Pinterest and Instagram, the two new kids on the block. They are niche social networks each catering to a specific gap in the market and each are growing at exponential rates. We can expect Facebook and Twitter to remain the supreme social media leaders but these alternatives are growing in popularity very quickly, Instagram doesn’t have a huge value for marketing but Pinterest marketing might become very relevant soon.

Experian has been collecting data on these two social networks for a while, and their digital insights manager James Murray had this to say about their growth. “The growth of both Instagram and Pinterest over the past year has been phenomenal. The reason for their success is that they haven’t tried to be ‘another Facebook’. Instead, they both identified a gap in the market and used the scale of Facebook to reach consumers.”

So just how fast have they grown? Between July 2011 and July 2012 Pinterest has grown it’s market share by 5,124 percent in North America. They have also grown by 2,373 percent in Hong Kong, 1,489 percent in the UK, 798 percent in Australia and 634 percent in New Zealand. This growth has put interest now in the top 20 social networks in North America, the UK, and Singapore. Also making that top 20 list was Instagram who, in the same time period, have grown their market share in North America by 17,319 percent. They have also grown by 8,121 percent in Singapore, 2,028 percent in the UK, 843 percent in New Zealand, and 362 percent in Australia.

If that is not a good reason to start thinking about a Pinterest Marketing strategy I don’t know what is. If you like what you hear about Pinterests growth but you’re not sure where to start with marketing on Pinterest feel free to download this great e-book on the subject called The Pinterest Spell Book For Marketing Wizards, or contact Wikimotive with any questions you might have.

Original article about growth in niche social networks posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Pinterest and Instagram Experience Massive Growth This Year