Messaging tools are having their moment in the spotlight. Facebook recently made news by announcing that their messaging capabilities will now be hosted in a separate Mobile App, Instagram released their version of direct messaging earlier this year and recent research show that Snapchat is now the third most popular messaging app for Millennials behind Facebook and Instagram. But for Pinterest, direct messaging capabilities have remained in their infancy – until now. With Pinterest’s rollout of “Conversations,” the platform is taking a big step in direct messaging capabilities, and marketers can directly benefit.
How does it work?
“Conversations” enables pinners to send pins directly to a friend or group of friends, and build a conversation around the content. Conversations is a build on their previously offered “Send” feature which allowed users to send individual pins to one friend at a time, directly from the platform. Pinners quickly adopted the feature, using it to send 2 million pins a day, but wanted something more. Unlike Send, Conversations allow users to share with more than one friend and reply back with text. Users can share anything they find on Pinterest – crafts, recipes, vacation ideas, etc. – directly to friends for instant feedback and collaboration. Friends planning a trip, for example, can share hotel recommendations, restaurant dishes they want to try and packing how-to’s all in an easy, organized stream. Conversations are stored by the notifications on both the mobile and web platforms.
How can marketers take advantage of the tool?
Similarly to how brands have begun harnessing the power of Snapchat and Instagram direct, “Conversations” offers brands a chance to directly collaborate with Pinterest users for the first time on the platform.
- Direct access to fans: Pinterest hosts 30 billion pins, half of which were created in the past six months, making it hard for branded content to stick out in cluttered newsfeeds. Conversations can offer brands a chance to reach out to existing fans directly and establish connections. Conversations could also be used for campaign execution to share exclusive content with a select group of super fans or brand enthusiasts.
- Collaborate with Influencers: Only 27 percent of active users are currently following any brand on the platform. By partnering with Influencers, brands have the opportunity to have their content shared and seen by additional audiences. As Conversations offer direct access to fans, it also allows direct access to Influencers already following the brand to form these relationships.
- Easy Messaging: To send a pin through Conversations, a user has to pick the recipient from the pinners they are currently following. To receive a conversation though, a user (or a brand account) does not need to be following the messenger back. This allows users to directly contact brands with questions or thoughts. As the tool becomes more ingrained in users’ behavior, it may become an increasingly helpful tool for customer service, and there may become an increased need for moderation.
It is not clear at this time if and how analytics for pins shared via Conversations will be included in Pinterest analytic tools. Since Pinterest users took so well to the Send feature though, it is likely that Conversations will also be well received, and as the tool grows, measurement ability could develop. While not currently measurable, brands experimenting with this new tool could help set the bar for direct communication with this audience on Pinterest.
Cover photo via Pinterest
