Daily Mail and Telegraph get most online shares through Pinterest

Links to web pages from the Dailymail.co.uk were found to have been shared or ‘pinned’ by Pinterest users most (1,963,999), with the Telegraph.co.uk attracting 429,137 shares (called pins) to come second. The Guardian.co.uk takes third place with a total of 329,720 pins of its pages identified in the research by search and social analytics company, Searchmetrics.

Pinterest, one of the fastest growing new social networks, lets people collect pictures, articles and other snippets on a virtual pinboard which they can then share with friends. Online retailers have been among the early business users, using Pinterest as a virtual shop window to showcase their products, but a growing number of online publishers are now starting to adopt it to attract visitors to their content.

Marcus Tober (pictured), founder and CTO of Searchmetrics, which collects weekly data including an analysis of links shared on Pinterest and other social networks as part of its search and social analytics software, explained:

“Pinterest has the power to put publishers’ content in front of new people and drive traffic back to their sites. While it’s relatively new, Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social sites - increasing its share of all visits to social sites in the UK by 1489 per cent since last year. The site has over 10 million registered users and in the USA high profile news sites such as the Wall Street Journal and Time are among those that are successfully using it. Our research has identified some of the early winners in the UK.”

Weekly data from Searchmetrics, shows that Dailymail.co.uk also generates the most average Pins per week (163,574) followed by Telegraph.co.uk (42,476) and Guardian.co.uk (32,174).

The most pinned page identified in the Searchmetrics study of the newspaper sites was a feature on how to make a baby’s swaddle blanket (53,638 pins) from Guardian.co.uk. Second and Third place are taken by DailyMail.co.uk with an article and photograph of the Duchess of Cambridge in a teal dress gown at the London Olympic Gala concert (52,813 pins) and a feature on how to get thin thighs in 30 days (45,811 pins).

Eight out of the 13 leading national newspaper sites included in the study were found to have at least one official Pinterest page to which they are pinning their own content (although it is not necessary for a business or newspaper site to have a Pinterest page to enable other users to share their content on the site).

Some of the newspaper sites had several Pinterest pages, including those from individual journalists and sections of the paper. The main Pinterest presence identified for the Telegraph by the study was from the Telegraph Sport section (with content around the Olympics) with a separate Pinterest page for Telegraph Fashion.The main page identified for the Mirror was the 3am celebrity news, style and gossip section, while a page was found for The Times Sport, but no pins had yet been posted.

Common topics for Pinterest boards on the newspapers’ sites were Front Pages (showcasing images of the front page of the print paper with a link to the online content), Recipes and pages from the Style and Fashion sections.

Most Pinned pages on UK national newspaper web sites

1. Guardian.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/06/how-to-make-a-swaddle-blanket (53,638 pins)

2. DailyMail.co.uk

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2143134/Kate-Middleton-Duchess-Cambridge-stunning-teal-dress-London-Olympic-gala-concert.html (52,813 pins)

3. DailyMail.co.uk

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1347777/How-rid-cellulite-Thin-thighs-30-days-exercise-tips.html (45,811pins)

(The pins (or shares) of web page URLs analysed in Searchmetrics’ study are those pins that users of Pinterest share on their own Pinterest boards. They are not the same as - and do not rely on - the pins being shared by the newspaper sites themselves on their own Pinterest boards (if they have them).)

About the Searchmetrics study

The data for the study was collated in w/e 12 October 2012. It included an analysis of Pinterest activity for the 14 newspaper web sites using data from the global social media database which Searchmetrics operates to power its online software tools. This is a regularly updated store of data points related to web sites and their visibility on social networks. The study also included an analysis of the Pinterest pages of the newspapers. The list of newspapers analysed in the study was based on 13 of the top UK national newspapers listed by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

About Searchmetrics

Searchmetrics says: “Searchmetrics is the global expert in search and social analytics software, empowering marketers to increase visibility and market share on the world’s leading search engines. We create value by providing the best quality data on a global scale. Clients and partners worldwide rely on Searchmetrics to maximize return from search investments with actionable insights that help better manage, improve and scale search marketing campaigns

Searchmetrics’ robust search marketing tool, Searchmetrics Suite, is supported by a unique server infrastructure that offers monitoring of over 100 search engines in over 30 countries worldwide. Searchmetrics Suite is also home to the Searchmetrics Essentials data modules, SEO+SEM and Social, encompassing the largest, fastest databases for search and social media available.

Headquartered in Berlin, with subsidiaries and offices in New York, London and Paris, the company delivers real web intelligence to a growing international customer base. In 2011 Searchmetrics was named as Best Technology Partner, EMEA by Adobe and is listed in the 2012 Always-On Media 100 companies.”