This week the internet was abuzz with the news that Apple had chosen Tumblr to pop its social cherry. 

Another story that didn't get as much press, but is just as interesting, is how Amazon managed to take over Pinterest without breaking a sweat.

It's a jungle out there

According to data from SearchMetrics, Amazon is now the biggest US retailer on Pinterest, despite the fact Amazon curates its pages far less than its competitors.

Products from Amazon now produce the highest number of pins per week (16,360), almost triple that of nearest rival Walmart (5778) and Apple (3871).

In the lead up to Christmas 2013 SearchMetrics discovered a massive 1,740,314 links to content on Amazon.com had been pinned by Pinterest users.

For comparison, Apple.com amassed 1,111,959 pins while Walmart.com came in third with 529,992 pins.

Hands off approach

What makes Amazon's dominance so decisive is that when it comes to curation Amazon virtually does nothing – comparatively.

Consider that Amazon US has (at time of writing) 22 boards and 621 pins. This is a drop in the ocean compared to Amazon's stockpiles, and puny compared to the 10,000 products Walmart and cable channel QVC have between them.

Less is more

What's the lesson here for SMEs and marketers? Sometimes less is more.

If a consumer is confronted by 10 boards instead of 1000, they're likely to discover more relevant content – which can lead to a conversion.

And with studies showing that Pinterest leads the social pack when it comes to conversions, it might be worth taking another look at your pinning performance.

To find out more visit searchmetrics.com. 

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