Pinterest is all the rage these days. For those of you who have not heard of Pinterest before, it is a website where you can visually bookmark items online. So instead of bookmarking a site you want to return to (and having to search back through typed out descriptions), you can pin a photo on a website and see it on your Pinterest boards. Of course there is also a social element to it. You can follow people’s boards for more inspiration and ideas and they can follow you back to see what you are pinning.

It is a relatively young website and is actually still in beta, which means you have to request an invitation. And while most people are using Pinterest for personal use to pin beautiful interior photos, fashion trends, and craft ideas, AG Beat recently posted an article about the anatomy of Pinterest and ideas for using the site for business. They’re right! There are lots of reasons people should be using Pinterest for business- including real estate professionals and especially landlords.

Think about it…renting property is a visual business. There are very few people that will rent an apartment without seeing it first. Plus, your rental properties photos make the first impression in your rental ads, so you’re already working on getting the best apartment photos possible. It stands to reason that you’d want to get more exposure for those images and Pinterest is a great place to do that.

Here’s how you can get started:

• Request an invitation by visiting pinterest.com
• Set up your rental photos on your website.
• Once you receive your Pinterest invitation, sign up, add the “Pin It” button to your bookmarks bar, and start pinning your photos.

For help with the anatomy of Pinterest, AG Beat has provided this breakdown. Enjoy and we’ll see you on Pinterest.