Pinterest has taken quite a leap when it comes to improving the ability for advertisers and brands to target the right audiences with their ads. To do this, they have just recently opened up 5000 ‘interest categories’ that can be used to target users with ads. The categories are starting to roll out to users and will continue for the next several weeks.
The categories for targeting include a wide range of things such as vegetarian barbecue, closet organization, diet plans, ballroom dancing, desk yoga, wedding on a budget, and much more. Marketers can choose one or more of the categories and then users who are following content related to them can include ads.
Mike Akkerman, the head of marketing partners at Pinterest said, “What we’ve seen is that agencies as well as advertisers are actually moving away from this siloed approach of search, social and email affiliate into performance marketing or biddable media where it’s about a brand being able to connect with a consumer.”
Making it easier for brands to target consumers who are highly likely to be interested in their product or service is extremely important throughout the industry. Pinterest recently announced that they have 200 million monthly users, and their ad revenue is on track to hit $500 million this year. In 2016, they made $300 million in revenue.
