Pinterest is rolling out its Promoted Pins platform to more businesses, the company has confirmed to TechCrunch, after we received reports from businesses who were newly being invited to join the pilot program. Previously announced earlier this summer, Pinterest’s “self-serve,” performance-based advertising platform is aimed at small to medium-sized businesses looking to gain more views for their Pins from Pinterest users.
Though the company had previously been testing its Promoted Pins product with a number of larger brands, including ABC Family, Banana Republic, Expedia, GAP, General Mills, Kraft, Lululemon, Nestle, Old Navy, Target, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, and Ziploc, that initial group of Promoted Pins was sold on a CPM basis, based on the number of impressions generated.
Meanwhile, the self-serve platform partners only pay if users click through to view the promoted content.
Those businesses now receiving invites to try Promoted Pins may have already expressed an interest in the product, the company says.
“These partners are being selected primarily from those on the waitlist and also those that have been actively using Pinterest,” explains a company spokesperson. “We look forward to working with them and future partners to test the tool and gather feedback.”
The company declined to offer specifics as to how many businesses were currently participating or on the waitlist to trial Promoted Pins. However, the company did reveal this May details related to tests with larger brands, which had signed either three to six-month commitments. AdAge had previously reported these ranged from $1 million to $2 million in commitments.
While it makes sense for big brands to establish a presence on the social network, the self-serve platform opened up Pinterest’s advertising to a broader group of customers, similar to how Google AdWords lets anyone bid on placements next to Google Search results.
Of course, Pinterest’s network today is nowhere near Google-sized, and is dwarfed in comparison with competing social networks like Facebook’s 1.32 billion users, or even Twitter’s 271 million users, with an estimated 60 or 70 million users, depending on your source. But it has managed to grow a very attractive demographic when it comes to advertising opportunities: females, on mobile, with purchase intent.
Below is an example of the invite businesses are now receiving:
We want to invite [redacted] to test our first advertising product, Promoted Pins.
Promoted Pins are Pins that businesses pay for so that more people can see them. With Promoted Pins, you’ll be able to:
Target your Promoted Pins to new customers
Promote your best Pins so they show up in search results
Pay only for clicks to your website
Track what’s working and make changes throughout your campaignIf you participate, there’s no minimum spend and you can stop campaigns at any time.
To use Promoted Pins, fill out the form below as soon as possible, and we’ll let you know when you can start. Hurry—we’ll only hold your spot on the list for a few days!
Get on the list for Promoted Pins
We look forward to working with you,
–[redacted] and the Pinterest Partner Team