Pinterest vs Instagram

When it comes to deciding which social platform to use never make a decision based on what everybody else is doing. The popularity of various social media tools changes like the seasons. Over the last few years you’ve probably heard a lot about Pinterest and Instagram and their usefulness in increasing web traffic.  Both rely heavily on visual content and have created quite a buzz for themselves. So, you along with some of my followers, maybe asking, “Instagram vs Pinterest, which Is better?”

The answer to the question is a big fat, “neither.” Deciding what’s better for your business solely depends the goals you’ve set and the audience you are aiming to reach. Although both are very visually stimulating social media platforms, they have some very distinct differences in their use and somewhat their audiences. Allow me to explain:

Pinterest

  • Audience there skews a little older–mostly women between their late 20’s to mid 50’s.
  • Great place to share with the world your aspirations, inspirations, and your interests–thus the name.
  • Ideal for bloggers and site owners that use eye catching images that can be pinned to categorized boards on Pinterest.
  • When pinned images are clicked, users can be taken to it’s original source…a website or blog post. Web traffic increases!
  • It provides plug-ins that enable you to easily make your site content more “pinnable”
  • Images that get the most engagement are more rectangular than square.
  • Tags can be added to “rich pins” to display pricing of items pictured
  • Mostly viewed on desktops, laptops, and tablets

So if the audience you’re aiming to reach is mostly females that love fashion, design, recipes, infographs, and visual quotes explore Pinterest. Search for your industry keywords and even related hashtags to see if conversations about your business and industry are there.  You can also search for pins from your own website.

Instagram

  • Audience there skews very young.  It’s quickly become the Facebook of teens and young adults because this demo doesn’t want to be on the same platform as their parents. Ewwww, that’s so 2010!
  • It’s a mobile app first and foremost, meant to create mobile content to be shared on your profiles.  And it’s meant to be engaged with via mobile.
  • As a content creation tool, videos and images can be enhanced with provided filters to further express a mood or feeling.
  • Great place to share what you are doing and feeling in the present. It’s not necessarily where youngsters and adults go to share what they hope to do in the future.  Thus the popularity of impromptu “selfies” taken in the heat of the moment.
  • Brands have been flocking to Instagram to appear more human, cool, and personable especially to millennials.
  • It can be used to attract web traffic, but opportunities to add a hyperlink to your website are reduced to the bio of your profile.
  • Tagging of fellow users and hashtagging are expected and needed to boost engagement of posts

So if you’re audience is big on consuming mobile content and knowing what’s happening in the now, explore Instagram on your mobile phone. Take a photo, add a filter, and give it a retro, old school feel for a “Throwback Thursday” aka #tbt post.  Show your business’ fun and human side. Although, if you’re a mortuary business it might not be wise! (Joking)

Watch the video below as I explain to a subscriber which I think is the best platform to explore for his entertainment news website. And reader if you have a similar social media question, write it in the comments or my contact page.

Be sure too to share this post on your social profiles, help a friend or fellow business owner gain some deeper insight into whether Instagram vs. Pinterest is better for their business, brand, or project.