What is the lesson that Pinterest is taking from the IPOs of companies like Facebook and Twitter? Have a solid revenue stream. Facebook suffered for a year because of a lack of confidence in its ability to draw in ad revenue. And there are plenty still doubting Twitter’s future since it isn’t yet profitable.
That is why Pinterest has been taking the time to solidify its relationships with the business world. That has, of course, involved advertising, and now the company took another big step, with the launch of its first API on Thursday.
With the API, businesses will be able to showcase their most popular Pins right on their websites. Users can then pin directly from those sites. The Pins will automatically update, so the sites will not fall behind on what is trending.
Pinterest also announced the first partners for the API: AllRecipes,Better Homes and Garden, BuzzFeed, Disney sites Babble and BabyZone, Elle Magazine, Mashable, ModCloth, NBC News Digital’s iVillage.com, Nestlé, Random House, Snapguide, Target, Walmart, Wayfair, Whole Foods, Zappos, and Zulily.
So, for example, a site like AllRecipes can show the Thanksgiving recipes that have been pinned the most. Or Random House can display the books that have seen the most Pins on its page.
Beyond just popular pins, though, Pinterest has a slew of other APIs it will be rolling out soon. They include like top repins, most recent Pins, related Pins, most clicked-through Pins and Pins from specific search terms.
Pinterest for businesses
Pinterest has been courting the business community for a while now, making upgrades and launching features to make it easier for them to use the site.
The company started with the creation of business accounts in November of last year.
Pinterest also introduced new tools for them to use on those accounts. including a verification badge, which is meant to people identify high-quality sources of content and more easily find the business they want in search results, and new buttons and widgets, such as the Pin It button, Follow button, and Profile widget, which are meant to increase engagement from pinners and traffic back the business website.
In March, Pinterest launched an analytics tool to help businesses see how much traffic Pinterest has referred to their websites.
The tool provides information to business clients regarding activity on their Pinterest accounts, including how frequently users are clicking on their photos.
Pinterest announced in September that it would begin showing ads in certain pins, before beginning to roll them out in October.
Promoted Pins work the same as any other type of pin, except they have a label at the bottom that denoted that they are “promoted.” It also contains a link to learn more about what that means.
Most recently the company hired Joanne Bradford as its Head of Partnerships. The role will require her to focus on commercial and content partnerships, aka having good relationships with businesses who want to advertise on the site.
The next social media IPO?
If Pinterest can successfully pull off advertising, and show that it can be a real moneymaker, it may be able to follow LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter as the next social network to go public.
The company has certainly attracted the attention of VCs.
San Francisco-based Pinterest was launched in March 2010. The company has raised a total of $565 million since then.
In February, Pinterest raised $200 million in a round of funding that was led by Valiant Capital Management, with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and FirstMark Capital.
Pinterest then closed a $225 million round of funding, led by Fidelity Investments last month. Andreessen Horowitz, FirstMark Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Valiant Capital Management also participated.
The new round valued the company at $3.8 billion.
(Image source: http://theseosystem.com)
