, which social media would you go for? If you have already created a Facebook page, then you then you have made a great start. Your next step should be pinning with the queen of visual social media networks, Pinterest. Shareaholic.com reveals that Pinterest has increased its traffic driving capacity up to 7.10% from 4.79% in just three months (from December 2013 to March 2014). This 48% increase has a huge effect for brand exposure through digital marketing in products... [...]