Tampa small business owner says 'Pinterest' helps promote boutique

TAMPA - It's hard not to find something you love in Sharon Yerrid-Carneal's South Tampa boutique.

"Look how adorable that is. You can see that on the top of a ballet flat," she said showing us around ‘Crème de la Crème.’

She's owned her small business for 10 years, and social media has evolved into an important way to market her boutique.

"You have to get on the wagon and get with it.  This is what people are using as tools to learn about who you are, and what your boutique is all about, what you are all about," said Yerrid-Carneal.

Now she is one of 10 million users logging on to a social media website called ‘Pinterest.’

"I've got a board just called 'Pink,' which I love,” said Yerrid-Carneal.

‘Pinterest’ is basically an online bulletin board to collect and organize your favorite photos and video. You pin or re-pin photos you like on your boards including things like style, gardening, home design, or recipes.

"I think their traffic has gone up 400 percent between September and December," said digital media strategist Mitch Neff.

Neff says 'Pinterest' has taken the tech world by surprise but resonates with users who are looking for an easy, accessible interface.

"Sites like Pinterest gather people around certain topics, so if I create a board around recipes, I can see other content related to recipes and I'll probably go and grab that from somebody else's board and pin it to my own,” he said.

Though 'Pinterest' is two years old, Neff says it's recently grown popular with women who live in the Southeast United States.  He also says ‘Pinterest’ is sending more traffic to third-party websites like ‘Crème de la Crème’ than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined.

"My customers are able to follow me and they can look at what my style is," said Yerrid-Carneal.

If you like her style or boutique, you can find ‘Crème de la Crème’ on West Bay to Bay Boulevard in Tampa or you can pin her.

You can find Sharon Yerrid-Carneal’s ‘Pinterest’ boards by searching her name under ‘People.’ Her boutique’s website is www.cutestgiftshop.com .