Last Wednesday, Pinterest introduced Place Pins, the latest update to its platform in 2013. While the popular photo-sharing website has introduced other “Rich Pins” this year and continues to experiment with advertising via Promoted Pins, Place Pins represent another potential avenue for marketing and promotions on the social network.
Pinterest announced its new Place Pins to its growing number of members this past Wednesday.
So What Exactly are Place Pins?
Pinterest describes its new Place Pins as a way for users to plan out vacation destinations, mark their favorite restaurants, save local hotspots, and more, making it easier for them and the entire Pinterest community to not just save and enjoy location-centric pins, but to find their geographical locations on a map.
Users can either create new map-centric boards or add locations to existing pins, which gives that pin a flag on the map. The maps, created using structured data culled from FourSquare, Airbnb, TripAdvisor and other sites, offer users a search-and-flag function similar to Google Maps. Whether you’re looking for a general location like a city or a specific place like a local restaurant, the new Place Pins allow users to find the exact location that matches each of their new and existing pins.
These new Place Pins may indicate that advertising and marketing via Pinterest will become even more sophisticated than has been suggested by the announcement of Promoted Pins. While Promoted Pins are still in testing, they—along with Place Pins—indicate that this social network is moving in the same direction as profitable predecessors like Facebook and Twitter.
How Can Businesses Benefit From Place Pins?
Though the technology is only a few days old, Place Pins offer a variety of opportunities for expanded visibility and business promotion. That amazing photo you just pinned of the latest addition to your restaurant’s menu? Now when users find it in a search, they’ll see right on the map where they can get it, along with your phone number and address.
By localizing pins, Pinterest is creating a major opportunity for businesses to market themselves. With users pinning a reported 1.5 million travel-related images every day, it was a no-brainer for Pinterest, too. In the near future—particularly with the eventual rollout of Promoted Pins—we may see businesses significantly increase their visibility on the map. After all, with Pinterest users already actively searching for ideas and inspirations, location information may be just the thing they need to go from idea to reality.
If you’re a business driven by foot traffic and you don’t yet have a presence on Pinterest, now is the time to jump on board. Get started with Place Pins early, and be one of the first to see what a difference it can make!
The post Pinterest is Going Places! What New Place Pins Mean for Businesses appeared first on Web Design Company Chicago | Web Development | SEO PPC Management Chicago.
