Which One – Pinterest or Instagram

Pinterest vs Instagram – If you can only go for only one, which one?

A commonly asked question – Pinterest vs Instagram – which is better? If I can only choose one of them, which one will I go for?

Frankly, right at this point of typing … I’ve no answer … yet. Will be conducting a thorough search research right now … here it goes …

First, what’s the difference between Pinterest and Instagram.

Difference between Instagram and Pinterest

Instagram is about sharing own photos. Users snap pictures with their mobile devices, caption them and then share it. The contents give users a good perspective of your business.

Pinterest – is about curation and discovery of other users’ photos. Searches in Pinterest are rather content and products. Photos are categorised under Boards which are topic-centric.

Pins in Pinterest usually link to an external site with the intention to generate web traffic for SEO purposes. While the link in Instagram is from the bio which direct visitors to one URL.

The Demographic

An interesting fact is that the demographic of Pinterest is predominantly 70% females while Instagram has equal share between males and females. 

Also, Pinterest members average age is older compared to Instagram – 20 to 35 year-old. Instagram, on the other hand, have a larger global outreach as half of its members are non-US. 

What Is Your End Goal – SEO or Branding

Choosing between Pinterest or/and Instagram very much depend on the end-goal. 

As I’m more gearing towards SEO, increase traffic and for e-store purposes, I’m in favour of Pinterest. As Pinterest is more pictures-centric, I can then hyperlink each picture to the respective product URL.

Another consideration angle is that if I only have one core business, it makes sense to go for Instagram since the primary aim is for branding with the bio linking to the core website.

But since I’m primarily a web developer running a couple of projects with different niches, I’d go for one Pinterest account with collective boards and pins linking to my various products/pages.

Social Automation

Still undecided which one to go for? Well, go for both instead! 

Since the photos are there, just pump ‘em to both. I’m using Buffer, a fantastic social sharing WordPress plugin, to automate sharing of my posts/pictures to various social medias. Save me tons of time and yet automate my “activities” in social media for visitors engagement.