Pinterest Is Now The Fastest Growing Content-Sharing Platform

Most small business owners know they should be engaging customers on social media but, beyond setting up a Facebook page, are unclear how and where to focus their efforts.

Perhaps surprisingly, photo site Pinterest is now the fastest-growing platform for online content sharing, according to a new report from online content distribution service ShareThis. The report analyzed the millions of monthly shares made through ShareThis in the third quarter across more than 120 social media channels and two million websites.

Content sharing on Pinterest jumped 19.2% in the latest quarter, and LinkedIn sharing grew 15.1%. Facebook saw content sharing rise 14.7%, while sharing on Twitter fell 7.6%.

The new data offers a reminder that businesses should look beyond Facebook and Twitter when managing their social media outreach, says ShareThis CEO Kurt Abrahamson in a release. "The more advertisers understand how consumers are using all social channels - beyond Facebook and Twitter - the more effectively they can use social media to augment and improve campaigns," he said.

Small businesses can capitalize on the Pinterest and LinkedIn surge to market their products and grow their consumer base. Pinterest, a highly visual medium, gives businesses a chance to catch the eye of consumers with compelling images and colorful infographics that promote deals and new products. Pinning pictures of employees could also help customers identify with the people who work at the company, putting a face to a name. Meanwhile, LinkedIn can provide a more professional forum for blogging and sharing posts to a targeted audience, as well as collecting positive recommendations and reviews of your company.

Small business owners can also help facilitate conversations about their brands online by adding "share" buttons to their websites, Abrahamson told Business Insider. These digital icons allow site visitors to easily click and share a piece of content through a specific channel. He recommends placing these buttons under content headers, and avoiding spots like the top and bottom of the browser, where they are more likely to be overlooked.

To be sure, Facebook and Twitter are important channels and shouldn't be forgotten. They still account for roughly 75% of all content sharing, despite the rapid growth of Pinterest and LinkedIn. Below, check out an infographic from the ShareThis Consumer Sharing Trends Report: