So you are a beginner at Pinterest marketing and you need that extra boost to go viral and have your content out there, what should you do? You have two options: First, you can promote your content for free on Pinterest by doing the basics that I teach in almost all of my articles – creating pins, doing SEO, etc. and then you wait.
Yes, this may take quite some time if you are not consistent with your Pinterest marketing strategy.
The second option is to take advantage of Pinterest advertising. Through ads or promoted pins, you will be able to put your pins or content out there with very little cost (and time and energy) spent!
But you may have noticed with all the latest features and types of pin variations Pinterest released, you may wonder which types of Pinterest ads are really efficient for you and your business. If that is your concern, then you have come to the right place!
With that said, I am here to tell you all about everything you need to know about Pinterest ad campaigns and how to choose the best type of ad for your needs!
What is Pinterest Ads?
Just like any other social media platform that does social media advertising, you can start promoting ads on Pinterest. In general, ads are great if you want to reach a target set of audiences that will help you gain your business goals such as sales, leads, sign ups, website visits, and more.
Having ads makes the process of reaching your audience quicker and easier.
Basically, Pinterest ads are just like any other regular pin you see on the platform. But in this case, ad pins are sponsored or paid to give that extra boost of exposure to other users on Pinterest and in the search results.
According to Pinterest, an ad pin “will surface in your desired audience’s home feed, category feeds, and relevant search results.”
Pinterest ads can be targeted to your preferred demographics such as age, location, categories, and interests – this will help you reach your target audience a lot quicker and easier without needing to spend a lot of fees (or ad spend).
But before promoting your Pins or starting an ad campaign, Pinterest has set the following requirements:
- You must have a Pinterest business account
- Saved to public boards
- Have destination URLs
- Don’t have link shorteners in the destination URL or description
- Aren’t third party videos or GIFs
- Follow the platform’s Advertising Guidelines
Pinterest ads may not be available in other countries yet.
Pinterest Ad types
Now that you know that Pinterest does advertising and you can promote your pins to reach your target Pinterest users quicker, you must now be informed of the different ad types the platform has. With the right ad format and ad type, you will be able to achieve your campaign goals and objectives.
In this portion of the post, I will also show you some Pinterest ad campaign examples that you can get inspiration from and their recommended Pinterest ad sizes and specs.
Pinterest ad type #1: Standard Ads
Standard ads are basically your regular standard pins that come in a simple vertical or square image format. But to make your Standard pin ad more successful, I would recommend a long, vertical image since it catches the attention of Pinterest users more effectively.
Pinterest recommends a 1:2 (1000 x 2000 pixels) or 2:3 (1000×15000 pixels) aspect ratio for your pin image. Make sure to make your brand the focus or the focal point of your pin ad image.
Put your product or service in the center of the pin image. And only use relevant images that showcase your brand – avoid abstract or “busy” photos as much as possible. Pinterest is a highly visual platform so make sure you are using high-quality images for your pins.
Another way to have a successful Pinterest ad for your Standard pins is to add text overlays that are big, bold, and easy to read. Keep your text short and straight to the point.
A great thing about Standard Pin ads is that you can place a link on your Standard Pin ad so that when users click on your pin image, they will be led directly to your website.
Pinterest ad type #2: Video Ads
Pinterest has finally made a video pin feature which I believe is a great way to capture and maintain the attention of Pinterest users or your target audience.
A good video pin ad must be able to retain the attention of users through a strong story or visually engaging video. Your video pin must start strong and with a clear hook within the first few seconds so that you can catch other users’ attention.
Video ads don’t need to be super long. In fact, Pinterest recommends video ads to be 6 to 15 seconds long since that is what works best for these types of ads. Just make sure that your videos clearly and concisely communicate or introduce your brand or product.
Video ads also have a cover image that people will see before they click on it. So, I recommend using a cover image that represents and communicates what your video is all about in just one glance.
Another tip is that not many people use Pinterest for video viewing. This means that you may want to optimize your video pin ads for silent viewing by using text overlays to keep users engaged with your video. Not everyone wants to scroll through Pinterest and be shocked by sound or music, right?
Pinterest ad type #3: Carousel Ads
Carousel ads or Idea Pin ads are another way to keep Pinterest users engaged and entertained with your content or ad. It is a Pinterest ad format that lets people swipe through multiple images or videos in a single ad.
Pinterest carousel ads are a great way to share your ideas and inspiration in a creative and fun way without feeling too restricted as compared to simply using one standard pin image or one short video pin.
I would recommend starting your first slide with a quick and short video so that you can easily stand out on other Pinterest users’ feeds – just make sure to add text overlays because most Pinterest users prefer to watch video pins with the sound off. Then, you can add in your images on the next slides.
Pinterest ad type #4: Collection Ads
Collection ads only appear on the Pinterest mobile app – 82% of Pinterest users use the Pinterest mobile app, by the way.
Through collection ads, you can display your products through a hybrid format that features video or image (and 3 supporting images). If a user clicks on your ad, you can then show up to 24 supporting images on the ad detail page.
Out of all the different types of ads Pinterest has, the Collection ads is the most perfectly suited ad for e-commerce brands, especially lifestyle brands such as fashion, home decor, and beauty. This is because you can easily showcase almost all of your products through this ad.
To create a collections ad you can either manually create a customized collections ad or you can automatically create a personalized collections ad with a catalog.
Do note that Collection Ads are only available to certain regions for now.
Pinterest ad type #5: Shopping Ads
Shopping Ads are basically what the name says: it’s for shopping and for generating sales! Shopping ads feature one image at a time and it allows Pinterest users to purchase the products they find on their Pinterest feed. The specs or ratio of shopping ads is basically the same as any standard pins.
Through shopping pins, you can directly upload products from your catalog and turn them into pins and add the necessary product details you want to add. Adding product information is what makes this type of ad really good for e-commerce.
In addition to promoting your product catalog, you can also use Pinterest’s dynamic retargeting to target and reach people on Pinterest who have already visited your website or have your products sitting in their shopping carts.
What’s good about this is that Pinterest uses the product data from your data source to show relevant products to Pinterest users who are interested in a specific type of product. This means you do not need to manually set up any additional targeting for shopping ads.
Why do you need to advertise on Pinterest?
Now that you know the different types of Pinterest ads, why exactly do you need Pinterest advertising and what good does it do to your business? Before you start running Pinterest ads, you must first have a set of business goals in line with your campaign objectives.
Pinterest is steadily growing and right now, there are over 445 million people who use the Pinterest platform every month to find ideas and inspire their next purchase.
Did you know that users on Pinterest are on the platform with the intention to do some online shopping? According to Pinterest, 46% of weekly Pinners have discovered a new brand or product on PinterestPinterest users go on the platform daily to find new inspiration, ideas, and products.
So, if one of your business goals is to get sales without spending a lot on advertising money, then you should definitely consider using Pinterest ads.
But in general, if you advertise on Pinterest, your Pinterest account and/or your online business will be able to achieve the following:
- brand awareness
- grow your business overall
- get traffic to your website or blog
- gain sales, sign ups, subscriptions, and leads
- get Pinterest followers
- offline sales – increase in-store purchases
On average, Pinterest ads have a 2.3x more efficient cost per conversion than ads on social media and gain a 2x higher return on ad spend for retail brands, compared to social media.
Pinterest also has helpful tools that can help you target your audience and reach your campaign goals easily and quickly:
Targeting tool – Pinterest’s targeting tools give the Pinterest ads manager the flexibility and capability to reach Pinterest users by demographics, interest, keywords, and more. You can also use auto-targeting in which Pinterest themselves will show your ads to the people that the platform thinks will benefit and like the most.
Insights tool – Pinterest’s Audience Insights tools really shows you on your audience demographics, interests, and behaviors. You can use these analytics and insights to determine what to improve on your next ad campaign and what you should keep on doing.
Are Pinterest Ads worth it for your business?
I love using Pinterest to promote my online business in general. This is because unlike any other social media platform, Pinterest really depends on visuals and keywords to reach your target audience.
This means that if my niche is all about “Pinterest marketing”, I really just need to add those keywords to my Pin title, pin description, pin image, etc. and I can already reach people who are also interested in learning more about Pinterest marketing! And yes, all of this free traffic and leads for free!
And although you can get traffic on Pinterest for free, it could take some time especially if you are new and a beginner at the platform. The Pinterest algorithm and strategies can be overwhelming especially since the platform and its developers are constantly introducing new features and updates to make the platform and user environment better.
With all that said, if you need that extra boost to go viral, I would definitely say that Pinterest ads are worth it since the fees are cheaper than other social media ad campaigns, and won’t let you break the bank. Setting up your Pinterest ad campaign is actually not that hard or complicated.
You can follow my steps on how to create ads on Pinterest.
So, if you have that extra money to focus on your marketing and advertising strategy, I would recommend Pinterest advertising because I, myself, do Pinterest advertising occasionally and on all the times I do it, I get very positive results!
I’m Anastasia and I’m a full-time blogger, online entrepreneur, and Pinterest marketing strategist. I help digital entrepreneurs and bloggers drive targeted traffic from Pinterest either through my online courses or through Pinterest consultancy.
