Pinterest Vs Instagram: Visual Content Marketing 

15 Social Media Visual Content Marketing Tips

Pinterest vs Instagram-Visual Content MarketingThink fast! Pinterest vs Instagram?

Which social media platform is a better focus for your visual content marketing?

As a marketer, how do you differentiate between Pinterest and Instagram?

More importantly, where should you build your next social media outpost?

  • Pinterest is social media scrapbooking on steroids. It’s used on computers, tablets and smartphones.
  • Instagram is square social media photographs. It’s only available as a mobile (smartphone or tablet) app.

Pinterest vs Instagram: Key content marketing attributes

Let’s examine Pinterest versus Instagram across 5 key content marketing attributes.Pinterest vs Instagram-Visual Content Marketing

1. Pinterest vs Instagram: Audience

Pinterest reaches an 80% female audience and the average female pinner has made 158 pins according to RJ Metrics.

Pinterest’s key feature is aspirational. Users turn to Pinterest to find things that they need and want. Critical for marketers is that Pinterest puts your products in context. It’s ready made for couch shopping.

Instagram’s demographic sweet spot is millennials and GenXers. Instagram helped give birth to the word “Selfie”.

Instagram is a top 10 mobile app according to comScore and has about 30% reach among US smartphone mobile media users 18+.

Even more important, Instagram is still on its audience growth trajectory and expected to reach 37.3 million users in 2014 according to eMarketer.

Actionable Visual Content Marketing Tips:

  • Know your key audience, influencers and public beyond their basic demographics. Get into their heads to understand their deeper emotional motivations and interests that help your marketing efforts by creating marketing personae.
  • Leverage the power of a social media persona to better appreciate how your target market uses different social media platforms.

2. Pinterest vs Instagram: User activity driver

Pinterest is the “I want”, aspirational social media where participants and shoppers turn when they need something. For many, it’s the digital version of catalogs and magazines.

Instagram is the ultimate me, me, me, social media option. It turbo-charges FOMO (aka Fear Of Missing Out) not to mention fueling your community’s envy and jealousy by adding a better than reality gloss to photographs.

Actionable Visual Content Marketing Tips:

  • Take advantage of Pinterest’s visual shopping. Who needs a mall when you can shop from the comfort of your living room couch??? Create different boards for each of your product categories. Where possible leverage the strength of food and drinks, DIY and crafts, and home decor on Pinterest.
  • Set up a place for Instagramming your product in your retail or physical location. Make people want to share the experience.
  • Take a page from Michael Kors by running an Instagram contest.

3. Pinterest vs Instagram: Content marketing approach

Pinterest is the home of social media content curation. It spotlights important people, products and brands with related commentary. At the heart of every pinboard is aggregating the best looking visual information.

Pinners are taster arbitors. Pinners even try to create the best possible pin.

Pinterest encompasses more than just photos. It spotlights other visual content such design and illustration. Infographics and presentations have a home on Pinterest as well.

Instagram is about social media visual content creation. Its easy-to-use filters enhance the images to make the subjects and by association the photographer look better. Instagram is Instamatic amateur photography meets professional level quality.

Don’t limit yourself to still photos. Instagram video is gaining traction.

Actionable Visual Content Marketing Tips:

  • Integrate your own content with the best of other people’s content. This helps build your reputation as a thought leader and a tastemaker.  Remember social media is a multi-directional conversation.
  • Incorporate your own content into your mix by adding Instagram. This is a great way to show your offering’s glamour.
  • Promote the power of your audience’s content by showcasing their Instagram images. A number of retailers are starting to do this. It’s a great way to leverage user generated content.
  • Check what your competitors are doing on Pinterest and Instagram. What are they doing that’s successful that you’re not? Also check out the top performers on each platform. Take note of ideas that are worth adapting and making your own.

4. Pinterest vs Instagram: Content distribution

Pinterest is the seek, find and collect stuff I like and want platform. Its sweet spot is the fact that it retains pinners and their interactions increase over time. On average, a female pinner posts 42 pins in year 1 and increases to 152 pins by year 4!

Pinterest is truly a me-time activity that peaks post dinner. Your content gets shared by other people: both from other sources to Pinterest and on Pinterest.

Instagram is snap and share. While mainly on Instagram, images can also be shared to other platforms, especially Facebook and Twitter.

Instagram brand frequency is about 5 images per week. Take part in relevant memes and trends.

Both Pinterest and Instagram leverage the power of hashtags to extend their content reach.

Actionable Visual Content Marketing Tips:

  • Boost sharing pinning activity by adding a “pin this” button to your photographs and images.
  • Create a Pinterest board for your blog posts.
  • Provide a gallery on your website for Instagram images. Share a relevant photo each day.

5. Pinterest vs Instagram: Key marketing value

Pinterest puts your product in the social media shopping spotlight. It makes your product a star and places them where your customers are shopping. Even better you can put a price on Pinterest.

Pinterest expands your audience reach while enabling a social media conversation.

Instagram is a brand builder. It makes your brand the centerpiece of your story. It’s great for showing your visual beauty.

Instagram drives UGC which gives your products an implied consumer endorsement.

Actionable Visual Content Marketing Tips:

  • Source brand stories from your audience. Take advantage of Pinterest and Instagram to gather product stories from your customers. Don’t forget to use your company hashtag.
  • Get your employees into the Pinterest and Instagram action. Use them as your ambassadors. Of course, it’s critical to have social media guidelines in place first to avoid potential issues.
  • Spotlight your customers. Use both Pinterest and Instagram to share the love with your fans. It can be their photographs or their use of your products.

Like content creation and content curation, use Pinterest and Instagram together to pack your visual content marketing with a 1-2 punch.

Which visual content marketing platform do you think is better: Pinterest or Instagram? Why do you think so?

Happy Marketing,
Heidi Cohen


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