You may remember our story on Pinterest published in 2018 about how to integrate the platform into your marketing plan. Because Pinterest is rolling out some new creator features that are perfect for marketing your brand (whether you're a small business, blogger, or influencer) we thought it was high time for an update! As of July 2020, Pinterest officially hit 400 million monthly active users around the world. The growth is mostly due to new Gen Z users, and the male user population only continues to grow.

Pinterest has long been described as a search engine, and it still primarily is! However, their new push for native content means that it also now has the features of a social networking platform which is perfect for growing and engaging with your audience. In line with this, they have made it easier than ever to integrate your marketing efforts with their platform.

Read on to learn about the new features!

Story Pins

Unlike Instagram and Facebook stories, a Story Pin lasts forever on a Pinterest profile. The purpose of a story pin is, you guessed it, to tell a story! Each one usually consists of several slides, unlike a single image that makes up a regular pin. These pins allow users to create content on pinterest itself (instead of linking to another website or resource). With a host of creative options including video, voiceover, captions, and multiple slides, the possibilities for a story pin are endless!

If you’re a fashion influencer or blogger you can create a lookbook for a certain mood or event with slides detailing outfit inspo, create a DIY demo for your favorite recipe, or even create short workout plans. No matter your business beat, there is a story to tell, so get creative!

The best part of these Story Pins is that they remain on your pinterest and are discoverable just as a normal pin would be! They can be saved to boards, found in search results, and are discoverable in places like the Today feed.

Publish directly to Pinterest

As a creator with access to the story pins feature, you can now publish directly to Pinterest. That means no more creating pins separately and uploading! Users can now use the Pinterest camera to film video, take pictures, use captions and overlays right in the app! You can also add an info page detailing things like materials or products featured in the story pin. With the recent surge in native content creation on apps like TikTok, this added feature is sure to be a popular one!

New Creator profiles

Creator profiles have been around for a while on Pinterest, but 2020 is set to bring some new updates. Think Instagram business profile, but on Pinterest! Here are some of the changes:

Published content, like the story pins discussed above and any pins a user has created, are now front and center on a user’s profile. This change from displaying pinned content from other users allows creators to immediately showcase what they are all about with their own content. This is great especially for any ecommerce store, as you have the ability to display your products front and center on your profile.
Users now have the ability to directly message through the new message or contact card.
Users can now react to pins instead of just ‘liking’ them with a double tap. Think Facebook reactions, but with options such as ‘Great Idea!’
In addition to reactions, pinners can now respond to a pin with their own text and images, much like a comment section! This new feature allows you to directly engage with your audience, building off of each new idea!

User profile showcasing created content, source: Pinterest News

Engagement and Analytics

Perhaps the most important part of these new features is to monitor their success. Engagement and analytical stats are critical for making data driven decisions to facilitate the success of your marketing efforts. That’s why Pinterest has introduced new native engagement tabs and analytical tools.

With the engagement tab, a user can view all of their comments and respond to them in one place, making it easier than ever to engage and connect with your audience.

New analytical tools, called Pin Stats, show a new, much more detailed, breakdown of how content is performing. You can now see your growth in impressions, closeup views, and saves, in addition to seeing which boards pinners have saved it to.

These features are all part of a push to encourage creators to keep innovating on pinterest. If creative marketing is perfect for your brand then this could be a great place to focus your energy in the coming months!

Note that story pins aren’t available to everyone yet! You can apply for priority access through Pinterest with this form!