Pinterest is the new social media obsession, and this ever popular phenomenon has climbed its way up to being the third most popular social networking site, following Facebook and Twitter. The premise of Pinterest allows users to “pin” pictures of things they love to virtual categorized corkboards. These pictures often include a link to a website where the image originated.

Individuals are loving the information and ideas they can gain from using Pinterest. From clothing to photography to humorous sayings, Pinterest has a little bit of everything for everybody.

Because of its appeal, many businesses are wondering if they should start using it for their business. While it can generate traffic to your website and provide you with an uncanny amount of exposure, Pinterest is not right for every business. Use the following tips to determine if Pinterest is a tactic to place your marketing dollars.

1. Can I reach my target audience on Pinterest?

While Pinterest has a great following, your target demographic may not be on Pinterest. According to a Modea.com infographic, 68.2% of Pinterest users are female and the most popular age demographic is between 25-34 years old. On top of that, 50% of Pinterest users have kids.

If your target demographic is female and fall into the other popular Pinterest user categories, then Pinterest is a great place to reach your target demographic. On the other hand, if you’re audience is male, or if you’re targeting a younger or older demographic, it’s not to say that Pinterest isn’t for you. You can still reach your audience through this platform, it just won’t be as easy. You can always try to put a little effort into Pinterest to see where it gets you. If you don’t see much success, you won’t have wasted too much time and effort.

2. How do people use Pinterest?

People use Pinterest as a virtual corkboard. Rather than bookmark a bunch of different websites, users pin things they love to their board, and Pinterest keeps it all in one centralized location. For example, a user can create a “food” board and pin all their favorite recipes to the board. They can also create a “vacations” board and pin getaways they’d love to take on the board. There’s really no limit to what can and cannot be pinned, and users like having one place to keep their information.