New Pinterest Place Pins Will Put Businesses on the Map

Last Wednesday, Pinterest launched a new feature called “Place Pins,” which allows users to map out the locations of the items, photos, and content they share on their pinboards.  Users can click on “Add a map” under the settings of a new or an existing board and they’re taken to an interactive map where they can “locate” their pins.  Additionally, pinners can choose one location and create their board and upload pins entirely centered on that one location – great for sharing traveling ideas and inspiration.

For example, under the Small Screen Producer account, if we wanted to add a local favorite brewery in Houston to a new board titled, “Around Houston,” we’d first click on “Add a Place,” and search for the place in a Google-like search bar.

Pinterest’s Place Pins depend on Foursquare’s location API and Mapbox’s map technology. Pinners can certainly add a locations on their own if they can’t find them.  When users have completed their boards, they can now easily send them to other Pinterest users directly from the platform.

This is the fourth pin-update this year. According to Mashable, additional pin features the social platform has created are Recipe Pins that have ingredient and directions alongside a food photo, Product Pins , which provide price and availability, and Article Pins for users to share news stories on pinboards.

Pinterest’s Businesses Benefits 

Pinterest hasn’t offered ads on their platform just yet outside of Promoted Pins, which provide a subtle way for brands to promote pins to make themselves more noticeable to pinners. Promoted Pins is still in its early testing and feedback stage and is currently being reviewed by the FTC to make sure it follows best practices and federal advertising guidelines.

Place Pins can certainly be a way for businesses, such as restaurants and retailers, to include address, phone numbers, and other contact information with this new feature. And it might be a great way for businesses to promote special events, store deals and offers, and travel inspiration in the future. (Did you take a look at Yahoo Travel’s idea at the top?) Feel free to take a look at some other examples Pinterest released last week for Place Pin inspiration.