Folks at Pinterest were busy for a week in Portland. Doing what? We have the answer for you – Conversations. No they weren’t just making conversation, they were making “Conversations”- a new messaging feature for Pinterest.
Wednesday, August 6, saw the popular visual discovery website launch its own private, direct messaging feature to the users of the Pinterest website. Pinterest has also made it available on its app for iOS systems. The Conversations-enabled Pinterest app can now be downloaded for free from the App Store, for devices supporting iOS 6.0 or higher.
Pinners to chat away on Pinterest now
Unlike other social media messengers like the Google Hangout and Facebook Messenger, or the more general messaging services like WhatsApp and Line, Conversations is not your usual private messenger where you can talk to people about anything under the sun. The feature is dedicated to steer conversations about “Pins” only.
Makes sense doesn’t it? Pinterest is, after all, a platform to engage in shared interests. Precisely why, to use the private messaging feature on Pinterest, users must send them a “Pin” first. A step up from the Send a Pin feature rolled out last Spring, that allowed users to share a pin with friends, Conversations includes what the former lacked – the ability to comment directly (and hence talk to) the sender of the pin.
According to the website, users send over two million pins to others on a daily basis. Since Send a Pin doesn’t cover the “good old fashioned” way of talking about the pins, the sender and receiver both love, Conversations was launched. Now, the receiver can reply with a private message or even pin a picture s/he likes, in response. This enables back and forth conversation between users.
Michael Yamartino, the Conversations Product Manager said that the messaging feature only took a few months to build. The prototyping jam session was held in Portland, over seven days and the product was launched thereafter. It was launched for the mobile versions as well.
What is in it for marketers?
Pinterest is projecting the messaging feature as a great option for planning projects, exchanging ideas, and sharing new discoveries around pins. The idea is to allow Pinners to private-chat, without leaving the website. Marketers can not only make use of the new way consumers can discover and share their content, they can also collaborate with the company and begin communicating with the most active Pinners and followers. This opens up a whole new range of marketing opportunities for businesses on Pinterest.
The Conversations feature allows for messages to be shared with several people simultaneously. This can be a boon for marketers soliciting feedback. A marketing team can easily use the feature to curate Pins together, in the form of a brand. For instance, samples of work, or entire portfolios can be sent with well-framed messages by the marketing team. Additionally, marketers can use the new features for several uses in-house – planning meetings, projects, outings and the like.
Private, one-on-one messages don’t appear spammy and can be leveraged to get favorable action from the (groups of) customers. Pinterest has included an “unsend” feature that allows you to delete the pin well within a few seconds of sending it, in case you want to undo sending a message or a pin. Possibilities are numerous, however, businesses need to exercise some caution while using Conversations as a marketing tool since users can report/block the posts/senders they don’t like.
Featured image: Own Screenshot
