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The Do’s and Don’ts of Advertising on Pinterest
Pinterest has an active and dedicated user base. Here's how to tap into it through ad campaigns.
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Maybe you’ve already included Facebook marketing tools, Instagram posts or a Google Ads campaign in your marketing plan. But did you know there are compelling reasons to consider advertising on Pinterest as well?
Pinterest has a highly active and targeted user base. Because this platform is a popular destination for shoppers, ads on Pinterest often lead directly to purchases. We’ll take an in-depth look at Pinterest’s advertising options and how a Pinterest ad campaign can benefit your digital marketing strategy.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a visual social media platform where users browse images and videos related to their interests. When they find compelling images, they can save them on digital bulletin boards organized by topic. Saved images or videos are called pins.
Many of the images and videos are from blogs, with Pinterest ads often linking to e-commerce websites. Users can keep these Pinterest boards for the images or click through to the websites to learn more about the topic. Users see each other’s boards and pins and can follow one another if they like the other person’s choice of pins.
Piotr Zabula, CEO of Cropink.com, described Pinterest as a search engine for ideas. “People go there to find inspiration, plan purchases and save things they like for later,” Zabula explained.
Some of the most popular categories searched on Pinterest include the following:
- Food and drink
- Home and decor
- Travel
- Health and fitness
- Women’s fashion
- Hair and beauty
- DIY and crafts
- Entertainment
- Weddings
- Holidays and events
What are Pinterest’s advertising options?
Zabula noted that Pinterest ads blend seamlessly into the platform. “Unlike other platforms that show ads randomly, Pinterest ads fit naturally into what people are already looking for,” Zabula explained.
Pinterest advertising is based on a bidding system, meaning you set your budget and decide how much you’re willing to pay per click, impression or action. There’s no flat rate — instead, Pinterest optimizes your bids to get you the best results within your budget. Advertisers typically pay between 10 cents and $1.50 per click, but costs vary depending on factors like audience targeting, ad type and competition.
With that in mind, Pinterest offers the following advertising options.
Pin advertising options
These ads resemble standard Pinterest pins but are set up for advertising:
- Promoted pins: Promoted pins are a type of paid pin. They’re essentially paid Pinterest ads that target specific demographics, locations, keywords, devices and more, helping brands boost visibility, drive traffic to their blogs and increase sales.
- Idea pins: Idea pins are short videos or a series of up to 20 graphics or images designed to demonstrate something. They are similar in format to Instagram Stories but provide more engagement tools, including user tagging, interactive stickers, topic hashtags and detail pages. To create an Idea ad with a paid sponsorship, a creator must tag an advertiser as a “business partner.” The brand can then promote the Idea pin to reach a wider audience.
- Try On pins: Through augmented reality, Try On product pins let users virtually test out cosmetics, eyewear and accessories through their smartphone camera. To use this feature, you’ll need a product catalog, a free Pinterest business account and a Pinterest account manager.
- Rich pins: Rich pins automatically sync with your website to display real-time pricing, stock availability and product descriptions. These pins appear in Pinterest’s Shop tab when users search for related items, increasing product visibility. To use this feature, you’ll need to add rich meta tags to your website.
Other advertising options
Aside from pin-based ads, the following ad formats can help you create more robust and customized ad campaigns:
- Collection ads: Pinterest collection ads can be an excellent addition to an e-commerce marketing strategy, particularly for fashion, home decor and beauty brands. These ads consist of a large, featured image or video and three supporting images. If a user clicks the ad, it expands to show up to 24 additional images on the ad’s detail page, exposing potential customers to a broader product range. Pinterest automatically selects related items from your uploaded product catalog to create this ad.
- Video ads (Video pins): Pinterest video ads allow brands to share short, engaging videos that autoplay in users’ feeds. They’re great for brand storytelling, product demos and building online brand awareness. They come in two formats:
- Standard: Appear the same size as regular pins and play automatically in feeds.
- Max width: Expand across the entire width of a user’s mobile feed for a more immersive experience.
- Carousel ads: Carousel ads appear as regular pins, but users can swipe through up to five images per ad. (If you have an Instagram business account, you’re likely familiar with Carousel ads.) If a user pins the ad, all images are saved to their board. You can use Carousel ads to showcase multiple products or different variations of a single product.
- Shopping ads: Shopping ads pull from your product catalog and display a single image to users that Pinterest determines are most likely to be interested in the product. Many e-commerce platforms, like Shopify, integrate directly with this ad type.
- Premier Spotlight ads: Premier Spotlight ads give your brand high-visibility placements, such as in Pinterest’s search results or home feed. These premium ads are designed for brands that want maximum exposure and typically require more extensive advertising budgets.
- Swipeable Showcase ads: Swipeable Showcase ads let users scroll through multiple featured products within a single ad unit. These ads work well for brands with diverse product offerings and provide an interactive way for users to browse different options.
- Quiz ads: Quiz ads are interactive ads that let users answer a series of questions to receive personalized product recommendations. They create a highly engaging shopping experience and are great for brands selling products in the beauty, fashion, home decor and lifestyle categories.
Ad optimization and performance tools
Pinterest also has tools to help brands improve ad performance and increase conversions:
- Direct links: Direct links allow ads (images and videos) to link directly to product pages or apps.
- Mobile deep links: Mobile deep links take users from ads directly to specific in-app product pages.
- Pinterest Performance+ campaigns: These campaigns use Pinterest’s artificial intelligence-driven automation tool to adjust and optimize bidding, targeting and ad placements in real time.
The do’s of advertising on Pinterest
To maximize your Pinterest advertising investment, consider the following best practices.
1. Adjust your campaigns continually.
Pinterest is a visually driven platform. You never know which images will resonate with your audience unless you test a variety. Once your campaigns are running, don’t set them and forget them. Try different versions, including varied imagery, photos with or without text, new keywords, bid adjustments and different audience segments.
Laura Rike, founder of SimplyPintastic, cautioned that it takes time to strike the right balance for your campaigns, so patience is key. “Give ads time to scale,” Rike said. “Unlike Facebook, Pinterest ads snowball and take two to four weeks to mature.”
Eventually, you’ll find that sweet spot where you’re getting exactly the return you want.
2. Include calls to action (CTAs) in the description.
Pinterest allows you to use direct CTAs in a pin’s description, so something like “Sign up today” or “Download the free guide” will work. However, don’t be too “salesy,” or your pin won’t get clicks. Users come to Pinterest for appealing imagery and creative ideas, not to be slammed with advertisements.
3. Add relevant keywords.
Pinterest allows you to associate up to 150 keywords per promoted pin, but that doesn’t mean you need to use all of them. Most experts recommend at least 30 high-quality, relevant keywords.
Ensure your keywords align with both your pin and the landing page where users will end up. Targeting irrelevant keywords will hurt your click-through rate and conversion rate and lead to wasted ad spend.
4. Use targeted audiences.
Although Pinterest’s targeting options are not as advanced as those on some other social platforms, they allow you to show pins to users based on their location, device, gender and language. Take advantage of these different audiences and send your pins to the right users at the right time. Together with the keywords you set up, you’ll be able to appear to the people who are most likely to convert.
5. Engage with your audience.
Burak Özdemir, founder of Online Alarm Kur, stressed the importance of engaging with your community to enhance your ads’ effectiveness. “As you grow your presence, engage with the community too,” Özdemir advised. “Pinning other related or complementary content can give your board variety, making your profile worth following. Over time, the combination of promoted pins and an active presence can boost brand awareness and lead to conversions.”
Rike agreed that engagement strengthens ad performance. “Make sure to align ads with organic strategy; ads perform better when backed by consistent organic activity,” Rike advised.
6. Bid aggressively.
Because you pay only for clicks, it’s a good idea to bid a little higher when you first start to gauge your return. You’ll begin with more conversions, which could increase your ad’s relevance score, even when you later lower the bid. Experiment with different bid amounts to optimize your clicks and conversions.
7. Optimize for mobile.
Rike emphasized the importance of optimizing Pinterest advertising for mobile devices. “Since 85 percent-plus of Pinterest traffic is mobile, landing pages must load fast and be easy to navigate,” Rike advised.
The don’ts of advertising on Pinterest
Avoid the following common mistakes when advertising on Pinterest.
1. Don’t include CTAs in the image.
Although you can use direct CTAs in the description, Pinterest doesn’t allow them in the image itself. However, you can include a “soft” CTA as an overlay on the photo. For example, you could write, “Check one more thing off your list” or “Make today matter.” Be careful, though — if the text is too direct, Pinterest may not approve your pin.
2. Don’t use a “hard wall” landing page.
It’s tempting to send users directly to a landing page designed for conversions but, if you do, Pinterest may not approve your pin. According to Pinterest’s guidelines, the platform values the idea that when users click a pin, they should find the information they’re looking for immediately — without having to enter personal information first. Instead, try sending them to a blog post or content-rich page where the landing page is easily accessible.
3. Don’t add horizontal images.
Pinterest’s design strongly favors vertical images, so if you use a horizontal or landscape image, it will likely get little to no visibility. Long, vertical images perform best on the platform, so the taller, the better — but make sure users don’t have to scroll to see the entire image. Upload colorful, eye-catching photos that convey what users can expect if they click.
4. Don’t use redirect links.
If Pinterest detects that you’re sending users to a page that redirects, your pin may be rejected or shut down. Pinterest prioritizes a smooth, user-friendly experience and redirects interrupt the flow when someone clicks. Before launching your ad, double-check your URL to ensure it leads directly to the intended destination — without any unnecessary redirects.
5. Don’t use hashtags.
Even though hashtags are allowed on Pinterest, the platform isn’t a huge fan of them in ads. They look spammy and because you can add keywords to your campaigns, you shouldn’t need hashtags. Pinterest will let you have a few, so it shouldn’t be a problem if you want to add your company’s specific hashtag or promote one with your campaign.
Pinterest do’s | Pinterest don’ts |
|---|---|
Do adjust your campaigns continually. | Don’t include CTAs in the image. |
Do include CTAs in the description. | Don’t use a “hard wall” landing page. |
Do add relevant keywords. | Don’t add horizontal images. |
Do use targeted audiences. | Don’t use redirect links. |
Do engage with your audience.
Do bid aggressively.
Do optimize for mobile. | Don’t use hashtags. |
Benefits of advertising on Pinterest
Pinterest offers some distinct benefits for brands that use the platform as part of their marketing plan:
- Pinterest is all about discovery: While Facebook’s primary goal is connecting people and X (formerly Twitter) is mainly used for short-form commentary, Pinterest is designed for discovery. It’s like a visual search engine combined with a digital bulletin board. For this reason, users are more receptive to advertising than those on other social platforms.
- Pinterest users are open-minded: When searching on Google, users often type in the name of a company or brand. Pinterest searches, however, are often unbranded, creating more opportunities for smaller and lesser-known brands to gain attention and interest on a more level playing field.
- Pinterest is cost-effective: According to Pinterest data, it takes half as many impressions to convert a user on Pinterest compared to other social platforms. Additionally, according to AdRoll, the average cost per click on Pinterest was 10 cents to $1.50, compared with $5.26 for LinkedIn, 20 cents to $2 on Instagram and $1 on TikTok. While Facebook’s cost-per-click is lower, Pinterest often delivers better conversion effectiveness.
- Pinterest has a huge audience: Pinterest has 553 million monthly active users worldwide, 70 percent of whom are women. Its United States user base alone exceeds 87 million.
Pinterest can be an effective part of your marketing campaign
Although Pinterest isn’t the most popular social media platform for advertising, it has seen significant growth and may be an untapped space for brands seeking new audiences. Pinterest’s user base will continue to grow as the platform expands, introduces new features and improves its capabilities for both advertisers and users.
The nuances of Pinterest advertising require an eye for design and an understanding of the platform’s users, but by utilizing effective Pinterest advertising strategies and tactics, you can drive qualified leads to your site.
