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Why Pinterest is Better Than Instagram for Creatives
That’s right. I said it. Pinterest > Instagram.
I know may seem controversial, but I honestly this is the truth for women and men that want to make a career or, at least, substantial side income from their creative biz. If you want your blog, Etsy shop, photography company, etc. to be a hobby or have no long-term business plans for your biz… then why waste your time on anything besides what is fun and feels right for you.
I also want to start by saying this is NOT true for all creative businesses. You will not be successful on Pinterest if your target audience does not reside there. That means your if your business does not cover some facet of these topics or if you’re target audience isn’t among the demographics using Pinterest, then quit reading right now. I don’t get other social platforms and am entirely useless to ya!
But if you’re a wedding professional, fashion blogger, Etsy store owner or artist, you’ve just hit the jackpot of all social media, and I’ll tell you why starting with:
Why Pinterest Is Better Than Instagram:
1. Instagram is social media. Pinterest is a visual search engine.
The reason I stand by that is because I very rarely communicate to anyone directly on this platform. I don’t use the messaging feature, I don’t comment on people’s pins, I don’t form or grow relationships on Pinterest. I look for stuff.
People use the search bar when they need answers, advice, tips, solutions, information. Basically, they are seeking you out for the valuable content you are working so hard on. If Pinterest wants to please its users and keep them coming back for more they have to connect you to them.
Instagram is more about creating community and doesn’t have the most efficient search tools. Sure you can find calligraphers on Instagram if you want to, but the process is harder and less visual. Plus, it’s more likely to just use that info for ads > valuable content.
Already know that Pinterest rules, but have no clue how to use it to get thousands of page views? Check out my online course, Pinterest for Bloggers.
2. Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users. Pinterest has 200 million.
Instagram is so crowded. It’s already hard enough to get your blog recognized on Google with over 30 million blogs out there, several million of which that are likely in your niche. I think being a big fish in a smaller sea is much more attainable. I’m not trying to be the next celebrity. I’m trying to make money doing what I love, and I’ll be thrilled if I can get there faster because I didn’t try to be crazy competitive.
3. Instagram is made up of 31% women & 24% men. Pinterest is made up of 68% women & 32% men.
This is one of those demographic stats that either is SUPER appealing to you or will show you that you need to look at another platform.
For me, as someone with a 100% female target audience (on my wedding blog, The Internet’s Maid of Honor, I am so stoked that the majority of people on Pinterest at least have a chance of being my target audience.
Then if you add that with the fact that these women are searching for information about the aforementioned topics (one of which is weddings)… obviously I would want to be there to capture them and share my knowledge, products and services.
4. Instagram makes it difficult to share links. Pinterest makes it easy share links.
This is something intuitive for me, and has been a frustration about Instagram since day one. “Link in the bio” makes me want to punch walls. Like why the heck do I have to make my readers do so much work to read my blog post?! And who wants to leave the ‘gram in the middle of a scroll frenzy to go to another window only to be redirected again?!
The answer, for me, is about 5-10/week. That’s it.
Want to know how many people click through on Pinterest and become actual traffic to my blog? 1K-2K/day. That’s with me having neglected my Pinterest account recently because I’m working so much on others’ accounts that I don’t have the time.
P.S. I have almost the same amount of followers on each platform…
P.S.S. I get that swipe ups have helped with this, but if you’re not cool enough to get to 10K (me neither), it’s no fun to just sit and wait when you’re trying to make a business!
5. Evergreen content on Instagram eventually disappears down your feed. Evergreen content on Pinterest can live on forever.
Basically, we spend all this time (and sometimes money) on creating beautiful imagery and it gets seen within 24-48 hours of when it’s posted then it lives on your feed to be occasionally viewed until it goes so low in your feed, it’s never to be viewed again.
As long as your content on Pinterest is relevant, it will continue to come up in searches, appear on people’s feeds and get you website traffic for years to come. It can easily be looped and repinned and will circulate across the platform for as long as it’s relevant information.
That’s so invaluable, and makes me feel like all my hard work didn’t go to waste.
6. Instagram analytics suck. Pinterest analytics are better than Instagram.
This is a very petty way to put it, but come on… it’s so true! Besides the stories, you have no idea what photos are sparking the most traffic or what hashtags are earning you more impressions. I rarely look at Instagram analytics, because I get nothing out of it, except that a majority of my viewers are from New York… whoopty doo.
Pinterest has a whole section devoted to your content and to how its performing and why it’s doing well or poorly. It’s so useful and is easy to navigate once you get the hang of it. I actually have a free video training explaining how to use Pinterest’s analytics, if you’re interested.
Honestly, I could go on and on: it can make you passive income, it gives you ways to collaborate for growth, etc. etc.
I truly hope you understand the value and absolute POWER of this platform and utilize it to start getting major website traffic. Like anything good in life, you may have to take some time to master it, but eventually it will be a much more efficient way for you to reach your target audience and grow your creative business.
What To Takeaway From This Blog Post:
- Visual content performs better on Pinterest than Instagram
- Instagram’s analytics are limited compared to Pinterest’s
- Evergreen content on Pinterest lasts longer than Instagram
- You can share multiple links on Pinterest vs. Instagram
- Pinterest is less crowded than Instagram – which automatically makes Pinterest 100% better
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