Did you know that, according to Semiocast research, as many as 70 million users regularly log onto Pinterest, and, just last year, social submitter Reddit generated 37 billion page views? There are literally billion of pages on the web, and making a single website or product stand out can be problematic. New social platforms, however, are creating opportunities for marketers. How do Pinterest and Reddit work, and do they have legitimate marketing potential?

Pinterest Shoppers Spend More

Pinterest is an incredibly versatile social platform. Pinterest is largely image-based, and allows its users to browse and contribute to free directory submissions. Marketers may want to pay careful attention to image-based bookmark pages like Pinterest. Why? According to 3M and Zabisco, our brains process images up to 60,000 times faster than freestanding text. That may, in part, explain the popularity of image-based social media platforms, including Pinterest, Instagram, and Tumblr. Moreover, Pinterest users, on average, spend more than shoppers originating from Facebook. A typical Pinterest shopper will likely spend anywhere from $140 to $180, while shoppers who start off on Facebook spend only $60 to $80.

Reddit Offers Free Publicity

Small companies and marketing teams may also want to consider the potential social and website submitter Reddit. Reddit, the self-proclaimed “front page of the internet,” offers hundreds of specific subpages, called subreddits. There are subreddits, for example, devoted to particular TV shows, fitness, cooking on a budget, etc. Sharing a relevant link, image, or (if applicable) discussion in the most fitting subreddit promises companies free exposure to a targeted audience.

Celebrities, authors, politicians, musicians, and public figures, moreover, are specifically drawn to Reddit and its useful Ask Me Anything (AMA) subpages. Public figures can schedule a live Ask Me Anything, and answer user-submitted questions during a set time frame. Its live interviews are becoming so popular that even President Obama sat down to answer questions on his very own AMA just over a year ago, on August 29, 2012.

Social submitters and related social media platforms are taking over the web. Marketers should take careful note, and make the most of image-based Pinterest and Reddit’s targeted audiences.