Put a Pin in It: Pinterest Advertising for Your Company
Have you tried running a social ad campaign in the past that wasn’t as successful as you hoped, or have you been holding off trying anything because you don’t know where your money will be best spent? Say hello to Pinterest advertising.
By the end of 2020, this popular social media platform grew to 459 million — that’s right, MILLION — active monthly users. And these users don’t just come to the platform to mindlessly scroll and passively consume content. They’re using Pinterest to make conscious buying decisions, whether they’re remodeling a room in their home, updating their wardrobe, seeking advice on products for children, or planning their new workout routine.
There’s something for everybody on Pinterest, making it a practical choice as an advertising platform for your business. In fact, Pinterest reported that the platform saw a 6x increase in the number of businesses that ran shopping ads in Q4 2020. If that’s not enough to convince you that this platform could be the right move for your marketing strategy, read on to learn more about Pinterest as an advertising platform.
Types of Pinterest Ads
With any advertising platform, you have the option to choose a campaign objective. Your objective helps to identify the goals for your specific campaign and narrow down the ad formats available to you. Through Pinterest ads, you can build awareness, drive consideration, or get conversions. Once you’ve identified your objective, you can select the best ad format for your product or service.
Static Image Ads/Promoted Pins
If you decide on a static ad, you’ll either choose an existing Pin to promote or create a new Pin. For static ads, Pinterest recommends a 2:3 aspect ratio or 1000×1500 pixel PNG or JPEG file. The title can be up to 100 characters, with roughly the first 40 characters appearing in the feed, while the description can be up to 500 characters. Descriptions are important, as Pinterest’s algorithm uses them to gauge relevancy and determine the best placement for the ad.
Promoted Videos
For standard video ads, Pinterest recommends an aspect ratio of 1:1, 2:3, or 9:16. The .mp4, .mov, or .m4v file can be up to 2GB in size and between four seconds and 15 minutes in length. The title can be up to 100 characters with a description of up to 500 characters.
Pinterest also offers a video ad option called max. width video ads. These videos expand across the entire Pinterest feed when viewed on mobile. Because of their format, the ad specs differ from standard video ads. Max. width videos can’t exceed an aspect ratio of 1:1, so Pinterest recommends 1:1 or 16:9 for a widescreen effect.
Carousel Ads
Carousel ads are a way to showcase different products, product features, or other information using multiple images that users can swipe through. Each image can lead to a unique landing page, meaning you have multiple opportunities to send users to different pages on your website. Pinterest allows for two to five images per carousel. Each PNG or JPEG file can be up to 32MB in size with a recommended ratio of 1:1 or 2:3. As with the previous ad format options, titles can be up to 100 characters, and descriptions can be up to 500.
Shopping Ads
Similar to static ads, shopping ads feature one image and follow the same specs as static ads listed above. Users can purchase products directly through these Pins. There is an option to create another type of shopping ad called a collections ad. Collections ads are ads with multiple images — one lifestyle image chosen by the advertiser and three different product images relevant to the searcher’s interests.
Determining Your Pinterest Audience
When it comes to building the best audience for your ad campaign, Pinterest has robust targeting capabilities. Automated targeting selects your audience for you based on what’s provided by your chosen Pin, while demographics targeting allows you to select age, gender, location, and language.
If you prefer interest targeting, choose topics your intended audience likes and actively searches, as this will populate your ad in their home feed. In the same vein, you can also target by keywords, identifying specific search terms relevant to your products and brand. There are also customer list and actalike audience targeting options to reach people who have already engaged with your brand or people who have similar interests and behaviors to your existing audience.
Pinning Down Your Ad Strategy
Pinterest could be a great advertising platform for some businesses depending on the demographic breakdown of their audience, their product or industry, and their available visual and branding assets. If you aren’t sure if Pinterest is the right fit for your business goals, give Cosmitto a shout, and we’ll work with you to create the best digital advertising strategy for your business.