Retail Marketers: Should You Focus on Pinterest or Instagram?

Almost daily, retailers ask us “is Instagram or Pinterest a better network for us to market on?” Of course the answer varies between business verticals (and even within these categories the answer isn’t always the same) but in an effort to help you decide where you should be focusing your efforts, we created this handy flowchart!

Of course many brands can, do, and should have an active presence on both Pinterest and Instagram. They are both “happy networks,” with generally positive interactions (especially when compared to Twitter or Facebook) that are mood-elevating, aspirational and inspirational. Both are image based, accessed primarily through mobile devices (75% for Pinterest and nearly 100% for Instagram,) and are unique in that users follow others primarily because of similar interests, rather than personal relationships.

But there are definitely cases in which one network will serve the needs of a business better than the other. For instance, if you mostly sell luxury goods, Instagram will likely be a much better platform for you; for more info about why, check out our upcoming guide for luxury brands, which we’re publishing later this week.

A key takeaway is that retailers who are focused on using social to drive direct response metrics like clicks, sales and conversions should harness the power of Pinterest to promote their products, turbocharge referral traffic, increase average order value, and drive sales. On the other hand if you’re looking boost awareness and brand recall, you should seriously consider experimenting with Instagram. Regardless of the network (or networks) that you decide to invest in, success will come as you continually experiment with and tweak your creative to find the sweet spot that resonates with your community.