Pinterest to pin down users with more ads

Pinterest will start to push more ‘Promoted Pins’, otherwise known as ad content, on to its users in coming weeks.

The visual social network launched its Promoted Pins function last year, allowing a number of US businesses to pay to give their pins more visibility in search results and category feeds.

But the latest move will give advertisers the ability to promote their pins directly into users’ home feeds, the first screen you see when accessing Pinterest.

In a blog post, Pinterest assured users all paid-for pins would be clearly labelled “Promoted” and that anyone who didn’t like a promoted pin would be able to hide it from their feed and tell Pinterest why they didn’t like it, making sure the platform can target the right ads to the right users.

“Recently, I was looking to redo my bedroom, and I found a rug in the Home Décor category on Pinterest that’s just my style. It happened to be a Promoted Pin from Target,” said Annie Ta, Pinterest product manager.

“That’s exactly what we’re hoping Promoted Pins can be: one more way to discover and save creative ideas, connecting you to businesses that’ll help you make your plans a reality.”

“We want to make sure Pinterest is a service that’s here to stay for all of us, and advertising helps us ensure that happens,” Ta added.

There is no indication if Australian businesses will be able to advertise with Promoted Pins, but it is likely Pinterest will want to open up this new method of monetisation to a bigger group of advertisers in time.