There’s little doubt that Pinterest is a platform that’s here to stay. At the time of writing, it boasts more than 444 million active users and while it might not be quite at the levels of Facebook (2.5 billion users), its base is more than double that of Twitter (206 million). As a result, more and more businesses are viewing it as a viable marketing channel.
Active Global Users as of October 2021
- Facebook 2.8 Billion
- YouTube 2.2 Billion
- Pinterest 444 Million
- Reddit 430 Million
- Twitter 206 Million
Many are surprised when they see that Pinterest outstrips platforms like Twitter in terms of users, but the figures above really do speak for themselves. Recent statistics have provided some in-depth insight into Pinterest’s current status and how to use it more effectively. As with any digital platform, the more data you have, the more informed your decisions are.
One of the most interesting stats about Pinterest is the dramatic growth the platform’s seen over the last 10 years. Incredibly, since May 2011, the number of unique Pinterest visitors has gone up significantly, to the tune of 2,702%. From a relatively modest 11 million users, the figure for 2021, as seen above, is way, way above that.
Its journey to the first 10 million monthly unique visitors was the fastest of any independent website in history, even surpassing Facebook in this regard. However, while these figures are quite impressive, they’re made even more notable when you see how long the average time users spend on the platform.
- TikTok 10.85 mins
- Pinterest 5.06 mins
- Reddit 4.96 mins
- Facebook 4.82 mins
- Twitter 3.53 mins
- Instagram 2.85 mins
80% of Pinterest users are women and the age demographic is 25-34. As we can see the average Pinterest user spends a significant amount of time on the platform, again outperforming most top platforms out there. On this occasion, it even outdoes Facebook, which is quite a feat in itself.
Popular Categories
While visitors use Pinterest to find numerous types of content, the food and drink category is definitely at the forefront, taking up 11.1% of all pins. This means any business within the food and drink industry stands a good chance of experiencing success on this site.
Most common pins include:
- Food & Drink 11.1%
- DIY & Crafts 9.6%
- Home Decor 5.8%
- Hair & Beauty 5.4%
- Women’s Fashion 5.4%
These figures show a distinct pattern about the kind of thing that gets talked about on the platform, allowing anyone in associated fields to target customers that will very much want to hear about what marketers have to say. There’s plenty of overlap too, with one or two of the categories above sharing a very similar space.
Buying Patterns
Another interesting Pinterest statistic is that pins that include a price get 36% more likes than pins without a price. The reason for this seems largely due to the clarity that displaying a price on a product provides. It’s also been proven that more people are likely to purchase while on Pinterest than on many other sites.
While 60% of Pinterest Users Are Women, the Number of Male Users Is Increasing.
For instance, 69% of Pinterest users said they have either bought something or wanted to buy something via the site. On the other hand, only 40% of Facebook users echoed this sentiment. When it comes to users’ preference to associate with retailers or brands, 43% say they are willing on Pinterest, and only 24% are on Facebook. Consequently, this makes this site the ideal social media resource for branding.
The Soft Sell Approach Works
People who use Pinterest will often tend to interact with their family and friends, while also participating in groups that keep them engaged with the platform. Also, when people go onto the platform, they’re usually looking for something, actively searching for high-quality content when they do. When they find something that improves their lives, they come back for more.
93% of Pinterest users use the platform for finding future purchases and 97% of Top Pinterest Searches are unbranded, so this platform is perfect for businesses of any size.
Even if you are advertising a product or service, you can be more effective if you take a softer approach to selling, rather than pinning something that is obviously just an ad. If all Pinterest showed us was promotional content, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as helpful. If you’d like to know more about eCommerce customer behavior, check out this resource.
Three Factors That Drive Traffic on Pinterest
It would be true to say that Pinterest is a unique beast in the world of social media and those who know how to leverage its power have a lot to gain. In this next section, we take a look at three effective ways to drive visitors to your page.
Factor 1: Know Your Target Audience
Your path to commercial success in any form of marketing begins with having a clear idea of who your target audience is, what they’re interested in and what they might be looking for. Without this insight, it’s going to be difficult to create content that drives traffic to your posts. If you’re not achieving the results you hoped for, it’s worth re-evaluating your ideal customer.
Instead of taking a wild stab in the dark, you should take time out to analyze the clients you already have, as it’s a great place to start.
Details to consider:
- The current buying habits of your ideal customer
- What the goal of your perfect customer is
- What worries your target audiences might have
- How they decide on the products they buy
- What is it that you provide that meets their needs
When your content speaks to the pain points of your ideal customers, you stand a much better chance of them turning to you for advice, services, and products. It stands to reason really, as no one is likely to pay that much attention to companies that aren’t demonstrating an ability to resolve their issues.
Factor 2: Focus on Relevance
It might sound like another obvious thing to say, but you must ensure ensure that your content is relevant to your target audience. You see, the platform recommends your content based on its relevance, so if your content isn’t in line with this, it’s going to hinder your progress.
Over 25% of Time on Pinterest is spent shopping which is higher than on any other social media platform.
In an ideal world, your content will be super relevant, which will mean that Pinterest’s algorithm will work as it should. The knock-on effect of this is that your click-through rate will increase significantly, so don’t post willy-nilly, as this can serve to dilute your relevance. Just share your pins on boards and groups that are related to the keywords for that pin.
Factor 3: Use Headlines That Pique Curiosity
If you want readers to feel compelled to click through on any kind of post, you need to make things enticing. That involves using headlines that pique curiosity. For example, rather than saying “Professional Graphic Artist Tips”, try something like “Five Things You Need to Make It as a Professional Graphic Artist”. The second option does a much better job of piquing curiosity.
Examples of great Pinterest titles:
- 5 Road Tested & Effective Ways to Balance Your Accounts
- 7 Sure-Fire Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat Vegetables
- How Dave Gained 7 Pounds of Muscle in Only 2 Months!
- How To Get More Quality Rest Without Going to Bed Earlier
The watchword here is ‘interesting’ and as you can see, the above titles make you want to click through and learn more. Let's be honest, there is at least one title that you would click on to find out more if you came across it on Pinterest, right?
Harness The Power of Pinterest For Your Business Today
So, if you didn’t know about the potential for commercial success that exists on Pinterest before reading our blog, you do now. The platform is far more popular than many give it credit for and the amount of time users spend on it offers a great deal of marketing possibility. We very much hope that you’ve found these interesting Pinterest statistics useful to your marketing efforts.
