How to Use Pinterest's New "Promote a Pin" Feature (And Why Small Business Owners Should Pay Attention)
Pinterest just made paid advertising a whole lot simpler, and you don't need an ads background to get started.
If you've ever looked at Pinterest's full Ads Manager and immediately closed the tab, you're not alone. Running paid ads has historically felt like a task reserved for people with marketing budgets, ad agencies, or a lot of time to figure out complicated dashboards. That's been one of the biggest barriers for small business owners who want to grow their reach but aren't sure where to begin.
That changed in late March 2026, when Pinterest officially launched a brand-new feature called Promote a Pin. It's simple, it's beginner-friendly, and it could be one of the easiest ways to start testing Pinterest paid ads without the overwhelm.
Here's everything you need to know.
What Is Pinterest's "Promote a Pin" Feature?
Promote a Pin is a simplified advertising tool that lets you put paid support behind an existing pin in just a few steps. Pinterest designed this feature to allow anyone, from individuals to small businesses, to reach more people without designing intricate ad campaigns.
Think of it like Instagram's boost button, but for Pinterest. You choose a pin that's already yours, set a budget, pick a duration, and Pinterest handles the targeting for you.
The feature is powered by Pinterest's Taste Graph, a multimodal AI model trained on billions of videos, images, and text, which helps surface pins to users who are more likely to convert. In other words, you're not just throwing money into the void. Pinterest is actively matching your content with the right audience.
The feature began rolling out in the U.S. in late March 2026, with global expansion planned for later in the year. If you don't see it on your account yet, it should be available to you soon.
Why This Matters for Small Business Owners
Pinterest is not just a mood board app. The platform's 619 million active users drive more than 80 billion searches every month, and more than half of those searches are commercial in nature. People on Pinterest are actively looking for products, services, and ideas. They are not just scrolling, they are planning, researching, and getting ready to buy.
Pinterest functions as a discovery platform with search behavior, visual planning, product research, and shopping intent built into how people use it. Users are often there to explore ideas, compare options, organize intent, and act later.
That makes it a very different environment than other social media platforms. When you put ad spend behind a pin on Pinterest, you're reaching people who are already in a buying mindset.
Pinterest's managed SMB business doubled its growth rate in 2025 and now represents roughly 15 percent of ad revenue, which signals that small businesses are finding real results on the platform. Promote a Pin makes it easier than ever to join them, without needing a big budget or an ad agency.
What Are the Requirements to Use Promote a Pin?
Before you get started, here's what you need to have in place:
You must promote your own content. You can only boost pins you created or uploaded. You cannot promote repins from other accounts.
Your Pin needs a destination link. The pin must include a URL linking somewhere, such as a website, product page, or blog post.
You need a Pinterest business account and ad account. If you don't have these set up yet, Pinterest will walk you through creating them as part of the boosting process.
You need a valid payment method. You'll add or select a payment method during setup.
That's it. No previous advertising experience required.
How to Promote a Pin: Step by Step
On desktop:
Log into your Pinterest account and click your profile picture in the top-right corner. Find the pin you want to promote and hover over it. A Promote button will appear. Click it and you'll be taken to a simplified campaign page where the campaign information will be pre-filled. From there, confirm or edit your campaign goal, audience, budget, and duration. Choose your payment method, then click Promote and pay.
On mobile:
Open the Pinterest app and go to your profile. Tap the pin you want to promote, then tap Promote on the image or video. Confirm or edit your campaign details, choose your payment method, and tap Promote and pay.
It really is that straightforward.
3 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Pinterest Paid Ads
1. Promote pins that are already performing organically
This is the most important tip. If a pin is already getting saves, clicks, or engagement without any ad spend, that's a signal the content resonates with people. Promote a Pin makes it easier to use organic performance as the starting point for paid amplification. Start with what's already working, then amplify it.
2. Make sure your pin links to a relevant landing page
Pinterest is clear that the destination matters. Send people to the blog post, product page, or service page that directly matches what the pin is about. A strong landing page connection improves the user experience and increases the chance of a conversion. Don't promote a pin about your services and send people to your homepage. Be specific.
3. Start with a modest daily budget
You don't need to spend a lot to learn something useful. Start small, see how the pin performs, and adjust from there. This is one of the biggest advantages of Promote a Pin: you can test Pinterest paid ads with minimal risk and no long-term commitment. The data you collect from a small test will help you make smarter decisions about where to invest more.
How to Track Your Promoted Pin's Performance
Once your promotion is live, you can monitor how it's performing directly inside Pinterest.
Open your promoted pin and tap or click "See more stats" to see metrics like impressions, saves, and outbound clicks. For more detailed data, go to Ad Reporting under Manage Campaigns. Campaigns created with Promote a Pin follow a naming structure of "Promote a Pin: [DATE] [PIN NAME]," where you can see metrics like spend, CPM, link clicks, and other ad reporting data.
One More Thing to Know: The Ad Review Process
All promoted pins go through an ads review process, which can take 6 to 12 hours from when you initially choose to promote. So don't worry if your promoted pin doesn't go live immediately. That's completely normal.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pinterest's Promote a Pin
What is Pinterest's Promote a Pin feature? Promote a Pin is a simplified tool that lets you boost the reach of an existing pin by setting a budget, duration, and audience, without needing to build a campaign from scratch in Pinterest Ads Manager.
Do I need advertising experience to use Promote a Pin? No. The feature is designed specifically for people with no prior advertising experience. Pinterest pre-fills the campaign information and handles the targeting through its AI system.
How much does it cost to promote a pin on Pinterest? There is no fixed minimum. You set your own daily budget and duration. Starting small is recommended so you can test performance before increasing spend.
Can I promote any pin on Pinterest? No. You can only promote pins that you created or uploaded yourself. Repins from other accounts are not eligible. The pin also needs to include a destination link.
Where can I see results from my promoted pins? You can view basic stats directly on the pin, or go to Ad Reporting inside Ads Manager for more detailed metrics like spend, impressions, and link clicks.
Ready to Stay Consistent With Your Social Media Strategy?
Knowing about a feature like Promote a Pin is one thing. Actually implementing it, tracking results, and staying on top of the next platform update is another. That's where consistency becomes the real challenge for most small business owners.
If you find yourself knowing what to do but struggling to stay accountable and do it regularly, Accountabilibuddies was made for you. It's a group membership community for small business owners who want to show up more consistently on social media, without the isolation of doing it alone. Each week, members come together for live calls, fresh content ideas, platform updates (just like this one), and the kind of encouragement that actually keeps you moving.
You can try your first month for free. Learn more about Accountabilibuddies here.
