Hey friends, we're not sure if you've read the latest, but yesterday Pinterest announced that it has started taking action on pins that don't abide by their terms of usage (yes, we're talking about affiliate links). I know that sounds scary, but the good news is that if you've been working with us, nothing will change! We've always been big on supporting Pinterest in their efforts to keep the platform as authentic as possible, which is why we've always followed their rules.
To hear it from Pinterest, Venture Beat reported the news with a clear and concise statement from a Pinterest representative:
"We are removing affiliate links to ensure we’re providing the best possible experience for Pinners. Recently, we observed affiliate links and redirects causing irrelevant Pins in feeds, broken links and other spammy behavior. We believe this change will enable us to keep the high bar of relevancy and quality Pinners expect from Pinterest."
VentureBeat reported that Pinterest has "automatically removed all affiliate links, redirects and trackers on Pins."
While a lot of Pinterest enthusiasts will consider this a good thing because they weren't fans of spotting affiliate pins in their feeds, there are a lot of pinners who will unfortunately be seeing some of their monthly income disappear. Fear not and rest assured that Pinterest has left open other options for you to monetize your well-curated Pinterest presence and your hard-earned following in more organic and authentic ways.
We want to invite you to get to know loop88 better: you actually know most of us, since so many of the top influencers on Pinterest already call loop88 home. We spend time one on one with the senior team at Pinterest as often as we can to understand their needs and vision in relationship to you, our influencers, and to our clients, who are some of the top brands in the world. Our Pinners are involved creatively and paid appropriately for each campaign. Oh, and did we mention compensation is agreed upon up front, not based on performance or clicks? That is the way Pinterest likes it and that is the way we like it. Find out more on our website or give us a shout out at [email protected] if you'd like to explore what we have to offer.
We hope this news wasn't too painful. As it is said, when one door closes, another window of opportunity tends to open at just the right time.
Looking forward to having you on the loop88 Pinterest team!
As a founder and executive working at the cross section of media and technology, I find my days full of exciting developments, growth and change. For the past six months, our own amazing team has been hard at work, planning for today, the launch of loop88.
For many of you, this is the first time you are visiting this site, reading my words, learning about what we do for our wonderful clients, and how we work with the many terrific people who help influence our online world. For yet many more, this is a culmination of hints and messaging we have been carefully sending out in preparation for today’s announcement.
How did we get here?
One amazing phenomena along three intersecting paths - commerce, media and influence - has coalesced to make what we do possible: the long tail.
Wired’s Chris Anderson first discussed the “long tail” phenomena in 2004 as a way to understand the shift in commerce as it related to the way the internet shifts popularity.
"The theory of the Long Tail is that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail. As the costs of production and distribution fall, especially online, there is now less need to lump products and consumers into one-size-fits-all containers.”
The long tail has affected us in various way, but we can most easily see this when we look at these examples:
The long tail of commerce: Amazon.
Without a physical store, one can shelve every niche’s dream product. Based on extensive data and targeted marketing, a smart online purveyor can reach the right person for the right sales opportunity at the exact right time.
The long tail of media: Pinterest.
Until recently, media, and more directly social media, was a factor of time-based attention. How many people will engage with your post (like, share, etc.) before it disappears from the “feed”. This is true for Facebook and Twitter, among others, but not so for Pinterest. The aspiration foundation of engagement matched with the physical-like pin board means that any given content can exist on someone’s niche board forever, if that person so chooses. It is the article or advertisement in a magazine at your doctor’s office, there until someone throws it out months later, rather than the stock ticker at the bottom of network news shows.
The long tail of influence
Celebrity is by definition “the state of being well known”. We most commonly understand that as we view it through the lens of major media: movies, sports, fashion, etc. These “celebrities” are well known for their talent in a given area as we experience it (watching a great movie or cheering on a pennant game); however, modern networks like YouTube and Pinterest have given way to niche celebrity or the long tail of influence around given areas of interest. There are individuals, not usually traditional celebrities, who have millions of followers surrounding their niche expertise in such things as: DIY kitchens, hair styles, cupcakes and the list goes on and on.
The long tail of advertising
Sourced in commerce, published and distributed in social media, and brought to life through influence, this final tail is the combination and natural progression of the earlier three paths. No one wants to be advertised to. Advertising has not progressed, but rather regressed. We do not want to see a thousand “smart” banner ads or contextual sidebar links or even celebrity “endorsements”. We want to be mesmerized and captivated. We want to believe, try, aspire and experience in order to be enticed.
Successful advertising campaigns grow beyond minor visibility - especially with social media - when one can connect online brilliance with the real world. Building positive personal experiences by pairing great companies with smart online and real world programs, while bringing together key niche influencers in an authentic way is the way we believe that the long tail of advertising will move this industry into the next stage of its evolution.
loop88. We create experiences for the visual web.
Combining our experience working with some of the most respected companies in the world and our relationships with nearly ten thousand tastemakers across niche channels, loop88 charted a course over the past two years, piloting successful campaigns on Pinterest when we were formerly known as Pinbooster. Today, we extend that charted path as we grown into “loop88” and hope you will join us on this exciting journey down the loops of this long tail.
