Blog
Instagram vs. Pinterest – A Comprehensive Platform Comparison
September 11th, 2024 by esigners
Instagram and Pinterest are two names that always come up the most when you talk of social media platforms. Both these platforms have become rather popular these days and are used a lot by both businesses and individuals from around the world. Both Instagram and Pinterest can be described as social networking platforms that focus primarily on visuals where users are allowed to discover, share, and curate content. They might appear to be similar at first glance but they are different – and distinctively so – in terms of their purpose, user base, and functionality. They are also unique in terms of their strengths and features.
Difference in terms of user base
Instagram has a huge user base – it is estimated that at least a billion users are on it actively every month. It is especially supposed to be popular among the younger people with most of its users being in the age group of 18 to 34 years. On the contrary, the user base of Pinterest is a bit smaller at almost 400 million active users a month. Instagram is more appealing to female users with women comprising a lion’s share of its user base.
Difference in terms of functionality and purpose
Instagram is meant primarily for sharing videos and photos with people around the world. It provides you with a wide variety of editing tools and filters that help you augment the visual content that you put out onto it. Users can engage easily with it by way of likes, direct messages, and comments. Pinterest, on the other hand, is a platform that allows its users to discover ideas and curate them. It plays the role of a visual search engine, if you will, by letting its users organize and bookmark content into boards which are collections with a definite theme.
Difference in terms of kind of content
The content that you get on Instagram can be described as dynamic and diverse in the truest sense of the words. Videos and photos are the primary forms of content on the platform but you also have options such as Stories, Reels, and IGTV. Pinterest, on the contrary, stresses mainly on exploring ideas and inspirations. Images – also referred to as Pins in this particular context – are the predominant form of content on the platform along with the likes of step-by-step guides and infographics.
Difference in terms of reach and engagement
Instagram enjoys rather high rates of engagement, and it is well-known for that as well. The biggest evidence of this is the statistic that the average time spent per day for each user on this platform is an astounding 30 minutes! The feed here is powered by an algorithm and this makes sure that you get to see content from accounts that you engage with more often than others. Instagram also provides you with features such as hashtags and Explore that let users find content they had not seen earlier. This way, they also get to discover accounts that may be of interest to them. On the contrary, Pinterest emphasizes more on long-term engagement. The lifespan of Pins is much higher than that of Instagram posts. This way, they continue to generate engagement and traffic even months after they have been shared originally.
Difference in terms of options for advertisement
Both these platforms provide individuals and businesses with the option to advertise so that they can reach more people. On Instagram, you get various ad formats such as photo ads, carousel ads, video ads, shopping ads. Advertisers can also make the most of the targeting capabilities that they get on Instagram to get across to certain interests and demographics. Pinterest, on the contrary, offers you Promoted Pins that are capable of blending in seamlessly with the organic content the platform has. The shelf life of these Pins is longer and they can indeed assist you with driving organic traffic with time.
Difference in terms of e-commerce capabilities
Instagram has gotten a whole lot better in this particular regard with the likes of features such as Shoppable Posts and Shopping Tags. Thanks to these features businesses can now tag products in their posts and make sure that users have a seamless shopping experience. As far as Pinterest goes, shopping has always been an integral part of the platform. It has a feature named Buyable Pins that lets users buy straight away from Pins thus making it such a valuable platform as far as e-commerce businesses are concerned.
Difference in terms of influencer marketing
Both these platforms are rather popular as far as influencer marketing is concerned. Instagram has features such as Reels and Stories that combine with the platform’s focus on visuals to make it a preferred option as far as influencers are concerned. Brands often collaborate with these individuals to connect with their target audience and promote their products and services. Pinterest is not on the same level as far as influencer culture goes. Nonetheless, so many content creators use the platform to share content that appeals visually and thus drive traffic to their blogs and websites.
Difference in terms of insights and analytics
As far as analytics and insights are concerned, Instagram offers you detailed data by way of Instagram Insights, its native analytics tool. This tool provides you with valuable metrics like impressions, engagement, reach, and follower demographics, to name a few. You can also get analytics from Pinterest that provides you with insights into how well your Pins are doing as well as audience engagement.
So, the one that you choose between these two platforms depends on who you are target audience are and what your goals are. If you are looking to share visuals with people around the world and engage by way of comments and likes you should focus on Instagram. However, if you are looking to curate content, discover ideas, and drive engagement in the long term you should look at Pinterest. In such cases, it can be a worthy inclusion in your social media strategy.
