Written by Drew Beechler, Content Strategist on ExactTarget’s Global Content Marketing & Research team:
This week Pinterest announced the next phase in their business with Promoted Pins. They announced the plans back in September, but this week they announced official partnerships with a small number of brands to test Promoted Pins.
According to Pinterest:
Our first paid test, in the U.S. only, is with a small group of brands from different industries, including:
- ABC Family
- Banana Republic
- Expedia.com
- Gap
- General Mills
- Kraft
- lululemon athletica
- Nestle – Purina, Dreyer’s/Edy’s Ice Cream, Nespresso
- Old Navy
- Target
- Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
- Ziploc®
We’re keeping the test small so that we can collect as much feedback as possible, but we’re hoping to open it up to more businesses throughout the year. If you’re interested in learning more about Promoted Pins, sign up for updates and we’ll keep you posted.
Even with its explosive popularity in user numbers, Pinterest has taken its time to adopt ads and “promoted” stories to turn a major profit. Because of this, they are acting very strategically with these promoted pins. They are taking a “consultative approach” and asking for big bucks and high CPMs—the cost per thousand impressions—with these initial partners.
Pinterest is also placing a major focus on the end users with this introduction. They’ve even created a public Google Doc where user can submit feedback on the Promoted Pins they will begin to see.
In the past, Promoted Pins have appeared in search and category pages, but this will be the first time users see ads in their feed.
The Future of Promoted Pins for Brands
According to an AdAge article interviewing Pinterest’s head of partnerships Joanne Bradford, the ads currently are undergoing a manual review, which has limited the quantity of advertisers.
She expressed that their future vision, though, is to launch a self-serve offering for advertisers and marketers of all sizes.
We are quickly coming to a point in time where advertisers and marketers can manage all aspects of their marketing programs from one cohesive, integrated platform, including their digital marketingand advertising. As more an more social media properties announce advertisements and open their APIs, the possibilities for you to reach your customers in new, engaging ways will continue to grow.
The true challenge at that point will be optimizing your data and measurement practices to ensure you are reaching the right audience and building a cohesive journey.
Image Source: Pinterest