Pinterest is getting more interesting to businesses and pinners alike by introducing some new changes to the content that is displayed in newsfeeds. Pinterest has proved itself again and again as a unique and noteworthy social media platform for various reasons. These upcoming changes can prove very beneficial to businesses.
What Is Changing?
Interests – This update makes finding exactly what you are interested in a lot easier than the broad categories that Pinterest has used in the past (and still has available) like: “Books” and “Food & Drink”. None of those categories say anything about what that pinner is specifically interested in.
Example: Perhaps you’re a huge Sci-fi reader. Selecting the topic “Books” will provide you with a general overview of books, including self-help, classics, and everything else you can think of and you may only be able to find one sci-fi book after scrolling for several minutes. With the new “Interests” section you will find collections that are based on your interests, this means a whole category devoted to your favorite Sci-fi author, but it will exclude the genres and pins that you have no interest in.
Promoted Pins – This is the change that will affect businesses the most. Promoted Pins work in a similar way to Twitter’s Promoted Tweets or Facebook’s Promoted Posts. They allow businesses to pay to show certain pins in a pinners newsfeed or search results.
The Promoted Pins do not stand out dramatically as they do in Facebook or Pinterest, and are designed to seamlessly integrate with the other pins surrounding it. They will include text at the bottom of the pin that says “Promoted Pin” but this text is hardly noticeable. The reason Pinterest has chosen to operate this way is in order to not subject users to an overflow of ads, although some have reported that is already happening.
Why Does This Matter?
First off, it makes the keywords utilized on your business’s Pinterest posts all the more important as not only will pinners be searching Pinterest, but now the Interests option will narrow down the range of pins pinners are looking at, which could cut out a potentially great pin with irrelevant keywords.
Promoted Pins are a great way to promote your business through Pay-Per-Click advertising, especially if you have a business that works well with the visual and lifestyle nature of Pinterest. Like Facebook or Twitter advertising it will allow you to target the audience with the interests you desire for customers.
Depending on the business, branching out to Pinterest for not only social media, but also PPC advertising can be a great move for your company. The nature of Pinterest provides visibility and user interaction unique from that of Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform.