Pinterest wants to butch up.
Women love Pinterest and Pinterest wants to change that. Maybe improve rather than change is a better word to use.
The popular social media bookmarking site is trying to attract more men to start pinning their passions.
It’s also starting it’s Promoted Pins advertising program in the USA. This is its answer to the question, “sure Pinterest is popular, but how are they going to make any money?”
With advertising of course.
It’s always been popular with women. Over 42% of women online use Pinterest, whereas just 13% of men online pin their passions.
Truth be told, I have been a fan of Pinterest for a while now for several reasons.
First, it’s great place for some of my clients to promote their products and their business. If a company’s customers are on Pinterest, it’s a fine place to engage them in a fun and friendly way. The payoff, of course, is that it’s does boost sales if properly done. (If you would like to know how Pinterest is properly done, go here.)
Second, it’s a lot of fun. My wife got me started and after a while pinning got to be more than a bit addictive for me. It’s an easy and enjoyable way to share my passions with the world.
Making the site more guy friendly, or gender neutral as they prefer to call it, will broaden its base and make the site a more attractive place to advertise.
Pinterest is now presenting newcomers with more gender based suggestions on content to pin. It’s also using filters that give men and women different search results for similar queries.
Will it work?
Too early to tell, but my guess is Pinterest will succeed in attracting more men and ad dollars (aimed at all of it’s users). Here’s why.
Pinterest said the number of males using the site increased by 73% in 2014. It’s also gaining more users on the coasts, both male and female, than in the interior of the country. I also think that is going to change. The coasts often lead in trends and I think the interior will catch up sooner rather later.
Pinterest also released data on what’s popular. (Thanks to MarketingLand.com for the data.)
Top ten interests for men:
- men’s apparel
- technology
- travel
- gardening
- recipes
- gadgets
- design
- luxury cars
- tattoos
- camping
Top ten trending searches for men: (birds gotta fly, social media sites gotta trend 😉 .)
- men’s short hair
- cinema 4d
- ham radio
- cool watches for men
- mens tattoo ideas
- fixed gear
- shoulder tattoo men
- hifi
- rat rod
- kayak fishing
(If number 6 is fixed gear bikes, that’s one of my faves.)
Growth categories from 2013 – 2014
- Geek: 175%
- Cars & Motorcycles: 134%
- Men’s Fashion: 122%
- Architecture: 119%
- Gardening: 91%
- Humor: 88%
- Health & Fitness: 84%
Growth in categories from 2012 – 2014
- Geek: 1414%
- Cars & Motorcycles: 844%
- Men’s Fashion: 787%
- Architecture: 657%
- Health & Fitness: 531%
- Gardening: 572%
- Humor: 427%
(Pinterest humor boards are a fine way to get ideas for postings on social media.)
I hope the numbers keep growing. Pinterest, on several levels, is a wonderful place to be social on social media. I hope it continues to do well, with men and women. I like the humor and the bikes.