10 Pinterest Statistics Every Marketer Should Know in 2021 [Infographic]

Starting an ecommerce store and not quite sure where to begin? 

Social media marketing is one of the first and most important steps you should take to market your ecommerce brand and products. 

One of the most important social media marketing platforms is Pinterest. Even though it may not be as popular as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, Pinterest certainly has its potential to connect with your target audience. 

To better understand how you can best use Pinterest for your ecommerce business, you need to first equip yourself with Pinterest statistics, including those on Pinterest demographics such as age and gender distribution.

And that’s exactly what we have for you. Without further ado, let’s jump straight into the ten Pinterest statistics you should know for your 2019 marketing strategy.

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1. Pinterest Monthly Active Users

As one of the most popular social media sites in the world, Pinterest currently has 478 million monthly active users (Pinterest, 2021). 

Even though this number may pale in comparison with that of social media giant Facebook (which has 2.8 billion monthly active users), Pinterest is charting quite an impressive user growth path.

The 400 million monthly active users mark was crossed less than a year ago in the second quarter of 2020, where the platform registered 416 million users. This means that in just three quarters, Pinterest was able to grow its active user base by a whopping 19.5 percent. More impressively, Q1 2021’s user figures are also a 30.2 percent year-over-year increase.

Much of 2021’s increase so far has come from a rise in the number of international Pinterest users, which grew by 37 percent year-on-year. This is more than four times the percentage increase of US users (nine percent).

2. Pinterest Demographics: Gender

One of the main Pinterest statistics to take into consideration is the platform’s gender demographics.

Pinterest stats show the platform as a predominantly female platform, with two times as many female Pinterest users than male users. More specifically, six out of every ten Pinterest users worldwide are female (Pinterest, 2020).

Women also tend to pin more, and this higher pin rate may be due to the fact that women feel more of an emotional connection to the platform and often use it for aspirational and motivational purposes.

In contrast, not only do men feel less of an emotional bond with Pinterest, but they also tend to use it more practically – as a tool for visual bookmarks.

However, the tide appears to be changing and we may soon see a tilt in these Pinterest demographics.

There has been an increasing number of men signing up for the platform over the past few years. In 2020, the number of male Pinners increased by 40 percent year-over-year.

3. Pinterest Is a Place for Every Brand

This next Pinterest statistic will please new ecommerce owners and is proof of the need for a Pinterest marketing strategy.

Nearly all (97 percent) queries carried out on Pinterest are unbranded (Pinterest, 2019). What that means is that Pinterest users do not search for a particular brand name when browsing on the platform.

This is something to keep in mind when understanding how Pinners behave. Such a high percentage of unbranded searches is a strong indication that Pinterest users are on the platform to seek inspiration and discover new ideas.

So when marketing on Pinterest, you’ll want to craft your strategy such that you’re targeting buyers who are in the early stages of their purchase process. Getting your product and brand on their feeds will be key here. 

Instead of going for a hard sell and offer discounts or upsells and cross-sells, which are tactics that are best suited for the later stages of the purchase funnel, you’re better off showing them what your product can do.

4. Main Reasons People Use Pinterest

Aside from understanding Pinterest’s demographics, being aware of its users’ motives is also very important if you want to excel at Pinterest marketing.

The latest Pinterest statistics show that the main reason people use Pinterest is to look for home décor/design inspiration (GlobalWebIndex, 2021). This is followed by seeking ideas for style, clothing, and beauty.

The third most popular reason people use Pinterest is to get health and fitness inspiration. Travel, wedding, party, and event ideas also draw internet users to the platform. 

Plus, if you’re looking to boost awareness of your ecommerce brand, then look no further: four in ten Pinterest users say they use the social media platform to research brands and their products. 

Considering it has 478 million monthly active users, we’re talking about over 190 million active users you could be marketing your brand to on Pinterest.

Pinterest is also doing its part to encourage businesses to advertise on its platform. It has a dedicated page with tips for businesses looking to market on Pinterest. Some of these consist of including your brand name in the very first line of your description to get you twice the awareness and mentioning special occasions and seasons to drive ten times more awareness.

5. Number of Pinterest Pins

There are over 200 billion pins saved on Pinterest (Pinterest, 2019). With a total of 300 million Pinterest users, that’s an average of 667 pins per pinner.

Of the 200 billion pins, two-thirds are brand- or product-related pins and recipe-related pins constitute 1.7 billion.

99 percent of pins on Pinterest contain an image – not a surprising Pinterest statistic, considering the visual nature of the platform. However, that’s not to say that all visual elements are equally as popular as just 0.3 percent of all pins have videos.

With more than 14 million articles pinned each day, it’s clear you’ll need a good Pinterest marketing tactic to make sure your pins rise up and stand out from the crowd. That said, it might interest you to know that the highest engagement on Pinterest happens on Mondays and Saturdays.

6. Product Discovery on Pinterest

With so many pins saved each day, just what are Pinterest users pinning about and what do they use these pins for?

As it turns out, the majority of Pinners use the platform for product discovery purposes. In fact, more than three out of four (77 percent) Pinners say they have discovered a new brand or product while browsing on Pinterest (Pinterest, 2019).

Keeping in mind that Pinterest is a very visual social media platform, to make sure your product gets in front of your target audience on Pinterest, your image must be optimized. 

Ideally, that means that it should feature the benefits your product offers in one way or another. Images should also be vertical and dimensions kept to a 2:3 ratio because anything longer will get cut off automatically by Pinterest’s algorithm. Any text should be kept to a minimum of four to five punchy and attention-grabbing words.

If you’re looking for more tips on growing your business on Pinterest, check out our podcast interview with Pinterest expert, Kate Ahl.

7. Monthly Searches on Pinterest

More than two billion text-based and guided searches are carried out on Pinterest every month (Pinterest, 2018).

These refer to search queries that are entered as text which are then guided by Pinterest’s algorithm and suggestions to narrow down the search results to what users are looking for. Of these, 85 percent are done on mobile devices.

According to Pinterest, users who use the search function are generally looking for a range of ideas and possibilities instead of one “right answer.”

Pinterest also offers a visual search tool, which works very much in the same way as Google’s Reverse Image Search. Users can zoom in on a certain feature in a Pin and carry out a search relevant to this particular feature.

Though not as popular as the text-based query, 600 million visual searches are generated on Pinterest on a monthly basis.

With such strong figures, it’s important to ensure that your images are of high quality when marketing on Pinterest. Here are some Pinterest marketing tips to help you out.

8. Pinterest Demographics: Location

Conceptualized, founded, and with its headquarters in the US, Pinterest roots may have started in the US, but its reach today has transcended borders and continents. Currently, more than half of all Pinners live outside the US (Pinterest, 2020). 

Usage growth from international Pinners is on an upward trend. Just recently in the third quarter of 2019, the company saw double-digit growth in its international users in every country across the globe other than Canada, Iceland, and New Zealand. 

Additionally, 20 million international monthly active users were added during that period – significantly more than the 6 million and 7 million that its competitors Twitter and Snapchat achieved respectively. 

Taking these Pinterest stats into consideration, you may want to consider modifying your Pinterest marketing strategy to include a heavier focus on its international users.

9. Pinterest’s Popularity Among Marketers

28 percent of all marketers worldwide use Pinterest to market (Statista, 2019). In fact, it is one of the most popular social media platforms among marketers, just behind Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

This may come across as a surprise, considering Pinterest’s relatively small user base (300 million) compared to that of its competitors on this list such as Facebook (2.7 billion), Twitter (330 million), and LinkedIn (645 million).

But one advantage Pinterest has over its competitors is its referral potential: Pinterest drives 33 percent more referral traffic to shopping websites than Facebook.

The platform is also pretty influential in retail sales, with four out of every ten in-store shoppers say they use Pinterest while shopping.

10. Pinterest’s Influence on the Buying Decision Process

If you’re still on the fence about whether to begin marketing your ecommerce products on Pinterest, here’s another Pinterest statistic to sway you: 82 percent of weekly active users on Pinterest say they have bought products based on their brands’ content on the platform (Pinterest, 2019).

That’s eight out of every ten Pinterest users!

And it doesn’t matter if you’re selling conventional items such as clothes and crafts or niche and unique products that the market has never seen.

That’s because Pinterest is a platform for product discovery and ideas, with as many as 98 percent of Pinners say they’ve tried new things they come across on Pinterest. In other words, pretty much all Pinterest users are open to trying fresh products.

Conclusion

These Pinterest statistics should make the case for marketing on Pinterest.

Given the Pinterest stats we’ve highlighted, it would be a wasted opportunity to ignore the potential of Pinterest and its ability to connect and reach millions of users across the world, especially if your competitors are already doing so.

So, as long as you keep up-to-date with the latest Pinterest demographics and Pinterest statistics you’ll be able to pin down the right Pinterest marketing strategy!

Summary: Pinterest Statistics

Here’s a summary of the Pinterest statistics you need to know in 2021:

1. Pinterest currently has 478 million monthly active users.
2. Six of every ten Pinterest users are female.
3. 97 percent of searches carried out on Pinterest are unbranded.
4. Getting home decor and design inspiration is the top reason people use Pinterest.
5. There are over 200 billion pins saved on Pinterest.
6.  More than three out of four (77 percent) of weekly Pinners have discovered a new brand or product on Pinterest.
7. More than two billion text-based and guided searches are carried out on Pinterest every month.
8. More than 50 percent of Pinterest users live outside the US.
9. 28 percent of all marketers worldwide use Pinterest to market.
10. 10. Eight out of ten Pinterest users have bought products based on their brands’ content on Pinterest.

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Is there anything else you’d like to know about Pinterest statistics and wish was included in this article? Let us know in the comments below!