Pinterest introduces new video tools for brands and creators

There’s more to Pinterest than pictures and hashtags. According to the San Francisco tech giant, there’s been a 31% uptick in searches for “inspirational videos” since last year, and the network’s nearly 300 million monthly active users (MAU) are 54% more likely to say videos on Pinterest inspire them compared with content on other media platforms.

Presumably, that’s why Pinterest introduced new features for creators and brands to make reaching viewers easier. Among the highlights are an improved uploading tool, a refreshed gallery tab, a lifetime analytics metric, and Pin scheduling functionality.

The new video uploader enables users to post videos directly to Pinterest, while the new video tab on profile pages allows businesses to feature their clips in a single place. As for the analytics tool, it lets brand managers view lifetime video views and track performance over time — a valuable service, Pinterest notes, because clips on the platform don’t disappear with a feed and they resurface over time.

Lastly, Pinterest says improved personalization and recommendation algorithms are beginning to drive video discovery on the platform. For instance, a video for chicken noodle soup recipes or makeup for a specific skin tone will surface related videos and products.

The new toolset follows expanded product buying and selling capabilities, like Catalogs, which let users convert their entire inventory into shoppable Pins, and Related Products, which appear under product Pins to showcase items uploaded by brands. Along with those are refreshed recommendations that serve results resembling users’ saved Pins and populate dynamically based on available inventory from merchants with shoppable Pins.

In related news, Pinterest revealed that it’s bringing full automation to Shop the Look, a tool that helps users buy items from participating vendors by automatically tagging related items in Pinned photos. In May, Pinterest also launched a Progressive Web App for Windows 10.

Following its initial public offering (IPO), Pinterest has increasingly pivoted its attention toward brands, and it’s not hard to see why. According to estimates,59% of millennials have discovered products on Pinterest, putting the platform on par with Instagram. And Oracle Data Cloud surveys reveal that Pinterest users spend 29% more while shopping than non-users. Moreover, Pinterest reports that 90% of weekly users turn to the platform to make purchasing decisions, 55% look specifically for products, and 78% say content from brands on Pinterest is “useful.”

Lens Your Look, which lets you take a picture of an item of clothing and find similar options, rolled out in 2017, while Shop the Look, which helps users buy products from companies that work with Pinterest, became fully automated last month. In September, the social network debuted a new API intended to help brands find and keep track of influencers, with metrics like unique viewers, impressions, and engagement per Pin.

Source: VentureBeat

  App, Digital, Marketing, Mobile, New Feature, Pinterest, Social Media, tool, Video