The results are in…

If you’re not advertising on Pinterest yet, you’re missing out on a crucial marketing opportunity.

Pinterest launched Promoted Pins for select businesses back in January 2015, and by the end of that year, had opened up the advertising option to all businesses. In a partnership with Oracle Data Cloud, Pinterest recently analyzed the Promoted Pins campaigns for 16 retailers to measure their impact on consumer behavior.

The first round stats

The results were stunning. Amongst sales generated by Promoted Pins, a full 70 percent come from new customers. What’s more, these sales from new customers are “driving four times the percentage sales life of existing customers,” according to Pinterest’s blog.

Promoted Pins raise awareness of your brand and drive more traffic to your website. Click-to-buy Pins encourage sales from Pinterest users, who don’t even have to leave Pinterest to make a purchase.

There is a high correlation between sales and engagement with Promoted Pins. Users who engage with Promoted Pins are seven times more likely than those who don’t engage to make a purchase. In other words, those who click on Promoted Pins are looking to buy, and often do.

Who is seeing the success?

What’s more, when someone saves a Promoted Pin, their friends and followers also see that Pin in their feed, which brings in more customers and sales.

Banana Republic was one of the sixteen companies in Oracle and Pinterest’s study, and the apparel retailer couldn’t be more pleased with the results.

“Our customers love Pinterest for style inspirations and insight into the next key fashion trends. Promoted Pins have been a successful way for our brand to showcase the versatility of our products and reach new audiences in an effective and relevant way,” said Aimee Lapic, CMO.

Other companies have had similar success using Promoted Pins. Walgreens dramatically increased their referral traffic using Promoted Pins, and Bank of America reached 6 million new users in just five months.

Promoted Pins may be one of the most effective social media marketing strategies for generating new customers online.

#PromotedPins