With 454 million monthly active users, Pinterest is a key player in the social media marketing world. It’s a place many users turn to when looking for visual inspiration. Over 60 percent of Pinterest users are women, and the number of Gen Z users has grown by 50 percent year on year. If this is your target audience, then Pinterest is the place to be for your brand.
Moreover, as the pandemic led many people to online shopping, the number of shoppers on Pinterest also grew by over 50 percent in 2020 alone. Brands that are not yet leveraging Pinterest advertising, may be missing out on a considerable opportunity for increased business.
Before you start creating ads on Pinterest, it's essential to explore the different ad formats available on the platform to get the most of it. In this article, I’ll cover everything marketers and business owners need to know about Pinterest ad specs.
Different Pinterest ad types and their sizes
Let's explore the different Pinterest ads types along with their dimensions and best practices.
Promoted static ads
A static ad on Pinterest looks almost identical to the organic posts, except it has a ‘Promoted’ tag added to the bottom of the pin. Unlike a regular pin on Pinterest, when you click on a promoted static pin you are directly taken to the landing page that the pin links to. People don't get a closeup of the image like they do with organic pins.
Note that for publishing static or any other ad, you need a Pinterest business account.
Specs for Promoted Static Pins
File type: PNG or JPEG
Max file size: 20MB
Aspect ratio: 2:3 or 1000x1500 px - If your pin is smaller than that, it may appear blurry on big screens or mobile devices with retina displays.
This is an example of a Promoted static ad from Cape Clasp, an ecommerce store that sells bracelets, necklaces, and other accessories.
Promoted Carousel ads
Promoted Carousel ads allow you to upload up to five images for a single pin. Every image can have its own title, description, and landing page, making it perfect for highlighting different products in your catalog.
Specs for Promoted Carousel Ads
File type: PNG or JPEG
Max file size: 32MB for every image
Aspect ratio: 2:3 or 1:1
Number of images: 2-5
This is a carousel ad from Explore Canada with four slides. It takes advantage of the slides to explain how easy it is to use its service.
Shopping ads
Shopping ads feature single images and they allow users to buy products directly through Pinterest. You have to connect your product catalog to Pinterest to post shopping ads.
Pinterest uses product data available in the data sources you connected to show relevant ads to users who might be interested in the products you offer. There is no need to set up separate targeting for shopping ads.
Note that while you can choose the placement of the ads, you cannot select the surfaces where the shopping ads will appear. Pinterest automatically decides the shopping surfaces for these ads.
Specs for Pinterest Shopping Ads
File type: JPEG or PNG
Max file size: 20MB
Aspect ratio: 2:3 or 1000x1500 px
Here are two example of Shopping Ads from Modish Store and Interior-Deluxe.com, online home decor stores.
Promoted video ads
While people don’t necessarily associate Pinterest with videos, they have gained enormously in popularity, just like on almost every other social media platform. Pinterest users now watch close to one billion videos every day. If you want to grab the attention of your target audience, Pinterest video ad pins are the way to go.
Not only do videos stand out among the sea of pictures on people’s feeds, but they also give you more opportunities to showcase your products or services. Especially, if you opt for a max. width video ad that stretches across people's entire feed on mobile.
Specs for Promoted Video Ads
File type: MP4, MOV or M4V
Max file size: 2GB
Aspect ratio: Taller than 1.91:1 and shorter than 1:2. For best results, keep the video vertical (9:16 or 2:3), or square (1:1)
Max. width videos: Square (1:1) or widescreen (16:9). Max. width videos can't exceed the height of a 1:1 aspect ratio.
Encoding: H.264 or H.265
Video length: 4 seconds to 15 mins
On the left, a short 7-second video ad from Yummly. On the right, a max width video screenshot for a Samsung video ad.
Collection ads
A collection ad is, as the name indicates a collection of images. It has two components, a large primary image called the hero image and three smaller supporting secondary images that appear below the hero image.
When a user taps on the collection ad, they go to a fullscreen experience where they see the main hero image and up to 24 secondary images. This combination allows you to offer rich imagery with a variety of options for users to choose from.
You can create collection ads manually or automatically by selecting product groups to be featured from your uploaded catalog.
Specs for Collection Ads
File type: PNG or JPEG
Max file size: 10 MB per image
Aspect ratio: All creatives should have the same aspect ratio -- 2:3 or 1:1. However, Pinterest recommends keeping the aspect ratio as 1:1 to avoid cropping
Number of images: 1 hero image, and 3-24 secondary images
You can also create a collection ad with video as the main hero creative.
File type: MP4, MOV or M4V
Max file size: 2GB
Aspect ratio: Taller than 1.91:1 and shorter than 1:2. For best results, keep the video vertical (9:16 or 2:3), or square (1:1)
Encoding: H.264 or H.265
Video length: 4 seconds to 15 mins
Need inspiration? Here’s a collection ad example from Kohl's.
Promoted app pins are no longer available
Promoted app pins that allowed you to advertise your apps on Pinterest ceased to exist 4 years after their launch in March 2017. It's no longer possible to run promoted app pins and optimize for CPI (Cost Per Install). Pinterest stopped mobile app-install ads for Android and iOS in March 2021. Pinterest Analytics reporting data for past app installation campaigns was removed in July 2021.
When users clicked on these app install pins, they were taken directly to the respective app store to download the app. Even though it is no longer possible to run app installations ads, by changing the campaign type and objectives for advertising your app, you can reach your target audience at a different stage of the sales funnel (mailing list sign-up, add to cart, page visited,...), as shown in the example here by Acuity Scheduling.
Other pin types that are good for promoting products
Let's take a look at some organic pin formats you can use to promote your products.
Idea Pins
Idea pins evolved from Story Pins that Pinterest launched in September 2020. Pinterest created Idea pins for brands and creators that want to share ideas through creative images and videos.
Idea Pins target the fast-growing user demand for short-form video content like you can see on YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Tiktok. It's Pinterest's take on TikTok videos with full-screen (on mobile) multi-page pins where you can record video, tag people, add text and more.
The purpose is to teach pinners how to do something. Idea Pin creators are encouraged to share long-lasting ideas rather than short-lived stories.
You can add up to 20 pages of videos, images, and text and even add voice-over to them for a more personal touch. There’s also a ghost mode transition tool you can use to showcase before and after-effects in your videos.
Like Stories on Instagram and Facebook, Idea Pins also allow users to tag others with an ‘@’ and add stickers. Pinterest has partnered with the royalty-free music database Epidemic Sound to help creators access a wide range of free tracks for their pins.
According to Pinterest, Idea Pins are more engaging than the usual pins, with over nine times higher average comment rate. Below is an example of a travel Idea Pin created by Hand Luggage Only.
They cannot be promoted as ads yet, but Creators (i.e. influencers) who partner with brands can now make those Idea Pins shoppable. By tagging items from the merchant's product catalog on Pinterest to the Idea Pin, it's easy peasy for shoppers on Pinterest to buy those items.
Pinterest found that 89% of Pinners are more likely to buy a product if they see it in an Idea Pin rather than on individual Product Pins. Combine this with the fact that the majority of people go to Pinterest for inspiration and ideas and you have a winning combo!
❗️ One important difference with classic pins is that you cannot add an external link to an Idea Pin, so make sure that the final page of your pin contains a call-to-action to visit your website!
Idea Pins
File type:
Images: JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, WEBP Video: MP4, MOV or M4V
Max file size: 20MB for images, 100MB for videos
Aspect ratio: The aspect ratio should be 9:16 with 1080x1920 pixel as the recommended size
Encoding: H.264 or H.265
Video length: 1 to 60 seconds
Here’s a reduced version of a 9-page, Idea Pin from Hand Luggage Only.
Product Pins
Product pins are essentially rich pins that make product images that are pinned from your online store shoppable. These pins lead Pinterest users directly to your website, where they can buy your products.
The dynamic product pins include the current pricing of the products along with their name and description.
The product pin can also include the ‘best seller’ or ‘popular’ tag if the product was recently bought by many people or was clicked the most in its specific product category.
Note that you can create shopping ads from product pins you made from your catalog.
Product Pins
File type: JPEG or PNG
Max file size: 20MB
Aspect ratio: 2:3 or 1000x1500 px
Here’s a product pin from Gymshark. It contains the name of the product, the price, and a call to action button.
How to create better Pinterest ad visuals
Here are some tips for creating better Pinterest ad visuals. Combine these tips with the optimal dimensions above to create ads that help you reach your advertising goals.
Create vertical images
The home feed of pinners is full of high-quality images. A good way to make your pin stand out is by using up as much space as you can. While Pinterest automatically adjusts the pin’s width, you can choose the height of the pin images.
Using taller pin images allows you to grab more real estate on a user’s Pinterest feed and grab their attention. The minimum size for Pinterest pins is 1000 x 1500 px with an ideal aspect ratio of 2:3. Taller images with a different aspect ratio can also work well, although there's a risk of them getting cut off in people's feeds.
Here’s an example of an ad from Nike that follows the 2:3 aspect ratio that Pinterest recommends and another by Dior which uses a 1:2 ratio.
Feature the products with a use case
Customers are often more interested in knowing the use cases of the products instead of the product itself. Instead of just putting a picture of your product in your Pinterest ads, showcase the different ways that customers can use the product or benefit from it.
After all, the more people can picture themselves using your products, the more likely they are to make a purchase.
Here’s a good ad from Candid Co. that shows before and after results to make it easy for prospects to picture potential outcomes easily. Carousel and video ads are also great for showing how a product works.
Use bright high contrast colors
The colors that you use in your Pinterest ads directly affect ad engagement. Using contrasting colors can draw the attention of the viewers straight to the content.
A study says that images with multiple bright and dominant colors receive over three times more repins than images with single or no dominant colors at all. Pins with warm colors like red, orange, and brown are likely to be repinned twice as much as pins with cooler colors like blue.
This ad from One Loved Babe with warm and dominant colors stands out from other pins in the user's feed.
Add text overlay
Eye-catching and engaging visuals are essential to your Pinterest success. Even though pin titles and descriptions matter on Pinterest for SEO purposes, it’s visuals that reign supreme. If your content gets shown to people in the right context, because you've written great pin titles and descriptions, the next step is to get their attention, so that they click through.
To grab users’ attention and give them the context of your pins as quickly as possible, add text overlay to your pin images.
Text should not take up the majority of your image. It should be short, simple, crisp, and easy to read. Ensure that the color of the text does not blend too much with the background, and that the text size is big enough to be legible.
Here’s a good ad from The Farmer’s Dog with overlay text. I like that the text is easy to read and clearly displays the discount. Also, it doesn’t take up too much space. Most of the attention goes to the cute dog and the bowl of dog food.
Add a call to action
A call to action (CTA) in your Pinterest ads encourages users to take the next step. By telling your target audience exactly what you expect them to do, whether it is right on Pinterest or on your own website, you give them a specific mission to complete. This will increase engagement because it is clear what people should do.
You can add CTAs to your Pinterest ads such as "learn more", "buy now" or "repin". The exact CTA will depend on the type of pin and ad. Whatever CTA you decide on, it should be clear, brief, and to the point.
This ad from Luke's Lobster with an appetizing image invites you to buy some fresh Atlantic lobster and have it delivered on your doorstep. A positive customer comment gives it some extra street-cred.
Add your branding
Pinterest is a visual platform where users are presented with great-looking images everywhere they look. To make sure the users remember your ads and to improve brand awareness, add your brand’s name, logo, and even your website URL to all of your pins. It ensures that even if users don’t click or interact with your Pinterest ad the first time they see it, they are bound to remember your brand.
One thing you’ll notice about all the above examples is that they contain branding. Most companies simply add their logo.
Optimize for mobile
As most Pinterest traffic comes from mobile, brands need to optimize their Pinterest content for mobile users.
Your pins should look great on mobile screens, and the text in your pins should be easily readable. If your ads lead to a landing page on your website, check that those pages open quickly on mobile devices with minimum loading time.
Keep testing!
Optimizing the performance of Pinterest ads takes patience - and a lot of testing! To start, experiment with different types of ads. Keep the pin specs in mind when designing your ad creatives, and don’t be afraid to split test by changing up different elements of your ads. Track metrics and look for the highest and lowest-performing ads to analyze what is working and what isn't to refine your Pinterest ad campaign and get the best results.
Bonus: I created 5 free Pinterest templates to help you quickly design high-converting Pinterest ad images. Download them now!
Mary Lumley - Conversion Focused Pinterest Marketing
The Complete Guide to Pinterest Ad Specs, Sizes, and Dimensions
