The post Pinterest Adopts the Use of Promotional Ads appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . With over half a million businesses on Pinterest, the Social Media platform is becoming a lot more than just recipes and fashion photos. It’s time to prepare yourself to start seeing even more ads now that Pinterest unleashed new tools for businesses back in June. The “do-it-yourself Promoted Pins” feature will allow businesses of any size to promote their pins on a cost-per-click basis in order to reach more people and get more visits back to their homepage. Pinterest has been testing this program since early May with big brands like Old Navy, Target and Shutterfly, and is offering a sign up for any business to try it when they’re ready to get started. Competing Against Facebook and Twitter, Subtly By adopting the same principles as Facebook’s ad promotions and Twitter’s promoted Tweets, Pinterest’s Promoted Pins have been touted as “changing the game one pin at a time.” What’s different about their advertisements is that they won’t appear any different than the other posts that interest you. If, for instance, you’re browsing new cocktail recipes you won’t see an ad for JcPenny’s, instead you’ll see pins from companies that deal in mixology or interesting cocktail glasses. Many have reported this as a noticeable benefit simply because the ads won’t be pestering potential customers by appearing in random categories. Pinterest is already such a product-and-image driven environment that users have been embracing brands long before any advertising was thrown into the mix. Building Off Rich Pins Back in June we talked about standing out on Pinterest with Rich Pins , a change in eCommerce that shared pricing information and availability. Rich Pins also came with analytics and options to receive pricing alerts. Promoted Pins will only add to these features, with promises that pins will appear first in search results and category feeds on both the web and in mobile apps. If you aren’t on Pinterest already sharing your products, the time has never been better to join. Currently only select businesses are receiving the option to promote but getting started now will prepare you when the time comes. Your Pinterest Board and Planning Your Pins While the notion of the promoted pins blending in with the rest is great from an advertisement perspective, the pins you’re choosing to designate as promotional should do anything but. Aim to make the promotional pins to be taller than those around them and really draw the viewer in. Customers have always found you on your own Pinterest boards and promoted pins will be no different. Some of the most compelling reasons for businesses to start using Pinterest include: It’s a great place to promote a contest As most users are visually inclined, it’s a great platform to optimize your brand’s image You’re allowed to comment and interact with potential customers Built in SEO benefits with hashtags and keywords Integration of other Social Media sites So What’s So Promising? Back in April, the data tracking blog, Shareaholic, dubbed Pinterest as the reigning queen of social referrals . Since December it has seen a growth in traffic of 48% and is second only to Facebook in terms of steering Social referrals. In three years of operating there have been 30 billion items pinned and 750 million boards created. Even what once was a heavily female dominated user base has now shifted from over 80% females, to 68.2% female and 31.8% men. It’s become very clear Pinterest has established itself as one of the top marketing tools, and in no time businesses small and large will be benefiting from the use of Promoted Pins. When do you plan on starting? web hosting