Let’s be honest, you’re in business to make money, right? Sure, you want to help people, experience time freedom, share your knowledge. But people need to know you’re in business. While I love a good organic traffic strategy, sometimes we need ads to help us along. So when it comes to the most bang for your buck, are Pinterest ads better than Facebook?
Pinterest ads and Facebook ads are not the same. If you’ve ever wondered when you should use Pinterest ads versus Facebook ads, I’m breaking that down for you today, as well as some of the differences between the two different advertising platforms.
Are Pinterest Ads Better Than Facebook?
Since Fall 2020 I have had a lot of increased interest and inquiry about Pinterest ads. This started around the election when Facebook started canceling ads for what seemed to be no apparent reason. Some were restored almost immediately, while others remained off-line. Facebook ads also seem to be getting more expensive as a result of increased competition.
Many digital entrepreneurs tend to have this idea that Facebook ads are just like a faucet that they’re going to turn on and off and make money; they’ve become way too dependent on Facebook ads. Few people consider that Pinterest ads are a great way to get more traffic, leads, and sales.
As an online business owner, you need to use a combination of organic and paid strategies and be diversified.
Which Ad Platform Is Right For My Business?
Pinterest Ads are Simpler
Pinterest ads are so much easier to set up than Facebook ads. Facebook ads have become extremely complicated. The backend changes frequently, and there’s this constant need to switch out creative.
As an example, one of my clients used to rely heavily on Facebook ads before she approached me for her promoted pins. She had set up her own account, and her Pinterest ads were running, but she felt she didn’t know how to optimize them and was seeking support. Once I saw her analytics, I found she was getting over 1%, sometimes 2% click-through rate on her Pinterest ads! That’s fantastic! So we let it continue to run as it was without changing the pin or the description. When she questioned me, I explained Pinterest is not the same as Facebook. Once you get a good click-through rate, you want to keep that.
Facebook Ads Rely More on Copy
Both Facebook ads and Pinterest ads rely on great use of images. In either platform, the image needs to be attention-grabbing and effective in telling a story so you stop your scroll and click through.
The difference is that with a Pinterest ad, you click on a pin image to see it up close, and then you’ll click again to go directly to either a sales page opt-in page, product page, or blog posts; you bypass the pin description completely. This means your pin image with text overlay has to tell the story of what’s to come and entice them to click through to the other side.
Facebook ads, on the other hand, must also have that scroll-stopping image. But ad to that the witty and funny and sales-esque copy to convince you to click over and make an impulse purchase.
Facebook Ads are Competitive
There’s just more competition within Facebook for ad space. People are scrolling through their feeds; you need something that really grabs attention. This means as a business owner, there is continuous pressure to create new ways to engage your potential clients and entice them to click over to your site or sales page.
Can I Use Both Pinterest and Facebook Ads?
My answer here is yes, but they serve different purposes, so you’ll want to be strategic.
Facebook ads can be turned on and off. So they can create quick results. To illustrate this, think of any Facebook post you’ve shared. You post it, you get some likes and comments, and they go away. It’s the same with ads in that you can get results quickly.
Use Facebook as part of your strategy if you need to get feedback right away (I love to use Facebook for audience testing because my analytics show up quickly) or if you are running timely promotions, like challenges.
Pinterest, as we know, is a slower-moving platform. You can pin a pin, but it can take a while to take off.
Facebook ads in this case are good for the short term or if you want to test something (audience characteristics, copy, etc) and want feedback right away.
Choose Pinterest for your evergreen offers. Think lead magnets or courses that are always available, digital products, eBooks, and so on. You can just run ads continually to those year-round. Or you can opt to run seasonal promotions. Just don’t forget to start promoting many months in advance (think pinning for the holidays in July) so you can build momentum and reach the planning mindset that attracts Pinterest. You’ll also need at least 30 days to really start optimizing your ads.
A Note About Audiences:
Facebook has been around a lot longer and therefore has a lot more data points on Pinterest. You can target by age, gender, location, language, interests, but there are a lot more interests and things that you can search for in Facebook versus Pinterest. You can also create, look alike and act alike audiences.
A lookalike audience is created by uploading email addresses on both platforms, and it works the same on both platforms. You can run the conversion and retargeting ads. In this way, you can also use Facebook together with Pinterest with this retargeting effort, because wherever you’re driving traffic, there is a Facebook pixel picking up that information as well. It’s then easier to drive ads to a page and then set up retargeting Facebook ads to also retarget your audience.
Are Pinterest Ads Cheaper Than Facebook?
Everyone wants to know about the cost. It makes sense, because the more you are spending on ads, the more you have to make to be profitable.
I’ll begin with a quick disclaimer that I am not a Facebook ads expert, but I have been running my own Facebook ads for my course, Pinning Foundations. The call to action for this is very expensive, and I am not making a profit yet.
In my research, the industry average cost per click is $1.72, and the cost per action ranges from $18 to $68. Of course, this is unique to each business. In my client’s example, she had a cost per click of only $.61, and her average cost per action was $35. This was on a $497 course, so her call to action did range anywhere from $34 to $63 which is still very profitable.
My best advice: run ads on both Pinterest and Facebook and track your numbers. Make the decision for yourself.
Is It Worth It to Advertise on Pinterest?
Consider the Reach
Never forget the value is that pins stay around forever. Pin ads are basically pins. They don’t disappear.
Remember we said with Facebook, the ad goes away when you stop paying for it.
On the other hand, Pinterest ads are pins that have been multiplied. They have been placed in front of hundreds of thousands of your ideal clients (if your setup was correct), and they’ve pinned them. Now, even when you turn the ad spend off, you’re still going to get a return on what you paid for, because those ads are now multiplied everywhere and one of the most fantastic things about Pinterest: the ads become organic traffic. Those pins are still out there, still moving around just like they would organically.
I love getting the weekly email from Pinterest that tells me hundreds of thousands of people saw your ads and you’re not even paying for ads anymore. How’s that for like return on your investment?
Consider the Reason for the Platform
Remember these two platforms are different, so they aren’t really in competition. Facebook is a social platform. Pinterest is a place of inspiration where people go to plan.
On Facebook then, ads are designed to be scroll-stopping with their images. The copy then entices you to make an impulse purchase. And, luckily for you, you can also be retargeted specifically as an extra persuasion to buy based on actions that are already happened, but it’s more impulse.
People on Pinterest are much more intentional versus impulsive. They’re looking for inspiration, ideas, and they’re planning for things yet to come. Statistics show that 87% of people have made a purchase after seeing content on Pinterest. Pinterest is more of an e-commerce platform with some digital products like Teachers Pay Teachers and Shopify shops. These store sellers are selling their products via Pinterest. So there is quite a bit of difference between how someone approaches Facebook versus Pinterest.
Consider the Results
A client of mine, Esther, had her Facebook ads account shut down for about four months. At that point, she was unsure if it would be restored. Together we started to explore Pinterest ads for her business. Her results in the last six months have been very impressive. I’ve been able to help her make over $278,000 in sales with only $20,000 in ad spend. Plus, she has increased her email list with leads by over 25,000! I share more details in my case study if you are into all of the numbers and analytics stuff.
If you’re convinced to give Pinterest ads a try and need support in optimizing your strategy and running your campaigns, you can book a discovery call with me here and ask for a copy of the case study!
Summary:
- Both Promoted Pins and Facebook Ads have benefits. Take the time to learn which one is right for you, or if using both is a better strategy.
- As an online business owner, you need to use a combination of organic and paid strategies and be diversified.
- Pinterest ads may be simpler to set up, require less maintenance, and be less competitive than Facebook ads.
- Pinterest ads are pins, so when the ad money stops, the pins remain and continue to accrue organic traffic.
- Promoted pins work great for evergreen offers like lead magnets, ebooks, digital products, e-commerce, and courses that are available all year.
- The Pinterest audience goes there with the intention to be inspired and to plan for future purchases, with 87% buying after seeing something on the platform.
- Facebook ads are beneficial when running traffic to a time-sensitive campaign or when trying to gather analytics or feedback quickly.
You may also be interested in:
9 Reasons to Use Promoted Pins
Why Pinterest is Important to Your E-Commerce Business
How to Use Pinterest for Direct Sales
If you’re interested in running Pinterest Ads for your business, I provide done-for-you services to ramp up traffic to your funnels through high-touch ad strategy and implementation.
