Pinterest Ads Not To Be Introduced To The UK Just Yet

It was recently announced that social media picture-sharing site Pinterest is due to introduce ads to the site in the near future. However, there is still “work to do”, according to Joanne Bradford – global head of partnerships at Pinterest – before ads are extended to the UK, Marketing Week reports.

The new service – called Promoted Pins – will take a back burner, with the site focussing on its ‘pin-it’ button, which is almost equivalent to the ‘Like’ button on Facebook. The pin-it button allows for users to build their profile and builds analytics, and is what the site aims to encourage more than pushing paid-for ads at the current time.

Bradford noted that the ultimate goal of promoted pins will be to make them “as tasteful and beautiful as a regular pin and perform better because they’re targeted correctly.” In order for this to happen, brands need to take a few steps themselves; these include putting “the pin-it button on their site, build their boards and think about how to use Pinterest to market according to their brands using the analytics and insight […] the final stage is using promoted pins or paid products.”

The promoted pins were introduced in the US in February. The first brands began advertising in May and all signed a six month contract, due to finish at the end of this month. Thus far, the site and participating brands are happy with the results although no tangible data of this first trial will be made public until the end of the year.

The aim of this new service is to grow the partnerships team at Pinterest and educate brands, agencies and publishers on best practice guidelines for the site, and also the benefits of paying for the new ad service.