Pinterest Ads Examples
Start Your Pinterest Marketing Strategy From Scratch
Did you know that Pinterest has had over 454 million monthly active users since the second quarter of 2021?
Yes, there is even an increase of more than 9% in one year.
That’s why it’s important to incorporate Pinterest into your marketing strategy.
For most people, Pinterest is just another social platform to spend hours researching:
cooking recipe ideas,
A few planning tips
fitness programs,
Advice on products…
But, for marketers and entrepreneurs who understand the potential and workings of this platform, it is a great medium to give visibility to your business.
If you’re wondering why Pinterest marketing for your business, it’s an effective way to:
- Generate organic traffic,
- Increase conversion rates,
And position your business among the most trusted brands.
However, you need a strategy tailored to your company’s needs to get the expected benefits.
That’s why, in this article, I’ll show you how to start a successful Pinterest marketing plan from (almost) zero.
Before we get into the details, let’s “dissect” Pinterest and what exactly Pinterest marketing is…
The Anatomy of Pinterest
With more than 2 billion searches each month, Pinterest is both a search engine and a social network (source Marie Galliez).
Indeed, on this platform, users search, explore, save and add pins.
In case you don’t know, these pins consist of a visual (photo, video, graphic…) and a link to the original source of the content, such as:
A chocolate cake recipe from a cooking blog,
The product page of an organic soap…
Users pin (i.e. post) their content or save directly from websites to folders.
This results in themed galleries, known as the Pinterest board.
So let’s get to the heart of the matter!
The 3 essential components of Pinterest are:
- pins,
- The tables,
- And the flow,
The pins
This is where a user saves an image, design, or video visual to their account.
Each Pinterest pin has a URL address and therefore refers to the original source.
By adding your own Pins, Pinterest members browse the products and services you offer.
There are different types of pins, which I will discuss in more detail later.
The Tables
Users can organize their favorite pins into Pinterest boards (or Boards).
To put it simply, it is the equivalent of a folder, a photo album or an image gallery.
This way, users group similar pins together so they can easily find them in their boards.
There are, for example, tables on the organization of a wedding or travel ideas.
For a business, boards allow your prospects to get a taste of the products and services you provide, as well as interests around your brand.
Finally, in a table, it is possible to highlight pins as favorites.
The flow
A Pinterest feed is similar to one on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
It shows pins from people you follow, those the algorithm thinks you’ll like, and paid ads.
Users access 2 feeds on their homepage from the “For you” and “Today” sections.
But they can also search for a specific term to discover content, or subscribe to automatically generated feeds.
When you sign up for Pinterest, you have the choice between an individual account and a business account.
Be aware that both are free, but have different purposes.
As a marketer, choose the professional account. Indeed, it has various features to help you increase engagement on the platform and drive traffic to your website.
Marketing on Pinterest
Marketing on Pinterest is all about leveraging the social platform to help you achieve your goal:
Increase your website traffic,
Improve the quality and quantity of leads,
Or sell products.
A few figures on Pinterest should arouse the curiosity of all marketers (source Oberlo):
Almost all searches (97%) do not include a brand name. Such a high percentage indicates that users are looking for sources of inspiration.
82% of weekly active users say they have purchased products after viewing content on the platform.
Not convinced ?
Here are 6 benefits of integrating Pinterest into your marketing strategy.
Traffic Generation
Each pin has a link to the source web page.
Thus, it redirects users to:
A landing page,
A blog post,
A product page…
If you post pins with an eye-catching visual, you will generate a lot of engagement.
Better Conversion
You can build a significant audience by regularly posting relevant new insights around your offer to your prospects.
But for that, put yourself in the place of your target:
Would you like to engage with this pin?
Does it provide value?
Does she encourage you to subscribe to your feed?
Visibility of your brand
If you post useful solutions, ideas or inspirations, you will generate interest around your brand, your products and/or services.
And even if you don’t gain followers quickly, if your Pins are optimized for search, your content can easily reach your target audience.
This lends credibility to your brand, setting you apart as an authority among competitors.
Proven results
In case you don’t know, Pinterest has been around since 2010.
Since then, many companies have been using the platform to turn their prospects into customers.
Knowing your target audience
Pinterest is a very personal platform.
Indeed, Internet users spend less time interacting with their friends, but more time focusing on their wants, their needs, and even their dreams.
So, by considering an account as a person’s personal diary, Pinterest helps you better understand the expectations of your target.
Reporting and analysis
Like any self-respecting platform, Pinterest gives you access to all the metrics to measure the performance of your efforts.
Here are the 5 main performance indicators provided by this platform:
- clicks on links,
- prints,
- Close-ups (clicks on a pin to view it larger),
- Recordings,
- Commitment…
Note: follow the right KPIs according to your objective:
If it’s revenue, you probably want to drive link clicks,
If it’s awareness, perhaps the goal is check-ins and engagement.
And to increase the reach of your content on Pinterest, track impressions…
Know that you can also determine the ideal time to offer your promotions.
Finally, it is also easy to identify high-potential keywords, then try them on other platforms…
How to set up a marketing strategy on Pinterest?
Ready to get started with Pinterest?
Of course, most experts recommend prioritizing quality over quantity.
But marketing on Pinterest requires more…
So where do you start?
Look for trends
Follow emerging trends to stay ahead of the competition.
Nevertheless, it makes no sense to go outside your main categories.
Keep in mind that researching trending content and topics is key to posting unique and original Pins.
Like most social networks, nothing is set in stone.
The platform is constantly improving and expanding with new e-commerce tools and technologies.
By the way, do you know that Pinterest has released an equivalent Google Trends product for the US, UK and Canada?
It is not yet available for the French market, but these “Anglo-Saxon” trends are a good starting point.
This will make it even easier for you to discover the types of posts to share with the right keywords to use.
It is also possible to:
Compare keywords to find out which is the most popular,
And check out popular pins to help you design your own.
As you can see below, there’s a pretty epic spike in Christmas-related Pinterest searches.
This search behavior coincides exactly with the end of the year… Users are looking for their gift ideas.
keyword research
This is surely the most important step.
Indeed, Internet users discover most pins by searching for keywords.
And so, you have to optimize your pins if you want to be found…
So, while doing your trend research, compile your list of keywords.
Manual keyword research
To go beyond Pinterest Trends, enter the keyword phrases you’re targeting into the Pinterest search bar and analyze the suggested keywords.
You can identify a bunch of variations with this method.
For example, if you need to promote a Marketing offer, enter your keyword ideas into Pinterest and view the suggestions.
Essentially, these keywords turn into a phrase, such as “Digital Marketing” and “Small Business Marketing.”
You can also search on your keyword alone and see the results displayed.
You can then jot down those keywords and include them in your pin’s description, title, and hashtags.
Hashtags
Hashtags on Pinterest are to be entered in the description of a pin, and in the description of your boards.
Note: use a mix of super-targeted hashtags (#marketingpinterest) with broad hashtags (#Marketing).
Of course, it is advisable to use between 5 and 20 hashtags.
See the main types of hashtags on Pinterest:
Location: #newyork
Industry: #Marketing
The temporal ones: #EndYear
The description or keyword: #PinterestSEO
Calls to action: #pinforlater
My tip: research your keywords, then look at the hashtags used by your competitors. You can just start using them for yourself.
My advice: use a branded hashtag first.
Indeed, the first hashtags are clickable and visible in the feed.
This way, people who click on your hashtag are redirected to all branded content, rather than an inconsistent feed.
Prepare your business profile
On Pinterest, you need to create a strong presence to gain targeted followers and win new customers.
It starts with creating a very professional company profile.
Indeed, a bland Pinterest profile is worse than no profile at all.
If you’re getting started on Pinterest, at least set up your profile correctly:
Download a high-definition logo and banner,
Write an attractive biography,
And create your tables that match your offer.
Depending on your products and/or services and the values you want to convey, create boards so you can start pinning.
Research your competitors
If you’re new to Pinterest or just starting your scouting on the platform, start by researching your competitors.
Are they on Pinterest?
What types of content do they pin or share?
How do they organize their tables?
Are they getting a lot of engagements?
Obviously, you shouldn’t copy exactly what they do.
But this basic research can help you better understand how to approach your own account.
Warning: your competitors may be present on Pinterest without any strategy. In this case, do not be inspired by what they do…
So, to conclude, knowing the competition is a good starting point. And if your competitors are there, you probably should be too.
Master the different types of pins
Pins and boards are the most important parts of your Pinterest marketing strategy.
Be aware that there are different types of pins and some work better than others.
The goal is to find content that will work for your business.
In general, Pins with a product or service in action and a powerful call-to-action perform the best.
My advice: do not hesitate to promote your promotions or special offers with brand names and price details.
Here is a brief overview of the pin types offered:
Product with price, availability and descriptions updated according to data on your website,
Story. Ideal for step-by-step guides, such as DIY projects, recipes, a collection of curation pins or even a succession of pins that tell a story with text, images, links…
Video. With video, you can tell a great story and hook people with a visual representation of your products in action.
Rich pin. This refers to pin formats that provide more detail and context,
Article. Use to create titles, titles and descriptions of an article or blog post…
Shop the look. With these pins, also called buyable pins, users directly find and buy the product present on the visual of a pin.
Create a posting plan
Now that you have a business profile, keywords, and knowledge of the content you want to deliver, it’s time to talk planning:
How often will you pin?
What are you planning to pin?
What will your goals be?
Note: Pinterest SEO is very important to optimize the visibility of your business in your target market.
Otherwise, you must also:
Plan the publication of your content,
Harmonize visuals on Pinterest and landing pages,
And join community forums.
In short, your plan should include:
A content strategy,
A management of your prospects,
And ongoing research into user behavior.
Execute, track and refine your approach
The execution phase involves rolling out your strategies and promoting your Pinterest Business account across all online platforms to start gaining followers.
My advice: make sure you have an editorial calendar, i.e. what to pin and when.
Finally, track the performance of your posts on Pinterest.
To do this, analyze the performance of each of your pins to determine how to improve.
Also consider doing A/B Testing with several variations of the same pin.
This is the only way to post better Pins and get a higher conversion rate, not to mention providing relevant and helpful content to your audience.
Some Pinterest marketing best practices to adopt
Create multiple variations of the same Pin
- Even if a pin points to the same product page, the same blog post, the same landing page, test variations of images. Pinterest loves fresh content. So, have different iterations of hashtags, different images, different titles… so he considers this Pin fresh or new.
- Then pin her 12 to 20 times over a period of a year, for example.
- Don’t pin the same pin always in the same board… you pin that pin and these variations on different boards and over time, much like you do on Twitter.
- Make sure the visuals of your pins are relevant and integrate well into the flow with your graphic charter. It is important that your social media images are consistent across all platforms.
The interest of “Boards” on Pinterest
- Think of boards as the shelves in a store and pins as the products… If you want to add more products to your store, you need more shelves. Obviously, your pins should be relevant with each other in the same board,
- You can post the same Pin to multiple boards or multiple times within the same board. But you need at least 5 different pins per board.
- Also consider populating your boards with Pins from other people if they are relevant. Obviously, not those of your competitors…
- Include your keywords in the title and description of your tables to facilitate research. Being specific is a VERY good thing. You can split your tables into sub-categories.
- Don’t create too many arrays, if you want to keep them active. With over 100 tables, it’s really a lot of work.
6 Tips to Get More Engagement on a Pin
- Helpful – Help pinners easily find your pin with an accurate description. According to Pinterest, helpful pins get 30% more engagement. If someone is looking for a green carpet, show them a green carpet. Make sure your keywords and content match.
- Detailed – In 1 or 2 sentences, explain what your pin is about. Provide enough information to entice pinners to click on the link to your website. You can also include the product description, price, and product name in your pin.
- Interesting – Engage pinners’ interest by using emotional words and positive sentiments. Describe the scene and make them dream… Don’t just describe what the product is, eg “Blue and white table lamp”, but rather “Nautical themed lamp with blue and white stripes that does not lack draw attention. »
- Actionable – Include a call to action in your description. Using phrases like or can drive an 80% increase in engagement.
- Vertical Image – Make sure the image is 2:3 or 4:5 dimension. The longer the better. And you take up more space in the stream.
- Pretty image – Prefer bright colors (red, orange, or pink get more engagement), with a light and bright feel, pop-up background. Add text.
Conclusion on setting up a Pinterest marketing strategy
Pinterest succeeds in many places where other social networks fail.
This is why your company must be present on this platform.
Additionally, integrating Pinterest into your social media strategy can help you:
- Generate traffic,
- Have a better conversion,
- Increase the visibility of your brand,
- Get to know your target audience better…
To be successful with your digital marketing actions on Pinterest, you need a well-thought-out strategy that requires research, planning and great social visuals.
The goal is for Pinterest users to find you, save your pins, and explore your content.
If your Pins aren’t compelling or don’t capture attention, no one is going to engage with them.
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