Cover Your Basics: Understanding Pinterest Today

Your audience is pinning, and you’re not. See a problem there?

Everyday, another Instagram user tells someone how frustrated they are with the algorithm, a lack of engagement, or struggling to build their brand. Everyday, that same user decides to go back to Instagram and become frustrated all over again; it’s actually kind of funny. What’s even more funny is there being a platform that’s designed to address all of those pain points, but someone convinced us it’s only for small-town bloggers, wedding planning, and the occasional DIY recommendations. If you really want to laugh, imagine trying to build a brand today and still thinking that creating on Pinterest isn’t necessary.

If you haven’t been paying attention to the social-media landscape (if you’re working as a community manager or social-media specialist then shame on you), you’re probably still holding on to archaic representations of the platforms. Most, if not all social-media platforms are different than how they began and a lot of that can be attributed to the growth of the generations that ushered them in to the mainstream. As marketers, brand builders, and social-media experts, it’s up to us to be as current as we can manage when it comes to understanding these platforms. This edition of “Cover Your Basics” is about Pinterest and what you need to know to begin understanding the value of one of the most pivotal platforms currently on the market.

To really get the most out of Pinterest, you have to understand what it is. Pinterest is not just a social-network. Pinterest, more accurately described, is a visual search engine that you curate as you use. Where other platforms seek to simply process and sort written information, Pinterest focuses on the visual. According to an article in Forbes about infographics

Humans are visual creatures. Most of us process information based on what we see. 65 percent of us are visual learners, according to the Social Science Research Network.

With that statistic, we can then understand why:

• 74% of content published by marketers and branding experts are visual
• 68% of marketers reported that they plan to increase the use of visuals in their marketing campaigns.
• Over 50% of consumers watch product videos before they make a purchasing decision.
• Original infographics are one of the top 5 drivers of engagement from audiences.
• A little over 1 out of every 4 adults in the United States has a Pinterest account.

As a self-curated visual search engine, Pinterest is the only social-media platform that allows you to search based on the image. When we look at the market today, Pinterest is one of the most important tools for brand building. Current research shows Pinterest as the second largest social-media source of online traffic for e-commerce, overshadowing platforms such as Snapchat, Tik Tok, and Twitter. With a platform like Instagram for example, tools necessary for directing audience attention are unlocked at follower levels as if it were a video game achievement. Features such as swiping up on an instastory to re-direct audience attention has to be earned; on Pinterest it is freely given. When you create a pin as a business account, you’re given the option to add a link to it and that link being activated the moment a user clicks on the image. This allows for anyone to begin their marketing and branding journey on the platform with the tools necessary to engage with the audience, and direct that engagement wherever is most beneficial.

If we just look at the data, Pinterest is also one of the most popular platforms on the market by key demographic standards. With more than 322 million monthly active users, Pinterest is in the top 4 most used platforms. That’s important because of the demographic break down:

• 42% of Pinterest Users are women
• 34% of Pinterest Users are between the ages of 18–29
• 35% of Pinterest Users are between the ages of 30–49
• 27% of Pinterest Users are between the ages of 50–64
• 70% of Pinterest Users have some college experience
• 60% of Pinterest Users come from urban to suburban communities
• 52% of Millennials use Pinterest every month
• 86% of Millennials use Pinterest to plan important events
• 63% of Millennials use Pinterest to discover new brands or products to buy.
• 83% of weekly Pinterest Users have purchased items because of content they saw on Pinterest.

If we take this research into account, Pinterest is poised to give one of the highest returns on content when you engage on the platform. This is very important in the age of content marketing, branding, and building community engagement. Through their “Pinterest Lens” for example, users can discover “ideas inspired by anything [they] point [their] camera at” according to the company. “Users are even able to Lens an ingredient to discover recipes [they’ll] love or point the camera at someone’s streetstyle to find the items you need to rock the look [themselves]”. As a platform, Pinterest understands what is driving business and brand growth. Pinterest then uses that understanding to provide tools and resources that increase conversions, give higher returns on engagement, and provides users with access to modern ways of engaging with the brands or products they love most.

Pinterest has always been the home for shopping inspiration. It’s a place where people search, browse, shop and discover new and favorite brands. Over the past few years, we’ve been introducing new visual discovery tools and making more Pins shoppable. As we continue to unveil more ways to shop with Pinterest, we’re announcing new features for businesses to reach people who want to go from dreaming to decision making, from inspiration to purchase. — Pinterest

As more and more people see opportunities in the market place, as more and more people gain access to revenue streams they can control, the need for platforms that make it easy for them to engage with audiences will increase proportionately. Yes, Facebook is still the largest of the platforms and Instagram is the quickest to go to because of its place in pop-culture. However, Pinterest has established itself as the platform that understands both its responsibility to the market, and the market’s desire from its platform. This understanding allows for Pinterest to continue to service users as well as businesses and brands with the tools necessary to get the most from the time they spend on the app. So now that you know your audience is pinning, hopefully you plan on doing so yourself.

You can always start your Pinterest journey by following me here