A couple of weeks ago, we talked about Pinterest as the The Latest Rage in Social Media. True to form, successful businesses and organizations are quickly figuring out how to tailor this social platform to supplement their content and connect with their audiences.

We raised the question about whether Pinterest and publishing go well together. Recent posts on MediaBistro.com suggest that they might. Several news organizations, from New York Daily News (NYDN) to Mashable are getting Pinterest savvy. 

NYDN made their debut on Pinterest with the timely “Whitney Houston Remembered” pin board. The organization employed two proven rules that we’ve discussed:

• Don’t just broadcast your content; engage your network. NYDN used its Twitter account and Facebook page to solicit photos for the pin board from their audience.
• Own the span of attention. Online readers absorb more when their experience is more like viewing a gallery than reading an essay. Pinterest is a classic gallery design that holds reader interest and sticks with them.

Mashable put a twist on the gallery experience and gleaned nearly 8,600 followers by compiling interesting infographics from their site into one pin board, for easy viewing.

It may be time to take the pushpins out of the drawer. Don’t forget:

Your website can work well in partnership with social media tools and also include a workflow that enables social networking within your company to support efficiency and enthusiasm. 

Pinterest can easily be integrated— so you can embed and relate it to your site content, drive your readers to your pin boards and use it in combination with other social media tools—to engage your readers on a deeper (and more entertaining) level.

Even if you’re not ready for Pinterest yet, you can engage readers more by testing out galleries as a new article format.  You may be surprised at the interest!