Pinterest. It’s unique in and of itself. It is the place to go to visually create the ideal closet or wedding, or get ideas for new recipes and do-it-yourself projects. Whether it is to see “visually-appealing” pins or get inspiration, Pinterest has continued to grow and evolve since its creation. This virtual bookmarking app has taken on many changes and updates to keep up with the increasing number of users and give them the optimal user experience possible. These changes are not only helpful to the users, but are also beneficial to businesses as well.

‘Buy It’ Pins

Pinterest has been in the works in creating a ‘buy it button’ for certain pins. For iPhones and iPads, there will be buyable pins where people can make purchases directly through Pinterest using credit card or Apple pay without ever having to leave the app. This will have a big impact on businesses and advertisers because it will give users the incentive and push to buy products. It will be a new way to reach out to potential buyers and make sales. Pinterest and Shopify have worked together to make it where users are now able to have all products that are pinned from their Shopify store to automatically become buyable pins. Pinners will be able to order supplies from a DIY pin or book a trip from a travel pin. Not only will users just discover new pins and save them, they will be able to do them with a simple convenient button.

Here’s a video from Pinterest showing how the ‘Buy it’ Button works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p83GHJ02pw
Smarter Search

Pinners are able to customize and filter through their searches to find pins that are more specific to their interests allowing more exploration of images that they might not know they were looking for. This makes it simple for users to browse through a variety of images based on what they are searching for, find images that might have potentially sparked their interest and share them to their followers. The discovery of new pins has never been easier!

In addition, this change allows search results to be gender filtered. It is an attempt to appeal and attract to the male audiences. For a platform that has been dominated by women, the male demographic is fast growing. According to VentureBeat, “the male user base in the U.S. grew 73% year over year and has been picking up in the past 6 months from 54%”. With Guided Search, they will be able to see pins that are inspired by other men and can adjust their searches to find pins from female users if they want. So for example a man could be searching for “haircuts” and Pinterest will pull up images of haircuts for women. Guided search will allow men to specifically select “men’s haircuts” and then search through a variety of styles.

Pretty Pintastic!

Revamp ‘Pin It’ Button

The new and improved ‘Pin It’ button makes it much easier and quicker for users to pins things found on the web, repin pins, favorite pins, and send pins privately to friends with just a few clicks of the button, cutting the time in half. You can save things you find around the web onto Pinterest by just clicking the Pinterest browser button to make a visual bookmark. Then the pins are waiting on Pinterest to be added to a board. The quick process of sending, favoriting and repinning pins makes Pinterest user-friendly and efficient. Users are able to quickly browse through more images and share more pins, encouraging them to see more pins that interests them, create more boards, and find more followers.

How easy is that!

Promoted Pins

Pinterest is opening the doors for businesses to advertise their product or services on the platform using promoted pins. But it doesn’t stop there. Promoted Pins provide a unique spin on audience-targeting. Depending on what users pin or favorite, the promoted pins will show specific products and services based on the individual’s’ interests. According to Advertising Age, it gives advertisers’ a “more precise way to reach the intended audience beyond its 30 different categories for pins including food & drink, hair & beauty and sports.”

This is all so…Pinteresting!

How do you feel about these changes? Let us know in the comments!