Don’t worry. Women will still rule on Pinterest for the foreseeable future. That part’s not going to change. What will change is that Pinterest is edging its way into the hearts and marketing marketing toolboxes of businesses around the world, whether they’re run by men, women, or both.
As a result, the balance of power is shifting ever-so slightly. As someone who operates 4 separate Pinterest accounts and who has a team that manages another 75, I can give anecdotal observations that a shift has been happening for some time. Women aren’t leaving. More men are joining. More importantly, the men that are joining are starting to realize that this isn’t all about female-friendly topics. Pinterest has an infinite range of uses and the marketing potential on the medium is huge.
Two things haven’t happened properly so far that need to happen before it becomes truly useful in the way that Facebook is. The localization aspect of Pinterest is poor. It takes a lot of effort to locate and entice locals regardless of the business. For retail stores, unless you’re marketing at the store itself and giving valid reasons why people need to follow their boards, they’re just not getting real traction. Pinterest needs to make it easier to localize. That may be what’s already starting to take place with their addition of recommended pins.
The other thing that has to happen is that they need to get advocates and ambassadors, particular male ones. If, for example (and this is a bad example but you’ll get the point), the Old Spice guy promoted the heck out of his board, it would encourage others to see what’s happening over at Pinterest.
The marketing potential is too strong to keep it one-sided. More men will see the value and start participating soon. Many already are. Pinterest already has the attention of the female consumers which is where the bulk of the money lies. Once they get the attention of the other side of the coin, they’ll be primed and ready to be one of the biggest money-making social networks in existence.
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