5 Things to Consider when Scaling Ads on Pinterest

So you're through the testing phase and achieving an amazing CPC, ROAS & CPA but now it's time to scale. Here are 5 things to consider:

1. Your costs will increase

If you're already experienced with other advertising platforms such as Facebook then you'll understand the concept behind this. When you start with a low budget, the algorithm will automatically target the "low hanging fruit" which means the customers that are most likely to convert. For Pinterest, if you have been following my instructions for using Keywords only then it will be targeting the customers who are specifically searching for the exact topic at the exact time first.  *See my article: Why you should skip ‘Interests’ and just use Narrow Keywords on Pinterest Ad Campaigns.

As your budget increases then it will be targeting audiences who are browsing your less relevant keywords and at less relevant times. If you're used to achieving a CPC of $0.01 for example, then this will increase the more you scale. Also, your CPA will rise and your ROAS will reduce.  

When scaling your campaigns you should first decide what an acceptable KPI is such as $20 CPA or 5:1 ROAS. You should keep scaling until your KPI meets the threshold. If you are starting with a small budget such as $10, then there is no problem to double or quadruple the budget every day. However, once your budget for a campaign reaches $100pd it's best to increase slowly such as 25% each time (and only 1-2 times per week).  

When the KPI rises above the threshold then you can reduce the budget until it settles at an acceptable amount. However, you can keep optimizing the existing campaigns and testing new campaigns.

2. You'll need to widen your audience

There are lots of ways you can do this such as:

• Changing from search only to browse & search
• Adding Keywords
• Changing from exact match keywords to phrase match or broad match
• Widening the demographics
• Widening Actalike audiences, i.e. from 1% to 5%
• Widening retargeting audiences, i.e. adding an audience that has engaged with your pins rather than just website visitors.
• Creating an "interests only" campaign to run alongside your keywords campaigns. Also, you can add more interests or "enable expanded targeting".

3. Creatives are really important

Don't just settle for the usual Image + text templates Pin templates on Canva. Image-only pins work best, see my article: Why you should Prioritize Plain Image Pins on Pinterest. You can also try video pins, carousel pins, and product pins. Furthermore, don't forget to try memes! These can work really well on Pinterest and can be used for any type of business. See my article 3 Reasons to use Meme Marketing on Pinterest where I show you how I managed to achieve a 7% CTR for B2B!

The creatives are THE most important thing when it comes to Pinterest. The CTR and the Outbound CTR can vary so much depending on which creative you use so it's really important to test out as many pins as possible. *It's also important to test different headings and descriptions.

As you scale, your campaigns will experience "ad fatigue". You will notice that when your frequency hits around 5-7 that the performance drops. This is a good time to switch up the creatives.

4. The attribution is complicated

Another thing to note is the attribution. This can be quite complex and the Pinterest analytics don't always reflect this accurately. Some businesses use software such as Hyros to record the attribution and scale effectively via the right platforms. It's possible to achieve a really low cost per outbound click on Pinterest such as $0.01 but they might not convert. However, Pinterest can be used as a "first touchpoint", to then retarget via another marketing channel. This means that your campaigns can still ad value even if the sales are not attributed to Pinterest.

It's also worth noting that sometimes the Pinterest reporting will take credit for conversions that are not relevant. This means that simply by showing a pin to a user (even if the user didn't click on it), it can be recorded as a conversion. The customer might have converted via another channel such as Instagram but because the pixels are installed on both platforms, and the customer is a user of both, Pinterest can record the sale and take the credit. To check this, you can add a metric such as "Total click-through conversions (Checkout)" to your table. You can also view the reporting using different conversion windows. I have found the most accurate window to be 7/1/1.

5. The efficacy of a campaign goes beyond Pinterest

It's super important that the product or service has a good conversion rate and also that the pins tie in nicely with the page that you are sending users to. I consult and execute strategies to help businesses with conversions such as writing blog posts, listicles, quizzes, landing pages, coordinating user-generated content, and video storyboards. Also, it helps to create pins that reflect any special offers at the time.

I hope these tips help you scale your ads on Pinterest! For more articles and info about Pinterest marketing checkout my Linktree

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