If you've been on Pinterest before, chances are it looks like an overwhelming mess of food, wedding, clothing and fitness images. Not really much use for those in commercial real estate, is it? (Except for taking breaks between projects, of course.) However, when you delve a little deeper, it quickly transpires that many brands and companies have put their small stakes into this highly visual corner of the internet. For instance, brokers and developers can use the platform to showcase their properties. Multifamily building owners can put up pictures of new apartments and design ideas for potential tenants, thus creating buzz surrounding their buildings.

As for student housing, designers and developers can use the social network to present dorm amenities, dorm room design ideas and even reveal the progression of construction on certain campuses. We all know college kids love the internet, why wouldn't they love to pin and repin images of the next hot student housing facility, not to mention media and architecture firms sharing images to promote their companies or stories?

Case and point, Rockrose, New York City-based developers, make excellent use of Pinterest, sharing dramatic shots of Manhattan, interiors of apartments, neighborhood events and anything else they deem relevant to their audience – a group that seems to be a mix of tenants, commercial real estate professionals and curious users. The goal here, and with other boards, is to get people to share images, get excited about the company in question and, eventually, convert these users to actual leads for future business.