Pinterest Ads: The Complete Guide for 2021

“Pinterest continues to grow from both a user and revenue perspective, driven heavily by their investment in commerce-focused products. Their innovation puts them on par with other social leaders as a conversion driving platform.”

social media boycott, Pinterest saw impressive growth in ad sales in the latter half of the year. Many point to the positivity of Pinterest as a driving force for advertisers more heavily embracing the platform. As The Motley Fool notes: “What makes it stand out from competitors like Facebook and Twitter is that it is focused on the finer things in life while avoiding hot button issues like politics or news stories. This makes using Pinterest fun for users and “brand safe” for advertisers.”

Pinterest advertising is becoming a more viable marketing channel each year, especially for brands that have an audience that frequents the platform for product discovery and ideas. And they aren’t resting on their laurels. Pinterest is already making waves in 2021 with the launch of dynamic ads, an “AR Try On” feature for eyeshadow that expands on existing capabilities, and the addition of a Story Pins carousel panel on the home page for some users. Retailers and creators make Pins and users can then search through them and ‘Pin’ them to their profile. For advertisers that don’t have a design team dedicated to Pinterest ads, Pinterest’s Pin Builder tool can be a great way to make light edits before publishing your Pins online.

Pinterest Q4 2020 Growth

In addition to exponentially growing its base—with notable increases in Gen Z, Millennial, and male users—and improving media sharing features, we’ve seen Pinterest make great strides in advertising capabilities for brands as well as strengthening its agency partnerships. In fact, Pinterest saw its new users increase by 37% in 2020, with Q4 2020 revenue reaching 6 million in that same quarter, a 76% year-on-year rise.
“Advertisers can now generate multiple versions of new Pins from uploaded assets or a product feed where they can automatically import product data (price, location, availability, etc.). Parts of the Pins will dynamically display creative elements like product images, copy, pricing, etc. which will only be shown to the advertiser’s assigned audiences.”
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by Greg Swan in April 2020 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
Compound that with 72% of surveyed Pinners reporting that “Pinterest inspires them to shop when they aren’t actually looking for anything,” and 70% saying they “discover new products on Pinterest,” and you have a good case for your brand to be present and active on the platform.
While Pinterest allows for checkout-conversion event optimization, Tinuiti brands have seen stronger success for prospecting audiences while optimizing for add to cart-conversion event. This allows for a focus on a higher level action so that there are more actions taken for more algorithm learnings.

Pinterest Advertising Helps Brands Diversify Their Social Media Mix

Look-A-Like Targeting: This method of targeting allows you to target users that behave similarly to your current audience, using already existing data to determine users most likely to be interesting in your Pinterest advertisements.
— Jennifer Porch, Paid Social Senior Specialist at Tinuiti

Source: Pinterest

These users expect to see copy and context within the creative images they view on-site.
With a reported 478 million active users every month, and a growing number of consumers that frequent the channel for product discovery, Pinterest has emerged as a powerful social platform for brands looking to diversify their paid social media mix.

How to Advertise on Pinterest: Ads Manager

Pin Engagers: This gives advertisers the opportunity to deliver ads to visitors that have previously engaged with Pins from their website. Engagement types include Pin clicks, outbound clicks, Pins they saved or commented on, carousel card swipes, and Video Pin views.
Pinterest is specifically designed to promote product and gift ideas. It’s a social marketplace where sharing and promoting products isn’t perceived as intrusive (as it can be on other social networks) — it’s actually encouraged.

Within Promoted Pins, you can have Standard Pins, but we recommend installing the Pixel and meta tag to create Rich Pins.

Within Promoted Pins, you can have Standard Pins, but we recommend installing the Pixel and meta tag to create Rich Pins.