Pinterest is Social Media’s Best Kept Secret

I’ve been talking a lot about Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, but there’s another social media platform that doesn’t receive nearly enough attention.

I’m talking, of course, about Pinterest.

It’s no secret that CEO Ben Silbermann has been aggressively repositioning Pinterest as the next chapter in social media advertising. Pinterest has been valued at roughly $ 13 billion and is quickly monetizing its content and will likely become the next social media platform to launch an IPO. While it’s true that Facebook is the definitive leader of advertising in the social space, Pinterest remains the best-kept secret for getting a return on your marketing dollars.

What sets Pinterest apart from its social competitors has always been its loyal user base. 80% of Pinterest’s daily users are female. More specifically, married women who are stay-at-home mothers with young children. Interestingly, Pinterest users want to see more “everyday people” in advertising, and the majority report their children influence their buying patterns. They are also more likely to read content related to cooking, gardening, and domestic related activities. Herein Lies the vast potential for advertising on Pinterest: a very specific ad set with defined interests and diminutive influence over household purchases.

Pinterest recognizes its unique position in the market, and its shortcomings against other platforms, particularly Facebook. Last month, Pinterest announced upgrades to its advertising capabilities. It highlighted three new ways advertisers are able to better target those using Pinterest. You can now target using email addresses or mobile IDs, users who have already visited your website, or create a custom “lookalike” audience. To those who are already advertising on Facebook and to a lesser extent on Twitter, these advances are not new to the market. It does set Pinterest up to challenge the latter platforms.

Still not convinced?

Pinterest reports that 55% of its base uses the platform for shopping. E-commerce has not been easy for other social giants, but Pinterest users are not only loyal and defined, the majority are there to BUY! Pinterest also reports that new visitor retargeting features more than doubles the clickthrough rate on promoted pins, and lookalike audience targeting increases clickthrough rates by 63%.

At the end of the day, Facebook remains the social platform on which you need to be focusing the majority of your digital advertising dollars. However, there’s a bright future for other platforms, specifically Pinterest.

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