Even Pinterest CEO, Ben Silbermann, wants you to stop treating Pinterest like a Social Network. Pinned items aren’t inherently there to be shared; rather, Silbermann says, they’re a kind of bookmark that people use as ways of filing and organizing their lives.
Pinterest is a “catalog of ideas” that has a different objective than a Social Network site. Social Networks are used to share information with other people to like, where Pinterest is a site where you like and save things that are of interest to you and you alone, it is self-serving.
Silbermann explains, “our hope is that when we show you the right idea you go out and do that thing.” Pinterest is a catalog of hand-picked items that is of interest to each individual user. Users are actively researching things to buy or things to do.
Pinterest Facts
Pinterest is the third largest social network (after Facebook and Instagram.)
There are 335 million Pinterest users.
Over 160 million users are in the U.S.
There are 2 billion monthly searches on Pinterest.
2 million Pinterest users save shopping pins daily.
Pins have a long pin life.
The average Pin on Pinterest drives 2 website visits.
5% of all referral traffic to websites comes from Pinterest.
The average Pin on Pinterest earns roughly 78 cents in sales.
Pinterest users who interact with a Promoted Pin spend 7x more.
Pinterest users who interact with a Promoted Pin have a 50% higher intent to purchase.
Advertisers receive around 20% more clicks the month following the launch of a Promoted Pin ad campaign.
While Facebook’s current News Feed algorithm is designed to show posts that are current and relevant, the lifespan of a post is short, which means it will own show to a certain number of people (based on if they are on the platform the time the post is updated, if they follow your Page, etc.)
Pins never go away. The more you post to Pinterest, the more people will Pin your posts, and the more visibility your business will receive. Your followers and customers become your word-of-mouth and spread your Pins for you and further than you ever could with a simple Pin.
People are “Shopping” on Pinterest
48% of Pinterest users rank shopping as the top activity on the site.
87% of Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest.
72% of Pinners use Pinterest to decide what to buy offline.
93% of active Pinners use Pinterest to plan for purchases.
87% of Pinners have purchased a product because they saw it on Pinterest.
Business Benefits for Using Pinterest
People are using Pinterest to get ideas and to research their next purchase. From planning a wedding or baby shower, decorating their bedroom, organizing their house, cleaning their refrigerator, eating healthy, what exercises are best, to tips for training for a marathon and so much more.
If you provide a product or service that is useful, your business should be using Pinterest.
Don’t Focus on Networking, Focus on Providing Products for Purchase
Pinterest users are using the site to research things to purchase, they are more interested in what you can offer them than networking or engaging with your business.
So, get pinning and give the Pinterest users something to buy!