By Sommer Burbank
In the world of alcohol advertising, the rules and regulations per platform can be overwhelming and, at times, even intimidating. Furthermore, between Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and others, it can be difficult to discern which platform is best for reaching the right audiences and increasing your brand’s online visibility.
Despite advertising restrictions on social media, your alcohol brand can still drive traffic to your website, maximize sales and run successful campaigns with the right guidelines on any platform, even Pinterest! In fact, advertising your alcohol brand on Pinterest is a great way to find your desired audience and facilitate their customer journey before their interest peaks for another brand.
So, how do you get started marketing your brand on Pinterest? What are the platform’s restrictions for advertising alcohol? How can you optimize campaigns with little to no budget?
Learn how to best utilize Pinterest as an alcohol brand below.
Policy
First things first: all alcohol advertising on Pinterest must comply with the platform’s policies. Their restricted content guidelines for alcohol are as follows (and can also be found here):
We allow advertising of alcohol, including beer, wine, spirits, liqueurs, and alcohol memberships.
In all cases, you're responsible for complying with applicable federal and local laws and regulatory guidelines, including age gating where necessary.
Alcohol ads on Pinterest:
- Can't target minors, or depict minors consuming alcoholic beverages
- Can't associate the consumption of alcohol to enhanced physical performance, improved social standing or better sexual success
- Can't encourage excessive drinking or imply that drinking excessively is beneficial, or that alcohol has therapeutic qualities either as a stimulant or relaxant
- Can't depict people under the influence of alcohol, or associate drinking with activities that are risky (such as driving, operating heavy machinery), antisocial or illegal
- Can't emphasize high alcoholic content as a positive quality
It’s important to know and abide by these guidelines throughout all of your Pinterest campaigns.
Getting Started
Now that you know the policies, how do you get started on the platform?
Creating a Pinterest for Business account is free, and getting started on your campaign consists of 4 simple steps:
- Make a profile
- Claim your sites
- Create Pins
- Start running ads
Conversion Tracking
After initial account creation and setup, it’s important to set up conversion tracking in order to measure the effectiveness of your ads and gain insights about the actions people take on your website. On Pinterest, this means installing a Pinterest Tag.
The Pinterest tag is composed of a base code and event code(s) that you add to your website in order to track site visitors and the actions they take after seeing your Pinterest ad. Here’s how to configure your Pinterest tag and confirm it is properly tracking conversions on your website:
- Set up Ads Manager: You need to have a Pinterest business account and access to Ads Manager to install the Pinterest tag. You’ll start the process of installing your tag from the Conversions page of Ads Manager.
- Add the Pinterest tag to your website: Copy your base code from the Conversions page of Ads Manager and place it in the <head> tag of your website’s HTML. Copy the event codes for the conversions you want to track from the Conversions page of Ads Manager and place it on the pages of your website you want to track. For example, you can place the “Checkout” event code on the order confirmation page to track orders through the Pinterest tag.
- (Optional) Enable Enhanced Match: Enable Enhanced Match to see more conversions by tracking actions on your website when there’s no Pinterest cookie present. It sends back secure, hashed email addresses with your conversions to increase the match rate of events on your website to people using Pinterest. Enhanced Match also lets you track cross-device checkouts, which otherwise cannot be done.
- Verify the Pinterest tag: Verify the Pinterest tag to make sure it’s working correctly. You can do this by downloading the Pinterest Tag Helper Chrome extension, visiting the Test Events page, or by verifying it through the Conversions landing page of Ads Manager.
Need some assistance? Check out Pinterest’s article Add the base code, which explains how you can use a partner integration, email instructions to your developer or start the process yourself.
Next Steps
With your advertising account up and running, all that’s left is to understand how to use the platform to your advantage. Here are 5 tips for boosting your brand’s online presence, increasing web traffic and driving conversions on Pinterest:
Know Your Audience
Understanding your target demographic is essential for successful communication in your ads. For example, if your audience of choice is 21-34 year-old drinkers, your ads should speak to their needs and help keep your brand top of mind among that population. On Pinterest, finding your perfect audience is easy with:
- Automated targeting
- Demographics
- Interests
- Keywords
- Customer lists
- Actalikes
Use these tools to get your ads in front of the people you care about the most.
Aspire to Inspire
A little inspiration goes a long way. When advertising on Pinterest, showcasing not only your product but also how your product can be incorporated into your audiences’ lives is important for the customer journey. Pinners want to see your product in action and know what they can do with it. For example, a tequila brand could consider advertising:
Cocktail Recipes: showcase your product but also demonstrate its accessibility and what can be created with it for Pinterest mixologists, tequila lovers and more
Adjacent Categories: relate your product to topics that pinners care about, such as Sports, Fashion & Beauty, Travel or Special Occasions, using keyword targeting/search results so that people searching for these topics can see how your brand ties in with exactly what they are looking for
Memes: entertain your audiences with content designed to make them laugh while showcasing the product and making it relatable to pinners
Pinterest users are always looking for inspiration for what they want to do or buy. Invent the opportunity for your audience to see content about drinks and experiences of enjoying your product incorporated into their daily lives.
Plan
Pinners on Pinterest are ahead of the curve when it comes to the customer journey. While on most marketing platforms, consumers are searching for products on-demand, Pinterest users are planning months in advance. In reality, Pinterest is a planning tool, and you can use this to your brand’s advantage.
Monitor trends on Pinterest to discover what people are looking for, view most popular categories and better understand when users’ interests in particular topics are peaking. Using all of this information can help you plan your ads around holidays, seasonal events, special occasions, new product launches and more!
Budget
When it comes to choosing your marketing budget, there’s always pressure to spend the big bucks in the hope that great results will come right away. That’s not always the case, especially if you’re spending tons of money on ads that are poorly optimized and do not meet the needs of your target demographic.
A budget of $30/day is great to kickstart your marketing campaigns.
- $20-$25: prospecting - identify your potential customers and nurture your relationships with them
- $5-$10: retargeting - communicate with your prospective customers who have not yet purchased with the goal that they will convert
On Pinterest, it’s okay to start small and work your way up the spend ladder. Once you start seeing results, increase your budget as you see fit.
Test
Experimentation and analysis are two of the most important parts of marketing your brand on any platform. After running your campaigns for a set amount of time, it’s crucial that you dig into the results and find ways to optimize your messaging and visuals based on what your new data shows you.
Consistently play around with multiple variations of your audience targeting, advertising copy and creative to discover the perfect messaging for your ideal consumers.
After running ads for x amount of time, check to see if you’re meeting the standards for your Pinterest ads. Below are some advertising benchmarks to see where your campaigns stand in comparison:
Cost Per Thousand Impressions: $6.85 | Median Q4 2019; $2-$5 depending on industry
Cost Per Click: $1.28, Median Q4 2019
Click Through Rate: 0.59%, Median Q4 2019
Conversion Rate: 2.9%
Conclusion
At times, choosing the right platform and strategy for marketing your alcohol brand can be confusing and overwhelming. With these tips, we hope you are eager to get started building your alcohol brand on Pinterest and applying new learnings to your overall marketing strategy!
