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Pinterest is for planners, and with automotive playing a bigger role on the popular image sharing site, there’s never been a better time to check out this unique social media platform.
Pinterest is designed to bring hundreds of millions of people the inspiration they need to create a life they love, whether it’s pinning recipes to make for dinner, design ideas to remodel a kitchen, or researching cool, new vehicles for a family’s next purchase, said John Gray, the global automotive strategy lead at Pinterest.
“We definitely know when people feel good about the environment they’re in, when they’re happy and inspired, that makes the brand, dealer and advertising that much more powerful,” said Gray, who recently joined Digital Air Strike’s webinar series to share Pinterest best practices for businesses. “Pinterest is about personal media, your future, ideas and products, vs. a person’s past, opinions and news. There’s no doom scrolling.”
Digital Air Strike has a partnership with Pinterest and is working with several businesses and auto dealerships to provide targeted advertising content on the platform.
While this year has definitely been unusual, people are looking for inspiration. They’re looking towards the future and what’s going to happen next year, Gray said.
Here are three trends Pinterest has seen on its site this year:
- People are increasingly looking to Pinterest for positivity and escapism.
- Pinners want solutions and new ideas to guide them through this reality.
- Pinners are still planning for and dreaming of their future lives.
People have been re-energized about owning their own vehicle this year and buying larger vehicles for road trips and camping trips, more so than ever before due to the pandemic. Automotive has also seen a bigger role on Pinterest over the last three years or so. Auto dealers use video, carousel ads and visual search options to reach people exploring and researching a new car on Pinterest, Gray said.
Trends have certainly changed this year when it comes to vehicle ownership:
- 73% say they use their car as a private space to get away from the people they live with.*
- 72% of those planning to travel this year say they intend to drive, rather than fly, for one or more trips.**
Pinners searching for automotive-related terms have increased 14% on the site this year as more people search for ways to care for their car, what road trip to take and what car might be good for their new lifestyle, Gray said.
“It’s a significant increase in that we see a lot of people engaged in automotive,” he said. “On Pinterest, auto content comes in context of other interests. There aren’t a ton of people actively just searching auto. This increase is actually very big. We don’t typically see searches spike in massive ways.”
Pinterest realized it has a large audience of auto enthusiasts, and dealers have the best opportunity to advertise on the site to engage with more women, high-income individuals and planners. Pinterest is also seeing an increasing number of men visiting and enjoying the platform, Gray said.
“Pinterest plays a huge part in discovery,” he said. “These are people who buy new cars early. Pinterest households are 28% more likely to register a newly launched or refreshed vehicle with the DMV within the first 90 days of its launch than households not on Pinterest. They are the early adopters.”
Why should dealers consider advertising on Pinterest? Here are some stats about the massive audience:
- 442 million people from around the world visit Pinterest every month.
- The site has seen a 37% year-over-year growth in monthly active users.
- Through Q2 2020, 50 million monthly users were added faster than ever before.
- 80% of mothers in the U.S. reached, which is ideal since 62% of auto purchases are made by women.
- 4 in 10 fathers in the U.S. are reached. Fathers are looking for things to do with their children, and auto is the No. 1 interest for men on Pinterest.
- 76% of U.S. millennial women, and 40% of U.S. millennial men, are reached, which is an increasingly important audience.
Today’s reachable U.S. audience on Pinterest is huge. This group offers a lot of scale and reach in the market for dealers since these are people with purchase intent, according to Pinterest data. This includes:
- 29 million auto service buyers.
- 8 million auto Pinners, which tend to be more male.
- 28 million in-market for an SUV.
- 24 million in-market for a truck.
- 58% of U.S. adult internet users with income of $100,000-plus.
- 84% of mothers with a household income of $100,000.
Reaching shoppers early is key in the auto purchase cycle. Six in 10 auto shoppers know the make or model they want to buy before they start internet shopping, so dealers have the opportunity now to influence them before they start making that internet search, Gray said.
“We’re seeing dealership visits go down over time. Reaching them early matters now more than ever,” he said. “This will be especially true in 2021 since one in three people without a car intend to buy one in the next six months. This is mind blowing to me.”
These are people who don’t have a relationship with a specific dealership or brand because they don’t own a car. Without brand loyalty, this is a great opportunity to influence these shoppers, which increasingly are younger consumers, Gray said.
“There’s a change that is happening (because of the pandemic),” he said. “Lifestyle drives vehicle affinity and spurs in-market shopping. You don’t buy a Jeep and all of a sudden have a love for the outdoors. It’s about what you’re interested in. Is your family expanding? Are you getting a new furry friend? Are you getting married? Those are the things that drive vehicle purchases.”
In that vein, the three main strategies dealers can use when advertising on Pinterest are:
- Attract new prospects. Target a near-market audience and highlight vehicle features and lifestyle shots, new technology and safety features.
- Convert in-market shoppers. Reach those 8 million auto Pinners to show interior and exterior vehicle shots and highlight price and offers.
- Retain existing customers and shoppers. Target your CRM list, unsold leads and customers coming off lease and those who’ve visited your website.
Digital Air Strike provides targeted advertising to help dealers deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. Schedule a demo now to learn how to get real ROI with highly targeted advertising campaigns.
* TrueCar, 2020
**CarGurus’ Covid-19 Sentiment Study, June 2020
