Pinterest Tells Us The Trends Of Tomorrow

Edition #2

Author

Lindsey Gamble
December 10, 2021

Happy Friday! And, welcome to everyone who signed up over the last week.

This Week’s Edition:

  • Pinterest predicts what will be trending in 2022

  • Instagram offers customization for Link Stickers

  • Discord tests native subscriptions for creator monetization

  • Facebook pushes adoption of virtual currency

  • The WWE partners with student-athletes

Pinterest Releases Its Annual Pinterest Predicts Report

As the new year approaches, Pinterest is back with Pinterest Predicts, its annual report that explores what will be trending in the coming year. For this report, Pinterest analyzed data across 400 million+ monthly users around the world.

The report boasts 175+ trend predictions spanning a number of categories, including home, fashion, food, well-being, parenting, and travel. Each trend includes creator spotlights, key trending search words, examples of content that illustrates the trend, and actionable tips for brands and creators on how to integrate the trend into their content.


The following are some of its biggest trend predictions:

  • Ancestral eats: This year, Gen X and Boomers will say goodbye to over-the-top eating experiences and embrace their roots (or somebody else’s!).

  • Don’t Quit Your Yay Job: Who says hobbies can’t be lucrative? In 2022, people will build a new biz based on their specific interests, such as eyelashes, real estate or party rentals.

  • Emotional espace rooms: If you need a place to go to feel all the feels, there’s a room for that. People will plan their great (indoor) escapes and designate rooms in their homes to decompress, vibe and rage.

Pinterest also takes a page out of Spotify’s book with its version of Spotify Wrapped in the form of Your 2022. As the first in-app experience tied to the initiative, Your 2022 is a personalized Idea Pin that shows Pinners the things they've loved this year, trends they might have tried first, and suggests what they should try next in 2022.

What It Means: Through data-backed predictions, Pinterest Predicts gives marketers and creators a glimpse into the future as 2022 planning intensifies.

Pinterest Predicts can help marketers and creators understand what kind of content they can create in the near future that will be popular and resonate with audiences. Because Pinterest functions like a traditional search engine, its data is extremely useful in understanding where consumer attention is focused.

As a destination for discovery, inspiration, planning, and purchasing, marketers and creators have the opportunity to incorporate these soon-to-be trends into content creation as a way to reach people throughout the consumer journey, especially when in buying mode.

The report is even more powerful this year since it includes demographics and verticals relevant to all industries, so anyone can take advantage of the information.

Due to Pinterest's accuracy in predicting 80% of the trends it outlined last year, there is a high likelihood Pinterest will have similar success this year, so it makes sense to at least consider using relevant trends to enhance your presence on Pinterest.

Discord Pilots Premium Subscriptions To Help Creators Monetize Communities

Discord announced it is testing a new way for creators to monetize their communities as part of its mission to "make Discord communities more sustainable."

Premium Subscriptions allow creators to place exclusive content or access behind a paywall. Within the Memberships section of their server, creators can arrange tiered perks from $2.99 to $99.99 per month and view analytics for member engagement to understand their supporters and revenue stream.

Creators will keep 90% of subscription revenue, with Discord taking the remaining 10%. Currently, Discord has not yet finalized a payment schedule but will work with creators to determine what is best for them.

Discord is currently testing Premium Subscriptions with a very limited number of creators who run communities in several different verticals. It will decide its next step based on feedback collected from participating creators and their communities in the pilot program.

What It Means: Discord creators historically have offered paid content, experiences, access, and interactions via third-party apps like Patreon, YouTube, and Twitch, so adding a native subscription model is a natural progression.

In offering this functionality in-house, Discord provides creators with an alternative to third-party integrations and, in the process, offers a more seamless way for creators to paywall their content.

By removing existing barriers to subscription integrations, Premium Subscriptions may become more appealing to creators, leading them to move on from integration-based subscriptions and instead use Discord’s product.

Premium Subscriptions are a great idea for creators, as it provides an incentive for them to continue nurturing and growing their Discord communities. While money isn’t everything, some creators find monetization helpful in easing burnout.

What Discord and other platforms that roll out paywall content should keep in mind is the potential negative impact that paywall content may have on the user experience for its core users.

For example, Tumblr launched a subscription feature called Post+ over the summer that generated a lot of backlash.

Instagram Offers More Customizability For Link Stickers

Instagram made one of its biggest moves this fall when it rolled out Link Stickers, a replacement for Swipe Ups, to all users, regardless of their follower count.

(Side note: My prediction is that Instagram switched to Link Stickers due to eventually combining Stories and Reels into a vertical, full-screen feed, which would not be possible with the Swipe Up functionality.)

It’s now allowing users to customize Link Stickers based on a few different color options and enable them to display links as text instead of URLs.

Previously, Link Stickers appeared as a shortened URL, and depending on the type of link shared, the link may sometimes appear wonky, especially when it is a UTM or affiliate link.

What It Means: The new customization, although small, is a welcome upgrade for marketers and creators who use Stories to drive to destinations outside of Instagram, such as websites, product pages, and even other social media platforms.

With a handful of color schemes for Link Stickers, marketers and creators can pick a color scheme that best complements their photos, videos, or backgrounds.

By being able to display links as text, marketers, and creators are able to optimize appropriate call-to-actions that encourage viewers to click through.

Overall, they can now provide their viewers with an improved experience that may increase the chances that their viewers will take the desired action.

Consider testing different types of call-to-action for your Link Sticker text the next time you share one to determine what works best for your audience. Even the smallest changes can have a significant impact on click-through rates.

Facebook Pushes Adoption Of Virtual Currency For Creators

Facebook is kicking off Stars Fest, a month-long celebration centered around Stars, its virtual currency. Over the course of December, Facebook will launch a number of Stars initiatives and features designed to reward creators.

These include Stars Store, a website that allows people to buy Stars using Facebook Pay, Stars Party, a way to share Stars together, Star Badges, a way for creators to recognize Star senders, as well as testing Stars in experiences other than live videos, such as videos in the News Feed, the Facebook Gaming tab, and Reels.

Facebook will also match some creators' Stars earnings through the Stars Double Bonus Program, which is part of its $1 billion investment in creators. Creators can earn up to $3,750 in bonus payments under this invitation-only program.

What It Means: Other social media platforms such as Twitch, YouTube, and most recently, TikTok, offer virtual currency similar to Stars.

Virtual currency has historically been centered around live streaming experiences, but as we continue to see, platforms are looking for any and all ways to support monetization for creators of all levels and types.

Through a combination of matching Stars donations, providing interactive functions around Stars, and integrating Stars into different experiences throughout Facebook's family of apps, Facebook hopes to increase the adoption of virtual currency and make rewarding creators a common practice.


But why? Greater adoption of Stars means more money for creators, and more money means more time they spend creating and sharing on Facebook, which keeps users entertained and engaged.

Despite the emergence of the creator economy and the emphasis on creator support, most social media users don't use virtual currency today, but that is likely to change down the road, thanks to pushes such as this.

The WWE Partners With Student-Athletes For Next In Line

WWE is the latest company to take advantage of NIL (Name, Image & Likeness). The sports entertainment company announced the inaugural class of its NIL program, Next In Line. 

The program features 15 student-athletes including LSU football player Glen Logan, Oklahoma State wrestler A.J. Ferrari, and Fresno State basketball players Haley and Hanna Cavinder.

Participating athletes have access to the WWE Performance Center, along with resources and support for brand building, media training, communications, live event promotion, creative writing, and community relations. Participants that do not go on to play professionally in their sport have the chance to be offered a contract with WWE.

What It Means: With the historic passage of the NIL policy this summer, student-athletes can now monetize their names, images, and likeness, just like everyone else. Some brands, such as Dr. Pepper, Arby's, and Boost Mobile, have partnered with student-athletes in similar ways to traditional influencers, but WWE's NIL initiative stands out as it provides a direct path for athletes to join the company.

Through the program, the WWE and student-athletes will get to know each other, build a relationship, and determine if a longer-term opportunity exists well before athletes need to make post-college decisions.

Regardless of what the end result is, it’s a win-win scenario. The WWE is able to bring in fresh talent with engaged audiences in the Gen Z demographic that can develop into its next big star while athletes can learn what life is like outside their current sport and raise their profile. At the very least, both sides benefit from being able to tap into each other’s audience.

The ways that brands and student-athletes can partner together are limitless and this proves that. Be on the lookout for more forward-thinking partnerships between brands and student-athletes that go beyond content creation and promotional activities as brands learn how to navigate the NIL world.

Quick Hits

  • Instagram is working on a new chronological feed. Instead of returning to its original feed, it will give users the option to toggle between different types of feeds.

  • Instagram is letting users share their favorite 2021 moments through a feature called Playback. Users are prompted to choose Stories from their archive that will be tagged with a 2021 sticker when reshared to Stories.

  • Instagram announced new tools to help keep teens safe. Among them are stricter rules for what content is recommended to them, preventing teens from being tagged or mentioned by people they don't follow, and directing them to safer topics.

  • TikTok celebrated its huge year through Year On TikTok. The recap highlights the trends, moments, and movements among its 1 billion users.

  • TikTok expanded its Whisk integration to more creators. Now, all food creators in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K can use the integration to link out to recipes on Whisk, similar to what Pinterest offers.

  • TikTok shared several tips for driving conversions with TikTok ads. Based on its data, conversions are heavily influenced by direct calls-to-action and short videos of 21 to 34 seconds.

  • Facebook introduced a new page experience in Professional Mode. By activating Professional Mode, creators benefit from audience insights, monetization tools, and enhanced discoverability.

  • Facebook released new audience engagement and building tools for Facebook Live. Creators can now add third-party links, utilize Polls, share their broadcasts to Stories, and more.

  • YouTube is experimenting with Collections. The feature helps viewers organize the creators and channels they’re subscribed to into specific categories.

  • Twitter jumped on the vertical feed bandwagon. It’s currently testing a TikTok-like Explore tab to show content in a full-screen, vertical feed.

  • Snap announced 523, its first content accelerator program. Through the program, 20 small, minority-owned media companies will receive funding, mentorship, and education over the course of six months.

  • Snap unveiled several updates to Lens Studio during Lens Fest 2021. Updates include expanded technology, a new sound library, and a Call-To-Action feature.

  • Clubhouse launched Topics to help users connect with those who share similar passions. The feature gives users the ability to add topics to their profiles and rooms.

  • Reddit released a Spotify Wrapped-like recap in Reddit Recap. The recap provides users with an overview of their Reddit usage, participation in communities, topics they engage in, and more.

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