Why Your Pinterest Strategy Needs to be Different from Your Social Media Strategy

From its time of inception – you know, back when you had to receive an exclusive invite to join the platform, Pinterest has against its will been classified as a social media platform by many. I hate to burst your bubble but…

Pinterest IS NOT a social media platform.

Pinterest IS a visual search engine.

Groundbreaking (yes, I said that in my Miranda Priestly Devil Wears Prada voice).

So what makes Pinterest fall towards the likes of Google instead of Instagram? I’m glad you asked! I’m going back to basics today and breaking down the root of what Pinterest is all about and why your Pinterest strategy needs to be different from your social media strategy. Let’s get started!

Pinterest is a Visual Search Engine

I may sound like a broken record already but just to reiterate, Pinterest is a visual search engine. Let’s take a step back and think about Google. With a Google search, a person types in a phrase or question that they are looking to get an answer for. After their search is submitted, Google populates text-based answers in the form of website articles or blog posts that help to answer the person’s question.

With Pinterest, users are also searching for answers but in a visual way. It’s as if Google and Instagram had a digital baby! Whether the user is wondering how to style a throw blanket, easy CSS code for their Squarespace website, or looking for a quick & healthy recipe for dinner, Pinterest has the answer in visual form.

Pinterest Content is Self-Serving

With social media, people are looking for a community. They want to interact with others, they want to feel a part of something, they want to engage. It’s a social space, hence the term social media.

With Pinterest, a person’s interaction on the platform is self-serving. They are looking for answers to their specific questions or needs. They are pinning content to their own boards that are useful, helpful, or inspiring to them that they can revert back to at any point.

Pins Have a Long Shelf Life

In terms of social media, most content has a 24-hour shelf life, if that. With the latest addition of IG Reels, the shelf life of video content is extending a bit, but nothing groundbreaking.

With Pinterest, Pins have an incredibly long shelf life ranging from months to years! With the proper strategy and keywords in place, evergreen content on Pinterest has the power to remain active for years and years and years to come. If you are a business owner, this is great news from a content standpoint. Properly strategized Pins could continually generate traffic to your site and in turn, continually increase your sales with very minimal effort. Talk about a win-win!

Pinterest is Designed to Send People Off the Platform

When you look at social media, the whole idea of the platforms is to create a social space by cultivating a community. Your goal is to attract people to your account and keep them coming back for more. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook want to keep you on their platform as long as possible. And it works! Anyone else guilty of the endless scroll or getting lost watching endless IG stories? Yup, me too!

With Pinterest, the platform is designed to send people off and away from the platform. A user types in what they are searching for, Pinterest populates visual-based answers, and the user then leaves the platform to read a blog post or article or to buy a product. Pinterest is a traffic driver, not a community-based platform like social media. If you have a Pinterest business account and a blog, take a look at what’s driving traffic to your website. Most likely Pinterest is one of the biggest traffic drivers (that is if you have a strategy in place!)

Let’s recap quickly why your Pinterest strategy and social media strategy need to be different from each other:

• Pinterest is a visual search engine
• Pinterest content is self-serving
• Pins have a long shelf-life
• Pinterest is designed to send people off the platform

There you have it – why your Pinterest strategy needs to be different from your social media strategy! I’m a big believer in using both for your business but it is crucial to make sure you have the proper strategy in place, respectively. Do you have tips for executing a successful Pinterest strategy?