When it comes to leveraging Pinterest’s potential for marketing, two primary strategies come into play: organic Pinterest marketing and Pinterest ads. While both approaches aim to increase brand visibility and drive sales, they differ in their execution, reach, and outcomes. In this blog post, we’ll explore the distinctions between organic Pinterest marketing and Pinterest advertising to help you determine the best strategy for your business.
We offer both organic Pinterest marketing and Pinterest advertising services here at PinHouss, and we believe the best approach is a mix of an organic and paid strategy. When it comes to marketing it’s better not to have all your eggs in one basket. All of our organic Pinterest management packages include some form of awareness advertising and we recommend our ad clients have an organic strategy too. But we also know that as small business owners you will have to prioritize and allocate funds in a way that works best for your business. This post will help you understand the difference between the two strategies and decipher what’s best for you and your business.
What is Organic Pinterest Marketing?
Organic Pinterest marketing refers to the practice of optimizing your Pinterest presence and content without investing in paid advertising. This is usually what’s meant by “Monthly Pinterest Management”. It usually involves creating a keyword strategy, designing engaging and relevant pins, fostering an active community, and leveraging organic search to reach and connect with users. This approach relies heavily on building a strong brand presence, optimizing content for Pinterest search, and building results over time.
Key Aspects of Organic Pinterest Marketing:
Our Monthly Management is primarily an organic strategy.
- Profile Optimization: A well-optimized Pinterest profile includes a compelling bio, relevant keywords, a business account, and linking to your website.
- Content Creation: Consistently creating visually appealing and engaging pins, including high-quality images, informative descriptions, and appropriate keywords. (Our graphic designer is amazing!)
- Board Curation: Organizing your pins into themed boards that align with your target audience’s interests and regularly updating them with fresh content.
- Pinterest SEO Optimization: Conducting keyword research, incorporating relevant keywords in pin descriptions, board titles, and profile, and utilizing hashtags to improve discoverability.
- Consistent Pinning: Making sure there is a steady stream of pins going out every day to drive web traffic and online leads.
- Analyzing the numbers: Pinterest analytics is a wealth of information for both organic and paid strategies. You can see what content is performing, how much traffic you’re getting and what upcoming trends are.
Benefits of Organic Pinterest Marketing:
- Cost-Effective: Organic Pinterest marketing doesn’t require a direct financial investment, making it an affordable option for businesses with limited marketing budgets.
- Long-Term Results: Building an engaged community and optimizing your content for Pinterest can generate ongoing traffic and brand exposure over time leading to a steady stream of targeted traffic.
- Authenticity and Trust: Organic marketing allows you to establish a genuine connection with your audience by providing valuable content and fostering a sense of trust. This is key to building any brand!
- Retargeting: You can retarget your organic traffic with ads for better ad performance.
- Sustainable: An organic strategy is a better foundation for long term growth because it doesn’t depend on you continually spending money.
What is Pinterest Advertising?
Pinterest advertising, on the other hand, involves paying to promote your pins to a wider audience beyond. It enables businesses to reach a highly targeted audience based on keywords, demographics, interests, and behaviors. Pinterest offers various advertising formats, including promoted pins, video ads, shopping ads, and carousel ads, each catering to different marketing objectives.
Key Aspects of Pinterest Advertising:
- Promoted Pins: These are paid pins that appear in users’ home feeds, search results, and category feeds, designed to blend seamlessly with organic pins.
- Advanced Targeting Options: Pinterest’s advertising platform allows precise targeting based on keywords, demographics, interests, and customer behavior, ensuring your ads reach the right audience. When someone searches for your product, your pins will come up first!
- Retargeting: You can retarget audiences that have engaged with your ads or visited your website. This improves conversions because the pinner is familiar with your brand.
- A/B Testing: Testing different variations of your ad creative, targeting options, or bidding strategies can provide valuable insights to optimize your campaigns.
- Conversion Tracking: Pinterest offers conversion tracking, which allows you to track and measure specific actions taken on your website, such as purchases or “Add to Carts”, that result from your advertising efforts and put dollar amounts to the results.
- Analytics and Insights: Pinterest provides robust analytics tools to track the performance of your campaigns, measure engagement, and gain valuable insights for optimization.
Benefits of Pinterest Advertising:
- Pinterest ads are 2.3X more efficient per conversion than ads on social media.
- 85% of Pinterest users say that they use the platform to plan purchases.
- 2X higher return on ad spend for retail brands, compared to social media.
- Pinterest users are statistically more affluent, educated and eager to buy than on other platforms.
- 97% of top Pinterest searches are unbranded
- Advertising will help you achieve results faster
Get more info about the benefits of Pinterest ads.
PS- Check out our post How Much Do Pinterest Ads Cost?
Choosing the Right Strategy
The decision to pursue organic Pinterest marketing or Pinterest advertising depends on several factors, including your marketing goals, available resources, and target audience. While organic marketing takes time and effort to build a strong presence, it offers long-term benefits and can be ideal for businesses with limited budgets. Pinterest advertising, on the other hand, provides immediate visibility and precise targeting options, making it a suitable choice for businesses looking for rapid results and a larger reach.
Conclusion
Both organic Pinterest marketing and Pinterest advertising can be effective strategies for promoting your brand, driving traffic, and engaging with your target audience. While organic marketing focuses on building a strong brand presence and utilizing Pinterest’s native features, advertising offers a way to expand your reach and target specific audience segments. By understanding the nuances of each approach, you can determine the best strategy that aligns with your business goals and resources, ultimately maximizing your success on the Pinterest platform.
We live and breathe Pinterest marketing and we love helping brands get results whether they choose an organic strategy, Pinterest ads or a combination of both! Learn more about each service here:
Or book a Discovery Call to find out which option is right for you!
