Pinterest today is increasing its investment in the creator community by introducing new tools that enable creators to make money from their content. Now developers can tag products in their Idea Pins – a video-first feature the company launched this spring – to make their content “shoppable”. You can now also earn commissions through affiliate links and work with brands on sponsored content, similar to other social platforms like Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
Despite its general focus on converting product inspiration into clicks and purchases, Pinterest has been slower to embrace the creator community, which is now responsible for generating significant interest in new products from online shoppers. Over the past few years, brands have increased their influencer marketing budgets from $ 1.7 billion in 2016 to now $ 13.8 billion in 2021. However, until Idea’s recent debut, Pinterest offered few tools for YouTubers to tap into that market on its own Pins in May.
These Pins are a bit like Pinterest’s version of TikTok mixed in with Stories in that they allow creators to produce content that combines music, videos, and other interactive elements. The videos in idea pins can be up to 60 seconds per page, with up to 20 total pages per pin. Creators can also add other features such as stickers or music to their Pins and tag other Creators with their @username.
Photo credits: Pinterest
Although similar in some ways to TikTok, the videos may contain “detail pages” where viewers can find related content, such as the ingredients list and instructions for a recipe or a list of instructions for a craft project.
Now, explains Pinterest, YouTubers can also mark products in their pins. This means that fans viewing the pin content can now switch from inspiration to purchase via the Pinterest app. However, the way to go isn’t as straightforward as it is with Instagram, where tapping a tag takes you to a page where you can then add an item to a cart. Instead, Pinterest’s product tags will direct you to another Pinterest page for that particular product, and from there you will have to click again to visit the merchant’s website to complete your order.
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The company already tested the feature today with developers like Olive + Brown, Fall for DIY, and UnconventionalSouthernBelle who have already made some of their content for shopping.
Idea Pins’ new product tagging tool will be rolled out to all business accounts in the US and UK and will be available to international developers in the coming months.
Photo credits: Pinterest
Other new monetization features that are now being rolled out include support for affiliate programs and brand sponsorship.
Creators can now integrate their affiliate programs for Rakuten and ShopStyle to generate additional income from their referrals. In the meantime, YouTubers who come to the platform with brand partnerships can use a new tool that is still in beta and that will allow them to reveal those partnerships to their followers.
Then when they produce branded content on Pinterest and add the brands to their Idea Pins, the brand can approve the tag and the Idea Pin will have a label that says “Paid Partnership”.
This paid partnership tool is now available to 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 accessible.
Photo credits: Pinterest
Most of Pinterest’s new monetization tools aren’t necessarily innovative or unique.
Instead, they represent a company that is keeping up with larger social platforms – like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube – that have been better geared towards YouTubers in recent years by allowing them to build and expand their own businesses on their respective platforms their range. Instagram in particular has penetrated so far on Pinterest that many users now start their search for shopping inspiration in the app first.
And Instagram has adjusted to this growing group of online buyers by turning its platform into something of an online shop, with a dedicated shop button, built-in checkout functions, notifications of product losses and numerous opportunities for YouTubers to profit from their work.
Now that influencer shopping is the norm, the race is underway between major platforms and startups alike to provide similar shopping tools for live streaming videos.
Given the significant competition, Pinterest’s pitch to the creator community is that its user base is already ready to shop.
By the end of 2020, the company said product searches on its platform had increased 20 times. It also found that Pinterest users were 89% more likely to show purchase intentions for products marked in the creators’ Idea Pins than for the standalone Pins. Additionally, the company says its focus will be more on inspirational content than “influence and entertainment” – a seeming blow to social media and its influencer stars.
“Pinterest is the place to find YouTubers with inspiring and actionable ideas. With this latest update, we’re enabling YouTubers to reach millions of buyers on the platform and monetize their work,” said Aya Kanai, Head of Content and Creator Partnerships on Pinterest. “Creators deserve to be rewarded for the inspiration they provide their followers and the sales they generate for brands. Creators are central to our mission to inspire everyone to create a life they love, and we will continue to work with them to build their businesses and find success on Pinterest, “she added.
