Pinterest Unveils a Range of Shopping and Advertising Updates at its Annual 'Pinterest Presents' Event

Pinterest has announced a range of new updates and additions as part of its second annual ‘Pinterest Presents’ global advertiser summit, including in-stream shopping enhancements, promoted Idea Pins, improvements to its Pinterest Trends tool and more.

Here’s a look at the key announcements from the event.

The big addition of focus is ‘Your Shop’, a new, personalized shopping page within the app.

As you can see here, the new Your Shop display will show you the latest items and offers based on your interests.

As explained by Pinterest:

“[Your Shop] is a place for people on Pinterest to browse, shop and buy – and it’s completely tailored to every single person’s individual tastes. That’s right. People on Pinterest will see a customized shopping surface, with brands and products based on their own activity and preferences.”

I mean, that’s probably not as big a revelation as Pinterest might suggest here, but ideally, it’ll get more users tapping through on more products in-stream, with Pinterest’s ever improving algorithms looking to provide ever-more enticing product matches for each user.

Which leads to the next update.

In order to streamline the next stage of the purchase process, Pinterest is also adding a new direct, in-app checkout option for Shopify merchants.

Pinterest in-stream purchases

That’ll make it much easier to go from inspiration to purchase, without even disrupting your in-app experience. Which will lead to more impulse buys, and more shopping activity, a key element that Pinterest needs to build upon, especially given that its usage has slowed over the past year, after peaking early in the pandemic.

Fewer users is never good, but fewer users spending more money…

Pinterest has also announced a new Shopping API, designed to make it easier for merchants to upload their product catalogs, fueling their Pin product listings.

Simplified catalog connection is key to maximizing in-app commerce – because if it’s too much work to create shoppable Pins, small businesses, in particular, just won’t bother. Pinterest has been working to improve on this front for some time, with the new API being the latest development.

A key update for marketers, meanwhile, is the announcement of improvements for Pinterest Trends, which provides insights into the popularity of any topic in the app.

Businesses in the US, Canada and the UK will see new features added to the Pinterest trends tool, including real time search data, more trend types, more granular audience tools and personalized trend recommendations for your business. And later this year, we’ll launch the tool to additional countries all over the world.”

Pinterest Trends update

Pinterest Trends is already a great research and insights tool, both for brands on Pinterest and for more general understanding, and these new elements will make it even more valuable. It’s definitely worth taking a look every now and then to see what’s trending in your business niche.

Finally, as it looks to maximize the popularity of its Stories-like Idea Pins, Pinterest will soon also enable advertisers to promote their Idea Pins in the app.

Pinterest’s also improving its paid partnership process, in order to better facilitate branded content deals, which will provide more avenues for creators to make money in the app, and for brands to utilize their expertise in Pin formats.

“Already, creators can tag your products in their Idea Pins, and disclose a paid partnership. Starting later this year, you’ll be able to promote those Pins as Idea ads to celebrate the partnership with a wider audience.”

Pinterest says that it’s seen significant user interest in Idea Pins, as well as its TikTok-style Watch tab, and these new promotional options will facilitate more avenues for brands to tap into that popularity, and maximize their Pin efforts.

These are some interesting updates, and if you’re looking to market on Pinterest, it’s worth taking a deeper dive into these tools and elements, and considering how they might fit into your process.

I mean, right now, as noted, Pinterest usage is actually on the decline – but even so, at 431 million users, all of whom come to the app with shopping intent, that’s still a significant audience that you do want to reach, while the dedicated shopping focus of the app potentially makes them an even more valuable group for your brand than those on other, larger apps.

It all comes down to your business, your product, and how you can angle that towards key Pin trends. These new tools and updates will help in that process.

Your Shop is currently in beta for US Pinners, and will be launched to all US audiences later this year, with more countries to follow. Checkout is now available in beta for select Shopify merchants in the US, while the updated Pinterest Trends is now available to business users in the US, Canada and the UK.

Source: www.socialmediatoday.com, originally published on 2022-03-10 13:28:00