“Pinterest, the most popular image-based social-media network, unveiled a new feature. This one’s called ‘interests’ an easier way for users to find and follow pins from people with shared—yup, you guessed it—interests. Todays ‘Interests’ rollout marks the latest major Pinterest upgrade in a string of updates over the past six months. Last April, the San Francisco startup released Guided Search, its own image-loaded version of a search engine,” Entrepreneur.com says.

What does the new Pinterest INTEREST mean for businesses?
It gives your customers a new, less time-consuming way to discover branded posts across all of Pinterest’s platforms on the web and on its Android, iPhone and iPad apps. Users can target more specific searches, like “homemade chocolate biscotti “ vs. the broader term of simply “biscotti.”

What do recent updates to FOLLOW mean for businesses?
Pinterest recently revamped its “Follow” button to drive more traffic to a brand’s website. For larger brands, there is currently a beta version of promoted pins, a new cost-per-click advertising tool, which will soon be available for smaller and medium-sized businesses.

Six tips to PINTEREST success:
1. Click and pin – Pinterest is made for lifestyle brands. Your customers expect to see amazing photos of your products from food to clothes to electronics.
2. Get creative – If you’re managing a “boring” brand, don’t be afraid to offer humor.
3. Data graphics are a gold mine – illustrate data in an amusing, timely and interesting fashion.
4. Brand a color board – keep it simple and limit it to a limited color story to create drama.
5. Tell me a story – don’t leave me hanging; provide a description for each pin.
6. Interest in Pinterest peaks on weekends – post your pins closer to the weekend.

The upgrade train doesn’t seem to be slowing down— the company said it would reveal more new stuff soon; we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

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Did you know: Pinterest outpaced email to become the third most popular sharing channel in the fourth quarter of 2013. While sharing via email declined 11 percent year-over-year, Pinterest shares increased 58 percent, making it the fastest growing sharing channel in 2013. Most of that growth was driven by women, who account for 56.76 percent of social shares across all channels, and 57.63 percent of shares to Pinterest according to marketingland.com.