Developing Your Brand: Spending Time on Pinterest, Facebook and Google+

illustration by Chris Olson

When people started talking about being addicted to Pinterest, I knew this social media platform was quickly becoming more than a passing fad. For many of us pinners, spending time of Pinterest is like a shopping addiction without the guilt of a mounting credit card bill. That said, I have heard many pinners also refer to the phenomenon of a Pinterest hangover—unable to even remember what they did the last three to four hours after they crawl out of Pinterest. 

Facebook still appears to attract more valuable user time than both Google+ and Pinterest. But recently Pinterest passed Google+ in time spent per month on the platform. An Ad Age article today reports ComScore data shows that "the average Google+ user spends three minutes on the platform every month, compared to 405 minutes for Facebook users. The average time spent by each Pinterest user per month is 50 minutes."

Part of the attraction of social media is the ability for users to follow the pros who make the brands we love. For example, the savvy editors at Real Simple magazine have developed a growing following on Pinterest with boards like Problem-Solving Products and Daily Thoughts & Inspiration.

Recently Real Simple magazine became the first print magazine to reach 100,000 Pinterest followers via its website. The magazine website gets twice as much referral traffic from Pinterest as it does from Facebook and Twitter combined according to Ad Age. What can smaller brands learn from this? According to faculty at the Alt Summit Channel that offers classes in developing your blog, business and brand, the option to combine a delicious visual with text drives high engagement on Pinterest and other social media platforms.

Even print media is joining the social media interactive options. According to another Ad Age article today,"House Beautiful is letting users post photos from its print edition directly to Pinterest using smartphone apps."

So why are brands—including lifestyle bloggers like me—still interested in keeping Google+ in our socialmedia mix? If a brandspends time developing a Google+ community, the benefits include increased search visibility in Google and when advertisers link their pages to the AdWords accounts there is an added social layer via ads for recommendations from friends on the platform. 

Next time you connect with friends in social media, or even get lost in Pinterest, remember your clicks are influencing the brands you like. For the small fish like me in the sea of social media, paying attention to what people like and comment on will continue to drive traffic and increase social engagement.

Looking for more news on Social Media trends, check out related posts here. When I'm not editing Momathon Blog or writing for BlogHer.com, you can find me on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and my recent campaign to encourage people to use Instagram photos to help shelter dogs find homes. 

 Illustrations by me, Chris Olson.