Many marketers have heard of Pinterest, but despite this, most brands have yet to hop on the hottest new social network. In this article, we’ll look at why Pinterest is important to brands and provide seven simple steps for leveraging brand presence on Pinterest.

Pinterest has quickly become one of the top five referring traffic sources for several apparel retailers. A study by Shareaholic in January showed that Pinterest drove only a fraction less referral traffic than both Twitter and Google, and more than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

Despite the powerful numbers, most brands and merchandisers are not present on Pinterest. There’s no DKNY, Macy’s, Walmart, Target, etc.

For those brands looking to develop a Pinterest presence, try these seven simple steps.

via 8 Strategies for Launching a Brand Presence on Pinterest.