What is Pinterest and how to use promoted pins?

Social media has gradually become a part of our daily life. People share the latest life situation, read news and current affairs, join their favourite groups, search for information or courses, or purchase online on various social media platforms. For companies, social media marketing has become an effective channel to enhance their brand awareness, new products and promotional deals. In the previous posts, we explained how to use Facebook, WeChat, Instagram and other popular platforms for social media marketing. This time, we’re going to talk about another social platform, Pinterest.

 What is Pinterest

Pinterest can be defined as a visual discovery engine. The users of Pinterest always look for some specific inspirations or ideas based on their interests, such as dessert baking recipes. Sometimes people don’t know how to describe what they are seeking, but when they see it, they know exactly what they are looking for.

Pinterest users, known as Pinners, can save the pins board including pictures, descriptions, URLs, or short videos into separate panels for later use, either private or public. On the home page, Pinterest displays the Pins that pinners may be interested in. If you click on the Pin, you can navigate to the website to know more details about the product or paid methods. This is also a way to drive traffic to your website.

According to the official data, Pinterest has 459 million active users per month with female users accounting for 77% and 15% is male users. The largest share of users is female users aged 25-34, which account for 30.4%. Therefore, Pinterest is mostly used by young women. The popular industries include home, cooking, fashion, beauty, handmade goods. If your main business is involved and this demographic matches the features of your target audience. Pinterest probably is a suitable platform for your business.

（Source：https://blog.hootsuite.com/pinterest-statistics-for-business/）

The features of Promoted Pins

Pinterest Advertising is known as Promoted Pins. According to the official data of Pinterest, one out of every two pinners completed the purchase after seeing Promoted Pins, and 67% of them discovered new brands or products by adopting Promoted Pins. Compared with B2B, the merchants of B2C may be more suitable to use Promoted Pin and you need to register a business account.

The operation mode of Promoted Pins is the bidding mechanism. Advertisers can select a Promoted Pin and set the goals they would like to achieve and type in the standards of their target audience. Their ads will be shown to the target audience via bidding, the highest bidder can win the position.

Promoted Pins will be recommended to pinners who might be interested in them or will appear in Pinterest search results. For example, if you search for “Auckland Cafe” and the related content will appear. You can save your favourite pins, share them with friends and post them to your boards for interacting with others.

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The characteristics of Pinterest Ads and Facebook Ads

Sociability

Facebook has higher sociability than Pinterest. Companies update news on Facebook, such as ads for new products. The news will be posted immediately to your followers and will get likes, comments, and shares. On the other hand, Pinterest is a platform where users look for inspiration. Saving Pins and tracking shared ideas are what Pinterest focus on.

Longevity of posts and pins

When merchants adopt Pinterest, they would like to repeat their promoted pins, and the layout of Pinterest allows pinners to see them multiple times in different formats. And when a user shares a Pin, it will be quickly passed to potential customers. This raises the likelihood that consumers will purchase your product. Whereas Facebook updates posts rapidly, even if the followers have shared your posts, it probably only can be seen once by their friends. In conclusion, Facebook ads are better suited to fast-paced industries. However, if consumers need sometimes to consider purchasing your product, Pinterest might be a good choice.

Speed

Posts and pins on both platforms can obtain a large number of views. But depending on the difference between them, Facebook posts shoot up quickly. Then after the peak, It will decrease quickly. The views of Pins may increase slowly but they can last for months and fall slowly. It’s like the explosive power and staying power of athletes in sports.

Videos and GIFs

Nowadays, most marketing teams adopt video ads. Facebook allows you to upload a four-hour video and the duration of videos on Pinterest is 15 minutes. You also need to upload the images and links. In the previous analysis, we discussed an important element of video ads is to catch the eyes of audiences with a few seconds in the beginning. In addition, Pinterest can link to other platforms. If you already have video ads on YouTube, you can try to lead traffics via Pinterest.

Cost and budget

The price of Facebook ads might be cheaper than Promoted Pins. Facebook provides immediate impressions. Pins need more time to impress but they may gain more opportunities of impression. You need to calculate the overall cost and expected performance when you select the platform.

Calculation rules

Marketers always spend much time analyzing the data of social media. Although the algorithm of Facebook always changes, it updates regularly to explain the latest changes. The data of Pinterest is generally calculated based on likes, Pins, number of shares, etc., but just a few people understand how this works. In short, the rules of Facebook data change a lot, but the information is public. Pinterest is easy to read but it takes a long time to learn.

Both Facebook ads and promoted pins have their advantages and disadvantages. You need to evaluate and select the platforms based on your expectation. If you are willing to know more about the two platforms, please contact Webzilla, our digital marketing experts will provide professional advice or customized strategies.