From being stuck at 3,000 users to boasting a 72.8 million strong user base, Pinterest relied heavily on word-of-mouth to grow and turn into an absolute behemoth.

1.Pinterest Utilised Old School Word-Of-Mouth

The company organized meetups at local boutiques, handing out Pinterest invites and turning participants into the forerunners of their word-of-mouth efforts.

2.Pinterest Reached Entire Communities By Targeting Community Leaders

Pin-It-Forward was a campaign that utilized bloggers to publicize Pinterest.

Bloggers each assembled boards based on a theme (e.g “What home means to us”) accompanied by a blog post. These blog posts were linked to posts from other bloggers, therefore “pinning-it-forward”.

Readers were encouraged to make use of their Pinterest invites and remix the bloggers’ boards into boards of their own.

At the moment, Pinterest has evolved into a major player for fans of DIY and handicraft content, with viewership rivaling the DIY bloggers that once ruled the segment. These same bloggers were the participants of Pin-It-Forward.

3.Pinterest Users Are Proud Of Their Boards

Pinterest boards are carefully curated collections that reflect taste and the ability to find what’s cool and fresh.

Many Pinterest users use the platform to chart progress on their own creative expressions.

One of the primary reasons people choose to talk about and share things is to show off.

Pinterest is not about creating a carefully curated, almost phony online persona. It’s a showcase of artistic taste and capability, something more palatable and thus more shareable.

4. Marketing Using Pinterest Is Also Marketing For Pinterest

At the heart of things, Pinterest is an app that encourages sharing what’s dear to the user and that’s the reason it’s the powerful marketing tool it is.

To get word-of-mouth going in a community, get their leaders involved

Make users take pride in how they interact with your product