In fact, 73 percent of Pinners say content from brands makes Pinterest more useful. Why use Pinterest ads? Promoted Pins Promoted Pins appear in the home feed and search results just like a regular Pin except that they’re boosted and targeted to deliver way more reach. Promoted Carousel Specs: File type: .PNG or .JPEG Ideal aspect ratio: 1:1 or 2:3 File size: Max 10 MB Title copy: Max 100 characters Description copy: Max 500 characters Promoted Video Pins Promoted Video Pins are just like Promoted Pins except the static image is replaced with video. Like Promoted Pins, Promoted Video appears in the home feed, search results, and the “more like this” section under a Pin close-up. Also known as Shop the Look, these Pins allow Pinners to find and buy products directly from your Pin. Story Pins A new type of Pin format that is being tested with select business accounts, Story Pins feature up to 20 pages of images, text, and links. Step 12: Pick your Promoted Pins Click Pick a Pin to add Pins to your ad group. Add tasteful branding Pinners don’t mind branded content, so make sure your brand name or logo are there to enforce awareness and consideration. Or share a how-to The same Pinterest Promoted Video study found how-to instructional videos also worked best.
Pinterest advertising clicks so well with Pinners, it’s kind of inspiring.
Pinterest is a discovery platform. Almost all searches on Pinterest are unbranded, which means Pinners are open to new ideas and products. In fact, 73 percent of Pinners say content from brands makes Pinterest more useful.
We’ll dive in to the differences between Pinterest ad formats and provide a step-by-step guide on how to advertise on Pinterest. Plus, we’ve assembled the most Pin-worthy ad tips along with Pinterest ad examples you’re going to want add to your next mood board.
Bonus: Download a free guide that teaches you how to make money on Pinterest in six easy steps using the tools you already have.
Why use Pinterest ads?
Pinterest ads offer marketers the chance to earn awareness and consideration from Pinterest’s 250 million users early in their consumer journeys. And connecting early works: 98 percent of Pinners say they’ve tried new things they found on Pinterest, versus 71 percent on other social media platforms.
Beyond driving awareness, brands using Pinterest ads’ targeting capabilities see results. More than half of Pinterest’s users have made a purchase after seeing business content on the site.
And Pinners spend 29 percent more than non-Pinners, delivering an average of $2 in profit for every advertiser dollar.
With that in mind, it’s time to get pin-spired about advertising on Pinterest.
Just one catch: For the time being, Pinterest ads are only available in Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Types of Pinterest Ads
Your Pinterest ad campaign type will determine what ad format you use, as well as your bid type and available placements. So it’s good to know the attributes of each format before starting a campaign.
Promoted Pins
Promoted Pins appear in the home feed and search results just like a regular Pin except that they’re boosted and targeted to deliver way more reach. Other than the “Promoted” label on the Pin, they look and behave the way other Pins do. Users can Pin them to boards, share them, and comment on them.
Perhaps the best feature of Promoted Pins is that after a Pinner shares it, the “Promoted” label goes away and subsequent repins are considered earned media. In other words, you get added exposure for free. When a user taps or clicks your ad, they’re taken directly to your landing page.
Promoted Pin Specs:
- Campaign objective: Brand awareness
- File type: .PNG or .JPEG
- Ideal aspect ratio: 2:3
- File size: Max 10 MB
- Description copy: Max 500 characters
One-tap Pins
Pinterest tells us that, as of 2019, all Pinterest ad formats have officially been migrated to the one-tap system. That means that when a user taps or clicks your ad, they’re taken directly to your landing page.
“Two-tap” ads (where the first click resulted in a zoom-in) no longer exist. And since all ads are technically “one-tap,” it doesn’t make sense to use that term anymore either. “One-tap Pins” are no longer a category of Pinterest ad.
Promoted Carousels
Promoted Carousels were introduced in November 2018. They feature two to five images that Pinners can swipe through.
These multi-image ads can appear wherever Pins can, and they behave the same, except for the dots beneath that signal the swipe option.
Each card in a Promoted Carousel ad can feature a different image, title, description, and landing page. This format is great if you have multiple products or multiple features to showcase because different images and selling points can speak to different Pinners.
CoverGirl used a Promoted Carousel to show every shade of its TruBlend Foundation, resulting in a 3.8 point lift in brand awareness.
REI’s Experience the Outdoors campaign earned strong engagement and a 32 percent higher click-through rate using a Promoted Carousel.
Promoted Carousel Specs:
- File type: .PNG or .JPEG
- Ideal aspect ratio: 1:1 or 2:3
- File size: Max 10 MB
- Title copy: Max 100 characters
- Description copy: Max 500 characters
Promoted Video Pins
Promoted Video Pins are just like Promoted Pins except the static image is replaced with video. Like Promoted Pins, Promoted Video appears in the home feed, search results, and the “more like this” section under a Pin close-up.
Pinterest videos autoplay as soon as they’re 50 percent in view. For greater accessibility, and because many viewers watch video with sound off, it’s important to produce video that’s not dependent on audio.
Pinterest offers two sizes for Promoted Video Pins: Max width and standard.
Standard width videos are the same size as regular Pins, whereas max width video spreads across the feed, minimizing distraction from competing Pins. Maximum video exposure can be more expensive, since minimum bids start higher.
Videos are ideal for awareness campaigns, and a good format for telling a brand or product story.
A Pinterest study conducted with Millward Brown found the Promoted videos are four times more memorable than non-video ads. And 67 percent of Pinners said that video inspires them to take action.
Promoted Video Specs:
- Campaign objective: Video views
- File type: .MPR or .MOV
- Encoding: H264
- Ideal aspect ratio: 1:1, 2:3, 9:16 or 16:9.
- File size: Max 2GB
- Video length: Minimum 4 sec, maximum 30 min
- Description copy: Max 500 characters
Promoted App Pins
Promoted App Pins let Pinners download your mobile app directly from Pinterest. These mobile-only ads are a good fit for Pinterest’s audience, since 80 percent of Pinterest traffic comes from mobile devices.
Promoted App Pins look and act just like a Promoted Pin or Promoted Video Pin, only they link to a valid iTunes or Google Play app store URL. An install button accompanies these Pins, but you should also make sure your copy and image or video conveys attributes about your app.
Pinners have a penchant for shopping, so quick-and-easy app downloads can quickly turn into sales. When Playrix chose Promoted App Pins to promoted its Fishdom and Gardenscapes game apps, one in five installs from Pinterest resulted in paying users. Overall Playrix doubled their ROI.
Buyable Pins
Buyable Pins are designed to be shoppable. Also known as Shop the Look, these Pins allow Pinners to find and buy products directly from your Pin.
These Pins work across mobile and web, and appear in the same places as a Promoted Pin would. The only difference is items in the image are tagged with white dots that can be tapped or clicked on to display and link to product information.
This format is ideal for images that feature multiple products working together. Imagine a fully decorated living room, Christmas dinner spread, or the latest fall fashion arrivals.
Pinterest recommends that images should be tagged with four to six dots. Ideally each dot should be linked directly to the product’s page. If that’s not possible, Pinterest suggests finding one exact match, and other close matches.
To create Buyable Pins, Pinterest offers a bespoke tagging tool. For larger campaigns it may be better to work with Curalate and Olapic are Pinterest’s preferred partners.
These Pins are designed to deliver sales. After Modern Citizen enabled Buyable Pins, the fashion brand saw its retail orders increase by 73 percent.
Story Pins
A new type of Pin format that is being tested with select business accounts, Story Pins feature up to 20 pages of images, text, and links.
Story Pins appear in users’ home feeds with a cover image and a title. They also say “Story” underneath. Tapping a Story Pin allows you to see all of its pages.
Story Pins can be saved to boards like any other Pin. Watch this space for updates on how they perform for brands.
How to Advertise on Pinterest
With your newfound expertise on Pinterest ad formats, you’re now ready to setup a Pinterest ad campaign.
Step 1: Get a business account
Either convert your existing Pinterest account to a business account, or create a new account for your business. Our guide to using Pinterest for business goes over the fundamentals of starting up a brand account.
Step 2: Install the Pinterest Tag
Before starting a Pinterest ad campaign, make sure you have installed the Pinterest Tag. With the Promoted Tag you’ll be able to track the actions people take on your website after…
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