Here’s Why Pinterest Is Worth The Investment

While Pinterest may not yet attract the massive user base of Facebook, the idea-sharing network shouldn’t be ignored. In just five years, Pinterest has become the third most popular social network in the United States, just behind Twitter and Facebook. The company still counts just about 100 million users, 85 percent of whom are female. Pinterest reports that as of November 2016, over 75 billion ideas have been shared on the platform and more than half of its monthly active users are international.

Going Native

With the introduction of native video, Pinterest has opened up opportunities for brands and creators, who get access to all the traditional metrics for video advertisements, as well as the option to stick featured pins below the video. Each video ad is natively hosted on Pinterest and users will initially see a short preview in their activity feed. They can then click on it if they want to watch it in full, or even click on a call to action if they want to purchase the advertised item.

“In the last year alone, we’ve seen a 60 percent increase in videos on Pinterest,” product manager, Steve Davis said on the official Pinterest blog. “With workouts, home projects and hair & beauty tutorials topping the charts. With so many bloggers, brands and other experts using video to share their ideas, it’s more important than ever that the video experience be as seamless as possible, and we’ve got some big improvements in the works.”

Love It, Pin It, Buy It

Last June, Pinterest unveiled its new shopping bag and store that enables users to purchase items directly from the site.

“An amazing 87 percent of Pinterest users have purchased something they found while using the platform,” says Ayzenberg in its latest Earned Media Value Report. “Sharing is also an enormous component on the platform. 80 percent of content posted is a repin from another board, meaning there is a lot of opportunity for brands to get quality content and the associated calls-to-action) distributed on other boards.”

Locally-Sourced Ideas

Pinterest has recently introduced Featured Collections, a method for highlighting trending ideas and topics by region. The company is now curating popular pins using a mix of their own editors, local brands, celebrities and platform influencers.

Rebecca Makarian, senior vice president of social at Ayzenberg Group, notes that one size does not fit all regions. “While their recent mobile update was welcome for all users, Pinterest knows localized experiences are the way to build on their engagement gains. Quality curation of local pins will provide new users a clear path to a positive experience on the platform.”

Pinterest has made tremendous strides over the past year in terms of creating a new, polished look, allowing users to save pins for later, share ideas and buy everything they love without ever leaving the app. Regardless of these changes, co-founder, Evan Sharp claims Pinterest is not really a social network like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. He says the platform is more like a search engine that individuals use to find things they want, not connect with other people.

Since the site functions as an effective product discovery engine with an easy way to fold influencer marketing into the mix, the platform is well-positioned for brands to make Pinterest part of their marketing strategies.