Simple Pin Podcast: Recap of Pinterest Presents

Host: Kate Ahl
Episode: 400
Release Date: October 16, 2024

Introduction

In the landmark 400th episode of the Simple Pin Podcast, host Kate Ahl delves into a comprehensive recap of Pinterest Presents, the annual event where Pinterest unveils its latest strategies, tools, and visions for the upcoming year. Kate expresses her gratitude to the listeners, reflecting on the podcast's evolution since its inception in 2016 and reiterating her commitment to providing valuable Pinterest marketing insights.

"I recognize that you have a choice as to who you want to allow to speak into your business when it comes to Pinterest marketing. I appreciate you allowing me to do that."
— Kate Ahl [00:13]

Overview of Pinterest Presents

Pinterest Presents serves as Pinterest's annual showcase, highlighting the platform's advancements, marketing tools, and strategic directions aimed at empowering businesses to achieve sales and lead generation goals. This year's presentation stood out for its engaging and quirky approach, making traditionally dry topics more accessible and interesting for marketers.

"They did a great job making a relatively boring topic not so boring. Plus they had an actor from Ted Lasso, which was pretty cool."
— Kate Ahl [Release Date Section]

The event primarily focused on enhancing advertising capabilities, introducing new features designed to integrate seamlessly with businesses' growth strategies. Kate emphasizes the importance of watching the event to fully grasp Pinterest's trajectory for the next year.

Key Announcements and Features

1. Enhanced Shopping and Catalog Integration

Pinterest underscored the significance of connecting product catalogs to the platform. Businesses that link their catalogs experience a fivefold increase in impressions, leading to doubled outbound clicks year over year.

"If you are a merchant, if you are an e-commerce seller and you have not connected your catalog to Pinterest, you would watch this and go, yeah, I gotta connect my catalog."
— Kate Ahl [Mid-Episode]

This integration aims to streamline the shopping experience, making transactions more seamless and fostering long-term customer relationships rather than one-off transactions.

2. Highlighted Boards for Enhanced Discoverability

Pinterest introduced the feature of highlighted boards, which appear in the Pinners' feeds to offer more inspiration. For instance, gift guide boards can be prominently featured, simplifying the shopping process for users by reducing the need to search across multiple areas.

"They're saying this is like your trendy personal shopper. So if you're trying to find something, they want to make it easy for you to shop from that board."
— Kate Ahl [Mid-Episode]

Collages and Creative Tools

Collages have traditionally been a user-centric feature on Pinterest, allowing pinters to assemble and organize images for inspiration. Pinterest is now expanding this feature for marketers, enabling them to create product-linked collages that can be used in advertising campaigns.

"You can create collages with your products and link them to your products and then you can run ads. They think Gen Z loves, loves, loves collages."
— Kate Ahl [Mid-Episode]

These collages aim to inspire and drive action, with Pinterest planning to automate some aspects using AI to assist in collage creation, tailored to enhance the shopping experience for younger demographics.

Promotions and Discounts

Pinterest is enhancing its promotional capabilities to spotlight sales and discounts more effectively. Features include:

• Price Change Highlights: Automatically highlighting price reductions for seasonal or time-bound sales.

• Personalized Promotions: Targeted promotions based on users' search behaviors and pin interactions, enabling advertisers to reach pinners when they're most receptive to making a purchase.

"With promotions, pinners will be able to find your sales more easily. Promotions and sales based on what they've searched and pin allowing advertisers to better reach those pinners when shopping matters most."
— Kate Ahl [Mid-Episode]

Performance Plus: AI-Driven Advertising Solutions

One of the standout announcements was Performance Plus, an AI-powered suite designed to optimize Pinterest advertising. Performance Plus offers a full-funnel advertising solution encompassing:

1. Creative Enhancement: Automatically improving ad creatives by adding appealing backgrounds to products, resulting in higher engagement rates.

   "Walgreens sees a 55% higher click-through rate with those backgrounds, which I thought was kind of cool."
   — Kate Ahl [Major Feature Announcement]

2. Automated Bidding and Targeting: Utilizing AI to manage bidding strategies and audience targeting to maximize return on ad spend (ROAS).

3. Budget Optimization: Ensuring that ad budgets are allocated efficiently across campaigns to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Early testing phases have shown promising results, with advertisers experiencing at least a 10% improvement in cost per acquisition and cost per click for various campaign objectives.

"In their alpha and beta testing show that most advertisers saw at least a 10% improvement in cost per acquisition for conversion and catalog sales, or a 10% improvement in cost per click for consideration."
— Kate Ahl [Performance Plus Details]

Kate advises caution, recommending that businesses consult with her team before fully integrating Performance Plus to ensure alignment with their specific marketing strategies.

Commitment to a Positive User Experience

Pinterest's leadership, led by new CEO Bill Reddy, reaffirmed the platform's dedication to being a positive and safe space, especially for younger users. Initiatives include:

• Partnership with Boston Children's Hospital: Collaborating to measure and enhance user well-being.

• Inspired Internet Pledge: Committing to industry-leading standards in user experience and safety.

"Pinterest has the lowest overall rate of negative user experiences across all platforms."
— Kate Ahl [Commitment to Positivity]

Bill Reddy emphasized Pinterest's mission to lead in user well-being and position itself as a healthier alternative to other social media platforms.

Full-Funnel Marketing Approach

Pinterest is shifting towards a full-funnel marketing strategy, focusing on the entire customer journey from awareness to conversion. This approach ensures that Pinterest remains integral to users' decision-making processes, reducing reliance on other platforms like Google or Amazon.

"We want Pinterest to be a place where you can get good conversions, good return on ad spend."
— Andrea Mallard [Kate Ahl's Recap]

By enhancing lower-funnel offerings and integrating advanced advertising solutions, Pinterest aims to become the go-to platform for businesses seeking effective conversions.

Call to Action and Conclusion

Kate concludes the episode by urging listeners to watch the full Pinterest Presents event to gain deeper insights into the platform's future directions. She commends Pinterest's leadership for their innovative approaches and reaffirms her dedication to teaching effective Pinterest marketing strategies.

"I am proud to be a teacher of how to market on this platform because I stand by it. I think it's pretty great."
— Kate Ahl [Conclusion]

Listeners are encouraged to engage with the new features, such as uploading catalogs and enabling Performance Plus, to leverage Pinterest's enhanced capabilities for business growth.

Key Takeaways

• Enhanced Advertising Tools: Pinterest is introducing advanced features like Performance Plus to optimize ad performance using AI.

• Improved Shopping Experience: Features like highlighted boards and collages aim to make shopping more intuitive and seamless for users.

• Commitment to Positivity: Pinterest continues to prioritize user well-being, distinguishing itself as a positive social media platform.

• Full-Funnel Marketing: The platform is positioning itself to support businesses throughout the entire customer journey, from discovery to conversion.

• Actionable Steps for Businesses: Businesses should consider connecting their product catalogs, exploring new advertising tools, and aligning their media choices with company values to maximize their Pinterest marketing efforts.

For more details and to access the tools discussed, visit simplepinmedia.com or check out the episode on YouTube.