What is interest targeting on Pinterest Ads?

Interest targeting on Pinterest Ads allows you to reach people based on their interests and behaviors that align with specific categories or topics they engage with on Pinterest. This type of targeting ensures that your ads are shown to users who are most likely to be interested in your products or services based on their activity and the content they interact with on the platform.

How Interest Targeting Works on Pinterest:
Pinterest uses a combination of user activity, search behavior, and content engagement to determine a person's interests. This can include the Pins they save, the boards they create, and the topics they follow. By using interest targeting, advertisers can reach a relevant audience by showing ads to users who have already shown interest in topics related to their products or services.

Key Features of Interest Targeting:
Broad Categories: Pinterest has a wide range of interest categories (like fashion, home décor, fitness, food, etc.) that users engage with. You can target these categories to reach users who are interested in topics that relate to your business.

User Engagement: Pinterest identifies the types of Pins users are saving, clicking, and interacting with. Based on this data, it groups users into interest categories like DIY crafts, travel, or technology. Ads are then shown to users within these interest groups.

Customizable Audience: You can choose multiple interest categories, allowing you to combine broad and more specific topics. For example, you could target users interested in home décor and sustainability, or fitness and healthy eating.

Automatically Updated: Pinterest constantly updates users' interests based on their activity on the platform. This ensures that your interest targeting remains relevant over time, as users' preferences change.

Types of Interest Categories:
Pinterest provides a wide array of interest categories to choose from, including:

Fashion

Beauty

Home Décor

Food & Drink

Fitness & Wellness

DIY & Crafts

Travel

Technology

Health

Entertainment (e.g., music, movies, books)

Business & Marketing

You can select multiple interests within each of these categories. For instance, if you sell eco-friendly home products, you could target interests related to home décor, sustainability, and eco-friendly living to attract people interested in green home improvements.

Benefits of Interest Targeting:
Relevance: You can ensure your ads are shown to users who have a genuine interest in topics related to your business, making it more likely they will engage with your content.

Higher Engagement: Because the audience is more likely to be interested in your products, interest-based targeting tends to lead to higher engagement rates (likes, clicks, saves).

Broader Reach: Interest targeting allows you to cast a wide net by reaching people who have engaged with topics you may not have considered. This can increase the potential reach of your ads.

Brand Discovery: This method allows you to introduce your brand to people who may not yet know about it but are already interested in topics related to what you offer.

How to Set Up Interest Targeting:
Create a Campaign: Start by creating a campaign in Pinterest Ads Manager and choosing your campaign objective.

Set Your Audience: When setting up the ad group, navigate to the Targeting section, where you can choose Interests.

Select Interest Categories: Browse Pinterest's predefined interest categories and select the ones that align with your business. You can select as many interests as you like, depending on your campaign's goals.

Additional Filters: You can combine interest targeting with other filters like keywords, demographics, or location to further refine your audience.

Ad Creatives: Once targeting is set, create your ad creatives (Pins) that resonate with the interests of the audience you are targeting.

Limitations of Interest Targeting:
While interest targeting on Pinterest Ads is powerful, there are some limitations to be aware of:

Broad Audience: While you can target multiple interests, sometimes the audience can be too broad, especially if you choose several large categories. This could result in less precise targeting.

Lack of Granularity: Pinterest's interest categories are not as granular as those on some other platforms, meaning you might not always be able to drill down to a very specific audience.

Overlap: Users can be interested in multiple overlapping categories, which could lead to your ads showing up in unrelated contexts.

Conclusion:
Interest targeting on Pinterest Ads is an excellent way to reach users who are already engaged with topics that align with your brand. By selecting relevant interest categories, you can improve the chances that your ads will resonate with your audience, leading to better engagement and conversions. However, combining interest targeting with other filters like keywords, demographics, or location can help you further refine your audience and optimize your ad performance.