Pinterest is an interesting phenomenon in the world of digital advertising. As platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have adapted over the years to make their ads look less like ads, Pinterest sits as an example of how that can be done and done well.
Pinterest is a platform that serves as a virtual pinboard of ideas and inspiration. This differs from other platforms because, since users are searching for ideas, they are more actively engaged in what’s appearing on their screen than is typically the case for Instagram and Facebook. This gives your brand a unique opportunity to show its creative side and provide value to the user while still showing off your product. We’re going to show you how a quality ad management strategy can really boost your ROI when advertising on Pinterest.
Ensure your Pinterest Business Account is Set Up
Now before we get into the nitty gritty of Pinterest advertising, you’re going to need a Pinterest Business Account all set up and ready to go. PBAs allow you to access super helpful tools such as Pinterest Analytics, Ads Manager, and a healthy dose of other features that will make advertising on the Pinterest platform a whole lot easier.
Creating a Pinterest Business Account is a straightforward process. Here’s a high-level overview of the steps:
- Visit the Pinterest Business page and click on ‘Join as a business.’
- Fill in the required information about your business, including business type, website, and address.
- Click on ‘Create Account.’
Once you’ve set up your account, take some time to familiarise yourself with the platform. Understand the nuances of the site’s audience and the kind of content that performs well.
Optimise Your Pinterest for SEO
Contrary to common belief, Pinterest is more than just a visual platform; it’s a powerful search engine. As such, just like with Google or Bing, implementing robust Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies is crucial to gaining visibility on Pinterest. By integrating targeted keywords and crafting thoughtful descriptions, you increase the likelihood of your content being discovered by users actively searching for your products or services.
Start by researching the keywords your target audience is likely to use when searching for products or services similar to yours. This process is similar to traditional SEO keyword research for a website. Once you have a list of potent keywords, incorporate them into the descriptions of your pins, boards, and even your profile. But remember, keep it organic and avoid keyword stuffing; Pinterest’s algorithm favours descriptions that sound natural and engaging.
Pinterest also uses board descriptions to understand the context of your pins, so it’s important to include relevant keywords here too. Similarly, the names of your boards should be clear and indicative of the content they contain.
By optimising your Pinterest account for SEO, you create an environment where your ads and organic content can perform at their best. This, in turn, leads to increased visibility, higher click-through rates, and ultimately, more conversions. SEO on Pinterest, much like SEO for your website, is a strategic process that needs careful planning. That’s where an experienced agency like Reform Digital can add immense value to your Pinterest marketing efforts.
What Does a Killer Pinterest Strategy Look Like?
If you’re interested in using Pinterest for your brand, it’s fair to say you’ll want will be done to achieve the results you want. We find that the best way to explain this is with the classic funnel structure. This funnel structure typically involves three stages; awareness, traffic, and, finally, conversion.
Awareness
The first stage of the process is awareness. Awareness campaigns are designed to make Pinterest users aware of your brand. This crucial step shouldn’t be underestimated or skipped, as can sometimes be a temptation.
First and foremost, awareness campaigns are cheap. This makes them a great way to get your brand out there and in front of a large audience for a relatively small ad spend. Awareness campaigns, particularly on Pinterest have the fortunate advantage of being a much more positive advertising medium when compared to the same thing on other platforms. As previously mentioned, people come to Pinterest to be inspired — no doom scrolling or ex-stalking happening here. By association, this paints your brand in a better light, not just another annoying ad on an over-saturated platform.
Awareness campaigns offer some leeway that the other types of campaigns don’t as much. Remember, video views and impressions are the names of the game here, so it pays to be bold and memorable.
Traffic
Next up on the customer conveyor belt to Pinterest success is traffic campaigns. These are typically activated after a month of awareness campaigns. We particularly aim to target those who showed some level of interest/engagement with the initial campaign and to further aim at certain demographics and user behaviours that we are seeing some success with.
Often, a traffic campaign will aim to take users off the Pinterest platform and onto one of your brand’s other pages, such as a website or an Instagram page. This is the ‘getting to know you phase’ of the funnel. These ads with have a call to action (CTA) such as “learn more” or “click here”.
The focus at this stage, as far as metrics are concerned, is on cost-per-click (CPC). Simply put, the amount of ad spend averaged out across the number of clicks on your ad. A quality landing page is an excellent compliment to a traffic campaign. After all, there’s only so much information that can be conveyed on a single ad tile on the Pinterest website. So it’s crucial to have a landing page that can do the real talking.
Conversion
Ideally, conversion is the last step in the process and builds on the initial familiarity with your brand by adding a genuine reason to act. These campaigns take a more direct approach and almost always come with a “shop now” CTA.
Across the board, these campaigns are more expensive than awareness and traffic campaigns, but if the initial groundwork has been done correctly, they are also by far the most fruitful. The main metric we focus on here is the return on investment (ROI). Due to the expense of these campaigns, we are more selective with our targeting and aim to convert those who have shown interest and engaged with the campaigns leading up to this.
The Role of Creative In Pinterest Advertising
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Pinterest advertising is the role of creativity in ads on the platform. A good rule of thumb for advertising is that you should aim to give something back to the user. This is particularly true of Pinterest.
Bland ads perform poorly at the best of times. But in the case of Pinterest, users are looking at a page full of interesting images. If your ad is the least interesting thing on that page, the results will speak to that. This is why it pays to work with professionals. At Reform Digital, our paid ads specialists lead the strategy decisions while our team of creatives produce content that attracts the eye of your audience.
Outsource Your Pinterest Ads Management to an Agency
While Pinterest offers a world of marketing opportunities, managing a successful campaign on the platform isn’t easy. That’s where Reform Digital comes in. With our expertise in Pinterest advertising, we can handle the complex landscape of pin creation, SEO optimisation, audience targeting, and ad budgeting. Our in-depth understanding of the platform’s dynamics, coupled with a proven track record of delivering successful campaigns, allows us to ensure a high ROI for your business.
Think this is the kind of service for you? Excellent! Simply get in touch with our team and we’ll have you smashing Pinterest in no time.
