Pinterest is joining the race for creative talent, with some new tools to help Pin creators monetize their on-platform presence, while also better enabling brands to promote their products via influencer partnerships.
First off, Pinterest is adding new shopping tags to Idea Pins, its own take on the social Stories format. Like other Stories options, Idea Pins enable users to upload short video clips, which are displayed along a top row in the app.
And now, creators will also be able to tag specific items within their Idea Pin clips.
As you can see in this example, now, Pinterest creators will have the capacity to add product tags into their Idea Pin clips, providing another means of direct connection and product promotion within the app.
How effective that will be depends on Idea Pin usage among your target audience, and we don't have definitive stats on this as yet. But according to Pinterest's internal research, it could be a worthy consideration:
"Pinners are 89% more likely to exhibit shopping intent on products tagged in Idea Pins than on standalone Product Pins."
I mean, that would be a small sample size based on initial testing, but given the broader adoption of the Stories format, and the added interactivity of tags within video clips, it could well be a valuable consideration in your Pin strategy moving forward.
In addition to this, Pinterest is looking to add more transparency to branded content deals on the platform via a new tool which adds a “paid partnership” label to Idea Pins.
You can see the disclosure down the bottom of the post, beneath the username.
The Paid Partnership tagging process will be available within the Idea Pin creation flow, with a new toggle to switch on when tagging a product.
As explained by Pinterest:
"We know many Creators have established partnerships with brands and want to highlight their branded content across Pinterest. Today, we’re introducing in beta a new paid partnerships tool that allows Creators to disclose their paid partnerships. Creators who make branded content will be able to add the brands directly in their Idea Pins, and once the brand approves the tag, the Idea Pin will include a “paid partnership” label. This tool will make it even easier for Creators to disclose partnerships with brands and use their expertise to connect with Pinners authentically."
That's important for transparency, while it also provides a more direct connection between creators and the brands that they're working with. Pinterest says that creators will be able to tag their Idea Pins "with any of the millions of Product Pins on Pinterest", though those tags are subject to approval from the brands themselves.
Which will then facilitate revenue options for Pin creators, with the capacity to generate income from these affiliate links. When users tap through on your tag, and go on to make a purchase, creators will eventually be able to take a cut of that revenue through these partnerships.
That could give more creators incentive to build a presence on Pinterest, with the more specific shopping focus of the platform likely leading to increased buying activity. And if the revenue split works out, you could actually make more money through Pin partnerships than you might on other platforms, while you could also do so without having to come up with creative ideas to drive viral traffic, which is a key focus on other platforms.
Because Pinners come to the platform in a shopping mindset, product tutorials and overviews will likely perform better in Idea Pins, and those types of videos are more easily repeatable, and sustainable, which could provide a solid revenue pipeline for those that build a presence.
It's an interesting idea either way, and while it does depend on Idea Pin take-up, the capacity is there for this to become a powerful promotional tool for brands, while also facilitating a more sustainable creator ecosystem in the app.
Idea Pin product tagging is being launched to all business accounts in the US and UK from this week, with other regions to follow 'over the coming months'. The paid partnerships tool, meanwhile, is now live for select creators in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, France, Spain, Italy Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru.
