Designers, it's time to embrace Pinterest!

Pinterest has been growing at a meteoric speed. With more than 70 million users, it is one of the giant social media platforms holding the world in its far-reaching hands. Given its huge power to get exposure, boost sales and drive traffic, it would be pure madness to continue ignoring it. It's time to give Pinterest a proper attention that it deserves. And let me tell you why...

Visual stories. Well, it's an obvious one, but Pinterest is geared for collecting and obsessing over high-quality images, artworks, product designs, etc. It's a sweet spot for designers with rich artistic portfolios and original design ideas. Sounds like you? Well, don't sit on the thought for too long and give it a try. It's a great way to get exposure and gather feedback, especially because Pinterest is often connected with Facebook and Twitter accounts, which means that everything that gets pinned also appears on the person's Facebook and Twitter feeds. One click gets you a vast number of views from a very diverse demographic.

Market Research. Pinterest works like a magnifying glass that can help you pinpoint trends in your market and see what really appeals to your customers. Pinners build boards where they pin things that make them tick, so you can use that insight to find out more about your fans and easily track which of your works receive most attention. What is more, once your pin is added to someone's board, you're guaranteed to get a hefty amount of views, since your image appears on the pinner's feed and is seen by all his/her followers, too. And that is, no doubt, a fantastic tool to get free marketing.

Growing sales. Pinterest is so flexible that you can use one account to target different audiences. All you need to do is create separate pinboards to showcase different types of content. When your artwork begins to gain popularity amongst different pinners and gets that much exposure, inevitably, your sales should show a positive increase. What is more, research shows that the average lifespan of a Pinterest pin is three and a half months, which is 1,600 times longer than a Facebook post. Pinterest is also search optimized, so whenever someone googles a keyword that your artwork carries, a pinboard with your image will come up. That's why a good image description is vital - spend some time on that!

What you should do now

1. Register on Pinterest

2. Create pinboards specific to your creative content (i.e., 3D Printed Jewelry, 3D Printed Gadgets, 3D Architecture, etc.)

3. Go to your CGTrader account

4. Pin your models to relevant boards

5. Add keyword-rich description with relevant #hashtags

6. Follow CGTrader so we can pin your models!

Any questions? Or feedback? Leave a comment below!