Planning to run Pinterest ads in 2021? Pinterest continuously updates and evolves its platform, and this video covers the latest changes to the Pinterest Ads Manager. I'll walk you through the new features, from conversion views to the updated Ads Manager interface, and demonstrate how to set up a conversion campaign with these new tools.

The year 2021 was a significant one for Pinterest Ads Manager, particularly with its continued push towards e-commerce and performance marketing. For advertisers focused on driving sales, leads, and sign-ups, the updates made conversion campaign setup more streamlined and effective.

Here's a breakdown of how to set up conversion campaigns on Pinterest Ads Manager, incorporating the key updates and best practices from 2021:

2021 Pinterest Ads Manager Updates: How to Set Up Conversion Campaigns
Pinterest, a visual discovery engine, made strides in 2021 to solidify its position as a powerful platform for lower-funnel marketing objectives. The key was enhancing its conversion optimization capabilities, allowing businesses to drive specific actions on their websites.

Before You Start: Essential Pre-Campaign Setup

Pinterest Business Account: You must have a Pinterest Business Account. If you have a personal account, you can easily convert it.

Claim Your Website: To run conversion campaigns and track data, you need to claim your website on Pinterest. This verifies your ownership and enables the Pinterest Tag.

Install the Pinterest Tag (Conversion Pixel):

This is the most crucial step for conversion campaigns. The Pinterest Tag is a piece of code you place on your website.

How to get it: Navigate to Ads > Conversions in your Pinterest Ads Manager. You'll find your unique Pinterest Tag ID and instructions for installation.

Installation Methods:

Manual: Copy and paste the base code into the header section of your website.

Partner Integrations: If you use platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, or Google Tag Manager, Pinterest offered direct integrations or clear instructions for easier setup.

Event Tracking: Beyond the base code, you need to set up specific event codes for the conversions you want to track (e.g., AddToCart, Checkout, Lead, Signup, PageVisit, Custom). In 2021, Pinterest emphasized the importance of sending back rich data (like value, currency, order_quantity, product_ids) with these events for better optimization.

Test Your Tag: Use the Pinterest Tag Helper Chrome extension to verify that your tag is firing correctly and tracking events.

Upload Product Catalogs (for Shopping Ads):

If you're an e-commerce business aiming for sales, uploading your product catalog was a major focus for Pinterest in 2021.

A product catalog (data feed) is a list of your products and their attributes. It's essential for creating Dynamic Retargeting ads and Shopping Ads.

How to Upload: Go to Ads > Catalogs in Ads Manager. You can upload via a direct file, schedule daily fetches from a URL, or use integrations.

Optimization: Pinterest stressed optimizing your product metadata (descriptions, titles, high-quality images) for better visibility and performance. Feeds with more products and frequent updates typically saw higher ROAS.

Setting Up a Conversion Campaign in 2021 (Step-by-Step):

Navigate to Ads Manager: Log in to your Pinterest Business Account and go to your Ads Manager (ads.pinterest.com).

Click "Create Campaign": You'll usually find a prominent "Create Campaign" button or a "+" icon.

Choose Your Campaign Objective:

In 2021, for conversion campaigns, you would select "Conversions." This objective specifically optimizes your ads to reach people most likely to take your desired action (e.g., checkout, signup, lead).

Note: Other objectives like "Consideration" (for clicks/traffic) or "Brand Awareness" were also available for upper-funnel goals.

Enter Campaign Details:

Campaign Name: Choose a clear, descriptive name (e.g., "Website Sales - Q3 - Summer Collection").

Budget: Set a Daily Budget (recommended for conversion campaigns, minimum $20/day for optimization) or a Lifetime Budget. Pinterest's "Performance+" bidding (introduced/enhanced in 2021) aimed to help optimize daily spend for conversions.

Dates: Set a start date and an optional end date.

Set Up Ad Group(s):

Within each campaign, you'll create one or more ad groups. Ad groups allow for specific targeting and creative.

Ad Group Name: Name it based on your targeting (e.g., "Home Decor Interests," "Retargeting - Cart Abandoners").

Targeting Strategy (Crucial): This is where you define your audience.

Find New Customers (Prospecting):

Interests: Target users based on their interests (e.g., "home decor," "fashion," "DIY projects"). Pinterest's "Audience Insights" (under the Analytics menu) was helpful for finding relevant interests.

Keywords: Target users searching for specific terms on Pinterest. Use relevant keywords for your products or services.

Demographics: Filter by age, gender, location.

Expansion: In 2021, Pinterest improved its "automatic targeting expansion" feature, which allowed the algorithm to find similar audiences beyond your explicit targeting, aiming for better performance.

Reconnect with Users (Retargeting):

Customer Lists: Upload your own customer email lists to reach existing customers.

Website Visitors: Create audiences of people who visited your website (tracked by the Pinterest Tag), or specific pages (e.g., product pages, checkout page).

Engagement Audiences: Target users who previously interacted with your Pins (saved, clicked, commented).

Actalike Audiences (Lookalikes): Create audiences similar to your existing customers or website visitors. These were becoming more powerful in 2021 as Pinterest's data collection improved.

Placement: You could choose where your ads would appear (e.g., all placements, or specific placements like search results, related Pins, or home feed).

Optimization & Delivery:

Conversion Event: This is vital. Select the specific conversion event you want to optimize for (e.g., Checkout, Lead, Signup). Pinterest's algorithm will then prioritize showing your ads to users most likely to complete that specific action.

Bid Strategy:

Automatic Bidding (Recommended for beginners): Pinterest's system automatically optimized bids to get the most conversions within your budget.

Custom Bid: Allows you to set a maximum bid per conversion, but this was generally only recommended for experienced advertisers with sufficient data.

Performance+: This was Pinterest's suite of automation features designed to optimize bids and delivery for better performance (lower CPA, higher ROAS). Enabling this was a key update in 2021.

Budget & Schedule (Ad Group Level - if available): Some budget settings might be available at the ad group level for finer control, or inherited from the campaign.

Select Pins for Promotion:

You can promote existing Pins from your profile or upload new ones directly within the ad creation flow.

Creative Best Practices (Crucial for Pinterest):

High-Quality Visuals: Pinterest is visual-first. Use stunning, high-resolution images or videos.

Vertical Aspect Ratio (2:3 or 1000x1500px): This performs best on mobile, where most Pinterest users are.

Clear Branding: Include your logo subtly but visibly.

Concise Text Overlays & Descriptions: Use compelling copy that highlights benefits and includes relevant keywords.

Strong Call-to-Action (CTA): Make your CTA clear and direct (e.g., "Shop Now," "Learn More," "Sign Up").

Product Focus (for e-commerce): Show your product clearly, ideally in context or lifestyle shots.

Ad Formats: In 2021, Pinterest pushed various ad formats for conversions:

Standard Image Pins: The basic, effective format.

Video Pins: Highly engaging for demonstrating products or services.

Shopping Ads (Product Pins): Directly promote products from your catalog.

Collection Ads: Showcase multiple products in one ad, often a hero image with smaller supporting product images.

Carousel Ads: Multiple images in a swipeable format.

Review and Launch:

Carefully review all your campaign, ad group, and ad settings.

Ensure your billing information is correct.

Click "Publish" or "Launch Campaign."

Post-Launch Optimization (Critical for Success in 2021 and beyond):

Monitor Performance: Regularly check your campaign metrics (impressions, clicks, CTR, conversions, CPA, ROAS) in the Ads Manager dashboard.

A/B Test Creatives: Continuously test different Pins, headlines, descriptions, and CTAs to see what resonates best with your audience.

Refine Targeting:

Analyze your audience insights.

Add more relevant keywords and interests.

Build new custom audiences based on behavior.

Exclude underperforming demographics or placements.

Optimize Bids: If using manual bidding, adjust bids up or down based on performance. If using automated bidding, monitor CPA/ROAS and ensure you're providing enough conversion data for the algorithm to learn.

Analyze Search Terms: For keyword-targeted campaigns, regularly check the search term report to add new relevant keywords and, more importantly, add irrelevant terms as negative keywords.

Landing Page Optimization: Ensure your landing page provides a seamless experience, loads quickly, and is highly relevant to your ad.

By focusing on accurate Pinterest Tag implementation, strategic audience targeting (especially leveraging catalog data for shopping ads), compelling visuals, and continuous optimization, businesses were well-positioned to drive significant conversions from Pinterest Ads in 2021.