Amy Perkins
Background:
Pinterest announced last week that it will be introducing a search
advertising product. Although keyword based targeting has been available
through third party providers such as 4C since 2016, the new product will
include new targeting features and a shopping feed similar to Google’s product
listing ads.
Details and Implications:
Pinterest prides itself on being the ‘world’s catalogue of ideas’, with
over 150 million people a month using the social media platform to plan
everything from tomorrow’s lunch to next year’s round the world adventure. The
key to this statement is ‘to plan’, as users tend to be at the top of the
funnel browsing for ideas that they plan to purchase later - sometimes up to
three months before a key event or holiday. According to a Pinterest study, 76%
of Pinners save items to purchase later, taking advantage of this unique way to
preserve ideas that resonate. With 2bn searches a month taking place on
Pinterest and the majority being generic non-branded terms (97%), this is a
great opportunity for advertisers to capture this intent whilst the consumer is
still in the research phase.
Generic keywords are notoriously expensive on other search engines such
as Google and Bing, therefore Pinterest could be the new favourite search platform
for generating awareness, especially as 72% of Pinners say that the platform
has introduced them to a new brand or service. Keyword targeting is not new on
Pinterest, advertisers have previously been able to target using keywords through
third party platforms such as 4C. The update is regarding new targeting
capabilities, bringing the options in line with search engines ability to use
match types. At present, all keywords are broadly matched, resulting in less
accuracy. The update means advertisers will now be able to ensure that keywords
match exactly the search query of the user (exact match), or at least the specific
keyword will be included (phrase match). Keywords will be purchased through an
auction, with CPC determined by bid and relevance of the creative.
To help Pinterest get ahead in the search space, it has also partnered
with Kenshoo, which has been a leader in integrating paid search and social
campaigns, to enable advertisers to share their shopping feeds to create ads.
This means that instead of having to develop ad creative (or ‘Pins’ in this
case), the shopping campaign ads are pulled directly from the advertiser’s
feed, with the possibility to dynamically update ads based on inventory levels.
Considering the majority of ecommerce retailers will already have a shopping
feed in place for use on other search engines, this will give advertisers
another route to would be consumers.
Summary:
Pinterest offering more advanced keyword targeting options and new ad
creative formats will help make it a better offering for advertisers looking
for a platform to gain awareness with greater potential reward. Pinterest is a unique
platform in terms of how consumers interact with brands, as unlike other social
media platforms, they are actually researching and actively searching for new
ideas and potential purchases. This offers a real opportunity to create
engaging and relevant awareness campaigns, as long as marketers can be patient
and wait for the conversions to occur a few months down the line.
