Yesterday, I watched Pinterest Presents 2023. As someone who uses Pinterest on a weekly (if not daily) basis, I was interested in seeing what they were going to share. It was a relatively short presentation, but it was well done. They kept it light, to the point and they had an interpreter doing ASL, which I will always love to see. The following will be a few of the key takeaways from the presentation. It should be noted, that while I use Pinterest, this article is not sponsored.
“We’re sharing all our latest product updates and ways to grow your business.”
I don’t know about you, but while I use Pinterest for numerous reasons, one of the main reasons is to keep my ideas organized. From recipes I want to learn how to make to fashion inspiration and home decor, Pinterest is basically an organized board full of ideas. Similar to how I used to make collages with magazine clippings, I have boards on Pinterest. So, when they said, “More people are seeking more inspiration for their entire lives […] brands are a major part of that journey”, I completely related to this.
Collages
As someone who loves to cook and who posts recipes on a weekly basis, collages easily caught my attention. Pinterest is constantly developing new ways for the people to find ideas, get creative and try something new. Collages is one one of their newest consumer innovations that will help users visualize possibilities and decide what to try next.
For example, have you ever gone shopping for a new shirt that would ideally go well with a pair of pants you already own? Many times, you’re likely to wear or at least bring that pair of pants with you so that you can see the whole ensemble together. With collages, you’ll be able to see different kinds of products together, or compare different options side by side.
You will also be able to cut the objects you like most out of a Pin and save them to your boards. Or, you can combine them with other cutouts to create a collage of your favorite ideas. For example—you might want to see how shoes pair with an outfit, or how a lamp goes with a certain table. Be sure to place your catalog on Pinterest so people can add your products to their collages- it’s like a visual “word of mouth” sales tactic.
New Ad Formats To Build Stronger Engagement
Two new ad formats were released, specifically geared toward audience engagement: Showcase ads and Quiz ads. They are designed to move people down the funnel: from discovery to decision to do.
With Showcase ads, you’re able to display multiple Pins in one unit. Each of these pins can be tagged with links out to your website. These are the perfect way to show off various products, features and/or styles that your brand has to offer, enabling people to find the right fit for their own tastes. Every card within a Showcase ad can include three clickable features linking directly to your site.
Quiz ads are dynamic and interactive, helping you interact with Pinners like never before. First, pick three questions you want people to answer. Then, craft customized recommendations for different quiz answers. People interacting with your ad will see personalized results based on their own replies—and in early tests, they’re loving the experience. Hill’s Pet Nutrition: Their pet-finding Quiz ad drove a whopping 80% quiz completion rate
Premiere Spotlight
Premiere Spotlight, Pinterest’s highest impact video format yet, was launched earlier this year. Originally launched for search page takeovers, it will now also bring this format to the home feed. It drives maximum awareness for your biggest brand moments with edge-to-edge video in prominent placements.
Mobile Deep Links and Direct Links
One of the newest shopping solutions for mid to lower-funnel campaigns has arrived- mobile deep links and direct links. To put it simply, these will reduce the barriers between discovering a product and purchasing a product.
According to Pinterest, with mobile deep links, people click directly from the Pinterest ad to a product page in the mobile app. Checking out is simple as they’ll benefit from any shipping or payment info already stored in your app. Mobile deep links help drive stronger conversion rates. Already, advertisers using mobile deep links on Pinterest are seeing a 235% lift in conversion rates and 35% lower cost-per-acquisition, compared to ads they ran before mobile deep links were available.
Direct links reduce the number of clicks it takes for someone to go from product discovery, to checkout. They include a call to action button built right into the Pin, encouraging people to click and buy. Once someone clicks, they’re taken straight to your site. You can enable direct links on select formats within consideration, conversion and shopping campaigns. We’ll add the capability to more formats over the next year.
New Ecommerce Integrations
Part of having retailer success on Pinterest involves uploading a product catalog. Pinterest’s ecommerce integration ecosystem helps make quite simple as it now includes new options for Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Adobe Commerce. Merchants already using these platforms will simply need to install Pinterest’s integration app to setup features such as account authentication and get their product catalog linked. The API for conversions can then be activated to get a better read on measurement.
Simply connect your store to your Pinterest business account, then pick which features you want from the Pinterest API for shopping and conversions. Now available in all countries with Pinterest ads, you’ll get speedy product Pins, near real-time inventory updates for your Pins and a better read on your conversion results, too.
Make Product Pins Faster
With Pinterest’s new tool Creative Studio, brands are able to speed up their Pin creation and campaign innovation. While it is going to be tested on select US advertisers later this year, you can contact a Pinterest team if you’d like to be a tester too.
“Contextual relevance is so important to ads, and we’ve seen that ads perform better when products are shown within a broader scene. We also know that lifestyle images, on average, drive better Pinterest results than products shown with plain backgrounds. Creative Studio will give brands a speedy way to generate lifestyle imagery for product Pins, with the aim to drive stronger performance.” – Pinterest
Agencies Won’t Be Left Out
With Business Manager for agencies, planning, launching and managing agency portfolios and client initiatives will be even easier. Available in all countries with Pinterest ads later this Fall, sample tools include:
- A dashboard for all client account metrics
- Audience sharing to save and replicate successful audience tactics, and
- Better account structuring for managing all your clients at scale.
Pinterest Is Making Everything Shoppable
Shoppable means that every image and every video seen on Pinterest is easily clickable in order to bring you to the product pages. As explained by Walker Sands,
Awareness: Making buyers aware of your product as a solution to a specific pain point or problem.
Consideration: Buyers are considering your solution instead of competitors’ solutions.
Conversion: Customer makes a final purchase decision.
Engagement: Staying top of mind with the customer post-purchase.
By facilitating the shopping process and acquiring customers who may not otherwise see your process, there is awareness consideration conversion; gain a customer and not just a transaction.
Premiere Spotlight
With premiere spotlight, brands are put front and center. (Gatorade was one of the earliest partners!)
Showcase Ads and Quiz ads:
1) More than one pin “slideshow”: Loreal Paris used showcase ads and had a higher click through rate!
2) Quiz ads: With a few simple questions, consumers learn more about what they are looking for
Along with:
Direct links coming later this year (Mobile deep links 235% lift in consumer rates and 35% lower CPAs)
Direct links coming later this year
Travel Catalogs: Easy to promote travel offers, lower cost outbound links
To summarize, all of these additions will make the lives of advertisers easier.
Mental Health and Body Image
Last but definitely not least, throughout the presentation, it was made absolutely clear that Pinterest wants to be a part of building a more positive place online. As someone who not only does research online but also uses it as a business tool, this aspect stuck out to me. We live in the age of technology; while it was somewhat a part of my life throughout my years attending school, it played a very little part compared to what it means for today’s youth.
As pointed out in the presentation, the Surgeon General has issued new advisory about effects of social media on youth’s mental health. To summarize, it has a tremendous impact on anxiety and depression among young people. This comes as no surprise. However, I applaud Pinterest for not only realizing that their actions are part of a bigger picture and are doing something about it. This includes its support for The Inspired Internet Pledge. What is it? Well….
The Digital Wellness Lab believes that by sharing rigorous research and clinical expertise, we can change the paradigm for how young people use technology and interactive media. We also believe that efforts to design and maintain a healthy digital ecosystem for young people are more effective when public and private sectors join together for impact.
With policymakers in the US and around the globe focused on how technology influences and affects youth mental health and emotional well-being, the Inspired Internet Pledge is an opportunity for the industry to come together and show, not just tell, how they are addressing some of our most serious challenges.
The Inspired Internet Pledge
What Pinterest aims to do is use less triggering content to send a message. Basically, they wish to use engagement rather than enragement. Rather than use upsetting titles to entice readers, let’s learn and grow from one another!
Body Type AI
Pinterest will soon allow users to find more search results that better suit their bodies rather than a “one-type/size fits all” narrative. By doing so, more people will feel represented, seen, and included.
“Online platforms have an important role to play. It starts with accountability. A place that is additive rather than addictive. Advertisers, parents, and those wanting industries to do better”.
Included in this, are:
- Hair and Makeup: Searches for glam hair, needs glam makeup. Users can easily pick a skin tone range that represents them to get better insight into what will benefit them. The “Hair Pattern Tool” will offer inspiration from people who look like you do!
- Casting: ‘REAL people “Pinners” are the heart and soul of Pinterest’ These people are seeking ways to better themselves, and seek fulfillment in their lives. Pinterest wants everyone to feel that they are safe to be who they are.
Ready for next steps?
And there you have it, Pinterest Presents 2023! I must say, this update is definitely inspiring. I almost wish I had a storefront just so I could use even more of these tools! If you’d like to know more about anything mentioned in this article, reach out to your Pinterest account team or take a Pinterest Academy course to learn more about how to grow your business on their platform.