A new feature from Instagram takes a page out of Pinterest’s book. And while it could potentially help businesses in a small way, it doesn’t offer the potential marketing punch of Pinterest just yet.
Instagram Collections
The feature is called Collections and it allows users to save and organize posts that come across their feeds. So if you come across a cool photo that you want to go back to later, you can put it into one of your collections, similar to how you would with a pinboard on Pinterest.
But the major difference is that these collections are totally private for now. So essentially, you can really just use the tool to save the items that you personally want to remember. But you can’t use the feature as a marketing tool to share even more content with your audience.
For businesses, the tool could still have some potential applications. For example, you could save posts that customers share of your products so you have a selection to choose from when you go to re-post at a later date. Or you could save images that you find inspirational or helpful in some way. Here’s how some people are already using it:
The new Collections feature on @instagram helps me organize my portfolio. #louiegraphyShoots ??? pic.twitter.com/9W9DoYFTFX
— louiegraphy ?? (@louiegraphy) April 19, 2017
#Instagram Adds ‘Collections’ to Help Organize Ideas on #ThePlatform https://t.co/SxKXNt4Lkm via @adhutchinson pic.twitter.com/luOEWnTfOr
— ScrapeLogo (@ScrapeLogo) April 19, 2017
Instagram slaps #Pinterest and takes collections to the prom & Facebook #FBF8 makes #Snapchat release new AR world lenses. #SocialMedia #SMM pic.twitter.com/0B4nT30h3I
— Jeff Higgins (@ItsJeffHiggins) April 18, 2017
So while the feature isn’t exactly going to take the place of Pinterest just yet, it could still have an impact on your business if you find a creative way to use it.
Image: Instagram
I’m not sure how successful Instagram will be since Pinterest users have so much invested in the platform. If you can’t import pins & boards it will take awhile to pull people away.
Annie Pilon
I think at this point this feature won’t really pull anyone away from Pinterest. But at first glance it’s at least a little reminiscent of the pinboards feature.
Saba Migriauli
Well, nothing is new in our world, so it’s just a similar, not stolen or something. It’s just a business, you know