Pinterest influencers could soon be making a living straight from the platform. The company has unveiled its first monetization tools for YouTubers.
According to Pinterest, retailers have added hundreds of millions of product Pins to the platform. Users who click or tap the pins can purchase these products. Pinterest is now introducing an option for users to tag Idea Pins (a version of other platforms’ Stories) with Product Pins.
The company says users are 89 percent more likely to be interested in buying an item tagged in Idea Pins than items they see in Product Pins. Maybe that’s because users can see their favorite creators using products and maybe get inspiration from them. Creators can use affiliate links to drive a portion of the sales generated through their Idea Pins.
Pinterest adds another feature to Idea Pins – a label for “paid partnerships” for YouTubers who share branded content. Influencers who create content on behalf of a company can mark the brand in idea pins. As soon as the brand gives the label the green light, the label appears. The aim is to improve transparency and make it easier for YouTubers to disclose paid partnerships.
“Pinterest is where YouTubers come across with inspiring and actionable ideas,” said Aya Kanai, Head of Content and Creator Partnerships at Pinterest. “With this latest update, we’re empowering YouTubers, millions of shoppers on the platform, and monetizing their work. Creators deserve to be rewarded for the inspiration they give their followers and the revenue they generate for brands.”
Product tagging on Idea Pins will initially be available for business accounts in the US and UK. The feature will also be available in other markets in the coming months. As far as paid partnerships are concerned, select Pinterest users in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru now access.
Other visually focused platforms focus on ways to help influencers make a living (and most importantly, keep them from moving elsewhere). In April, it emerged that Instagram is working on both creator shops and a “branded content marketplace” while Facebook is pushing $ 1 billion in influencers to court. Instagram has also been offering a paid partnership label since 2017.
