The latest (and most eye-catching) new entrant to the world of Social Media is Pinterest. Unsurprisingly, lots of businesses – including hotels and B&Bs – are currently scratching their heads to work out how they can use it for marketing.

Respected digital strategist Aliza Sherman is enthusiastic: “Pinterest is clearly much more visual than Facebook or Twitter. [Brands] can ‘engage’ in a more rapid, less intensive way on Pinterest than Facebook. They can get more visual and also more in depth than Twitter. Lighter than Google+ and so much prettier than all of them!”

However she also counsels caution about the idea of Pienterest being a ‘quick fix’ to marketing problems: “Social media isn’t about fast, quick hits […] It is about long-term commitments to building relationships, community, connections. The Shiny Object Syndrome dazzles some into believing [social media] is the Silver Bullet cure-all and that it will be fast and easy. It isn’t about speed.”