Pinterest may not be the next Facebook or even the next Twitter, but the hottest social photo sharing platform could be the next Groupon. Like that daily deals site that helped revolutionize social commerce, Pinterest’s simple idea is way too easy to replicate. But the site’s legacy will be reinventing photo curation, so much so that the social photo sharing website Flickr is following Pinterest’s lead.
I’ve heard from clients, though, that they just don’t see Pinterest hitting their market. They’re probably right. Pinterest has its own niche that can be summed up with this “Audience Affinity” info from Quantcast:
This shows a market that’s mostly women who like food, interior design and fashion, and are getting married or getting ready to start a family (roughly mid-20s to mid-40s).
So how do you share your content with your customers? Find the right Pinterest alternative:
Manteresting and Gentlemint are filling the void for male audiences looking to share photos of sports figures, home improvement ideas and other cool, manly things. For the ruggedly masculine man, you’re probably going to want to head over to Manteresting, which, like Dr. Pepper 10, shouts “not for women” from the man cave. Gentlemint, on the other hand, is for a man of discerning taste and refinement.
Launched before Pinterest, We Heart It has all the simplicity of Pinterest but boasts the youth that Tumblr has... and is slowly losing as its 24-45 audience grows. If you’re targeting teen girls or college-aged women, you can’t go wrong mingling with the young stylistas on We Heart It.
You could share your travel photography on Facebook, but like those days where you would invite people over to watch a slideshow of your vacation pictures, it can get very boring very fast. Thankfully, the former travel deals site Wanderfly and the new social photo site Trippy are here to let jet-setters and world travellers share their experiences in a very Pinterest fashion. Resorts, tourism bureaus and hospitality industry marketers can put their destination and the hot spots around it in front of frequent travellers... the people who are most likely to look for vacation ideas.
From movie buffs (Seenth.at) to Lady Gaga fans (LittleMonsters.com), it looks like there’s going to be a social photo sharing site for almost every niche. Even Facebook likes Friendsheet, an app that displays photos on its site in Pinterest-like fashion. And if you’re using a WordPress blog you can find a Pinterest-style theme for that, too.
Pinterest might not be right for you, but it makes a significant change for social photo sharing. More and more sites like it will likely sprout up in the next few months. Before you jump into using any of these site, make sure your website is prepped for social photo sharing. The last thing you want is a user putting in a link to your website on Pinterest or another site like it and seeing a message like this:
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