Facebooks News Feed is a lot of things but these days its rarely inspirational With 213 billion monthly users Facebook has more reach than any other social network but its not the best option for consumers to get ideas and enjoy visually pleasing experiences In recent years Pinterest and Instagram have filled that void The visual nature of Pinterest and Instagram puts more focus on imagery and style Theyre a welcome alternative to Facebooks status updates political rants and personal milestones The two networks are where consumers turn to find visual inspiration whether its in food fashion or home design Marketers are also finding Pinterest and Instagram to be upbeat fun and conducive to advertising messages In fact Pinterest was on track to post 500 million in revenues in 2017 up 67 percent from 2016 Facebook doesnt disclose Instagrams revenues but it did announce that the photo- and video-sharing network had doubled its total number of advertisers in six months surpassing 1 million last March Providing a source of visual inspiration is just one reason why Pinterest and Instagram are effective places to advertise Here are three more Both platforms are interest-based Many users stumble upon Pinterest because theyre doing a Google search around a hobby and Google serves them links to Pinterest content When searching Japanese woodworking for example this Pinterest link featuring photos of such work shows up on the front page Often users are looking for inspiration rather than text Pinterests visual format fits that need Advertisers are catching on Theres been a shift in the past few months as marketers request to reallocate money from Google and Bing to Pinterest searches In addition Instagram has built a strong following because the platform makes it easy for users to follow their interests Those can range from fashion to cooking to fitness among many others Plus users on Instagram are motivated to post items that are going to connect with those who have shared interests Pinterest and Instagram provide a better frame of mind for shopping People dont naturally visit Facebook to go shopping Facebooks efforts to bring e-commerce to the platform have been disappointing although its Marketplace feature may be bearing some fruit Why has Facebook had such trouble launching commerce on its platform Facebook is a hangout place a forum for people to connect and socialize not a place where people go to get things done As one analyst noted selling stuff on Facebook is like doing a sales pitch during a party while people are trying to have fun or argue about politics In contrast Pinterest and Instagram users are often in the shopping mindset Shopping on Pinterest and Instagram is also very user-friendly since both offer one-click purchases Their content is evergreen A Facebook post has a short shelf life getting most of its reach in the first half-hour This means that tracking down a Facebook post often isnt worth the trouble Although Instagram is oriented this way too scrolling through a users or brands feed is easy and rewarding Doing the same on Facebook means encountering a lot of random updates Pinterest meanwhile includes a lot of evergreen content which makes sense If youre into home design you dont necessarily want to see the latest post Instead you want to see the one that serves your particular interest or gets the most engagement This again ties in with an advertisers goal to get in front of users who are serious about what theyre searching for If youre looking to reach consumers who are following their passions looking for ideas and are more open to your marketing message consider loading up on Instagram and Pinterest Katie Townsley is vice president and executive director of social at digital agency MXM