Ahalogy’s 2016 Media Consumption Report was released this month, revealing data about Canadian Pinterest user demographics, habits, and behaviour. The statistics confirm that Pinterest use is growing rapidly in Canada, with over 35% joining the image-sharing social media network last year. Half of Canadian active Pinners use Pinterest 2–3 times per week or more, and a quarter are there at least once per day.
Canadians Who Use Pinterest
- 78% of active Canadians on Pinterest are female
- 77% are under 44 years old
- 31% of Canadian pinners are single
- 47% have children
- 73% are employed part-time or full-time
- 34% of Canadians using Pinterest are early adopters
- 86% own mobile devices
- 50% own desktop devices
- 45%–55% of Canadian pinners are replacing print media with it
- 36–39% are replacing search engines or other social media networks with Pinterest
Level of Education of Canadians Using Pinterest
- 8% are students
- 11% don’t have a college education
- 72% started or finished undergrad
- 17% have completed grad school
Pinterest Use in Canada Compared to Other Social Networks
Pinterest is second only to Facebook in weekly reach:
Facebook 89%
Pinterest 62%
Twitter 45%
Instagram 41%
All other social media sites 46%
Percentage of Canadians spending 20 minutes or more on each network:
Pinterest 52%
Facebook 50%
All other social media sites 27%
Instagram 22%
Twitter 18%
Top 21 Pinterest Categories in Canada
- Food and Drink
- DIY and Crafts
- Design
- Health and Fitness
- Hair and Beauty
- Women’s Fashion
- Products
- Travel
- Holidays and Events
- Outdoors
- Film, Music and Books
- Photography
- Art
- Gardening
- Technology
- Kids
- Weddings
- Celebrities
- Men’s Fashion
- Sports
- Cars and Motorcycles
While our interests are similar to Americans on Pinterest, there are differences in category popularity.
Businesses are enthusiastically embracing Pinterest, not only for traffic but because that traffic converts.
“Pinterest inspires action,” the Ahalogy report states. “Almost 2/3 of Active Pinners—and 84% of Daily Pinners—are inspired by Pinterest to try something new once a week or more often. Almost 3/4 (73%) of Active Pinners—and 89% of Daily Pinners—have bought something new they discovered on Pinterest.”
Pinterest has surpassed search engines for traffic and sales generation for many Canadian businesses. Check out a free video and/or take the Power of Pinning course to get started. You’ll also find both free and paid Pinterest courses on Udemy.
How big is Pinterest in your Canadian social marketing strategy? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Melody McKinnon is an internet entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in a wide range of online business models, backed by a formal business/marketing education and enhanced by training and mentorship. She has owned or managed both educational and ecommerce websites. Her book, 7 Recession Proof Online Businesses to Start From Home, is available from all major ebook retailers.
Melody has worked with many businesses in a multitude of capacities. She can often be found on CanadianDigitalMedia.com, CanadiansInternet.com, CanadianFamily.net, and AllNaturalPetCare.com, as well as other quality digital publications. Her content has earned reference links from highly-respected websites, magazines and university textbooks.
Pinterest has simply been a miracle for my retail client. We couldn’t gain any traction anywhere else but after joining Pinterest the traffic went through the roof. It’s not just from Pinterest either, once it took off through Pinning we started getting more traffic from everywhere. Crazy but true. 🙂
I got into Pinterest early on and have been addicted ever since. I only now realized I should turn it into a business somehow and that’s what brought me to you. Thanks for the great site.
I love pinning!!! Unfortunately I can waste a lot of time once I’m there so I try to keep it to Saturday night only. I’m working on a new Etsey biz and pinning will definitely be the most pleasant marketing I’ll do but it will also be where I’ll have to exercise the most restraint. Maybe I’ll set a timer. 🙂
We’ve got a lot to learn about using the right images but we’re excited about getting into pinterest & instagram with our new line in October. It works more for some niches than others but it works for all of them in some way if you keep trying stuff.
loving your data research for canadians! I’m pulling together stats for a report & you’ve been a lifesaver, thank you.