Pinterest Gets in the Influencer Game with Pin Collective
What criteria have you established for your influencer marketing initiatives? Do you look for those that have the best reach locally or do you put yourself out there in the national or international space to support your growth? Once you’ve identified your targets, do you then settle on platforms? How do you determine the best fit?
The answer to these questions may have a lot to do with the target audience you are trying to reach. A strategy around shaping influence can change over time, especially as technology continues to evolve. In the social media realm, this is especially true. Not only do platforms continue to emerge and evolve, they also take on certain characteristics that can help or hinder a campaign, depending upon the strategy put in place.
To that end, Pinterest is doing its work to get in front of those who want to play a role in shaping influence. According to a recent Business Insider post, Pinterest recently launched the Pin Collective. This new feature is designed to connect brands with Pinterest’s top content creators – those who are leading the pack in shaping influence.
With this new feature, businesses now have the ability to tap a hand-selected group of publishers, independent creators and production shops to create compelling content that is well-written for this particular platform. This is great news for those who understand the importance of connecting with the right people. But there are some important implications of the launch that must be taken into consideration.
First, Pinterest is effectively paving the way for influencer marketing by making popular content creators more accessible. Influencer marketing has exploded over the last few years on social media platforms. According to an Augure study, 61 percent of U.S. marketers had plans to increase their influencer marketing budgets in 2015, embracing this new opportunity focus. Pin Collective is an important step for Pinterest in the creation of the influencer marketplace as connections are already being made through Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube.
At the same time, Pinterest as a platform is getting simpler to use. The Pin Factory was launched last year and serves as an in-house production studio that helps brands create ads. At least 600 brands used the Pin Factory last year. Now, Pin Collective is just another tool that Pinterest positions to make it even easier for brands to create advertisements that are high quality and have the potential for high impact.
Finally, Pinterest is taking the right approach in meeting people where they are in terms of marketing priorities. There are no minimum ad budget requirements and those who are a little less savvy in terms of marketing are being encouraged to experiment with the platform. This lures incremental ad dollars and better positions the platform against those who are already dominating the social industry,
If you’re hoping to set your strategy into motion, don’t ignore the potential Pinterest can offer. And while Pin Collective may still be new, the potential is significant.
Edited by Alicia Young