No PINNING way: Pinterest Debuts Search Ads

Maritza Vega | @maritzavegaPR

The visual bookmarking tool Pinterest is introducing search ads, and brands like Target and Home Depot are already testing the new feature. Until recently, one of the ways you could advertise on Pinterest was through promoting pins. Now, marketers have the ability to promote ads that show up along the relevant content the user had searched for. Pinterest is running ads to provide products that users may be looking for or are interested in through keywords used during search.

The ads will run like pay-per-click campaigns and will be created from the product inventory. Advertisers have the ability to pay for impressions, pin clicks and engagements. This feature is extremely beneficial for organizations looking to use it as a marketing tool, as well as for Pinterest to take advantage of their visuals. Most of the ads will be featured with images relating to the brand or product released.  

Nearly 97% of Pinterest’s search queries don’t mention specific brands. This means that while users are searching for recipes and projects, they remain open to brand suggestions. By offering search ads to users, brands can have the ability to target and advertise during peak times, such as holidays, to help sway purchasing decisions. Nearly 2 billion searches are conducted on Pinterest a month, with nearly 150 million users actively visiting the network’s app. The majority of these users are millennial-aged women.

Marketers have been urging Pinterest to roll out with new ad products in hopes to create more competition within the Google-dominated marketplace.  To help speed up their new ad feature, Pinterest is partnering  with Kenshoo. This ad buying software will help retailers deliver streams for product-specific search ads in real time.

Although Pinterest’s rollout of updates has been slow in the past, marketers are staying optimistic. Many are seeing future opportunities with Pinterest especially after just introducing retail visual search onto their network. If Pinterest pins to the right digital ad-buying platforms, their ROI may increase significantly.

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