With over 150 million monthly active users and 9,700 pins happening each minute, Pinterest is the eighth largest social network in the Western Hemisphere. A lot of companies still think Pinterest is just a fun social network that people only use in their free time on the weekends. However, there’s a lot of data that shows this isn’t true. With impressive $11 billion valuation and $300 million in revenue in 2016, Pinterest is a social network that’s serious about business. Don’t just take my word for it - keep reading this article, and you’ll discover why Pinterest ads can really boost your business growth.
#1: Reaching Affluent Millennial Women
Given how big it is, Pinterest is the social network with the highest concentration of adult Internet users who earn more than $75k per year, representing 35% of their total user base.
Source: SproutSocial Facebook and Instagram have the largest amount of people in that same income segment, with 77% and 37% of their adult Internet users, respectively. However, since Instagram and Facebook have around 2 to 4 times more monthly active users, comparing them directly to Pinterest wouldn’t be accurate.
Source: Pew Research Center Even more compelling is that 10% of Pinterest users earn more than $125K annually, and people actively using Pinterest have a 9% higher average income compared to those not on the platform. This highlights a small but wealthy segment of their user base with significant spending power that you could target. Another factor making Pinterest attractive to advertisers is that 67% of Pinners are younger than 40 years old. This makes Pinterest potentially very effective if your target market is younger. This isn’t surprising, though, as 90% of young adults use social media. That said, with 33% of Pinners being over 40, it means you can still successfully use Pinterest to draw in the right audience if your products cater to an older demographic. 8fit, a fitness app popular with both younger and older users, used the Promoted App Pins to boost app installs and saw a 5% rise in their signup rate, 50% higher than results from other social media platforms. They accomplished these impressive results while also reducing their CPM by up to 90%.
Source: Pinterest Like most social media platforms, Pinterest has more Pinterest has more female users than male users, with women representing 71% of their total user base. 60% of their new signups are also mostly women. But Pinterest differs from other social networks in one key aspect: women make up 92% of all pins. This isn’t the case for actions like Facebook Likes or tweets, meaning Pinterest usage is dominated by women. This is further emphasized by the fact that content the average Pins made by an active female user is 158, 15 times more than by men. Pinterest is, therefore, the ideal platform for advertisers looking to connect with affluent female millennials. This can be especially beneficial for e-commerce businesses selling premium products, particularly within the food and home décor sectors, which are two of the most popular Pinterest categories. DaWanda, an online marketplace for gifts and handmade items, exemplifies this. After improving their Pinterest strategy they saw an almost 100% increase in referral traffic. What’s more, this traffic translated into sales, with their average order value from Pinterest being 13% higher than from other social media sources.
Before we move on, it’s worth noting that Pinterest’s advertising system is only available in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. However, as we’ve seen, Pinterest remains a very appealing market for businesses targeting a young and affluent customer base.
#2: Pinterest as a Full-Funnel Marketing Tool
Many marketers limit their use of social media platforms to the top of their acquisition funnel, focusing on driving traffic and building brand awareness. They then direct this traffic to a landing page or product page to try and secure a sale or signup. However, this approach involves multiple steps, which can become costly and complicated. It often requires marketers to use several tools, including those for Google Ads, landing page creation, and webinars, to achieve a lead or sale. Clearly, this is not the most efficient approach. On the other hand, Pinterest Ads (including Pinterest video ads) can be utilized throughout the entire marketing funnel—from building awareness and increasing purchase intent to ultimately making a sale. For many product categories, especially fashion, Pinterest is a crucial marketing tool that engages with users at every stage of their purchasing journey. Living Royal, a Chicago-based sock company, used Promoted Pins to promote their already successful products alongside their brand keywords to enhance brand visibility.
Within just one month of investing in Promoted Pins, Living Royal experienced a sixfold increase in their referral traffic. Moreover, the conversion rate of their Promoted Pins was 40% higher than other similar channels, and their CPA was 31% lower. The effectiveness of Pinterest as a full-funnel marketing channel explains why they’ve been investing in a visual search tool that enables users to search for products using photos directly from their smartphones. This empowers Pinterest users to buy any product they desire on impulse, potentially turning Pinterest into a major competitor for platforms like Facebook and Snapchat. MADE.com, an online furniture retailer, used Pinterest’s Rich Pins to provide users with more detailed product information. Rich Pins function like regular pins but offer additional details like product name, price, and availability—almost like mini ads. These details can significantly impact e-commerce businesses by encouraging users to make a purchase. Thanks to Rich Pins, MADE.com witnessed a 36% increase in referral traffic. Rich Pins also contributed to a 51% rise in their conversion rate, a 106% increase in transactions, and an impressive 173% boost in revenue.
#3: Ideal for E-commerce
It’s been repeatedly shown that images drive e-commerce sales. As a visually driven social network, Pinterest is inherently well-suited for e-commerce businesses. Until recently, Pinterest served as a platform for both users and businesses to share, discover, and promote new products and ideas. However, with the introduction of its ads system, Pinterest has evolved into a space where companies can actively drive sales. According to Pinterest, “Compared to other social channels, Pinners are just as likely to purchase but spend 50% more on average. They also spend 20% more than users coming from non-social sources, including search engines.” Furthermore, 87% of Pinners have made a purchase because of Pinterest. This isn’t just beneficial for online stores. 72% of Pinners use Pinterest to make offline purchasing decisions and 93% of active pinners reported using Pinterest to plan their purchases. This data strongly suggests that Pinterest acts as a purchasing catalyst. If you can successfully showcase your products to potential customers on Pinterest, it can very likely lead to a sale. Ezra Firestone, a renowned marketer and owner of Boom By Cindy Joseph, was able to make $21,969 in revenue from 520 sales with a mere $775.50 investment in Pinterest Ads. He also managed to double his revenue from other sources, such as direct and organic traffic, thanks to Pinterest.
Promoted Pins are one exceptional tool that Pinterest provides to optimize this process. Pinterest discovered that users who interact with a Promoted Pin are spend 7 times more likely to convert than those who don’t. Additionally, 70% of sales resulting from Promoted Pins often come from new customers. For e-commerce business owners and managers, this means attracting new, ready-to-spend customers from Promoted Pins. Many Etsy sellers have successfully boosted their sales using Pinterest Ads. Rachel Ball of Elephantine, a shop offering modern, minimalist jewelry, is a prime example. Since she began using Pinterest to promote her shop, her average weekly views have increased by 22%, and her weekly sales have grown by 20%.
The key takeaway from this article is clear: Pinterest is a powerful customer acquisition channel. If you run an e-commerce business and seek a comprehensive marketing channel to reach young, affluent millennials, Pinterest is an essential platform for you.