Pinterest has updated its site to make it that much easier for consumers to explore specific interests. Now each category has a whole new selection of specialized interests to explore, a feature agency execs are already looking toward its potential advertising uses.
In the past Pinterest formated pins around broad categories like “Home Decor.” Now, however, when users click on these pins they’ll be able to find pins curated to interests as narrow as “industrial design” and “man caves.”
According to Digiday, Pinterest is under the process of introducing ads to its platform, however, a Pinterest spokesperson said there are no immediate plans to allow advertisers to target users based upon the interest pages they chose to follow. With this being said, Pinterest is a platform that relies solely on advertising for revenue, so it’s safe to say that if interest pages become popular with users, ads will be sold against them.
“All we’re trying to do is go deeper based upon targeting people on interest. The ability to hit them in that context makes a lot of sense,” said Jordan Bitterman, chief strategy officer at media agency Mindshare.
According to Jill Sherman, group director of social and content strategy at Digitas, the 32 categories on Pinterest (such as “Education,” “Gardening,” and “Technology”) were too broad to serve specific ads. Agency execs tend to describe Pinterest as a visual search engine and adding interest collections can only enhance that database.
“It was basically a collection of boards. Now it’s much more: a very deep directory of interest,” said Razorfish’s global vice president of social media, Chris Bowler.
Pinterest plans to utilize these interest pages and broaden its appeal. Providing more pinpointed collections could attract even more users
“This is where the entire social world is going; niche communities that have much higher receptivity than your broad-based Facebook and Twitter platforms,” Bowler said. “This is Pinterest’s way of serving a community of rock climbers versus someone creating another online community around rock climbing.”
This tool caters to people’s interests and makes Pinterest more appealing to consumers, and more alluring to ad buyers, which, in return will surely result in an increase of time spent on the app by its users.
