Did you know that promoted pins can boost your organic Pinterest strategy? Yep, it’s true. Today we’re getting into the nitty gritty of how it’s done.

Today we’re going to be talking about how to use the data that you find in your promoted pin campaigns to help boost your organic Pinterest strategy. This is a very advanced topic, so if you’re brand new to the podcast and Pinterest, come back to this podcast later. Instead, go listen to our “Start Here” podcast instead. Follow that up with this episode about how to keyword on Pinterest.

I have Monica Froese on the podcast today. Monica blogs at Redefining Mom and has been on the podcast before talking about Pinterest analytics. She fell into blogging while feeling overwhelmed after the birth of her daughter. At that time, she was transitioning out of her corporate job and started a “working mom” blog.

The blog led to some pretty cool opportunities, like going to the White House and being on the national news. Her love for Pinterest and data led her to her sweet spot, developing an expertise in promoted pins.

How Promoted Pins Can Boost Your Organic Pinterest Strategy

 

Background on Today’s Topic

In the last podcast we did together, we talked about the analytics we have available to us based on our pinning strategy without using promoted pins. After that episode, Monica was thinking about what other ways she could use the data to her advantage. The data we’re given on organic pinning is somewhat limited. Whereas the data that Pinterest provides on promoted pins actually includes the exact search keyword that people click through with. This isn’t available unless a pin is promoted.

Knowing Your Target and Audience

The first thing you should know about setting up a promoted pin campaign is that you can target gender, location, interests, keywords, or device in your campaigns. There is a person behind every promoted pin click, even if we have no idea how they end up there. Think about how they found your pin and how you can leverage the way they found your pin to make your Pinterest strategy even better.

The algorithm for promoted pins is an auction style. You bid CPC (cost per click) and you have to bid higher than the next person. Pinterest is optimizes based on your bid. Then they’ll determine where to spread the pin based on your interests, keywords, and click-through rate.

They will then start to show the pin in the smart feed and in related pins.

Cost first, then optimization.

Promoted Pin Keywords

The main way your pin is driven is by the keywords that you choose. Go into your campaign dashboard and choose your objective and identify your parameters. Keywords are the goldmine of Pinterest because Pinterest is a search engine. Pinterest 101 is “think like the pinner.”

There are three different types of keywords you can include in your campaign:

* Broad match (where they will show your pin loosely based on the keyword)

* Phrase match (your pin will show up in the niche of what your keyword is)

* Exact match (the exact same search as your keyword).

At the moment, phrase match is what’s recommended by Pinterest representatives because the algorithm is working through all the new One Tap campaigns. (One Tap is when you click on a promoted pin and it takes you directly to the website instead of simply enlarging the pin).