Should more brands be utilising Pinterest Ads?

Pinterest is a decade old this year, and despite having 250 million active monthly users, many brands (and agencies) still view it as a social network that bored people only browse at the weekend when they have nothing else better to do.

There’s plenty of data that disputes this notion. Pinterest isn’t just for arts & crafts or planning your dream wedding – it’s relevant to more niches than most people realise. With over 10,000 pins being, erm, “pinned” every minute, Pinterest is the eighth largest social network in the Western Hemisphere and one that shouldn’t simply be disregarded by brands.

While the Pew “Social Media Use Research Study”, that compares the frequency of social media sites, revealed that subscribers aren’t using Pinterest as often as the likes of Facebook or Instagram, 25 per cent do use it daily and 31 per cent use it weekly.

Unsurprisingly, Facebook and Instagram top the charts, with 76 per cent of users being active on Facebook daily, and 51 per cent are active daily on Instagram. Still, 31% weekly is not to be sniffed at – and when compared with Snapchat(27%) and Twitter(24%), Pinterest comes out on top.

So should more brands be experimenting with Pinterest’s advertising options? While we’re not saying that everyone should head over and start promoting their pins today, there is definitely room for the platform in many brands marketing budget allocation in 2019.

It might not come as a surprise that Pinterest has way more female users than male, with 71% of their total user base being female. What’s more, 60% of their new signups are also female users and women actually account for 92% of all pins.

Another point to note is that Pinterest users tend to have a higher income – with 10% of Pinterest users in the US making more than $125K per year and 40% of users having a household income of more than $100k. Research suggests that active pinners worldwide have a 9% higher average income than non-users, meaning it could be the perfect place for ad buyers to find affluent female millennials.

This can work particularly well for e-commerce websites that are selling higher-end products, especially those in the food and home décor industries, two of the most popular Pinterest “categories”.

DaWanda, a marketplace for gifts and handmade products, saw a 100% increase their referral traffic after improving their Pinterest strategy. The best part is, this traffic boosted sales, with the average order value from Pinterest being 13% higher than average order value from other social platforms.

Promoted Pins from LitJoy Crate, a monthly book subscription service, drove so much traffic to their website from Pinterest that they sold out that month’s box early. They achieved a 70% lower CPA on Pinterest than the average across all other marketing channels.

Brands can advertise through Pinterest’s “Promoted Pins”, and much like advertising via other social platforms, there are three core campaign types to choose from — building awareness, boosting engagement and driving website traffic. The minimum bids for Pinterest are fairly low but obviously will vary according to your campaign type. In the UK, the minimum bids average at £0.08 (CPC)/ £0.08 (CPE)/ £4.00 (CPM).

Regarding Promoted Pins specifically, Pinterest claims that:

• 1 out of 2 Pinterest users have made a purchase after seeing a Promoted Pin
• 67% of users discovered a new brand or product as a result of Promoted Pins
• Promoted Pins typically earn £2 in profit for every £1 spent in ad costs

According to the Pinterest Business platform, people using Pinterest are there to take action.

“They (users) browse their feeds for inspiration, search for topics they’re interested in and click on Pins to learn more. Your content fits right in and helps people decide what to try next. In fact, 83% of weekly Pinners have made a purchase based on Pins they saw from brands.”

It goes without saying that your own results will vary depending on what it is your selling, your target audience, and how you approach Pinterest advertising. It’s also worth bearing in mind that organic content on Pinterest can have a lot of sales potential, with 93% of pinners saying they use the site to make purchasing plans and research products.

Want to try it? Give our social team a shout today to discuss your potential on the platform.