Friday, August 18, 2017

PINTEREST...Will it Interest you???




Pinterest is a user generated image content platform. It facilitates in ways to search through images (i.e. converting clicking on an image to a search query, targeting advertising based on image searches). They are different from Instagram and Snapchat where one shares the images. Pinterest has been unabashedly vocal that it is not a social network. Its plan is to make it as easy as possible for a user to convert their purchase decision to a buy. It is influencing people to buy an item that they have been planning to buy but have not been able to hit the purchase button yet.

Their ultimate goal is to maximize the capabilities available through Lens, a resource on Pinterest through which users can take a picture on their phone and Pinterest will display pins related to the objects in the photo (for example, if you submitted a photo of a pair of shoes you would see pins of outfits including those shoes, or even links to purchase the shoes).
Due to the relationship between Pinterest and the brands that utilize Pinterest to promote and advertise their products, Pinterest believes it has an "edge" over other companies that have tried to build visual search platforms.

Pinterest’s initial user base was driven by women but now it has expanded to other age groups such as millennials and middle aged groups. Pinterest’s users have driven its growth because more people generate more ideas. People save their favorite ideas from around the web on a single platform. This user base growth and rich content in a single platform allows brands to reach their audience on Pinterest. As they continue to grow faster than ever, they are adding new business programs too. Recent initiatives include bringing ads to new markets, launching promoted app pins and introducing Pinterest propel, new program for small businesses and agencies.

As more people discover the magic of Pinterest, community keeps growing. Pinterest now has 175 million monthly active users around the world. This number is almost equal to the user base of Snapchat. Much of the recent growth comes from international markets, where word is spreading fast about Pinterest’s unique blend of utility and inspiration. They have seen 3x year over year growth in Germany and Brazil and 2x year over year growth in France and Japan.

Pinterest describes itself as not a social media site, it's a visual discovery engine focused on helping people discover ideas, and not about socializing with friends. Hence it is different from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat but the concept is similar, to grow data base of user generated content. The additional number of users added is less compared to social platforms like Instagram where it boasts four times the number of monthly users compared to Pinterest.

Pinterest expects to make more than $500M revenue this year compared to $300M last year. It started generating revenue from advertising in The company said its growth potential depends on improving its product to match people with images that reflect their interests and inspire them. They have e-commerce and content aspects like its counterparts Instagram and Facebook. Pinterest is aiming to become a shopping platform like Amazon. Pinterest recently invested to improve its recommendation engine, which delivers targeted products to a user’s feed based on search and pin history and this could be a game changer.

The company is raising funds to improve its computer vision and visual search technologies like its Lens camera search, which lets users take pictures on their phone and search for similar items or images on Pinterest. The company will also use the new capital to improve its offering for international users.

As per study, brands achieve return on investment with Pinterest that blows away Facebook and Instagram, but that only happens when marketers share useful content and inspiring ideas. It will take time to shift habits, but the company is headed in right direction and has lot of potential unless competition catches up to it.
Source: https://hbr.org/2017/07/what-we-learned-from-improving-diversity-rates-at-pinterest
https://www.wired.com/2016/04/pinterest-reinvents-prove-really-worth-billions/

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