Over 460 million people use Pinterest each month to find inspiration, new products and ideas, and new ways to build a life they love. Content creators, Pinners, publishers, and brands all use the platform for different purposes, and up until now, various Pinterest features had been separated based on the type of account.

Starting May 11, 2023, Pinterest is unifying all its features under one simple format, Pins. 

This update includes links, flexible aspect ratios, post-publish editing, expressive features such as adding music, text overlays, and stickers to your Pins, and much more. 

What are Pinterest’s New Tools and Features?

In addition to this massive update, Pinterest is expanding its tools and features to enhance Pinners and creators’ experience editing, publishing, and monetizing their content, along with measuring Pin performance and connecting with brands they care about. 

Malik Ducard, Chief Content Officer, Pinterest shares, “By creating a simpler, faster way for content creators to harness the power of Pinterest, we are making it easier than ever for our creators to reach an engaged audience, make money, build a brand and express what makes them uniquely special both on and off the platform.”  

These new tools and features include: 

• Video Performance Metrics: Video Pins will now have detailed metrics, such as watch time and views, giving users and content creators access to consistent analytics across all Pin types. 

• Links in Pins: This feature is a new monetization channel allowing users to add links to images, videos, and Pinterest TV live streams. These links will foster increased traffic and connections with brands. In addition, the paid partnership tool and product tagging using the affiliate links tool (for the US and the UK) are available to everyone as ways to earn money on Pinterest.

• Pin scheduling via API: Individuals can create and schedule all of their Pins directly from Pinterest or by using one of the platform’s content marketing partners.
• Flexible aspect ratios and editing: Pins can be created with flexible aspect ratios. The ability to edit Pin components after publishing, such as the title, links, and details, is also live.

New community features include: 

• Photo Comments: Pinterest users can respond to content on Pinterest with an uploaded image. 
• Safety keywords: Pinterest users can add a filter under social permissions to auto-hide all comments with the specified keyword. 
• Reactions: Previously, reactions like the heart and lightbulb emojis were only available on certain types of Pins. With this update, the reaction feature has been expanded to all Pins. 

New Monetization Opportunities

Allison Light, Lead Product Manager at Pinterest at Pinterest, shares, “We care a lot about our creator monetization paths, and we recognize that this is incredibly important for our creators in the variety of ways that they earn money today.”

She shares that there are several new monetization opportunities: 

1. Paid partnership tool: This tool is available in over 30 countries and lets creators easily tag brand partners. 
2. Product tagging with affiliate links: Now that you can add links to all Pins, creators have more opportunities to add affiliate links and earn money from their content. Pinterest doesn’t offer affiliate links directly, but creators can make money by adding affiliate links from outside networks like Amazon Associates. 

3. Pinterest TV: Pinterest TV, a live streaming service, has recently expanded into Canada. This expansion offers new opportunities for brands and creators to show off products and services in new and exciting ways.  

New analytic features are another tool that content creators can use to increase monetization opportunities. 

Allison shares that some of the biggest updates within the analytics space include: 

• Video Pins receive an enhanced lifetime suite of metrics (metrics that have existed since the pin’s creation), which includes the overall number of saves and engagement.
• Image content also has additional lifetime metrics added. This enhancement is a huge step up from before when only the last 30 days of metrics were available. 

The Best Practices for Creating Engaging Pins

So, how can you create visually appealing Pins that drive engagement and conversions? 

Allison explains, “Our best practices, first and foremost: Create really visually compelling content. We know the best-performing Pins on Pinterest really incorporate solid lighting, great framing, high-resolution assets, or stylized effects. So, really think about how you can tell that story from a visual perspective.”

Other best practices for creating engaging Pins include: 

Give your audience a call to action and ask them to save and follow the Pin. Remember, the more your Pins are saved or followed, the more they appear on Pinterest.

Publish content regularly. People are constantly searching for new inspiration, so consistently provide them with new ideas and content. 

Take advantage of trending search traffic by using the Pinterest Trends tool to research what ideas are on the rise and seasonal trends relevant to your content or brand.

Have fun with your video content. Pinterest’s new publishing features (currently available for Pins) make it simple to record videos, add effects or stickers, and tag other people, products, or brands. 

Contextualize your Pins. Pinterest is a visual search engine, so add descriptive text, titles, and links to your Pins and a strong thumbnail. Always add your Pins to relevant boards to create stronger associations to help Pinners find relevant content. 

How Pinterest is Continuing to Evolve for Content Creators, Pinners, and Brands

Allison shares, “We really want to make creation as effortless as possible and maximize value through driving that traffic where creators can monetize. So, minimizing effort and maximizing value is kind of the mantra of the [Pinterest] team. We think this is great for the way that Pinterest works as a platform. Content on Pinterest is evergreen and keeps resurfacing and is always available for Pinners, versus other platforms where you constantly have to be running that race of publishing every day just to stay relevant.”

Another top-of-mind topic for the Pinterest team is ensuring that content remains high-quality and relevant to users. 

Allusion explains, “With this release [flexible aspect ratios for Pins], we’re going back to opening that aperture for all creators and all content to be successful on the platform and to really deliver that inspiration that Pinners are looking for.”

As for brands and advertisers, Pinterest continues offering all the features and formats they love on desktop and API. 

Another exciting development is Pinterest TV, which has created more success for creators, with some creators who’ve hosted episodes more than doubling their followers after a live episode. 
In closing, Allison says, “At Pinterest, our mission is to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love. Because people are coming to the platform for that, with the intent and that positive mindset, they’re ready to act. They just need that help getting there, and that’s what we think really sets us apart as a platform.”