Stop Thinking of Pinterest as a Social Network

Laura Donovan — April 1, 2017

— April 1, 2017

Stop Thinking of Pinterest as a Social Network

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.

Why Should a Business Use 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.

Need some evidence:

  • There are 150 million active Pinterest users.
  • 70 million monthly users are in the U.S.
  • 55% of U.S. shoppers choose Pinterest as their favorite platform.
  • There are 2 billion monthly searches on Pinterest.
  • 2 million Pinterest users save shopping pins daily.

If the sheer volume of users and the activity on the site still haven’t swayed you, check out these stats:

  • 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.
  • 2/3 of Pins represent brands and products.

Don’t Focus on Networking, Focus on Providing Products to 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!

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Author: Laura Donovan

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