Have you ever spotted something on Pinterest, whether it’s the perfect piece of furniture to decorate your home, or a trendy coat for winter, and you can’t figure out how to find it online, or even the name of it?
Well, now Pinterest has solved that problem. They recently announced a new visual search tool that allows users to search items within the site without typing in text. When you see an object in a scene, you can hit the little magnifying glass in the top right corner and drag your mouse to put a box around the item of interest, and Pinterest will not only show you pins with similar items, but if it’s in Pinterest’s database, they will also provide you with the exact name and where your selection can be purchased. Pinterest has over 100 million users who have posted 50 billion images, or “pins,” on the site. The company says it has indexed roughly a billion of those images for the new search engine; over time, it aims to index them all.
This latest update falls on the heels of numerous updates they’ve made over the past year to transform themselves into quite a powerhouse e-commerce site. Earlier this year, they introduced Promoted Pins, which expanded advertiser reach by as much as 30 percent. In June they announced buyable pins, where users can purchase items without leaving the Pinterest app, allowing for a seamless shopping experience. They’re also planning to unveil their new Pinterest Shop in the coming weeks.
So what does this mean for advertisers? Pinterest now has two main facets: 1) serving as an “inspiration destination,” which can help drive brand awareness and also allow advertisers to capture user intent by viewing their inspiration boards; and 2) serving as a complete destination for product search, which will allow marketers to drive traffic and sales using Promoted Pins.
All of this makes Pinterest, which investors have valued at $11 billion, a more appealing place for marketers to advertise on the platform. Very (pin)teresting…
Posted by Laura Perry, an integral part of initiate-it’s amazing account management team. initiate-it is a fully committed, fully prepared, full-service agency in Richmond, Virginia.