Instagram Vs Pinterest: Who’s Better For Business In 2024
As highly visual platforms, it is not unusual to constantly get comparisons between Instagram and Pinterest. But if you had to make a decision on which is better for business, which will you choose, and why?
Many people might go for Instagram because it is that popular. But it is obvious that Pinterest is an amazing social media platform in its own right. With several similarities to Instagram, it often provides the same benefits and comes with closely related marketing strategies.
However, as often as they are compared, there are evident differences between them.
Still, some businesses use Pinterest, and others use Instagram. Some can even combine both. However, as achieving success on social media is easier said than done, it is best to focus on the platform that’s better for your business.
So, in this article, we’ll compare both platforms on the basis of various features, to help you determine which suits your business needs best in 2024. But before we do some comparisons, it’s best to understand what they both bring to the table.
What is Instagram?
Instagram is a juggernaut in the social media realm.
Almost every business, celebrity, sportsperson, or regular individual you come across is on Instagram. The platform is blessed with 1.3 billion users, and it’s only going to get higher.
Instagram’s users are spoiled for choice on whether to use Stories, Reels, IGTV Videos or go live on the platform. The interface is highly user-friendly and it still helps users stay connected with their loved ones.
Also, businesses now have a big piece of Instagram’s pie too, as the platform adequately showcases brands to consumers.
What is Pinterest?
We talked about some similarities in the introduction, and here’s a good one, Pinterest was also created the same year as Instagram. However, they differ slightly in application.
Pinterest is a social platform that allows users to save and share visuals of anything they find engaging. In 2021, the platform had up to 454 million monthly active users.
Think of Pinterest as a sort of social bookmarking site.
On the platform, you use boards to discover, arrange, and share ideas with your audience. You can also find other users’ boards on various subjects like fashion, home decor, art, cooking, technology, and almost anything else you can think of.
Furthermore, Pinterest values the strength of a well-structured online community more than most social networks. It also emphasizes link sharing, making it a haven for businesses that need to increase traffic to their sites.
Now that we’ve hashed that out, let’s get straight to comparisons.
Instagram vs Pinterest: Comparisons and Which is Best for Business in 2024
Instagram Vs Pinterest: Who’s better for business in 2024? The following comparisons will give you the answers.
- Audience
This is a crucial thing every business considers when heading into a new platform. Your target audience is the important thing on every social media platform. You need to know what kind of users are using a platform and what their lifestyle revolves around.
Instagram’s users encompass a lot more audiences and are twice the number of Pinterest users. However, this is not the only crucial factor for marketing. Quality and engagement are, in truth, equally as important.
Pinterest’s user base is mostly female, with more than 75% of its audience being women, and 25% being men.
Hence, topics like cooking recipes, home decor and style tips, and innovative recipes for inspiration tend to get several engagements on the platform.
Pinterest is also slightly popular with the older demographic, compared to Instagram.
So, if your business caters to millennial and middle-aged women, Pinterest is the platform for you.
If your target audience are young millennials, Instagram is the platform for you. But generally, Instagram works better on all audiences compared to Pinterest.
- Purpose
Although Instagram and Pinterest take different routes in visual content sharing, it’s no secret that both platforms want to attract business owners from all over the world.
In a nutshell, both are highly visual platforms that leverage images as their primary content form, but they have very different purposes. For instance, when a Pinterest user views an image, they naturally don’t look for the meaning behind it.
Instagram users, however, are typically more concerned with aesthetics and lifestyle, either of a brand or an individual. They welcome pictures and videos and go the extra mile to understand what you place in the captions.
Pinners go crazy for images, but that’s about it. They spend little time reading pin descriptions and text overlays except when they detail essential steps like recipes or useful tips. Every time they stumble upon an idea that creates inspiration, they simply save it to their board.
On the other hand, Instagrammers are all about images too, but that’s the start of their interest. They also want to know the context of the image and are willing to do so by reading the captions. That’s why, on average, Instagram users engage with their platform way more than Pinterest users.
This isn’t to say that people don’t use Instagram for ideas and information. They do, but that’s usually secondary. For instance, users can follow art pages to get painting inspiration from some of the best artists.
Images from Instagram
Instagram wants to entertain and advertise, while Pinterest seeks more to inspire and provide ideas. Understanding their different purposes will help you understand which platform you should put your resources towards.
- Link Sharing
Pinterest takes the win when it comes to emphasis on link sharing. If one of your business goals is to generate more website traffic, Pinterest is the platform for you. On the platform, most content link to the original source of the image.
Pinterest is such a success for bloggers and eCommerce store owners because of its superior link feature.
In comparison, Instagram does not prioritise link sharing. However, you can put your links in the account bio. Alternatively, you can share links in posts, but only through paid ad campaigns.
That being said, if you have a huge following on Instagram, you can share links in your stories or use link tools to generate traffic for your site. But still, Pinterest is the best option for businesses that prioritize sharing links and generating traffic.
Image from Pinterest Image from Instagram
- Shopping Features
If your business works within eCommerce, you’d want to know the available shopping features on each platform.
Pinterest makes it effortlessly easy for users to shop by providing price and product information with each pin. And because of its link priority feature, Pinterest allows users to link to external sites in every pin. This is very vital for business.
Pinterest’s Lens is another astounding feature that helps users shop by reading pictures taken to discover new products. The visual also provides similar products that fit the description and offers other sales information. Images from Pinterest and Instagram
In comparison, Instagram uses product tags that allow businesses to tag products in their posts. These direct users to their site.
Platforms such as Shopify and Facebook have smooth integrations with Instagram, which makes selling on the app a breeze. Over 80 million users get shopping information through posts with tags on Stories.
To top it off, Instagram also uses the ‘shop’ button. It allows potential customers to view your products in a high-quality shopping layout.
- Using Hashtags
Hashtags make it easy for users to discover relevant content. It is an effective method that brands use to improve the visibility of their Instagram posts.
By using relevant hashtags or even creating your own, you can place yourself in front of your target audience. Images from Instagram and Pinterest
In comparison, you can also add hashtags to post on Pinterest, but they often don’t make any difference. The Pinterest algorithm, however, doesn’t favor hashtags. Instead, you’ll have to label your pins to get more visibility.
Bottom Line
There is no one-size-fits-all response to the Instagram vs. Pinterest debate. It entirely depends on your business objectives and requirements.
For example, if your interest lies in driving traffic to your website, Pinterest is the ultimate destination. At the same time, if you want to market your online eCommerce store on a social platform, Instagram is the obvious answer.
But generally, Instagram has a greater capacity to cover more business interests than Pinterest.
