Capitalizing on Openness Through Pinterest
Pinterest has been moving forward at a steady, somewhat silent pace as of late, and all of its time and effort is really starting to position it as something much more interesting.
There are very few instances in which people go online and look for a brand. Search is one in which people have intent to interact with or at least learn from a brand. Customer service and email are other instances, but in both of those cases an existing relationship exists. There are very few times the slate is blank and people show openness to learning about a brand… any brand. It just has to be a brand with a good idea.
That’s the area Pinterest is carving out for itself. Pinterest has always been a search and planning platform. Users have gone there for ideas on desserts, decorations and activities, but they always had to interact with a search bar. They had to supply something to inform what Pinterest provided.
Now, Pinterest is bringing visual discovery to the camera.
An Openness to Discovery
With Pinterest Lens people can take photos of objects and get information on related things, rooms and get ideas based on what is in the room and dishes to learn how to make what was just served. Users snap a photo and then are open to whatever is given back to them. There’s really no intent or expectation, just an openness to serendipitous discovery and inspiration.
The brands that are on Pinterest, sharing ideas and being a value add in the community, have the opportunity to move quickly from no awareness to relationship in a matter of seconds should they show up when a user snaps a photo with Lens.
What It Lacks in Scale…
Pinterest has never been the biggest platform out there, and over the years it’s evolved from positioning itself as a social network to being squarely focused on search, which means competing with the giant that is Google. That being said, Pinterest is finding its niche.
It’s not about the search bar or having intent to do something. It’s about being open to new ideas and inspiration. That creates a role for brands that doesn’t exist on other platforms. Sure, brands can try to inspire in everything they do, but it is only on Pinterest that they can be sure people are open to being inspired. It’s there that brands can make the platform better by adding value to it.
Pinterest is finding its place. It’s gaining traction and while every other platform is copying the other, it’s doing things differently. That, and that alone, will garner Pinterest attention from marketers because it has the potential to play a role in marketing nothing else can.