Pinterest has become one of the top 10 largest social networks with over 11 million unique users. While there is no official healthcare category, searches for conditions like breast cancer and diabetes return pins on inspirational stories, recipes, and treatment information. Some pharmaceutical companies like Bayer use Pinterest to share information about their business and activities, though Novo Nordisk deleted all their pins. Pharmaceutical marketers also have a presence on Pinterest through boards on news, the industry, and patient perspectives to converse about the use of Pinterest in healthcare.

1. HOW PHARMA
IS USING

2. PINTEREST IS HUGE!
It has become one of the top 10 largest social network
services1 with 11.7 million unique users2.

3. IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD
Pinterest is a virtual
pinboard that lets you
pin things you find
interesting on the web.
Users can browse
pinboards created by
other users to repin,
like, and comment on
their pins.

4. WHAT’S BEING
PINNED ON
PINTEREST?
Hint: It sounds like mittens.

6. ALL KIDDING ASIDE
There are pins on just about
everything.
So rather than looking at pins
we're interested in, let's look
at the numbers.

7. TOP 5 PINBOARD CATEGORIES1
• Any pin must be
assigned to a user's
pinboard. Each pinboard
Percentage
must be associated to a
category offered by
Pinterest.
• The following are the top
five used categories.
NOTEWORTHY:
• Of these, food is the fastest-growing
category and receives the most reins.
RJ Metrics in February 2012
1

8. TOP 5 PIN SOURCES1
• Since pins are generated
from any online source,
it's of interest to see what
Percentage
sources are generating
the most pins
NOTEWORTHY:
• Etsy, a social commerce website
focused on handmade or vintage items,
offers content that fit the top three
pinboard categories.
• Where as Google links point to Google
Image Search, which is technically
misattributed content from other 3rd
party domains.
RJ Metrics in February 2012
1

9. HEALTHCARE PINS
There’s a pin for just about every disease state.

10. EVEN WITHOUT A CATEGORY
• Although Pinterest
does not list a
category for health
or healthcare, there
are plenty of users
with pinboards and
pins attributed to
health care.

11. BREAST CANCER
Searching for breast cancer
may return pins that are:
•Inspirational
•Informative
•Supportive
NOTEWORTHY:
•The large number of pins within this search
may be a result of the overwhelming number
of female users. Depending on the source,
female users could range from 58% to 97%
of all Pinterest users.

12. DIABETES
Searching for diabetes may
return pins on:
•Recipes
•Literature
•Devices
NOTEWORTHY:
•With diet playing such a large role in a
diabetic’s life, it’s no surprise that these
users are pinning recipes within the fastest-
growing category, food.

13. HEALTHCARE
Searching for healthcare may
return pins on:
•Healthcare reform
•Product
recommendations

14. PHARMA PINS
It’s true. Pharma is on Pinterest.

15. PHARMA
• In April, Bayer joined Pinterest
to share images and information
about its activities in the US, as
reported by PMLive1.
• While Novo Nordisk "depinned"
(deleted) everything on its
Pinterest boards, as reported by
Pharma Guy2.
1 http://www.pmlive.com/digital_intelligence_blog/archive/2012/apr_2013/bayer_starts_using_pinterest
2 http://pharmamkting.blogspot.com/2012/04/pharma-pinterest-update-bayer-us-pins.html

16. BAYER
Bayer has created pinboards for:
•Bayer's Business
•#Sustainabilty
•#Innovation
•#STEM Forum –
April 18, 2012
NOTEWORTHY:
•Within their pinboard "Bayer's Business" they have
pinned food items to discuss diabetes care, as well as,
discuss their subsidiary working in crop science. Pins
like this help to spur a conversation about their brand
by including them in the fastest-growing category,
food.

17. PHARMA MARKETERS
• In addition to Pharma, the
Pharma marketing
community is also active on
Pinterest.
• A search for Pharma will
return pins from users like
Pharma Guy, L2 Think
Tank, and Paul Tunnah to
name a few.

18. PINBOARDS BY MARKETERS
Pharma marketers have created
pinboards for:
•Pharma Marketing News
•Pharma
•Patient Perspectives

19. CONVERSATIONS
BY MARKETERS
Pharma marketers are also
having conversations with
Pharma, such as this
conversation between Pharma
Guy and Bayer.