By Melissa Herold, Vidmob Creative Strategist
In the ever-evolving world of Adtech, digital strategy, and creative innovation, marketers and brands face the ongoing challenge of staying up to date on what’s trending in an effort to achieve cost-effective (key performance indicators) KPIs and return on ad spend (ROAS). This effort demands flexibility, agility, and most importantly, cash flow (and oftentimes cash burn), to adjust targeting and production strategies. Amidst the pursuit of the next big success and effective target market reach, advertisers might overlook a fundamental key practice: designing for platform preferences. Despite the rise and fall of influencers, hashtags, promotions, and livestreams, understanding each platform’s unique characteristics and audience is crucial to success in digital marketing. Often, the simplest strategies are the most effective.
While each social platform has its own personality, the surge in user engagement in the last decade has led to considerable overlap in both user bases and creative strategies. For example, ad creatives that perform well in-feed on Facebook often see similar results in-feed on Instagram. This is largely due to unified ad placements in Meta Ads Manager following Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012. Similarly, fast-paced, high-energy content suited for Snapchat often performs well on TikTok, appealing to their shared youthful audience and similar user demographics. Despite these trends of convergence and melding of platforms, Pinterest stands out as a notable exception, maintaining its unique strategy and direction as an independent, publicly-traded company. This distinctive approach taken by Pinterest underscores the importance of understanding and leveraging the unique qualities of each platform to optimize advertising strategies. With Pinterest recently revealing that its global monthly active users have increased 12% year over year to 518m — with GenZ comprising more than 40% —, the platform presents strong opportunities for brands. However, how users engage on Pinterest can vary in unique ways; here’s what brands need to know to cut through.
To see what drove engagement on Pinterest, Vidmob analyzed data and performance metrics across some of the platform’s biggest categories. This analysis revealed that artistic, visually inspiring, and aspirational ad creative significantly boosted performance. Positioned as a “visual discovery engine”, Pinterest aims to “spark inspiration” in diverse realms such as home design, culinary arts (especially cooking recipes), weddings and party planning. Brands that effectively harness this vision and craft ad creatives specifically designed to captivate Pinners seeking fresh and inspiring ideas — rather than casting a wide net across various platforms — tend to achieve remarkable results.
Reflect user mindset to showcase services
Hospitality brands whose offerings — vacations, dining, entertainment, and event venues — align closely with popular search topics on Pinterest can leverage the power of this platform’s user preferences. For example, one such brand launched a targeted creative campaign aimed at one of Pinterest’s largest user demographics: brides-to-be. The normative data shows that wedding-themed content on Pinterest is highly effective, a trend amplified by the post-pandemic surge in weddings. The campaign, which showcased the brand’s ceremony and reception services, allowed them to effectively reach their target audience, resulting in a remarkable 76% lift in Pin Click Rate (PCR) compared to their account average. This success underscores the importance of understanding audience preferences, search behaviors, and platform mindset to maximize cost efficiencies and return on ad spend. This approach not only boosts brand visibility and customer engagement but positions the brand as a go-to wedding resource.
Align Call to Action with platform ethos
In addition to capitalizing on the categories Pinners are searching for, tailoring traditional branding elements to align with platform preferences can be an equally effective approach. A 2023 Vidmob analysis revealed that another hospitality brand’s traditional call-to-action (CTA), “Book Now,” — which is the standard across the hospitality industry and has helped drive purchase actions across other platforms — resulted in a 38% decline in Pin Clicks on Pinterest. On a platform that positions itself as a search engine for discovery and exploration, the traditional “Book Now” messaging may be too direct and committal for Pinners daydreaming about their next vacation and still in the early stages of vacation planning. Instead, CTAs that resonate emotionally such as “Your Summer Escape Starts Here,” “Live the Good Life,” and “Vegas is Calling,” all saw lifts in performance as they aligned with the Pinner mindset and platform ethos.
Enhance the lifestyle appeal
Beyond refining campaign messaging, hospitality brands must also focus on individual factors influencing vacation bookings — beyond just location — including amenities, activities, and culinary options. Food and beverage content presents a ripe opportunity for these brands to enhance their lifestyle appeal. Leveraging Pinterest’s culinary culture is a strategic move for hospitality brands, capitalizing on one of the platform’s most popular categories. For instance, for another hospitality brand, content featuring food text and/or imagery led to an impressive 82% increase in PCR. By integrating aspirational culinary experiences into their broader narrative of luxury and comfort, brands can tap into Pinterest’s existing audience more effectively, potentially driving higher engagement and strengthening their lifestyle branding on the platform.
Curated content and lookbooks
Lifestyle pins dominate Pinterest, and tapping into the platform’s fervor for fashion has proven to be particularly effective in captivating vacation-seekers. With fashion inspiration and curated lookbooks being major draws — bolstered by a predominantly 70% female user base — one hospitality brand executed a series of fashion-forward campaigns. These campaigns highlighted the glitz and glamor of a Las Vegas vacation, leading to an impressive 80% increase in PCR, fueled by aspirational fashion imagery. By aligning with platform preferences, the client successfully drove action from guests seeking a sophisticated, fashion-forward Las Vegas experience through stylized content that targeted Pinterest users seeking fashion inspiration.
While there will never be a one-size-fits-all solution to fulfilling media plans and driving target audience action, marketers that are equipping themselves with the right data and insights is essential for maintaining cost-efficiency and high conversion rates. This strategy minimizes cash burn and keeps your brand ahead of the competition.
