Pinterest describes itself as a simple “Virtual Pinboard.” But don’t let this modesty fool you. Pinterest is the second most influential social networking site (behind Facebook) among women. It is also one of the fastest-growing with over 27 million unique visitors and 220 million page views per day. Here are some more reasons why it makes sense to use Pinterest as a marketing vehicle to reach women.

1. Pinterest Fosters Unique Shopping Behaviors

One of the key factors in the success of Pinterest among women is that they use the network in very specific and different ways than men. According to Edison Research, men utilize Pinterest boards as shopping carts to display what they have already purchased whereas female Pinterest users view the platform as wish lists filled with items they are exploring with an interest in buying. According to a recent Women’s Buying Behavior Index survey of thousands of online women shoppers, 36% of women shoppers use Pinterest to research items they are already considering buying and 60% use Pinterest to get gift ideas.

2. Google Doesn’t Understand Fashion and Beauty

When it comes to fashion, the purchase trigger can be discovering and viewing a special item you didn’t even realized existed. Google is the biggest search engine on the planet. It offers an image search but lists every result without the benefit contextualization, which is Google’s downfall. For instance, according to BuzzFeed, a woman looking for “ruffles” on Google image search would end up with these results:

Whereas searching for the same term on Pinterest yields the following results:

Pinterest virtual pinboards and women go together like sugar, spice, and everything nice because content is contextualized and curated by its users. What could seem to be a flaw, is actually its greatest strength: Female users are making Pinterest a better visual search engine for women than Google.

For example if she is looking for “trendy shoes,” she’ll see this:

3. Pinterest Followers Cost Less and Spend More

The last and probably most compelling argument in favor of utilizing Pinterest as a marketing tool to reach women resides in the quality of the users. According to Reuters, women Pinterest shoppers spend an average $170 per session. That is double the average of Facebook shoppers.

Also women utilizing Pinterest follow more retailers than they do on any other social site, according to Google Ad Planner. Women shoppers who use Pinterest are informed customers that do not fit the typical social networker profile.

The cherry on the cupcake: acquiring a Pinterest follower costs between a 1 penny and 50 cents, which is considerably lower than Facebook (50c to $2.50).

Are you leveraging all the marketing power that Pinterest can offer?

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