Pinterest announces 'Promoted Carousel' ad format, which enables advertisers to include up to five images within one ad.
The Pin carousel appears similar to normal Pins when viewed in the main feed. However, a closer look shows that the Pins actually have a series of grey dots underneath them, signifying that there are multiple images inside it.
Here, users can scroll through the available images, or click on the Pin and swipe across to see the full images. The Promoted Carousel Pin can feature different images, titles, descriptions and landing pages. This is certainly a plus, and should appeal Pin advertisers.
"People on Pinterest are uniquely open to inspiration and discovery, so Promoted Carousel allows businesses to tap into that mindset with immersive experiences that create excitement for their products and services," explained Pinterest's Product Marketing Manager Nancy Jeng announcing the feature.
Pinterest's Carousel ads are available for all business accounts.
Businesses and brands on Pinterest that are looking to increase their brand awareness, traffic or conversion, could make use of these Promoted Carousel to accomplish their goals.
According to Jeng, the carousel format can "tell great stories on Pinterest", and give businesses the opportunity to showcase their creative abilities and offer users on Pinterest more reasons to engage with their ads.
After all, carousel ads have proven successful on other platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook and even LinkedIn.
The Promoted Carousel format is one of the ways Pinterest is doing to attract more advertisers to its platform, to ramp up their offering and spending. The format can appear on users home feed, Related Pins section, as well as search results, depending on the targeting.
On Pinterest, the option could be beneficial for both users and advertisers since Pinterest's approach is unique and not like any other social media.
According to CEO and founder Ben Silbermann that said Pinterest is not a social network:
The reason is because users use Pinterest to "pin" things to benefit themselves, rather than revealing themselves for others.
So here, the Promoted Carousel is certainly a welcome addition to Pinterest advertising platform. After all, it's been a long time coming for the visual platform, as its making itself confident that ad buyers will be thrilled.