Pinterest Ads Manager is where you create, run and measure Pinterest ad campaigns from a business account. You pick an objective (Pinterest has replaced the old Conversions and Catalog sales objectives with Leads and Sales), choose Pins or a product catalog as the creative, set a budget and targeting, and can switch on Performance+ to let Pinterest automate much of the setup.
Pinterest is different from other ad platforms because people go there to plan things they intend to buy or do. That suits small businesses with visual products or ideas, and Ads Manager has become a lot simpler over the past year.
How to get into Ads Manager
You need a Pinterest business account; if you've only got a personal profile, you can convert it or create a new one. I explain both routes in my guide to creating a Pinterest business account. Once you're in, Pinterest's own steps start from Business hub at the top left of the screen, then Create campaign.
The campaign objectives right now
Pinterest simplified its objectives. The old Conversions and Catalog sales objectives are now called legacy objectives, replaced by two clearer ones:
| Objective | What it's for | Events it optimises for |
|---|---|---|
| Leads | Non-transactional results | Sign up, subscribe, submit application and similar |
| Sales | Transactional results | Add to cart, checkout, initiate checkout, add payment info |
| Consideration | Clicks and interest, including shopping ads from a catalog | Pin clicks |
If you used Catalog sales with Pin clicks before, Pinterest maps that to Consideration with a product catalog. Catalog sales with conversion bidding maps to Sales. Pinterest says the switch doesn't change performance and ramp-up times stay the same.
What Performance+ does
Pinterest Performance+ is a toggle at the start of campaign creation for Consideration, Leads and Sales campaigns. It bundles Pinterest's automation into one simpler setup:
- Budget: lifetime or average daily budgets only, with no budget limit per campaign.
- Ad groups: it creates one automatically, plus a remarketing ad group if you add a customer list, and prospecting and dynamic retargeting ad groups when you use a catalog.
- Targeting: interest and keyword suggestions, language, location include and exclude, simplified age targeting and customer lists.
- Creative: with a catalog, it can turn product Pins into collections and shopping ads, resize images and use AI to generate backgrounds.
One limit to know: extra ad groups you add yourself in a Performance+ campaign can only do prospecting, with no inclusion audiences. If you want tight control over who sees which ad, a standard campaign still gives you more levers.
How to create a campaign
- Log in to your Pinterest business account and click Business hub, then Create campaign.
- Choose Custom create campaign and click Get started.
- Pick your objective: Consideration, Leads or Sales.
- Decide whether to switch Performance+ on.
- Select your creative source: Pins or Product catalog.
- Name the campaign and set its status, budget and schedule.
- Add targeting such as interests, keywords, locations, languages, ages or customer lists.
- Add your Pins as ads and launch.
Learning mode: leave it alone
When a campaign starts, Pinterest shows ads to different groups to learn who's most likely to convert, and results can wobble. Pinterest says changes during learning mode can reset it and make it take longer, and it advises against switching a campaign off while the Learning indicator shows. It also suggests judging results weekly or monthly rather than daily. Patience here is a real advantage.
The quick route: Promote a Pin
If you just want to push one Pin, Pinterest has a simpler option. You open a Pin you created, click Promote, confirm the goal, audience, budget and duration, and pay. It runs through your business account and appears in Ads Manager under a name starting with "Promote a Pin". Pinterest says ad review takes 6 to 12 hours.
The catches: it's rolling out gradually and only some US accounts have it, you can only promote Pins you created (not repins), and the Pin needs a destination link.
Account limits worth knowing
Pinterest puts caps on how much you can run at once, based on two advertiser tiers set by ad spending. It says most advertisers sit in tier 1. On that tier, the limits include:
| Item | Tier 1 limit |
|---|---|
| Active ad accounts per advertiser | 50 |
| Active campaigns per advertiser | 5,000 |
| Active ad groups per campaign | 100 |
| Active ads per ad group | 500 |
| Active keywords per ad group | 20,000 |
Paused and archived items don't count. If you see the message that you've exceeded the limit for active ads, archive old campaigns and the problem goes away.
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Once ads are running, check results alongside your organic numbers in Pinterest Analytics so you can see which Pins deserve a budget.
Giving your team or agency access
If someone else helps with your ads, use Pinterest's Business Manager rather than sharing a login. It lets you add employees and partners, see who has access to what, and run several ad accounts from one login. Each person needs their own Pinterest business account. Pinterest sets out four roles:
- Account Owner: sole control over authentication, settings and organic content.
- Manager: full control over roles and permissions, and can add or remove people.
- Employee: people inside your business, given access to specific ad accounts.
- Partner: outside businesses such as agencies, with their own business accounts.
On top of roles, there are seven ad account permission levels, from Admin and Campaigns through to Analyst, Audience, Catalogs and two Finance levels. Give an agency Campaigns access, not Admin, unless they also handle billing.
For product-led campaigns, my guide to Pinterest Shopping is worth reading as well.
My verdict
Pinterest Ads Manager is far friendlier than it used to be. For most small businesses, I'd start with one Consideration or Sales campaign, switch Performance+ on, feed it your best-performing organic Pins and leave it through learning mode before judging it. Use a standard campaign once you know what works and want more control. And if you've got a product catalog, connect it: that's where Pinterest's automation does its best work.
Before you spend time on campaigns, my explainer on the Pinterest tag sorts out the tracking.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Ads Manager on Pinterest?
Log in to a Pinterest business account and click Business hub at the top left of the screen, then Create campaign. You need a business account to advertise.
What happened to the Conversions objective on Pinterest?
Pinterest replaced the Conversions and Catalog sales objectives with Leads and Sales. Leads covers non-transactional events and Sales covers transactional ones.
How long does Pinterest ad review take?
For a promoted Pin, Pinterest says the ads review takes 6 to 12 hours from when you choose to promote it.
Should I edit a Pinterest campaign in learning mode?
Pinterest advises against it. Changes during learning mode can reset it and make it take longer, so wait for the Learning indicator to disappear.
