In a blog post shared last week, Pinterest revealed updates that will allow users to engage with their favorite recipes and how-to pins in new ways. With the introduction of the checkmark engagement button and “Tried” section within profiles, pinners can now indicate whether they have tried a pin first-hand. Complementary to the new Tried features, users can also review the pins that they have tried and leave suggestions or tips for other pinners.
Found a unique recipe? Give it a go, mark having tried it, and let other pinners know how it went. Have a suggestion for users pinning a how-to video? Write a note or tip within the pin to share your input. Pinterest’s new features give users even more freedom to make and share what they discover within the platform.
By connecting how its users engage online with what they do offline, Pinterest is taking a large step into curating actionable content for its users. Soon the platform will have a much stronger idea of how much offline engagement it is influencing. Instead of assuming a percentage of pin-it-and-forget-it users, the channel could calculate a “tried-pin rate” based on those who view and then try a recipe, which could help to sell more advertisers and publishers on using the platform.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR MARKETERS
Changing user behavior on social media is no easy task, but understanding how users engage and then adjusting the platform to accommodate that behavior can be a big opportunity for social networks. Last year, Twitter shifted from “favorites” to “likes” and reported a 6% increase in engagement from its users. In a similar fashion, Facebook added new reactions earlier this year that better capture how users might feel about the content shared by friends, family, and the pages they follow. According to one report, reactions helped lift engagement by 16 points between Q4 of 2015 and Q1 of 2016.
With the introduction of the checkmark, tips/feedback, and the Tried section of user profiles, Pinterest users can now engage with brands, influencers, and publishers more than ever before. Furthermore, the new engagement types present a number of possibilities for marketers to leverage.
BENEFITS TO SOCIAL CONTENT MEASUREMENT
Brands with a defined social content strategy can incorporate the new engagement types into reporting. The performance of recipes and how-to content can now be compared by calculating the tried-pin rate (the number of users that have checked off trying a pin, divided by the impressions or reach of that pin).
Additionally, qualitative data, such as the tips and notes left on tried pins, can help to further shape and refine content development. If a high percentage of users that have tried a recipe leave a tip that suggests using less salt, reducing the amount listed or posting a low-sodium version of the recipe, it may help to improve user experience.
PAID MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES
After introducing a suite of paid media capabilities this year, Pinterest is poised to continue expanding its offerings to advertisers. With engagement retargeting, it is possible that Pinterest will offer the ability to remarket specifically to users who have marked a pin as Tried from within its ads manager.
For food & beverage brands, advertising the ingredients recommended within shared recipes that users have tried would help to remind them to make the recipe again. Conversely, marketers could choose to remove users who have tried a pin from targeting. Home improvement brands could advertise tools to users that have shared a how-to pin, but haven’t yet tried it because they lack the tools needed.
SEO AND ON-PLATFORM SEARCH IMPLICATIONS
With Pinterest playing a key role in the SERP, reviews on recipes and how-to pins may impact how results are displayed. A popular Pinterest recipe with a significant number of engagements, including tries and tips, could supplant traditional recipe page results, appearing above key players like All Recipes and Betty Crocker. As search engines continue to incorporate various types of social content in results, individual pins may start to play a larger role.
Finally, as Pinterest continues to refine its internal search capabilities, recipe and how-to results could be influenced by the new engagement types. Though repins and comments may indicate interest, tries and tips could help to better indicate the likelihood that a user will attempt to create the pinned content, leading to better search results for users.
IMAGE SOURCE: Pinterest
