Pinterest is making moves to expand the ability of travel agents and other brands to market on the platform. The social media network recently announced plans to move forward with its Promoted Pins feature, which it had originally announced back in September. The move followed the introduction of a new guided search feature which, while not directly marketing-related, could mean big changes for how users discover content on the platform.
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Promoted Pins allow advertisers to pay for a pin to be promoted in users' search results and category feeds. Promoted Pins will have a "promoted" label indicating that they are a paid advertisement.
On its official blog, the social media network recently announced plans to work with a small group of U.S.-based brands to roll out a paid test of the Promoted Pins feature in the search and category feeds.
New Analytics
Additionally, Tech News World reports that Pinterest is rolling out a new analytics tool designed to offer marketers information on how their content is performing on the platform. The feature, dubbed Business Insights API, will track user activity on the brand's boards through marketing software applications such as Salesforce, Hootsuite, Piquora, Curalate and Tailwind.
The addition of the new analytics and marketing tools comes with a balancing act for the social network. "The drawback of commercializing is that it diminishes the long-term appeal of the site for users, because companies and individuals all begin posting more content that's similar, based on the analytic algorithm," Doug Stephens, founder of Retail Prophet and author of Retail Revival, told Tech News World. "In essence, the site goes from feeling organic, authentic and real to seeming programmed, predictable and boring."
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