What's the Story Behind Pinterest Story Pins?

If you’re a business owner, a creator, or a marketer already maximizing Pinterest advertising, congratulations! You’re already exposing your products or services to more than 400 million active users intentionally looking for what you offer. 

Along with this underlying marketing potential and in an effort to keep up with other social networks, Pinterest has officially joined the bandwagon in introducing their very own Instagram Stories-like format that’s intended for creators. Introducing: Pinterest Story Pins.

Image Credit: Pinterest

So, how do Story Pins work?

Story Pins are pretty similar to Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube stories — but some might say they are more creative, personalized, and better for being accessible after 24 hours.

Compared to regular pins that contain a single image, title, and pin description, each of your Story Pins can have up to 20 pages of content that can be linked back to your website or blog. Think of it as having the ability to make your own sub-website on Pinterest solely for showcasing your ideas and inspiration through various images, videos, texts, and voiceovers.

The best thing about Story Pins? The whole creative world is within your hands and your mobile phone...or laptop if that’s your preference.

Why you should use Story Pins

Pinterest is also updating creator profiles simultaneously with the introduction of Story Pins. Your audience will be able to message you via the Contact or Message card. They will also be able to react to your pins with a range of positive reactions to provide their feedback. This gives creators a lot more control over their Pinterest presence, and the ability to engage with other Pinners. 

Image Credit: Pinterest

Impressions and interactions on your Story Pins are also measurable to build and keep your connection with your audience through Pin Stats — an analytics tool and an engagement tab that’s only accessible with a Business Pinterest Account.

Pin Stats will allow you to sort pins within group boards according to reactions and comments with the definite time your Story Pins got pinned within a time range of 24 hours to 90 days.

These features can all be leveraged by adept marketers looking to increase their presence and following on Pinterest. It also tells us that influencers have a new frontier to conquer, so brands that engage with influencers might want to keep an eye out for new Pinterest collaboration opportunities. 

Is the feature available now?

The Story Pins feature is still a work in progress and is not available to all users just yet. In the meantime, brace yourself and trust that you will be able to maximize the feature at its best by the time it is widely accessible. Patience is a virtue!

Pinterest vs. Instagram

Although Story Pins sound a lot like Instagram stories, Pinterest and Instagram are two very different platforms that are used for different purposes. Instagram is more about sharing content, while Pinterest is more about discovering content.

👀 Let's get visual! What types of images grab attention on Pinterest? →

While there is no denying that Instagram and Pinterest are both powerful visual platforms—and now with the emerging similarities of Story Pins and Instagram stories—determining which platform to choose for your business largely depends on your target audience, advertising strategy, business goals, and ultimately what time and resources you have available.