by Arin Forstenzer, Speak For Yourself Marketing

If you’ve even glanced at LinkedIn Today, or browsed through any technology section of a news website (i.e. CNN.com), at the very least, the name Pinterest should sound familiar to you.

When I stumbled on to Pinterest about four months ago, my own experience resembled the image below.

Pinterest, a visual, social bulletin board, has an “addicitive” quality, allowing the website to achieve significant growth in the last six months with up to 40 times the number of visitors.

Users “pin” content onto boards organized into categories, such as travel, humor, technology, design, etc.

Over the last few months, various influential websites have noted that Pinterest stands out among the rapidly growing social media landscape, for reasons including its design, ease, and variety. Many users are planning weddings and events, collecting ideas for gifts, recipes to try, and fashion inspiration to name a few.

The site’s current demographic is largely women, between the ages of 25 and 40, although e-commerce retailers and brands are beginning to grow. Some brands have found Pinterest to be a natural fit for marketing their products, including Nordstrom and Real Simple Magazine.

In The Professional Speaker’s Imperative: Bringing Value to Today’s Global & Tech-Savvy Marketplace, Kristin Arnold, President of the National Speakers Association (2010-11), included the following quote in her foreward:

“As a professional speaker, your task is not about creating a single speech…Your clients need the solutions you bring to the table in a variety of formats that all hinge on the spoken word.”

The speaking industry itself has adapted to fit within today’s society, now “encompassing a wide variety of experts who address a multitude of topics, and are compensated for their expertise and ability to profoundly blend their subject matter with the art of presentation.”

The definition of today’s professional speaker centers around a person’s ability to “deliver expertise-driven content and insights…while simultaneously serving as [a] role model who inspires, encourages and empowers audiences.”

In addition, the paper notes that modern-day speakers communicate in various ways, including electronically (i.e. through Skype, Internet, Video, etc.).

We have a board for Speak For Yourself, where I collect pins I find relevant.

For now, Pinterest may simply provide a resource for inspiration or content discovery, but it has the opportunity to provide you with more.