Today, Pinterest’s popular Promoted Pins advertising product will become available to businesses of all sizes in the UK. The program was first launched in the US, where it has helped to connect millions of people in the past year with useful ideas that are applicable to their daily lives.
The UK is the first country outside of America where Promoted Pins will be used. Over the past year, the UK has seen a 50 percent rise in Pinterest users. Since the UK site was launched three years ago, users there have saved over 2 billion images. Areas that have been of particular interest to Brits are recipes, home décor, and DIY.
The news will be welcomed by British marketers and members of the service. Pinterest currently has more than 45 million users residing outside of the US. The company is focusing on expanding its international market as it tries to attract a bigger user base.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Pinterest generated around $100 million in revenue last year, and this figure could well get a boost from the overseas advertising expansion.
Some of the brands that are already on board in the UK include John Lewis, Tesco, Bloom & Wild, Made.com, B&Q and Nestle – Nescafe Azera. Pinterest uses a self-serve ad system, and it will open up to all UK marketers starting today.
Non-intrusive user experience
Promoted Pins are seamlessly woven into Pinterest so they blend in without distracting users in any way. They do not look or feel like ads. Instead, they appear exactly like organic Pins but retailers have to pay in order to serve them to users. These Pins have proven to be very helpful to users. In fact, Pinterest says that more than three fourths of all the Pins saved on the service come from businesses.
Pinterest has the edge over other social media platforms because it reaches very receptive consumers who are currently in a “consideration mindset”. People use the site to find new ideas for home décor, fashion, birthday parties and other events by looking through image-based Pins and adding them to their own boards. The ads shown line up with their interests.
Brands will be able to use conversion tracking pixels to keep track of where consumers end up on their site after clicking on the Promoted Pin as well as sales conversion data.
Pinterest President Tim Kendall said that the platform plans to boost its London sales team. While the initial focus will be on retailers, they eventually hope to tackle travel and financial services.
He added that the company is hoping to sell ads in Australia, Canada and Ireland by the end of this year.
