Pinterest is not a social network in the way Instagram or Facebook is. People don't go there to see what their friends are doing. They go to find things - ideas for their home, their wardrobe, their garden, their lives.
That distinction matters enormously for artists. When someone is searching Pinterest for "living room art prints" or saving pins of botanical illustrations, they are in a planning and buying mindset. They're not passively scrolling past your ad. They're looking for exactly what you make.
This guide covers everything you need to get a Pinterest advertising account set up, running, and generating sales for your print shop.
Why Pinterest Is Different From Meta
On Meta (Facebook and Instagram), you interrupt people. They're checking their feed, seeing what friends posted, and your ad appears between two pieces of content they actually wanted to see. The best Meta ads feel native enough that people don't mind. But you're still interrupting.
Pinterest is intent-based. People arrive with a purpose. They type search queries, save images, create mood boards. A well-targeted Pinterest ad appears in a feed of content the user is already interested in. It doesn't feel like an interruption - it looks like more of what they came for.
This changes the conversion dynamic. Pinterest users who click through to your store are often further along in the decision process than cold Meta traffic.
The Pinterest Audience for Art
Pinterest skews heavily toward home decor, interior design, and lifestyle content. The platform reports around 65% female users globally, with a high concentration of users with household incomes above $75,000.
For artists selling prints - especially home decor prints, botanical work, landscapes, and abstract pieces - this is a strong match. These are people actively decorating homes and thinking about what goes on their walls.
The active home decor interest on Pinterest is not theoretical. Users create boards called "Living Room Inspo" and pin images of wall art. They're building visual shopping lists. Your prints belong on those lists.
Pinterest vs. Meta: A Quick Comparison
Before diving into setup, it helps to understand the tradeoffs:
CPM: Pinterest CPMs are generally lower than Meta. You'll typically pay less per 1,000 impressions, which makes it cheaper to reach a large audience.
Attribution window: Pinterest's default attribution window is longer than Meta's. This means more conversions get credited to Pinterest, but it also means the feedback loop is slower. You'll wait longer to understand what's working.
Conversion rate: Pinterest traffic typically converts at a lower rate than warm Meta retargeting traffic. People are in discovery mode, not always purchase mode. Expect lower conversion rates but higher volume of affordable top-of-funnel traffic.
Pin shelf life: On Meta, an ad's relevance decays quickly. On Pinterest, a promoted pin can continue getting saves and engagement for months - long after the paid campaign ends. Good content compounds.
Account Setup: What You Need Before Running Ads
Business Account
If you're using a personal Pinterest account, you need to convert it to a Business account or create a new one. Business accounts give you access to Pinterest Ads Manager and analytics. It's free.
Go to Pinterest, click the menu, and select "Convert to Business account" - or create a fresh Business account if you prefer to keep them separate.
Claiming Your Website
Pinterest requires you to claim your website before running ads. This involves adding a meta tag or uploading an HTML file to your site, and verifying it through the Pinterest dashboard. Shopify makes this relatively straightforward - follow Pinterest's specific Shopify instructions.
Claiming your website also enables analytics and gives your pins a "verified" indicator.
Installing the Pinterest Tag
The Pinterest Tag is your tracking pixel. It goes on every page of your website and fires events like PageVisit, AddToCart, Checkout, and Purchase.
In Shopify: install the official Pinterest app from the Shopify App Store. It handles tag installation, event tracking, and catalog syncing automatically. Once connected, verify that events are firing correctly using Pinterest's Tag Helper Chrome extension.
Setting Up Your Product Catalog
A catalog connects your Shopify product feed to Pinterest, enabling Shopping ads. The Pinterest Shopify app syncs your product catalog automatically - products, prices, images, and URLs all get pulled in.
After syncing, Pinterest reviews your catalog before approving products for ads. This usually takes 24-48 hours.
Campaign Types on Pinterest
Pinterest has three main campaign objectives relevant to art stores:
Awareness Campaigns (Reach)
These show your pins to as many relevant people as possible at the lowest CPM. Good for brand building - getting your work in front of new people without expecting an immediate purchase. Useful when you're growing and want to get your name out.
Consideration Campaigns (Traffic)
Optimised for clicks to your website. Pinterest finds people likely to tap through to a landing page. Useful when you want to drive traffic to a specific collection or a new product launch.
Shopping Campaigns (Catalog Sales)
This is the most direct path to purchases. Shopping campaigns pull from your catalog and show product pins - with price, title, and a direct link to the product page. They appear in search results and in the home feed. These are the highest-intent format Pinterest offers.
For most art stores with an established catalog, Shopping campaigns are where the majority of Pinterest ad budget should go.
Pin Creative Requirements
Pinterest's preferred format is vertical. The ideal ratio is 2:3, and the ideal size is 1000x1500 pixels.
What makes a pin perform:
- Clean, high-quality product photography. Show the print in a lifestyle context - on a wall in a real room, with furniture around it - not floating on a white background.
- Text overlay. A short headline ("Limited Edition Botanical Prints" or "Ships in 3-5 days") increases performance. Keep it concise and readable on mobile.
- Your URL or name. A subtle watermark or URL in the image creates trust and gets your brand attached to saves.
For Shopping ads specifically, Pinterest pulls images directly from your catalog. Make sure your product images are high quality and show the art clearly. Lifestyle mockups typically outperform flat product images on a white background.
Keyword Targeting on Pinterest
Pinterest keyword targeting is more like search engine keyword targeting than Meta interest targeting. Users are actively searching - so your keywords should reflect what they type.
To research keywords: open Pinterest, type a broad term like "botanical print" into the search bar, and look at the autocomplete suggestions. These are real searches. Note them all and add them to your campaigns.
Group keywords by intent:
- Broad: "wall art," "art prints," "prints for living room"
- Category: "botanical illustration," "landscape art print," "abstract wall art"
- Style: "minimalist art print," "vintage botanical," "moody landscape"
Add all three groups to your ad set. Pinterest will match your pins to relevant searches across them.
You can also add interest targeting alongside keywords, but for Shopping campaigns, keyword targeting alone is usually enough to find purchase-ready traffic.
Performance Benchmarks
Pinterest performance varies significantly by product type, but general benchmarks for art stores:
- CPM: $5-15 for shopping campaigns (lower for awareness)
- CPC: $0.50-2.00
- Conversion rate from Pinterest traffic: 0.5-2% (lower than warm Meta retargeting, but comparable to Meta cold prospecting)
- ROAS: 1.5-4x is a reasonable range; above 4x is strong
Pinterest is a volume game. The economics work when you're generating enough reach at low enough CPM that even a modest conversion rate produces profitable ROAS.
Who Pinterest Works Best For
Not every art style is equally suited to Pinterest. The platform skews heavily toward home decor use cases. Products that tend to perform well:
- Home decor prints (landscape, botanical, abstract, geometric)
- Interior design-friendly work (neutral palettes, classic subjects)
- Gift-able formats (framed prints, print sets)
- Seasonal art (florals in spring, landscapes in autumn)
Niche, unconventional, or highly conceptual work tends to perform better on Meta where you can build a specific audience around your following.
First 30 Days: What to Expect
Pinterest campaigns go through a learning phase in the first two weeks. The algorithm is figuring out which users click and buy from your pins. Resist the urge to make major changes in this period.
At day 14, look at which products are getting clicks. At day 30, evaluate ROAS. If specific products are converting well, consider increasing budget toward those product groups and pulling back on underperformers.
Running Pinterest ads alongside Meta is something we set up for Artvertise clients whose catalogs are well-suited for the platform. If you're not sure whether Pinterest makes sense for your store, our free audit will tell you - and show you where the bigger opportunity actually is. Book your free audit here.
Want this done for you?
Get a free audit →