Pinterest Ads: What do I need to know?

We've blogged recently about how Pinterest can really help your online store, so if you've set up an account then you should be well on your way to selling more stuff.

But as with any social platform, if you want to truly target your audience then it's worth paying to promote your products. Pinterest ads are currently in beta and only available to a select few - but you can join the waiting list and wait for your invite...

Is it worth running ads on Pinterest?

It's one thing to have a profile, but another to start investing money into it - and you may be concerned that your audience isn’t active on Pinterest. Here are all the stats you need to know before you start advertising...

This platform launched back in 2010 and today has an impressive 70 million users. Out of those users, an whopping 80% are women. So if you solely target a male audience then you may find it harder than some brands, but that's not to say that you should forget about it all together as research shows the numbers are growing year-on-year.

The main age range for this social site is for people between the ages of 18-29 and 27% of users have an income of $75k+, meaning that Pinterest is most popular for the wealthiest of consumers.

So if you do decide that you want to take advantage of Pinterest ads then check out our simple step-by-step guide to find out how it works:

Step 1: Promote your Pin

The first step is to choose the 'pin' you want to promote. On Pinterest, the clear choice is to pin your products and promote them. Once you've got the pin in mind, you can then set your campaign by choosing different variables.

You can target the audience who has searched for similar products, and also target by demographics, location and device. The cost is worked out on a 'cost-per-click' (CPC) basis so you set your budget to how much you want to spend, and you only pay when a person clicks through to visit your website.

There are a few house rules that you need to adhere to. In this day and age people don't like to be sold to, which is why you'll find that Pinterest make sure your ads don’t really look like ads. You can't include price listings or calls to action and your ad needs to be accurate and lead to a relevant landing page on your store.

Step 2: Do your keyword research

Once you're going through the process, you'll also be asked to enter keywords so that your promoted pin will land in relevant search results. Although it's on a social platform, we still recommend doing your research to make sure that your post is optimized to receive the best results possible!

You can search for keywords within the platform to find out what people are looking for, related to your product. This is a smart idea, but you should also check your own keyword tool (such as Google Adwords) to make sure that you get the most out of your campaign.

Step 3: Track your metrics

Once you've started promoting pins you'll be able to see how they are doing with a built-in tracking feature. You'll be able to find out how many times your ad has been viewed, how many people pinned it on their board, the number of clicks you've received to your Ecommerce store, the amount that you've spent, and the status of your campaign – whether it's running, paused or completed.

The analytics that Pinterest have are pretty detailed so it's a great way to see how your campaign is doing, and if there is anything you can do to further promote your products!

Did you also know?

In addition to Pinterest ads, there is a rumor going around that they are adding a 'buy' button so if someone sees a product that they'd like, then they can buy it from your Pinterest account. We're pretty excited about it because it's going to make it really easy for your customers to buy from you – so watch this space!

Takeaway

As you can see, it's pretty easy to run an ad campaign on Pinterest and if you do the same on other social platforms then you'll take to it like a duck to water! Make sure you take on board our tips, think about your audience and request an invite so you can be one of the first to test it out.

And, If you're looking for an Ecommerce Platform that offers pro-grade ecommerce features then give us a call today!