What a Pinterest Ad Model Would Look Like

What’s not yet clear is how this will translate into ad products. The bet appears to be one familiar to brands using Facebook and Twitter: offer exposure of their brand content for a fee.

Pinterest recently raised $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. Pinterest has an incredible lock on the coveted female demo, credible analytics with regards to time-on-site measurement, and a great user-interface, per Christian Borges, vp of marketing at MRY.

“Honest answer: [Pinterest] probably [can] not [survive without a business model,] but nobody knows,” said Borges. “There’s been plenty of industry talk and speculation around how exactly Pinterest can monetize without alienating consumers, none of which involves traditional display ads, but rather more creative options, i.e. branded, promoted or highlighted pins.”

That’s the direction most social platforms are going. The vogue of “native advertising” means trying to get the ads to act like regular content. That means getting more brands creating on Pinterest in the first place. Then the trick is coming up with a way to introduce that content to Pinterest users in a way that doesn’t turn them off. There’s been rumors of sponsored pins, but nothing concrete. Pinterest is already a great place to find recipes or design recommendations and content creators are receiving substantial referrals through the platform. A potential route for Pinterest could be promoted content to help users find relevant content, a.k.a pins.

The fact of the matter is, according to Borges, Pinterest has been quietly experimenting with monetization though links to affiliate programs, whereby Pinterest adds their own affiliate tracking code and if someone clicks through that picture from Pinterest and makes a purchase, Pinterest gets paid a percentage, Borges revealed. But this is not a long-term solution. Therefore, they must have something in the works.

“Just because Pinterest hasn’t unveiled their monetization model, doesn’t mean they don’t have one,” said Adam Kmiec, social media chief at Campbell Soup. “There was a time when we, as an industry, believed Twitter and Foursquare lacked monetization models. Given the mountain of user interest and purchase intent data, Pinterest is sitting on, they’re better positioned to thrive than many other social platforms.”