Pinterest Expands Globally With Help From Local Experts

Pinterest announced new features this week that help ensure local flavor for its growing international user base. While its users have been largely located in the US up until now, the six-year old social network has announced that as of April 2016, more than half of its 100 million monthly active users are international.

To highlight this expansion, Pinterest is introducing 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. Featured Collections are now available in the following countries: UK, France, Germany, Brazil and Japan.

This new discovery option provides another way for pinners to discover native language pins, information and ideas. Pinterest has been testing the new board and notes that the feature resulted in users finding and following more relevant boards. Community teams are using geographically trending data to program the boards from work shared by brands, celebrities, and pinners who create quality content about popular regional topics.

Rebecca Makarian, senior vice president of social and digital 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’s international growth has been exponential, with big increases in Germany, Russia, South Korea and Mexico. Engagement has also doubled in France, Brazil and Japan. The company is supporting this growth by opening more regional offices and community groups to serve these expanding markets.

Pinterest On The Rise

According to Business Insider, Pinterest revenue is up significantly and Co-Founder Evan Sharp is keen to dispel myths about the platform. Notably, Sharp claims that his demographic user data shows that Pinterest is not just for women but a lot of ”lower-income, middle-America people.” He even claims Pinterest is not really a social network like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Sharp says the platform is more like a search engine that individuals use to find things they want, not connect with other people. That is also their pitch to advertisers. Since they function 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 sign on for the advertising programs.

For more details on the Earned Media Value of social media recommendations and actions, check out the Ayzenberg EMV Index details below.