A Guide to Pinterest Advertising

Pinterest is one of the top social media platforms that came into being 12 years ago (as of 2021), featuring a format of shareable pins. The creators summarize Pinterest as a catalog of ideas that inspire people. When we think about Pinterest, what comes to our mind is image-based social media in which we share images as “pins.” 

Pinterest is also a well-known image search engine used to search various images online; its visual usefulness has made it an excellent platform for fashion and design marketing.

When a user or a “pinner” opens Pinterest, they see an array of arranged images with more details upon clicking the image. On searching a word or an image on Pinterest, you’ll find a lot of related images. 

What is Social Media Advertising?

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Advertisements have been used by businesses to promote their business and reach more people, but in recent years as social media came into existence, the world has become a global village with everyone having access to faster communication with just one click. The same businesses that had to rely on billboards to spread their message throughout society can just put an ad on social media. Social media ads have more benefits as you can decide the target audience.

After deciding your target audience, you can get connected with your customers and get data on what interaction the users had with your ad, how many new customers you made per day, and what kind of people are interested in your business. This process helps you create more attractive ads for a more specific audience. 

Why Pinterest?

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Pinterest currently ranks 14 on the world’s top used social media networks, with 454 million monthly active users in the second quarter of 2021. In the past, Pinterest has been a female-dominated platform, but recently it has been gaining more male and Gen Z users. The top searches on Pinterest are not related to brands. So it shows that the pinners are open to new ideas and use this platform for exploration, whether it’s interior decor, choosing a dress for an upcoming event, or looking for a vacation home. 

Pinterest has 2.3 times the cost per conversion than ads on other social media. It gives two times higher returns on ad spend for retail brands than other social media. Pinterest is quite convenient to use as you can convert organic Pins into ads in just a few steps. It also offers you approve partners to help you with ads. It is quite accurate in finding the right audience with respect to age, language, region, and interests. This makes your ad cost-effective and efficient. You can upload a customer list for people who’ve already interacted with your ads, have a precise reach by using better descriptions and hashtags. 

With all this, Pinterest gives you a complete analysis of your advertisement history that can be used to grow your clientele.

How to Use Pinterest for Ads?

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Pinterest is an easy-to-use platform, with the majority of users using the app version of Pinterest. Following is how you can use this amazing platform for ads:

Step 1: Make an Account/Upgrade your Account

You can either upgrade your current account to a business account or start anew with a new business account.

To upgrade your current account to a business account, log in to your Pinterest account, go to settings, click on account and scroll down to “account changes.” Click on convert account to a business account and fill in your credentials

To create a new Pinterest business account, go to the official Pinterest website and click on add an account. Choose “create a free business account” from the new window. After creating a business account, follow the same steps and add your business information, i.e., the business’s name, location, and website.

Step 2: Putting Up an Ad

An ad on Pinterest starts with four choices. The four ad categories are:

  • Brand Awareness: Build awareness for your brand to help people discover your brand, products, and other services.
  • Video Views: Boosts your video ads to get a larger audience.
  • Consideration:  This feature is for the ads that you have already put. It urges your audience to click on your ads.
  • Conversions: This is used to bring traffic to your website. It would also allow the users to take action on your website.

Step 3: Decide Your Budget 

Select your daily and lifetime spend limit. Since ads are charged per impression, your budget might run out, so decide carefully.

Step 4: Decide Your Target Audience

You can decide your target audience based on gender, location, language, and device. This is a unique aspect of social media advertising which helps you get rid of as many useless views as possible and keep your ad revenue efficient as possible

Step 5: Select Ad Placement

Browse placements will end up on interest-related Pins and home Pins. Search placements will come up when the Pinner searches for the ad-related topics. Which brings us to the question of what topics there should be? 

Step 6: Add Keywords

Expanding your target audience by adding keywords and interests will allow you to reach more potential users. Keywords can be edited to broaden searches for phrase match and exact match, such as for the word art, you can use art, “art,” and [art], respectively.

Step 7: Decide Schedule

Carefully add your start and end date for ads and lifetime and daily budget. This will decide the runtime and limit of your ad impressions.

Step 8: Picking a Pin to Promote

You can pick a pin from your pins that should not be on the secret board and should not be third-party videos. Try to pick a pin that is attractive and clickable. If it’s a video, the first few seconds will decide how your ad runs. Try to add a story as it can make the user interact with the full ad. Go with the hook in an attempt to invite the customers to your designated website or app.

Pinterest Ad Formats

Pinterest provides five types of ad formats on its official website. Depending on your brand and ad, you may pick any of these to suit your Pin and your business. Pins may be a video or still image, but according to Pinterest users, a video ad is more likely to catch a user’s attention than a still image. The plus point of these ads is that when a user shares your Pin, the shared Pin does not cost you ad revenue. So, it’s a good idea to make shareable Pins that invite users to give you free coverage. 

There are also install or buyable options for apps and shopping websites. Many business owners find that the buyable option increases their sales. Remember to put your Pin in the correct ratio provided by the website. A wrong ratio may cause cropped ads which may end up misguiding the user.

  • Standard

When you promote a single Pin, it is displayed on its designated placement as “promoted,” allowing users to notice it is different from other Pins. These pins should be beautiful and attract your target audience as much as possible. You have all the room for being creative.

  • Video

Video pins create more curiosity in the viewer’s mind, asking them to see more of the video or, indirectly, your brand. The first seconds of the video must work efficiently. It is advised that you put your focus on those seconds.

  • Shopping

Boost your impressions by converting your Pins into a shopping ad.

  • Carousel

Give your viewers something to interact with by giving multiple images for sliding and deciding.

  • Collection

Display your ad in a hybrid format of video and images to gain more attention.

Pinterest – A Fun Way to Grow Your Business

Pinterest is a colorful platform. It can easily be used to pass your time while looking at Pins of all kinds. Whether it is a meme collection or dress design, Pinterest has something for everyone. The business account feature of Pinterest allows users to expand their business. It is convenient to use and promises a handsome audience for your brand.