Pinterest's monetization will do great. Seriously, Pinterest could and should IPO in coming years.
I'm bullish on Pinterest not only because my wife and I use Pinterest for everything from planning our wedding to finding outfits and meals, but because I market on Pinterest for a few clients all day long. It consistently brings in more traffic than other sources when you do it right, even for clients that are ranked in the top 5 in high-traffic Google SERPs.
The crazy thing about Pinterest traffic is that it never dies off. If you get a bunch of repins today, traffic will be showing up from those pins months later; it's kind of absurd, and very unlike Adsense or other discovery advertising platforms in that way.
The difficult aspect for Pinterest will be getting the worth of Pinterest ads down to a final cost per action since it is such a long wait before you see how much each pin is truly worth. And that really is the goal for any advertiser: If I know this click will bring me $2 I'll pay up to $1.99 for it. A lot of Pinterest users are in hardcore discovery mode, and as such Pinterest traffic doesn't convert as well as search traffic immediately, but in the long run it always seems to be worth it.
>It consistently brings in more traffic than anything combined when you do it right,
How do you do Pinterest "right"? Just curious.
You're absolutely right about the traffic trend. When Pinterest was first getting a major buzz, I was pinning regularly and those pins are still getting actively repinned.
After a period of no pinning, now when I do pin things, I hardly see any activity.
Your first sentence is ambiguous. I'm still not entirely sure you mean it in the startup world usage of "killing it" - i.e. doing really well (though I think you do), or the more mainstream usage of "destroy it."
Pinterest, I'm not a direct user, but my wife is, and it's had a better impact on my life, even indirectly, than any of the other social networks. It's our cookbook, craftbook, and misc idea book. I am willing to give you money. Probably far more than you'll get from serving us ads.
Premium accounts could work for Pinterest. I think ads will make them a lot more, their model is well suited towards ads. Not to say they couldn't do both.
Pinterest's users are mostly women. Women click on ads far more often than men do. Combine that with the added appeal of pictures and you realize that the efficiency of ads on Pinterest could dwarf anything offered by Adsense and the likes.
Bottom line, for the next couple of years there are some serious bucks to be made from ads on Pinterest. After that, spam will take over.
Pinterest should sell internal data on which items get pinned the most from which retailer in which time period.
IE: This necklace got pinned the most from Macys.com during the week before Valentine's Day. I'm sure JCPenny, BlueNile etc would find that data useful.
I'm already seeing Pinterest tags on clothes at Nordstrom's. Your idea would definitely help move that along. They have a unique opportunity here to help a lot of retailers. I'd like to see the company do more than just advertising.
This seems like a natural move for Pinterest, and due to the nature of its content I think the ads have the potential to be highly relevant to the user. Maybe long-tail products could get an even better channel to reach interested customers?
Anyone in here know who I can talk to to join as an early advertiser? I am a co-founder at a beauty startup. We wanna give Pintrest our money. - [email protected]
They mostly don't. I recall they used to make some money off of affiliate links on products people posted. They abandoned it for various reasons. They've survived off of VC money.
They were going to become an advertising machine eventually. I think they would have been better off turning all those amazon links into referral links.
[+] [-] austenallred|12 years ago|reply
I'm bullish on Pinterest not only because my wife and I use Pinterest for everything from planning our wedding to finding outfits and meals, but because I market on Pinterest for a few clients all day long. It consistently brings in more traffic than other sources when you do it right, even for clients that are ranked in the top 5 in high-traffic Google SERPs.
The crazy thing about Pinterest traffic is that it never dies off. If you get a bunch of repins today, traffic will be showing up from those pins months later; it's kind of absurd, and very unlike Adsense or other discovery advertising platforms in that way.
The difficult aspect for Pinterest will be getting the worth of Pinterest ads down to a final cost per action since it is such a long wait before you see how much each pin is truly worth. And that really is the goal for any advertiser: If I know this click will bring me $2 I'll pay up to $1.99 for it. A lot of Pinterest users are in hardcore discovery mode, and as such Pinterest traffic doesn't convert as well as search traffic immediately, but in the long run it always seems to be worth it.
[+] [-] Nowyouknow|12 years ago|reply
How do you do Pinterest "right"? Just curious.
You're absolutely right about the traffic trend. When Pinterest was first getting a major buzz, I was pinning regularly and those pins are still getting actively repinned.
After a period of no pinning, now when I do pin things, I hardly see any activity.
[+] [-] ojbyrne|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] onedev|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spullara|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] johnward|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jerf|12 years ago|reply
Are you willing to take it?
[+] [-] connerbryan|12 years ago|reply
Or at the very least, a subscription with the single benefit of "no ads."
[+] [-] robryan|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] droidist2|12 years ago|reply
You may be, but only a sliver of people who say they would rather pay than see ads would actually do it if presented with that chance.
[+] [-] elorant|12 years ago|reply
Bottom line, for the next couple of years there are some serious bucks to be made from ads on Pinterest. After that, spam will take over.
[+] [-] atacrawl|12 years ago|reply
In the US, this is true. In the UK, it's more of a 50/50 split. (I can't remember where I read that; otherwise, I'd provide a source link.)
[+] [-] applecore|12 years ago|reply
Is this actually true?
[+] [-] taopao|12 years ago|reply
Women be shoppin'?
[+] [-] AznHisoka|12 years ago|reply
IE: This necklace got pinned the most from Macys.com during the week before Valentine's Day. I'm sure JCPenny, BlueNile etc would find that data useful.
[+] [-] austenallred|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Nowyouknow|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JimmaDaRustla|12 years ago|reply
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter...now Pinterest.
[+] [-] asabjorn|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] clone1018|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] richardlblair|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikeg8|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|12 years ago|reply
I guess they're nervous after the earlier backlash against skimlinking?
[+] [-] gourneau|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] irishcoffee|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cshenoy|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dudus|12 years ago|reply
AJay Hubbard: - I'll allow it
[+] [-] nick2021|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] richardlblair|12 years ago|reply
They were going to become an advertising machine eventually. I think they would have been better off turning all those amazon links into referral links.
[+] [-] quarterto|12 years ago|reply