After an announcement last September that Pinterest planned to offer promoted pins, they have finally reported a list of brands in their first round of testing. With their announcement of a dozen well-recognized brand names like Gap, General Mills, Target, Kraft, Expedia and ABC Family taking position to have their pins appear more prominently in search results, we all have to wonder how it will change the feel of Pinterest in the future.
Tasteful Ads
Pinterest has stated that its goal is to create a “tasteful, transparent [and] relevant” ad experience. Most users fear the worst. However, Pinterest has been “determined to not let that happen” saying that they won’t include banner ads and other online products. In fact, they have stated that none of the ads are being paid for, and that they “want to see how things go” but most of all want to “hear what you think” about the ads.
Unlike other engines you currently can’t buy promoted pins without a $1 million commitment. For the time being you can forget about promoting your mom and pop or SOHO businesses. For at least this initial test ads are reserved for brand names.
Plans to Go Public
Speculation is that Pinterest might one day go public, and after 4 years of gaining traction, they need to show revenues. Now that a user base has been established, they may be looking to establish a premium ad spend. Their currently aggressive price point will continue to keep low budget and smaller businesses from promoting pins in the near future, but that all may hang on how the response to this test turns out.
How do you feel about Pinterest offering Promoted Pins?
Keep up with the conversation
Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Follow us on Google+ | Join our network on LinkedIn
