Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
It's finally happened - after much research and development that included closed trial periods with a lucky few partners, Pinterest has announced its new self-serve paid search service is up and running, ready and waiting for marketers to use it to their advantage.
Dubbed the Pinterest Ads Manager, this new tool takes more than a bit of its inspiration from Google AdWords but still hopes to differentiate itself in the highly competitive paid search market. This comes in the form of Pinterest Lens, a new search technology that focuses on image recognition and object detection, something that will likely have a strong appeal thanks to the visual nature of Pinterest as a social platform.
There's likely to be a lot of skepticism and reticence among marketers and advertisers when it comes to the Pinterest Ads Manager. There will, of course, always be those early adopters that are quick to jump in with both feet, but marketers need to sit up and take notice when it comes to advertising their products on Pinterest.
Why is Pinterest so sure it's going to be the next advertising revenue juggernaut to follow in the footsteps of Facebook, the industry leader? How are they trying to convince internet marketers to devote even higher percentages of their precious marketing spend to yet another social media outlet that has yet to be tested? The truth is that there's plenty of evidence that Pinterest is an untapped marketing source.
Recent market research has shown that there are more than 200 million users on the platform, up from just 150 million in 2016. The number of searches these users conduct in just one month tops 2 billion. The vast majority of those searches are non-branded - 97 percent to be exact - yet still, three out of every four Pins saved come from businesses.
This is where Pinterest is poised to excel. While every savvy web user has access to an ad blocker and consumer trust in brands, in general, has been on the decrease, Pinterest's promoted Pins have a native feel, offer ads that are integrated beside organic, non-targeted posts, and have the potential to drive higher engagement as a result.
It's this high targeting ability of Pinterest's new paid search that helps to differentiate it from existing platforms that are already well-established. Audience data granularity and keyword options are highly robust and daresay even more sophisticated than industry leaders.
At the same time, Pinterest Ads Manager has most certainly been patterned after Google's reigning champion, AdWords. Marketers familiarized with AdWords will find themselves already in possession of the majority of the skills needed to manage Pinterest's new paid search service. This familiarity is an obvious design choice not only in the "if it broke, don't fix it" category but also in ensuring advertisers trialing the service will find a familiar, easy-to-grasp interface.
Getting in on the ground floor on a new paid search function has never been more of a good idea. Between highly sophisticated service, an easy-to-use and familiar toolset, and a social network ready and waiting to be monetized, Pinterest's new Ads Manager is an excellent opportunity for all types of marketers and advertisers.
