Pinterest Launches "Now-Trending" Tool for Select Businesses

A version of this post originally appeared on Inbound Ecommerce, a new section of Inbound Hub. Subscribe here to read more content like this from Inbound Ecommerce.

For all those holdouts who still think Pinterest is just a place to store recipes or create dream boards, the social platform has changed the game yet again. Pinterest is the fastest-growing social network available at 53 million monthly users -- and with more clout when it comes to ecommerce than both Facebook and Twitter.

And just when we all thought they’d won the game, they went and topped themselves again. (And just in time for the holidays, no less.)

Pinterest Launches Now-Trending Tool

The Wall Street Journal reports Pinterest will now offer the Now-Trending tool to ecommerce sites. This tool will integrate with the ecommerce company’s website so that any visitors can see right away which products are getting the most love on Pinterest. Here's what it looks like, image courtesy of Search Engine Watch:

While their new service is only offered to partner sites like Zappos.com and Walmart.com for the time being, we do get a chance to see how the Now-Trending tool will work for any and all ecommerce sites in the future. Steve Patrizi, head of partner marketing, explains that these partner sites will be able to show the most-pinned items from their ecommerce sites.

The trending-products widget runs on Pinterest's long-awaited API. In time, this will expand to include more data, which will allow more ecommerce companies to show the products that are generating a buzz all across the internet.

Pinterest will also soon make filtering possible for partner sites, which means Pinterest users will be able to sort items according to most-pinned, recently-pinned, and various other choices. The possibilities this filtering could open up for ecommerce sites are endless.

Again, Pinterest has made the Now-Trending tool available only to partners at the moment, but it will eventually be available to all ecommerce sites. The social platform also plans to continue developing more tools to help ecommerce companies convert sales.

Why Should You Be Excited?

Well, if you're an ecommerce marketer, this means for your ecommerce site will soon be able to include the Now-Trending tool on your pages. So customers who visit your site will see which of your products have generated the most buzz among Pinterest users. That kind of social proof just can’t be bought, and it’s one more step toward Pinterest’s ultimate goal of becoming the go-to site for discovering content online.

But it's more than just social proof -- there's also the ease with which the store’s products can be found, the assistance Pinterest offers in keeping those products within sight of buyers, and the potential reach your ecommerce site will gain as more users repin the products they see trending on your page.

If you haven’t already opened a business Pinterest account, now is the time to do so (this guide can walk you through it). Without the account, you can’t share your products -- and other awesome content -- with the world, and the world can’t pin and repin to spread the word!

How has Pinterest changed the way you sell online? Share what’s working -- or not working -- for you.