Successful Influencer Marketing on Pinterest

Key Takeaways

• With 445 million monthly active users, Pinterest holds great potential for influencer marketing campaigns.
• Successful influencer marketing campaigns on Pinterest require a clear definition of goals, knowledge of target groups, and visually appealing content.
• An example of a successful influencer marketing campaign is the Kérastase campaign, which increased brand awareness by 11%.

The figures from the last few years clearly show the potential for influencer marketing  on Pinterest. Consequently, 445 million people actively use Pinterest on a monthly basis, which shows a slight increase in user numbers in the second quarter of 2022. Even though the number of monthly unique visitors may have decreased recently, there is an impressive traction in terms of monthly users that remains. Pinterest was the website that reached ten million monthly visitors the fastest. Keep in mind that during the early days, Pinterest could only be joined by invitation and the network didn’t file for an IPO until 2010, nine years after its launch. By comparison, Twitter and Snapchat filed this application just six years after launch.

Find more interesting statistics about Pinterest on Kolsquare’s Influencer Marketing blog.

What is there to consider on Pinterest regarding influencer marketing?

Before you can even think about an influencer marketing campaign on Pinterest, you first need to create a Pinterest account for yourself or for your brand. This is free on Pinterest, as it is on other platforms. Be sure to communicate your brand identity on Pinterest as well. In short, this means publishing your posts with your logo and brand name, as well as a logical link to your homepage or product page. With the new shopping and ad features on Pinterest, influencers can now tag your brand much better, which means users will come across your brand and possibly your store with every pin.

Said updates also make it much easier for you to sell on Pinterest and offer interested parties a completely different exchange with your brand products. The keyword here is Rich Pins, which you or your collaborative partners can add to your product posts and display product and inventory information uploaded to Pinterest. You should also consider becoming a verified merchant on Pinterest. This is also free; you just need to meet certain guidelines and submit an application. Advantages of being a verified merchant are that you can take advantage of all the features of this platform  and sell conveniently on Pinterest. This way, potential buyers don’t even have to leave the app . This can increase sales and engagement for your amounts = a double plus!

Pinterest also offers different ad styles such as Shoppable Image Ads, Promoted Pins, Story Pins and Carousels. While almost any B2B or B2C brand can achieve positive results on Pinterest, some industries are particularly successful, including food, fashion, home decor, beauty, and travel.

The first steps and tips for a successful influencer marketing campaign on Pinterest

The following two steps are important for the success of an influencer marketing campaign on Pinterest. As for any campaign, start by clearly defining your goals. Do you want to drive traffic to your website, increase brand awareness, or boost sales? Once you have clear goals in mind, make sure your content aligns with your brand’s values and appeals to your target audience.

Once you know who your target audience is and what they are looking for, you can search for the right influencers. They should be influencers in your niche, although the size of the following doesn’t always automatically promise higher engagement rates.

Kolsquare tips for contacting influencers: Once you have a list of potential influencers, it’s time to contact them – and  first impressions count. Be sure to personalize the message and explain why you think both parties can benefit from a partnership. Know what you expect before you contact them, and negotiate fairly and transparently.

Here are some more tips for creating effective and visually appealing content for Pinterest:

1. Use high-quality imagery
2. Choose the right size for your posts, we recommend an aspect ratio of 2:3 or 1:2
3. Use text overlays
4. Mobile first is the name of the game
5. Stay on brand, always
6. Mix your content with a variety of formats, including photos, videos, and GIFs
7. Use keywords
8. Experiment with different types of content and track your results

Brand awareness up 11% - Kérastase is the best practice example for a brand ambassador program on Pinterest

For the 2021 vacation season, Kérastase wanted to draw attention to its purple neutralizing shampoo, as the shampoo for blonde hair supports a sun-bleached complexion, making it especially popular in the summer. Of course, the French hair care brand was not the only one to launch advertising campaigns based on the warm temperatures. To stand out visually, Kérastase used Idea Pin ads that had a multi-page, full-screen format.

The content was diverse: from before-and-after looks to inclusion in the morning routine, influencers showed and used the shampoo in videos and images. In this way, the campaign told an engaging story and increased interest in all Kérastase products.

In particular, the partnership with Iskra Lawrence, one of the most popular beauty designers on Pinterest, was crowned with success. Kérastase optimized the campaign using the Pinterest Trends tool to ensure that the ads matched the content that the target audience was already searching for. Guillaume Duez, SVP and Brand Lead of Kérastase Paris, concluded, “Our strategic approach allowed us to ensure we were meeting our customers exactly where they were. We were also able to show them engaging content that they were already interested in. In this way, we increased awareness of the Kérastase brand and our website.”