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Pinterest: the forgotten social media platform?

The image-based social media site has added more ‘shoppable content’ to boost engagement, writes Justin Harper

Pinterest has been making some positive moves recently but still only ranks 10th among the most popular social media platforms in the UAE.

This week, Pinterest posted better than expected earnings in the U.S and has seen significant user growth, especially among its Generation Z users.

Pinterest, originally created as an image sharing and social media service, has been focusing more recently on its commercial side. This includes more ‘shoppable content’ onto Pinterest to boost engagement.

According to Meltwater, 33 per cent of social media users (aged 16 to 64) use Pinterest each month. For Whatsapp the figure is 80 per cent, followed by Facebook (79 per cent) and Instagram (73 per cent).

“I feel in general people tend to stick with the most popular platforms and they don’t have a tendency to explore. Most marketers and business owners just want quick results and so they jump in and focus on the platforms that are ‘hot’,” said Alex Carvalho, founder of Alex’s House of Social.

“But now, Pinterest is very popular with women and Arab women in the Middle East, especially small business owners females are not using it.”

In June, Pinterest introduced ‘Premiere Spotlight’ and ‘Travel Catalogs’ as new solutions designed to help advertisers increase their campaign success on Pinterest.

Premiere Spotlight is a high-impact awareness ad solution designed to help advertisers reach audiences at scale. Brands can own premium placements on the platform for a desired time period to promote their campaigns with ‘Pinners’ (Pinterest users).

Premiere Spotlight features video ads in places like the search page, which is the first step for users to discover new ideas on Pinterest. It also enables brands to reserve their placement for product launches and own the screen, taking up approximately 50 per cent of a mobile device’s screen.

Travel Catalogs allows travel brands to upload their travel products to the platform. Once a catalogue is uploaded, Pinterest automatically turns each listing into a dynamic product pin with relevant travel booking information such as hotel name, pricing, images and descriptions.