The Basics of Pinterest
Pinterest was created to be a source of inspiration for DIYers, home chefs, or knitting/cross-stitching enthusiasts! Over the years, as all social media platforms do, Pinterest has evolved into a digital marketing hub. With features like shopping pins, saving ideas, and paid advertising, Pinterest is now a great way to get your product, recipe, or idea out into the world.
Pinterest Evolution: Discovery to Shopping
Pinterest’s interface is very neat and crisp, which makes it easy to use and to get lost in the pins. The images shown are typically beautiful, aesthetically pleasing snapshots that inspire people. It seems that Pinterest users have a ready-to-shop attitude and use Pinterest because it acts as a consolidation of many shopping sites. This means Pinterest puts your products in front of people who are looking for ideas and products, and are ready to move through the funnel. Pinterest algorithm has evolved throughout the years, a trend of today’s social media platforms, and favors pins and accounts with high engagement. Pinterest is also known for tailoring a person's feed to their recent searches, interests, and demographics.
Marketing and Growth
With Pinterest advertising, you can turn your pins into ads and boost brand awareness, as well as drive sales and increase conversions. Video ads have shown to work best for top-funnel traffic. Pinterest has a lower average CPC than Instagram and Facebook, and is not as popular to marketers (yet!), so the competition is much less. The ad format is just as attractive as other platforms, if not more! Keyword layering through Pinterest ads resembles a Google Search Ad campaign, and can aid your website’s SEO strategy.
Branding
One of the biggest perks when it comes to Pinterest marketing is the ability to to tell a story about your brand, whether that be through organic or paid pins. Being able to curate your story in such a way is enhanced by the keyword planning and Pinterest’s algorithm. Pinterest also offers incredible targeting opportunities; it is referred to as a “search-social platform.” The platform also offers more than just a “typical” style of demographic targeting with the ability to segment customers who have visited your site, customers who subscribe to your email marketing, and those who have engaged with your pins in the past.
Keyword Search
Pinterest is a visual search engine, which requires you to be intentional with your keywords. THorough research is suggested, as well as including them in both the titles and descriptions of your pins, as well as your boards. As always, keyword stuffing is not recommended.
Because Pinterest is a visual search engine, you can target users who have searched for items that you sell, and similarly to Google, ads will show based on terms and keywords people use. Ads can have a minimum of keywords ranging from broad match to negative match.
An interesting stat from Pinterest says that 97% of all searches are unbranded, meaning that users are open to new products and ideas! It is essential to be clear and concise about questions you have been asked and when using keywords.
Advertising with Pinterest
Pinterest ads are not all that different from Google in a sense that you can share your paid pins as standard form, video form, app install, shopping, carousel, and many more. Carousels showcase more images, giving you the opportunity to “zoom-in” with a swipe through pin, which works well for the users in the discovery phase of the sales funnel.
Pinterest also offers a “Shop The Look” feature with the ability to link multiple products in one pin, making these style pins perfect for apparel and fashion. The pin appears with highlight dots that allow the user to inquire about each part of a look.
More than 300 million people use Pinterest each MONTH for inspiration, ideas, and products, with 89% of these users having intention to purchase.
In conclusion, the visual aspect of Pinterest is always the most important factor to consider when using Pinterest for marketing and advertising. Play up the visual assets of your products with neat, top quality, and inspiring videos and photos. Because of this, the level of emotion Pinterest users are seeking is high, which means it is important to tell a story and display your values through your pins. Because most Pinterest users come to the platform with a discovery mindset, 98% of users try something new from Pinterest, and 83% make a purchase. If you can reach a Pinner early, you can move them through the funnel.