Dive Brief:

• Pinterest has rolled out a self-serve tool to speed up the process of connecting brands with content creators and influencers through the almost-year-old Pin Collective feature, per a company blog post. 
• Pinterest partnered with Popular Pays for a custom platform that allows brands to submit a creative brief and then receive applications from creators wanting to work on the project to review. All communication between the brand and creator happens on the platform, and Pinterest's internal team provides oversight throughout the process to ensure the brand receives the contracted creative from the influencer. Pinterest claims the entire process can be completed in as little as 10 to 14 days. 
• The new tool, on top of streamlining the content pipeline, allows Pinterest to reach smaller advertisers, Alastair Cotterill, head of The Studio at Pinterest, told Business Insider. 

Dive Insight:

The introduction of self-serve marketing tools, as Cotterill noted, usually serves as a bid to bring smaller- and mid-sized businesses into the fold and will generate more revenue for Pinterest. The latest Pin Collective addition is novel in that it doubles as a self-contained way for brands to network and pitch their ideas to influencers, and for influencers to then do the same with brands. Snapchat is another social platform that has this year considerably built out its self-serve offerings in order to help more marketers create specialized, platform-specific content for specialized audiences.

The Pin Collective launched last October under The Studio, Pinterest's internal content group, intending to establish a base of content creators like photographers, designers, illustrators and art directors for marketers to engage. The initiative appears to have been a success, attracting brands and agencies including Essie, Old Spice, Dunkin' Donuts and Wieden+Kennedy. Adidas Originals was the first brand to use the new self-serve tool for a campaign around its Stan Smith tennis sneaker.

Pinterest has quickly grown its business and attempted to push away from traditional labels as a social media company. In April, it dropped its "like" button to differentiate itself from rivals like Facebook and Instagram and also focus on being a better "visual discovery business." Pinterest's growing emphasis on visual search is especially apparent on its mobile app, where it's added a Lens feature, which lets users take a photo of a real-world object with a smartphone camera and see related items and products on the platform.