Melissa Conlon

Evolution of Pinterest

Pinterest is the go-to place for visual creativity, ideas, and inspiration. Founded in 2009 over 11 years ago by three internet entrepreneurs, Pinterest has rapidly evolved into what was once known as a place to share toddler crafts and crockpot recipes, to a place where trends are born, pins are shoppable, and boards are used for inspiration. Pinterest has become a place for anyone and everyone to find inspiration or their next family-favorite recipe.

There are a few misconceptions about Pinterest and what it’s used for. The biggest one is that Pinterest is a social media platform for users to interact with content and engage with other users. Pinterest is a visual search engine, comparable to Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Pinterest is a powerful tool that users should utilize to reach their target audience through aesthetically-pleasing visuals and drive more traffic to their platforms.

Advertisements + Marketing on Pinterest

I like to consider myself a creative person, and I have been told that by quite a few people. However, I owe all of that recognition to Pinterest (spoiler alert). In my opinion, Pinterest is an underrated platform that provides users an idea or inspiration for just about anything one can think of. If I need an outfit for a date night or I’m looking for a new vegan recipe, Pinterest is my immediate go-to. As users find a pin that catches their eye, users can tap on the pin and it will redirect them to the appropriate website / sources to receive more information.

Pinterest is a powerful search engine for marketing that is often overlooked. Pinterest is able to seamlessly embed advertisements throughout user’s feeds and as they search for specific topics. Small brands and businesses are also able to create shoppable pins that bring users directly to the website to make a purchase. Before shoppable pins, users would often find it difficult to hunt down a specific outfit they found from a pin. Comments would be bombarded with, “where is this top from?” with users hoping for a correct response.

Personal Use of Pinterest

I’m not one to click on advertisements of any sort on most social media platforms. I’m even the type of person to include incorrect personal information so my advertisements aren’t relevant to me, like my birthday. When it comes to advertisements on Pinterest, I typically ignore them. I’m more inclined to click on shoppable posts that are relevant to what I’m searching on Pinterest than any other pin. I see no incentive to click on advertisements that paid extra to be on my home page on Pinterest. I will only ever click on advertisements that are relevant to what I like and what I’ve searched.

Pinterest has a great method of seamlessly including advertisements for users to see on the application. They are enticing enough to click on, but they are easy enough to ignore for those that don’t want to interact with advertisements while scrolling through Pinterest. It’s applications like that that I appreciate the most. Ones where I’m not forced to interact or watch advertisements like YouTube or other applications, but ones where I’m given the option to. I’m more inclined to interact with this type of advertising.

Pinterest has rapidly revolved within the last year or two. Pinterest is now allowing users with business accounts to apply for the use of stories, a new feature. This is an impactful way for small businesses especially to market their products and/or services. I am interested to see how they will continue to market products and allow small businesses to grow their success and revenue through the use of Pinterest.