When it comes to inbound marketing, it’s all about engaging content. And thanks to the fact that almost everyone owns a tablet or smart phone, visual content sharing is reigning supreme — mostly because snapping a picture of an experience is even easier than coming up with 140 characters to describe it.

So it’s no surprise that Pinterest is now the fastest-growing platform for online content sharing, according to online content distribution service ShareThis.

Pinterest has taken a big step to meet pinners where they’re at. In an announcement on Thursday, November 14th, the company revealed partnerships with top brands like AllRecipes, Better Homes and Gardens, Zappos, Walmart, Random house, certain Disney sites, as well as several others.

So what’s the big deal?

If you’ve ever used Pinterest, you know thousands of retailers utilize it to show off their wares. But now shoppers can pin their favorite items right from their favorite retail sites. For example, if you are searching for a new dish to take to Thanksgiving dinner, you can visit Allrecipes.com and see the most popular recipes — all chosen by pinners. You don’t even have to interrupt your web surfing to pin something to your own Pinterest boards!

This is the first time Pinterest has made its APIs available to marketers. In doing so, it helps companies leverage social networking, enhances their digital merchandising, which – of course – supports sales. The APIs can be used by marketers to show popular products or other content like articles on their own mobile app. And it wont miss a beat, with pins being updated regularly, so customers always view the most current popular products.

And it certainly doesn’t hurt Pinterest, either.

Top Pins API can mean Pinterest widgets can spread like wild fire across countless websites – significantly growing Pinterest’s user base.

They’re not going to stop there, with plans in place to release APIs to track most popular pins, top repins, most recent pins, related pins, and most click-throughs from particular search items.

Once you start browsing these sites, you’ll find that each brand is combining API with its own flair to tailor these web pages. And it’s all thanks to the power of pinners.

Back to you:

How has your business creatively used Pinterest to engage customers?

You might also want to read:

Pinterest for Business 5 Steps Toward Picture-Perfect Success