With so many social media platforms around, what’s a brand to do and focus on when it comes to advertising and marketing? While Facebook continues to be the leader among marketers, other platforms like Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok are making inroads.
What’s Helping Pinterest?
There are a number of things helping Pinterest. One is Product Pins, a shopping feature it originally branded as Buyable Pins. Product Pins are associated with specific products and are discovered through searches or users’ home feeds. When a consumer looks at an item and then clicks on it, the Product Pin takes him/her to the brand’s website. In addition, consumers are also informed about a product’s availability and its price.
Another is Google Lens, which affords consumers who like to conduct visual searches yet another opportunity. The app allows consumers to take a picture of something they’re interested in, tap on it and then be shown similar products or styles.
Within a year after its launch in 2017, Lens said it was being used to conduct more than 600 million searches each month. The app is capable of recognizing more than 2 ½ billion products today. The latest update was made last September, giving consumers the ability to not only save their photos, but also convert them to pins, which affords them the option and capability of doing more searches at a later date.
There’s yet another improvement Pinterest made last October for brands. Called Shop Tab, the feature allows consumers to click on that feature and see the product’s inventory and entire catalogue, as well as scroll through it while shopping. Also viewable are product prices.
Finally, Pinterest also upgraded its Business Profiles. In addition to improvements in Product Pins and Shop Tab, prominent among the changes is the ability of brands to customize their profile covers that enhance their brand or story with pictures and/or video.
Coming Soon
In September, Pinterest rolled out its Shop the Look for select brands in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil and Japan. According to Pinterest, visitors using the app will first see a preview of four items, after which they can click through and interact with products they’re interested in. This app for mobile devices permits companies to display as many as 25 products in one image.
Consumers viewing the ads need only to click on it to be taken to the brand’s website. Pinterest says this feature will be available to U.S. brands soon.
Jumping Aboard
Brands with Pinterest business accounts are eligible to sign up for Product Pins and upload their catalogue with shoppable Product Pins. Interest among brands has been surging. For the third quarter of 2019, Pinterest reported a 75% increase in catalogues uploaded over the previous quarter.
As if to confirm its popularity, Pinterest recently reported that 83% of consumers purchase products after seeing them on their platform. The company also revealed that they’d exceeded 320 million active monthly users.
As with any other marketing option, any decision to move forward with Pinterest or any other social media platform should be based on a good understanding and knowledge of the brand’s target audience.
