Pinterest’s new pin type offers a step-by-step guide for bringing ideas to life

Pinterest has launched a new pin type that will display step-by-step instructions for creating the image that is displayed. Called a How-To Pin, it’s a tool that not only helps brands promote their products, but also gives users the push they may need to start a new project.

The company said that initial launch partners include Home Depot, Food.com, Style Me Pretty, ELLE, Marie Claire, Brit & Co., Sunset, and Delish.

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This new pin type is now available to those in the U.S., France, U.K., and Germany. Content from the How-To Pins will be available on Pinterest’s Android app and on the Web. Support for iOS will be coming in “a future release.”

A part of Pinterest’s suite of Rich Pins, which launched in 2013, How-To Pins are another way for companies to add diverse information right onto the relevant pin. It joins existing types such as app, movie, recipe, article, product, and place — think of it as a customized template that varies depending on the user’s objective and what a brand is interested in sharing.

Pinterest is focusing on specific verticals for the How-To Pins, namely do-it-yourself (DIY) and crafts, health and fitness, food and drink recipes, and hair and beauty. These areas aren’t surprising, as they’re the ones most likely to be where people want step-by-step help on how to do the activity or create the product. The company said there are more than 4 billion recipe pins, 1 billion hair and beauty pins, 4 billion DIY pins, and 500 million health and fitness pins on the site now. For brands that want to stand out among the noise, the How-To Pin could be a useful tool.

Once considered to be mainly a next-generation scrapbook, Pinterest has evolved to become a visual search engine to inspire people to do something. Because it features more than 50 billion ideas in its system, users need a way to filter out the noise; Pinterest wants brands to use Rich Pins to stand out. Although those businesses can advertise on the site, the service needs more tools around organic search that focus on giving relevant content to the user. Pinterest, after all, wants its users to take the inspiration they find and make it into a reality.