How to Run Your First Promoted Pins Campaign on Pinterest

Pinterest has quickly become a dominant force in social media for businesses due to its innovative layout and unique emphasis on visual content. But one of the questions that has frequently cropped up over the years is “How exactly will the company make money from Pinterest?” The answer is becoming more clear now based on an announcement by Pinterest that their “Promoted Pins” program, which was previously only available to a handful of brands, is now being rolled out to all advertisers! To join the waitlist, click here.

There is little doubt as to the effectiveness of Promoted Pins–according to the company’s own numbers, brands who utilized the beta program received a 30 percent bump in “earned media,” meaning free impressions by way of users pinning Promoted Pins to their boards. So how can you take advantage of this new feature? Below are 9 steps to help you set up and run your first Promoted Pins campaign on Pinterest. 

1. Identify the Pins you want to promote. You can only promote Pins that have been added to one of your boards first. You can do this by using either of the following two methods:

• (1) Adding images from your website by using the Pinterest Browser Button or with a right-click-to-Pin browser extension such as QuickPin for Chrome or the Pinterest Pin Button for Firefox.
• (2) Uploading images to Pinterest from your computer. Once you’ve uploaded your Pin, be sure to edit the “Source” field so that your website is listed as the source of the image.

2. Go to http://ads.pinterest.com and click “Promote.” (Note: You will need to be logged in first.)

3. Hover your mouse over the Pins you want to promote and click “Promote.” Keep in mind that Pinterest currently does not support certain Pins for promotion, including animated GIFs or videos. You are only allowed one hashtag in your Pin description, so try to pick the keyword that best describes your Pin. Also, make sure that the URL of your Promoted Pin points to the most relevant page for that image. For example, if you’re promoting a leather coat, your source URL should direct users directly to the page where they can purchase the coat.

4. Add the keywords that would be commonly used to find the item or topic that relates to your Promoted Pin. Think about what someone might type into Pinterest’s search box to find your Pin, and enter that into the field under “Placement.” The more keywords you add, the more potential reach your Pin will have. If you feel like you’re coming up short of keyword ideas, don’t worry; Pinterest will start adding recommended keywords once you type in your first search term.

5. Determine the type of audience you want to target, and choose that criteria for your Promoted Pin. Pinterest provides you with targeting options based on factors such as gender, geographic location, language and device type. As you expand or narrow your audience criteria, Pinterest will give you an idea of the impressions you can expect to receive based on each adjustment you make.

6. Set up your Cost-Per-Click (CPC) bid, i.e., how much you are willing to pay each time someone clicks on your Promoted Pin. Right now, the minimum bid amount is $0.05.

7. Make sure that your destination URL is correct. You don’t want to risk of sending people to the wrong page as this can cost you sales and kill your conversion rates.

8. Click “Promote this Pin” to submit your Promoted Pin for review. All Promoted Pins are reviewed by the Pinterest advertising team to ensure that they abide by their advertising rules. The review process typically takes about seven days, so remember to factor this in when scheduling your campaigns.

9. Diligently track your progress and adjust as needed. As with most other CPC platforms, you’ll need to keep a close watch on campaign performance, eliminating poorly performing Pins and channeling more resources towards the Pins that produce high response rates. Pinterest provides you with plenty of data to crunch by way of Pinterest Analytics. This robust reporting platform will help you understand how people are interacting with your Promoted Pins, so that you can gauge performance and determine what areas need more attention.

Promoted Pins open up an exciting new marketing channel for businesses of all kinds. The steps listed above for how to run a promoted pins campaign will give you a head start towards using this powerful new social media tool to help grow your business.