Pinterest is NOT a Social Community [Why it Matters to Marketers]

Is Pinterest Social Media? It’s founder doesn’t suppose so.

In an interview with Fortune journal, Pinterest co-founder Ben Silbermann stated of the platform, “I feel that’s a really totally different factor than a social community. The aims of the 2 are totally different. On a social community, you add images for different folks to love. Pinterest, then again, is self-serving.”

Reality! Fb, Snapchat, and Instagram are the place we curate the very best variations of our lives. Pinterest is the place we discover inspiration and plan to create the very best variations of ourselves.

(Creator observe: This submit was initially written by Alisa Meredith. It was up to date in 2025 by Susan Moeller.)

Pinterest — Leaning Into Search and Away From Social

In the event you signed up for Pinterest years in the past, you had been requested to observe a number of accounts. Because the platform advanced, WHAT you join and have interaction with grew to become far more vital than WHO you join with.

Our residence feeds are now not stuffed with Pins from all of the folks we observe. As a substitute, you’ll see a mixture of “picked for you,” Promoted Pins, and Pins from folks you observe.

For many people, the newest modifications to the house feed show solely photographs and Wealthy Pin information. So, you can’t see who pinned a picture until you click on on the Pin. That lack of front-and-center social data is a part of why we don’t primarily suppose Pinterest is social media. Pinterest helps us widen out to discover and uncover concepts from new folks.

Pinners do use the platform as a search and discovery engine. Its 200 million month-to-month lively customers carry out 2 BILLION searches a month and 97% of searches on Pinterest are unbranded — that means the searcher isn’t on the lookout for a specific model and could also be open to discovering YOURS.

Pinterest Has Some Social Options — However It’s Not a Social Platform

Lately, Pinterest eliminated the flexibility to “Like” Pins, taking away the best option to have interaction with a Pin. I used them to thank folks for pinning my content material, which was just a little bit social!

Whereas Pinners can nonetheless observe folks or boards and may touch upon Pins, I might argue that these are usually not really social actions. What number of real feedback have you ever seen in your Pins these days? How intently do you take note of who has adopted you?

Messaging on Pinterest is a useful characteristic that means that you can ship a observe or a Pin inside Pinterest, and a few do use it, however it’s extra usually used as a way to share a Pin than have a dialog.

What about “Tried it”? Isn’t that social? , it’s a bit. Recipe Pins is the place you’ll see probably the most real suggestions. It’s useful for the folks deciding in the event that they wish to make it, the recipe creator, and to the one that leaves the suggestions.

I do know I’ll by no means bear in mind which low-carb poundcake recipe I made if I don’t depart a “Tried It”. And if I made a tweak to the recipe, that is the proper place to notice that. If another person finds it useful, that’s nice — however that’s not why I’m doing it!

You gained’t typically see quite a lot of forwards and backwards on these evaluations, which is why it’s form of a social characteristic, however doesn’t put Pinterest into “social media” territory.

Schedule Smarter for Pinterest Success with Tailwind

Pinterest isn’t only a social community—it’s a robust discovery engine. To profit from it, consistency and timing are key. Tailwind’s Good Social Media Scheduler ensures your Pins go stay at the very best occasions for engagement, serving to your content material get found by the fitting viewers.

Understanding How Pinners Use Pinterest — A Should for Efficient Advertising

Pinning is essentially a solitary exercise. Pinners are accumulating for themselves — what pursuits them, what they wish to attempt. As common Pinners (not as entrepreneurs or bloggers), they don’t notably care if anybody follows them, saves their Pins, or clicks to go to a web site.

They’re on the lookout for concepts and merchandise that encourage to motion. They’re not seeking to study you, your workplace, your workers, or your office. That’s for afterward within the gross sales cycle — and never for Pinterest in any respect.

Let folks discover you due to your inspiring content material. Construct belief by persevering with to supply worth. Then be certain your web site permits for a clean transition from Pin to web page. Meaning a ravishing and interesting Pin ought to hyperlink to a ravishing and interesting internet web page.

Take note of how you discover related Pins, why you select to click on one Pin as an alternative of one other, and what makes you save a Pin to your board. Most significantly, take discover of what makes you click on on a Pin to go to a website.

Possible you’ll begin to discover that you just don’t care who pinned a Pin. Relatively, the Pins you’ll click on or save are some mixture of related, useful, lovely, and galvanizing.

You’ll additionally discover that you just’re not there to study a specific model or firm (bear in mind, 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded). So, you’ll uncover manufacturers, merchandise, and concepts which can be utterly new to you. That is the enjoyable of Pinterest — and the explanation that each product and model has an opportunity to succeed right here.

Maintain pinning as a consumer so that you don’t overlook the best way they suppose and the best way they pin, and your Pinterest advertising and marketing will succeed!

Pinterest group boards do present a option to collaborate on Pinterest. A board proprietor invitations a number of Pinners so as to add to their board. Any Pin added to the board might seem within the residence feed of any Pinner who follows any of the board collaborators. This can be a nice option to develop your attain on Pinterest. Some Pinners additionally use group boards to seek out high-quality content material to share on different boards.

Introducing Tailwind Communities!

Tailwind Communities permit any Pinner to create a gaggle of like-minded bloggers. Every Neighborhood Member provides in their very own finest content material, or content material from one other blogger they want to assist. All Neighborhood Members share out content material that’s related to their very own followers. Giant or small, new or established, the exercise of every Pinner within the Neighborhood contributes to the success of the group.

The Communities dashboard permits Neighborhood Leaders and Admins to see if Neighborhood Members are actively sharing different members’ content material. If somebody doesn’t observe the principles, Leads and Admins can take away them from the group. Even when the Neighborhood is public, they gained’t have the ability to rejoin in the event that they’re not a great Neighborhood Member.

Neighborhood chat permits Neighborhood Members to speak throughout the Tailwind dashboard. You by no means know what sort of collaborations might outcome — on Pinterest or past!

This quick video explains how they work:

In Conclusion

Whereas Pinterest is commonly known as a “social community,” its social options don’t change the truth that it’s a visible search and discovery platform and that Pinners use it for solitary inspiration and planning.

As a marketer, understanding the distinction between Pinterest and social networks is important. One of the best ways to achieve this understanding could also be to make use of it your self! 

However, if you wish to make your OWN Pinterest advertising and marketing expertise a bit extra social and also you’ve been on the lookout for a option to construct extra neighborhood on Pinterest, be part of a Tailwind Neighborhood in the present day!

If this was useful, please Pin me!