Pin it or Nail it? Do we need both Pinterest and Manteresting?

Eric Dybala | @edybala You may have heard that Pinterest, the social image and video sharing platform, now drives more referral traffic to websites than Google+ or Twitter and is used mostly by females (with its approximately 80% female subscriber rate - check out the infographic below). To me, those 2 facts combined opens two very obvious questions. The first one is: where are all the men on this site? The second is: what does the future look like for social media marketing?

Let's tackle the first question. Pinterest as of now is a female dominated site, which based on sheer statistics makes it difficult to attract men to the site. As a new user visiting Pinterest for the first time, you will see a litany of female oriented boards and pins such as "Daddy's little girl" and "Shoes!!!!". One of my female friends has been on Pinterest awhile now and has amassed over 1000 pins and 40 boards. I am sure this number of pins is not huge, but let's assume the average.  That gives you approximately:

8.3 Billion female derived pins.

On social media forums, while researching this topic, I found that there are males wondering if it is okay for guys to use Pinterest? The general consensus on these forums is that either: "You lose your man card for even knowing what it is" or "If men did use Pinterest the only thing we pin would be pictures of naked women or monster trucks."  While these responses are very stereotypical, new websites like Gentlemint.com and Manteresting.com have emerged trying to capitalize on the clear deficiency of Pinterest.

In my opinion, Manteresting almost completely duplicates Pinterest, and they clearly aim at that. They just changed the visuals and use 'clever' and 'manly' names like Nail it instead of Pin it. In addition, they don't require an invite.  That way they start capitalizing on the immediateness men look for with all things. Manteresting officially launched February 16th of this year, has already had 125 thousand unique visitors and continues to grow.

So what does the future of referral social marketing hold? In my crystal ball, since Pinterest is a household name and has the financial backing that Gentlemint and Manteresting currently don't have, I foresee a behind-the-scenes backing of Mantresting by Pinterest to help foster the growth of male oriented interest, but only if sites like Manteresting or Gentlemint continue to grow.

Pinterest could also start a niche site themselves. Pinterest already has excellent platform for continuing this content but does not have the male subscribership - so it could be a marketing tool used for only female oriented brands/campaigns. However, maybe at the heart of things, while both men and women can appreciate each other's interests, they can be very different. So, maybe two separate sites is the way to go.