Pinterest enables product tagging and brand partnerships for creators

Money talks, social media walks

• Pinterest is opening the floodgates for creators to monetize their content for the first time, permitting both the tagging of Ideas Pins with shoppable products and brand partnerships with sponsored content.

• The income streams are open to anyone with a business account, removing friction between the point of inspiration and a purchase decision by linking directly to in-stock items on the retailer’s website.

• Pinterest champions the changes as empowering creators to build their businesses while also raising the profile of brands and advertisers.

• Categories such as beauty, fashion and home improvements are likely to benefit enormously from the changes, with creators such as Fall for DIY and Chaos by Ariel wasting no time in making their content shoppable.

Why now?

• Pinterest has been riding a wave of growth, with 89% of users found to be more likely to shop for products tagged as Ideas Pins rather than standalone Product Pins.

• This has been built on a bedrock of trust, with 64% of users placing their faith in the platform to provide honest ideas, products and services.

• Pinterest has built its reputation on an unrivaled ability to surface new products, with 77% of weekly Pinners discovering new brands courtesy of the platform.

• The update also eases the process for existing creators to disclose paid relationships via a ‘paid partnership’ label that can be affixed to Ideas Pins.

• Aya Kanai, head of content and creator partnerships, said: “Pinterest is the place where creators with inspiring and actionable ideas get discovered. With this latest update, we’re empowering creators to reach millions of shoppers on the platform and monetize their work. Creators deserve to be rewarded for the inspiration they deliver to their followers, and the sales they drive for brands.

• “Creators are central to our mission to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love, and we’ll continue working with them to build their businesses and find success on Pinterest.”

Phased roll-out

• The beta product tagging tool is available to all business accounts located in the US and UK, with roll-out to other territories occurring over the coming months.

• Paid partnerships meanwhile are live for select partners in the US and UK, as well as selected European and Latin American nations.

• Other sites such as Instagram have long embraced paid partnerships by enabling advertisers to purchase influencer posts as a form of advertising.