Pinterest has been slow to get into the advertising game, but it seems they are ready to ramp that effort up significantly over the coming summer. They have announced that they will be taking a series of major steps forward to help monetize their site even further. The new options are designed, according to Pinterest, to help marketers achieve their objectives at every stage of their sales funnel.
Tim Kendall, GM of Monetization, said of this move, “We are aligning pinner action with marketing objectives.” He then went on to say, “Sometimes users interact with Pinterest in discover mode, other times they are signaling intent by repining or saving pins, and other times they take action by clicking on a pin or clicking through to a website. All of this activity has specific value to marketers.”
This is certainly true. Pinterest has been a powerful resource for many marketers who used this image based social media platform to drive traffic that will lead to sales. Up until this announcement, this effort was largely organic in nature, though Pinterest has offered ‘sponsored pins’ for some time now.
According to the announcement there are a number of new features coming up for marketers to consider, including the following:
- Video Ads – Pinterest is going to allow video ads on their platform. They claim that these ads won’t be interruptive or annoying but rather interactive and engaging. This is, they hope, going to lead to more engagement with users, which can then be turned into sales or other actions.
- Audience Targeting – Using some new tools, Pinterest will allow advertisers to target their audience based on what the user is ‘planning on doing.’ If this works as well as Pinterest claims it will, marketers can get the right ads in front of the right audiences to ensure maximum conversions.
- Promoted App Pins – As the name implies, these pins will allow people to promote their apps within mobile devices. This system will work on a CPA basis and help launch Pinterest into the rapidly growing app install market. This market alone is forecasted to hit $3 billion in the US this year.
- Self-Serve Advertising – Pinterest will be offering CPC, CPA and CPE bidding options to marketers later this summer. This will give marketers additional flexibility when planning their advertising efforts.
All of these new options will give marketers a lot to choose from. Investors of Pinterest will certainly be watching closely to see just how they are embraced. You can see the official announcement from Pinterest HERE.
