Of all the major social networks around today, Pinterest seems to be the one lagging behind when it comes to generating advertising revenue. They just launched ‘promoted pins’ not too long ago, and that is well after all the other networks had already offered a number of different options to entice marketers. Despite this lack of paid advertising opportunity, however, many marketers used the site to generate significant amounts of organic traffic.
Pinterest, it seems, is ready to catch up to the competition when it comes to monetizing their platform. They have just announced that they will be rolling out a number of different ad options over the coming months. These options will dramatically increase the available options for marketers and give them the ability to get their messages in front of many more Pinterest users.
Tim Kendall, who is the General Manager of Monetization at Pinterest, said this of the move, “Sometimes users interact with Pinterest in discover mode, other times they are signaling intent by repining or saving pins, other times they take action by clicking on a pin or clicking through to a web site. All of this activity has specific value to marketers.” In addition, he stated, “We are aligning pinner action with marketer objectives.” This, of course, will be key to the success of their monetization efforts.
Over the course of the next several months, we’ll see the following new features launched by Pinterest. While they have not set any official dates yet, it will likely begin in the coming month.
Targeting People based on their Plans
This is an interesting marketing effort. Pinterest claims that they have the user data necessary to help predict what they are planning. This does make sense based on how their platform works. If someone is pinning or saving a lot of wedding related images, for example, they are likely planning a wedding. Using this data Pinterest will allow marketers to tailor their ads for the right audiences based on the activities they are most likely to engage in.
Cinematic Pins
These won’t just be the annoying auto-play ads that you’re used to seeing on other networks. At least, not according to Pinterest. They are launching “Cinematic Pins” which will begin going into motion as users scroll down a page. The speed of the animation in the ad will adjust based on the speed the user is scrolling. The full video won’t begin playing, however, unless the user clicks on it. This will help to ensure more accurate user engagement.
Engagement Pricing
Pinterest will be offering ‘Cost per Engagement’ (CPE) ads to marketers. This gives many marketers the option to get great returns on investment by only paying when the user takes the desired action. This model also comes with improved tracking and interaction monitoring.
Promoted App Pins
The app market is expected to grow to as much as $3 billion in 2015 so it is no surprise that Pinterest is trying to get in on this huge area. They will allow mobile app install pins on a CPA basis. This will make it easy for marketers of apps to get in front of interested audiences.
As you can see, Pinterest is really stepping up their advertising game. Their announcement shows that they are confident in these new features, which they hope will generate significant amounts of money for their business.
