Pinterest ads in 2025: Everything you need to know to get started
Given the power Pinterest advertising hold for brands, it is important to understand their benefits, the different ad types, the cost, how to set them up and best practices.
Pinterest is a powerful social media platform for e-commerce brands wanting to increase their conversions and boost engagement. Therefore, advertising on this platform improves your chances of driving results and achieving your paid social goals.
To help you understand why you should be using Pinterest ads and how your brand can get started on the platform, we have broken down everything you need to know about how to achieve success with Pinterest ads. First, let’s look at the key benefits of using Pinterest ads.
The key benefits of Pinterest ads
Pinterest is a unique platform, in that it acts as a visual search engine. Pinterest users are actively searching for new ideas and ready to be inspired. Therefore, from a brand perspective, Pinterest is an effective platform to use if you want to increase brand awareness and boost engagement.
Another advantage of using Pinterest ads is that users are usually open to purchase as well as discovery. If they are searching for something, likely, they are actively looking for products to buy. Therefore, Pinterest can help you boost sales.
As mentioned Pinterest ads can help you build brand awareness because the platform allows brands to reach wider audiences. Pinterest has over 500 million users, so if you get your messaging and content right, you can get your ads in front of lots of people and generate more engagement.
Pinterest pins can also be long-lasting. By this, we mean your pins can be viewed by the user multiple times. This is because users save the pins and revisit them when browsing their boards. When a user saves a pin to their board, it also increases the chances that the pin will be shared with their audience. Therefore, Pinterest is a great platform for increasing reach.
Pinterest ad types
Standard pins
This is the simplest Pinterest ad type; it is a single-image ad that will appear in a user’s home feed. It will be labelled as a ‘promoted by’ and when a user clicks on the ad, they will be taken directly to a URL you have chosen.
Video pins
This ad type is very similar to a standard pin; the key difference is that a video is used as the main visual asset. There are specific ad objectives you can use when using a video pin. They are attention-grabbing ad types and are effective ways to increase/maintain user engagement.
Carousel pins
Very similar to standard pins but advertisers can showcase multiple images/videos in one pin. It allows you to advertise multiple products at the same time which increases engagement and conversions. They are extremely effective for ‘how-to’ advertisements and ‘tutorial’ ads, as you can add plenty of detail about a product or service in digestible, engaging pins.
Shopping pins
These ads are taken directly from a brand’s product catalogue, so to use these ads, you need to have a catalogue ad set up before using these. Pinterest will automatically use product information data to automatically target these specific ads to the ideal audience.
To note: Shopping pins look almost identical to standard pins but they are made differently.
Collections are a type of shopping pin where advertisers can promote multiple products at one time. They are different to carousal pins because they appear with one main visual asset and three related images below. The great thing about collections is that once a user clicks on the ad, you can showcase up to 24 related images. These are exceptionally effective for e-commerce brands in the fashion, interior design or beauty industries.
Pinterest ad specs and recommendations
When posting on any platform you must stick to the platform-specific ad specs, so your content is the most effective and your ad drives the desired results.
Below we have broken down the ad sizes for the ad types mentioned:
Standard/shopping pins: 1000 x 1500 pixels, Max size 32MB and PNG or.PEG file type.
Video pins: 1, 2:3, 4:5, or 9:16 aspect ratio, ideal 6-15 seconds in length, max length is 15 minutes, max size 2GB and MP4, MOV or M4V file type.
Carousel pins: 1:1 or 2:3 aspect ratio, Max size 20 MB per image, 2-5 images per carousel and PNG or JPEG file type.
Collections: 1:1 or 2:3 aspect ratio for the main image, 3-24 related images, max size 10MB and PNG or JPEG file type.
The cost of a perfect Pinterest pin
Pinterest operates on an auction-based system, which means the price of a Pinterest ad can differ depending on ad objective, industry, location and several other factors.
For an ad aiming to increase brand awareness, you can expect to pay anywhere between $2-$5 per 1000 impressions (CPM). If you want to drive more traffic to your site, it is estimated that you will pay between $.10 – $1.50 per click (PPC). Ads that boost engagement could cost $.10 – $1.50 and if you are aiming to improve conversion rates, you can expect to pay between $0.00 – and $8.00 (CPA).
How to set up a Pinterest ad
Open your Pinterest business account and ‘create an ad’. From here you can choose your ad objective and make sure that this option aligns with your business goals. Following this, you can fill out basic details and set your budget.
The next step is to choose and outline your targeting strategy. Your targeting strategy should align with campaign objectives and broader business goals. It is at this point you will be presented with an option to set a frequency target, cap and target per action.
Once all of the above is completed, you can create a new pin, upload your content and submit your ad for review.
Top tip: Make sure to monitor your Pinterest ad performance in real-time, so you can track where improvements might be needed, refine your social media strategy and drive better results.
6 best practices for Pinterest advertising
1. Make the most out of automated campaigns
Pinterest offers the option of using automated campaigns; this means Pinterest helps you plan and run campaigns by automatically adjusting the settings for you. This can save you time, especially when running multiple campaigns. However, it is important to monitor performance based on these automated campaigns and if they are not driving results, manual campaigns may be more beneficial for you.
2. Create content for vertical aspect ratios
Pinterest pins are commonly vertical images, so make sure your content can be presented vertically. By following the specs outlined above and creating content that works well with vertical aspect ratios, your content will stand out and attract the attention of Pinterest users.
3. Be consistent and stay on brand
Your target audience should know content belongs to your brand before they see your brand name; this is the key to a successful brand identity. You should make sure your visual assets stay on brand and remain relevant. Getting your tone of voice right is also essential for audience engagement and customer loyalty, so make sure you establish and consistently use the same tone of voice in your pins.
Top tip: A content planner may be beneficial to create and use, so you can make sure you post regularly on the platform and give yourself the best chance at driving results.
4. Include a call to action
All brands want conversions and the best way to increase conversions is to have a strong call to action (CTA). They should grab user attention and encourage the user to complete a conversion. There are different types of CTA’s, so experimenting with different ones is helpful as you find the CTA that drives the most conversions.
5. Experiment with different ad types
As mentioned above, there are many different Pinterest ad types the platform offers. You should test different ad types and see what resonates best with your audience. You can also use competitor analysis to assess what ad types work best for them; if those ad types drive results for competitors, there is a high chance it will drive results for you too.
6. Stand out
As Pinterest is a highly visual platform, users expect to see high-quality and visually appealing assets. It is important to be creative and try to stand out from your competition. Ask yourself ‘Are they missing something from their ads?’, ‘Is there anything we can do differently to our competitors?’ and ‘What will grab our audience’s attention?’ By asking yourself these questions, you can start to refine your strategy, so your content stands out and drives more results.
Let’s start your Pinterest journey today!
Now you know why you should use Pinterest ads in your paid social strategy and how to make the most out of them for your brand, it is time to get working on your Pinterest pins. If you are looking for support with your Pinterest ads, get in touch and our team of experts will explain how Embryo can help you achieve success on Pinterest.
