Since its launch, Pinterest has been dominated by female users. A new study by RjMetrics found that Pinterest is still dominated by women today. Just 20% of Pinterest users are men. Not only are more Pinterest users women, but women are also significantly more active on the site than men are. RJMetrics found that 92% of pins are published by women. In total, there are 15 times more pins published by women than men on Pinterest.
Looking at trend data, the number of pins published by men has been on decline since RJMetrics began tracking Pinterest data in 2011. However, the story is quite different for women. Total activity for women on Pinterest has grown in the past three years from 87% to 94%.
Not only are women more active then men, but their activity level on Pinterest actually increases over time. The study data reveals that during their first year with a Pinterest account, women publish approximately 42 pins, but by the fourth year with a Pinterest account, women publish 152 pins during the year. After four years, 84% of women Pinterest users are still active in some way.
Just as Pinterest is used by more women than men, it’s also used to pin content related to some categories much more than others. For example, 20% of pins are about food and drink, 12% about crafts and do-it-yourself projects, and 11% are about home decor. Brands that can relate their image or products and services to these categories will perform well on Pinterest and should exploit the opportunity. However, even brands that are not in those categories have the potential to perform well on Pinterest. RJMetrics reports that the most followed brand board on Pinterest is owned by Lowes.
One of the most interesting parts of this report from a branding perspective is the breakdown of the most repins by domain. RJMetrics found that Etsy.com is in a class all its own in terms of the number of pins that link to its domain. Every other site is far behind. Looking at all of those other sites, the leaders in terms of the number of repins leading to specific brand domains are UrbanOutfitters.com, Williams-Sonoma.com, Westelm.com, ReykjavikCornerStore.com, Poketo.com, and Brides.com. Follow the link at the beginning of the article to see the full list of brand domains.
There is no doubt that women spend more time on Pinterest than men, and there is no doubt that some categories perform better on Pinterest than others. However, seeing the data puts these facts into perspective. If your brand is related to food and drink and your target audience is women, then Pinterest should be a priority in your brand marketing plan.
Image: theilr
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
