All these and more on our Pinterest Page
Not too long ago, the idea of Pinterest conjured images of paleo diets, cleaning hacks and man-cave decorations, but the platform – always underrated – is emerging as one of the most underused brand assets of 2019.
It is true that as recently as 2016, almost half of US women were on Pinterest, compared to just 17% of men, but things are changing and nearly half of Pinterest’s new sign-ups are men (including fathers, with nearly 40% of US dads on Pinterest in 2018).
It is growing too. The site is now home to 250 million monthly users, and pins, of which there are now 175 billion, increasing by 75% in the last year alone. 175 billion pins of interior design, recipes, DIY guides, style goals, exercises, and – of course – branded content.
So what makes Pinterest a must-have for brands in 2019?
Engagement
Part social network, part visual search engine
Pinterest is well formed to its users’ needs. Rather than passively scrolling through newsfeeds, Pinners are on the site for a reason, actively searching for inspiration, specific products or reviews, and treating the platform at times as a highly curated, better looking Google.
As a result, Pinterest users are far more engaged than on any other platform. A recent study from Nielson found:
98% of users try the ideas they find on Pinterest – far higher than the 71% average for other social media platforms.
Supporting high levels of engagement, 53% of Pinners consider time on Pinterest well spent: pins represent intentions, or at least aspirations, which are to be put into action.
Putting money where their mouths are, at least part of this consumer action includes shopping:
93% of Pinners use the platform to plan purchases,
87% have purchased an item because of Pinterest,
31% of all time spent on Pinterest is dedicated to shopping – more so than any other platform.
Longevity
Marketers have a saying with email marketing:
You need to create right message, to the right people, at the right time.
It’s just as relevant for social media posts, and once a post is out, it has an incredibly short window to reach the right people, before its buried in the news feed.
The longer your content is around and being seen, the harder it works and the more valuable it is. On Instagram, a post’s life lasts around two days; Facebook, five hours; and Tweets have only 17 minutes to make an impact. Pinterest content can last – and remain discoverable – for around 110 days.
Equal Opportunities
Pinterest works to make it easy for brands to reach their target audience. Where Facebook is actively trying to bury branded content to promote the human newsfeed, consumers are seeking it out brand-led content on Pinterest. In fact:
two thirds of all pins represent brands and products
and two million Pinners save shopping pins to their boards daily
Since 97% of Pinterest searches are without brand names, the results include all similar products, from a range of different brands. Pinterest then uses its ‘smart feed’ algorithm to curate individual results and newsfeeds from: users you follow; pins relevant to your pins; and pins relevant to your interests. These pins are then sorted for quality (of the pin, Pinner, and linked website) and relevance. This means consumers are faced with all the options, giving small brands the same opportunities as large ones.
Know Your Audience
Like all other platforms, Pinterest gives you feedback on your activity (what is working for you, and what is not) but it also breaks down your audience, and tells you where they are from, language, gender, and interests – that is free, valuable market research, right there, and in greater detail than some brands pay to receive.
It helps that on Pinterest, you get to see much more of people’s actual personalities. Instagram, Twitter and Facebook feature what you want communicated to your friends and family, while LinkedIn is about looking good to colleagues and employees. Pinterest is about you, and what you are interested in.
On no other social media platforms do consumers lay out so clearly and comprehensively what they want from a brand.
Every search, and every pin is saved by the site’s analytics, so Pinterest can tell you, in real time, what people are interested in or concerned about from month to month.
This is a huge help to confirm and support trend forecasters’ predictions. For example: Stylus predicted that consumers would look to natural, traditional beauty ingredients – confirmed by Pinterest’s 2018 review, in which searches for ancient ingredient Witch-hazel rose by 305%.
The platform also offers consumer information in greater detail: anyone can tell you than in January, people care about New Year’s Resolutions, but thanks to Pinterest’s January ‘Pinsights’, we can see that consumers are bucking the traditional resolution model and looking for short-term, quantifiable ‘challenges’ (searches up by 427%). These challenges look at more than one-track diet and exercise resolutions, and instead focus at wider mind-sets and issues like ‘30-day Mental Health Challenge’, or savings challenges.
Even if you’re not a Pinterest user, the platform’s Pinsights are respected and used by marketers and trend forecasters alike. The site compiles data from its 250 million monthly users to list everything consumers want to buy, and everything they want to be.
Still think Pinterest is less valuable than other platforms? Or would you like to give us an email to get you set up properly & ready to pin... info@aramintamarketing.com
Image Source: MemeGenerator