Pinterest is a social network that focuses on publishing and disseminating images. Users can attach picture collections with descriptions of virtual whiteboards there. A post on Pinterest ads is called a pin. Other users can like, share, and comment on these pins. The Pinterest network has been online since 2010 and has been gaining in popularity ever since. In the meantime, you can not only publish pictures and picture collections there, but also attach short videos to the pinboards.
NoteThe word “Pinterest” is a combination of the English words “to pin” and “interest”. In German, Pinterest means as much as “pinning interest”.
For many different topics, Pinterest has its own communities. So you can find their interest groups for crafts, for interior, cooking, instructions, crafts, or certain ways of life. This is interesting for advertisers in that their own target group can easily be tracked down and reached within the network. To advertise on Pinterest, you need a company account. In this article, you will learn about the Pinterest ads opportunities available on Pinterest and how to use them.
An essential feature of Pinterest is that in the image description the link to the original source is linked. Each pin can thus generate traffic to websites. On the one hand, this offers added value for users who are looking for ideas, and on the other, it generates clicks for bloggers and companies that want to use Pinterest for marketing purposes.
What are Pinterest Ads?
Pinterest has around 3 million users throughout Germany, which creates more than 3.2 million pins per day. Due to the numerous different categories, Pinterest is suitable as an advertising platform for a wide variety of industries. Since many users use Pinterest to find inspiration and inspiration or to discover new products, advertising can be relatively naturally embedded in the website, without it being perceived as intrusive. So, as an advertiser, if you offer tips and suggestions, you can immediately refer to a matching product – for example, materials for a crafting idea, ingredients for a recipe, or a purchase option for the outfit on a fashion photo.
The Different Advertising Formats on Pinterest
Pinterest offers advertisers five different ad formats. Whichever is best for your purposes depends largely on what type of product you want to advertise.
Promoted Pins: The so-called promoted pins represent the standard displays on Pinterest. The basis is always a normal pin that you have already published. Make this a Promoted Pin, it not only shows up on your whiteboard and subscribers, but it also appears to users who have not subscribed to your Pinterest account.
Basically, you have several options to limit the user groups to which your Promoted Pin is to be played. For example, you can narrow it down across the various stakeholders – such as children, beauty, DIY, outdoor, and so on. You can also specify keywords that your audience may be looking for. A limitation to certain age groups is possible.
Promoted Video Pins:
A Promoted Video Pin is a promotional video. With such a video pin you can improve your reach and visibility. Because a well-made video attracts attention and is ideally distributed by the community itself. Such a video may theoretically be up to 30 minutes long. However, a running time of 15 to 45 seconds is recommended. Much longer videos only make sense if they offer high-quality content that meets the interests of the target group.
Playback of the video starts automatically as soon as the video appears in the visible area while scrolling – but the sound is initially off. This must first be turned on by the user. This feature should also be considered when creating the video: Ideally, you publish a video that is synonymous with no sound to understand. As soon as a user taps the Promoted Video Pin, the presentation switches to full-screen mode. Also in the video display, a link to external websites or to a picture gallery can be integrated.
One-tap Pins:
At first glance, the one-tap pin ad differs little from a promoted pin. Its peculiarity only becomes apparent when you click on the pin. The user does not open – as usual – the large view of the pin, but is forwarded directly to the website of the advertiser.
Promoted App Pins:
This format is especially interesting for advertisers who want to promote an app. No matter if iOS or Android app: Users can directly download and install the app via a button integrated into the pin. Thus, the user does not have to click on the website and tediously search for the app in question – instead, he has direct access to the application and can use it immediately.
Cinematic Pins:
This is a video display without auto-play. A cinematic pin contains a short clip, but this is only played when the user scrolls through the video in their own feed. This is similar to the Promoted Video Pin principle. This advertising format is mainly used for a brand or personal branding.
How the Cinematic Pin plays depends on how the user moves through his feed: If the user scrolls backwards through the feed, the video will also be played backwards. With fast scrolling, it plays faster. It is therefore not an auto-play function, but a motion-based method. This serves the following purpose: Content that behaves differently than usual is noticed by the user more quickly. A video in which he just wanted to scroll away, it is more obvious to him. Even the advertised brand or person often stays in better memory, even if the user does not perceive the entire video.
Which Campaign Type Will Pinterest Serve?
Which campaign to use for its advertising presence at Pinterest depends on the goals of the company. Because even if most companies ultimately seek to increase sales, they do not all follow the same strategy to achieve that. So, before choosing your campaign type, be aware of what the purpose of your ad campaign is: Do you want to specifically increase brand awareness? Or do you mainly want to attract traffic to your website? Then select the appropriate campaign type at Pinterest, depending on your goals. At Pinterest you can choose from three different campaigns:
Traffic Campaign:
The campaign Traffic passing users of Pinterest to another site, in order to generate traffic and potential customers on the hyperlinked website carefully.
Engagement Campaign:
This campaign type serves the purpose of increasing user interaction. The user should be encouraged to click more often and to see more products.
Awareness Campaign:
If you want to increase the awareness of a brand, the Awareness campaign is the right choice.
What do Pinterest Ads Cost?
The costs they have to expect and how they are composed depending on the campaign chosen:
Traffic Campaign:
Cost per Click (CPC) – costs are charged for each click on the link leading to the destination website.
Engagement Campaign:
Cost per Action (CPA) – Costs are for each action taken by the individual user with the sponsored pin (such as a click on the pin itself or the pin’s Like or Repin icon).
Awareness Campaign:
Cost per Mille (CPM) – costs every thousandth-page view.
The exact amount of the above-mentioned costs results from an auction system. Whether or not your ad is actually being played depends on the bids of your competitors. There are no fixed prices, but the price is different for each Pinterest ads campaign.
The auction system of Pinterest
As with offline auctions, all companies bidding on a commercial place bid for advertising. That is, you specify a price that you would pay for commercial space at most. Advertisers are thus betting on the best advertising spots. Which advertisement receives the surcharge, results from three factors:
- The amount of the advertiser’s bid
- The likelihood that the ad will lead to the advertiser’s desired result – this takes into account the chosen campaign
- The quality of the ad and its relevance to the target audience
This means that it is not only the bid height that matters but also how well the ad fits the desired ad space and audience.
Example:
Four advertisers bid for a promotional position on the social media page of a fitness coach and bid differently. This fitness coach specializes in explaining to his users which exercises are best completed on which home fitness equipment and how to make their training more efficient.
- Advertiser, cosmetics brand – 0,13 € per click
- Sportswear Advertiser – 0.08 € per click
- Advertiser, Sports Nutrition – 0.11 € per click
- Advertisers, sports equipment – 0,07 € per click
The highest bid is denied because it does not match the content of the fitness coach. The advertiser probably used an inappropriate ad creation category.
The second bid is shortlisted because it has a relation to the content of the fitness coach. Because this is in his pins in full sportswear to see and also the brands of his sportswear are recognizable.
The third bid will likely be denied if there was no mention of sports nutrition on the fitness coach’s whiteboard yet.
The fourth commandment hits the content of the coach exactly, as he uses a sports device with every new pin. The probability that a user clicks on the pin here is very high. This means that even the fourth advertiser could get this ad slot, even though he is not the highest bidder. However, it is also conceivable that the second and even the third advertiser get an advertising space since their ads fit reasonably to the content of the coach and they offer significantly more money than the fourth advertiser. The highest bidder, on the other hand, would lose the auction because his promotional offer is not appropriate for the topic.
Dos and Don’ts on Pinterest Ads
Pinterest offers you numerous options for editing your pictures or adding hashtags. Even a short text in the picture can help to communicate your Pinterest ads message to users. For the social network Pinterest, however, the pictures themselves are clearly more important than the text. The pictures used should therefore be of high quality and fit the overall impression of the pinboard.
TipMake sure your pictures have a high enough resolution. Today’s cell phone cameras already do a good job with the right attitude and are usually sufficient. With good exposure, excellent images can be created.
Not only the interaction of pictures and videos on your own pinboard is important when creating a pin. To make a good pin, keep the following basic rules in mind:
DOS
- Choose the subject carefully and pay attention to the picture composition. What can be seen in the photo? The more interesting a picture is, the more likely it is noticed by the users.
- Test, test, test! The best way to learn what makes a brand work is to experiment
Tell stories that arouse emotions. The consumer should be made to associate positive feelings with your brand. How you can specifically arouse emotions in the consumer can, on the one hand, be developed through target group surveys, but is also a topic of neuromarketing. - Publish advertising-free content regularly: Regular pinning strengthens your brand’s presence in the social network and, ultimately, customer loyalty. If you regularly offer content that is not merely promotional, it shows users that you are part of the Pinterest community – and that creates trust. So pay attention to a balance between pins and Pinterest ads content.
Do Not
- Do not set the maximum click price too low when bidding: It may be tempting to set the max CPC low, but if the bid is too low your ads will not run and your ad campaign will fade away.
- Don’t use Pinterest for spam-like self-promotion: According to Pinterest, advertisements should also be relevant and high-quality for users. So do not create rows of pins in a very short time, which are solely for sales promotion purposes. Excessive and open self-promotion is unacceptable and may result in your account being blocked.
- Do not always post congruent content: Be careful not always to promote your products, but also to pin other content. The users of Pinterest want to see the variety and not only product texts – otherwise, but they would also have visited an online shop.
- Do not indulge indiscriminately: From the above advice, you should not deduce that you should simply create randomly pins from various topics. Make sure that your pins fit thematically to the previous content on your whiteboard and to align your business.
