5 Easy Steps to Conduct a Pinterest Ads Account Audit

Creating paid posts on Pinterest can boost your brand’s visibility to the millions of monthly active users on the visual-centric social media platform. But for your campaigns to be successful, you’ve got to have a plan — and that should include an audit.

Want to get your marketing campaigns more visibility on a platform with over 500 million monthly active users?

Then your business needs to be on Pinterest.

Whether you’re a beginner Pinner or a longtime user with a dozen Pinterest boards, you’ve likely seen how ads fit seamlessly into the platform’s home feed.

Not only that, but Pinterest has worked over the last few years to make it increasingly easy for digital marketing pros to drive traffic, boost sales, and grow their audience through its evolving algorithm and advertising tools.

If you’re going to move forward with advertising on Pinterest, there’s a crucial step you shouldn’t miss: conducting a Pinterest ads audit.

Below, we chat with HawkSEM Senior Paid Social Manager Jordan Flask about the importance of conducting a Pinterest audit and her step-by-step marketing tips for doing just that —along with common missteps you can avoid.

Because Pinterest is such a hyper-visual medium, choosing the right creative that aligns with your campaign goals is key. (Image: Dima Solomin/Unsplash)

Why you should conduct a Pinterest ads audit

“Pinterest is so useful for planning,” says Flask. “Users aren’t just scrolling for entertainment; they’re pinning and preparing for weeks and months ahead.”

She says that mindset makes Pinterest an ideal social media platform for a full-funnel marketing strategy.

This is especially true at the awareness stage, where advertisers can inspire people early in their journey and stay top of mind as they move toward consideration and conversion.

“An audit can highlight whether your campaign structure is aligned to your objectives, whether audiences are too broad or too narrow, and whether your creative mix is diverse enough to engage different Pinterest users,” Flask adds.

A competitive audit of your Pinterest marketing may also uncover opportunities for differentiation — for example, spotting overused creative themes in your category so you can test fresh angles that grab attention.

5 steps to conduct a Pinterest audit

Whether you’re launching a brand-new initiative with your Pinterest account or plan to audit your existing Pinterest marketing strategy, these are the steps to take.

For the audit itself, you can download or create a template, or simply create a spreadsheet to track all of the necessary info.

1. Ensure campaign objectives align with the creative and messaging

Because Pinterest is such a hyper-visual medium, choosing the right creative that aligns with your campaign goals is key. “If a campaign is optimized for awareness, the audience and visuals should support that goal,” says Flask.

“The same principle applies to consideration and conversion campaigns — everything from targeting to copy should be designed to move users through the funnel.” Think: direct calls-to-action (CTAs), the right audience, and eye-catching imagery.

Pro tip: If you don’t have a designer and opt for a design program like Canva, make sure you personalize the design. These platforms let you modify graphics to include elements like your logo, brand colors, and chosen fonts, so customize the chosen template accordingly to make it your own.

2. Review past performance

You can’t know where to go without knowing where you’ve been. That’s where an audit comes in: to help highlight what’s working and what needs modifying or optimizing in your existing Pinterest efforts.

Pinterest offers Ads Performance reporting, which, according to the platform, “includes general demographic and interest information about the people seeing their ads and how their ads are performing.”

To view your Pinterest analytics, you need to have set up a business account. If you’ve started with a non-business personal account, you’re able to convert it to a business one.

Once you’ve got that completed, you can monitor performance, view metrics, filter your data, review your top-performing Pinterest pins, and more.

Metrics you can view include, but aren’t limited to:

• Engagements
• Engagement rate
• Impressions
• Saves
• Click-through rate
• Clicks
• Video views
• Total audience

3. Assess targeting and bidding strategies

Alright, now it’s time to dig in.

Two of the most important factors you should dive into during your audit are your targeting and your bidding strategies.

For starters, your targeting options for Pinterest are:

• Audience – Those who have visited your site, engaged with your Pinterest content, or come from your customer lists
• Actalike audience – Those whose actions are similar to those of your existing audience or audiences
• Interest – Topics that are similar to the topic of your product or service
• Keywords – Relevant keywords or phrases people might use when searching on Pinterest (or negative keywords you want excluded)
• Demographics – Categories like gender, region, language, device, or age
• Placement – Where on Pinterest your ad will appear, such as in the home feed, related Pins, or search results
• Performance+ – Automatically allows you to target people searching for similar Pinterest keywords to those you’ve selected

Next, check out your bidding. There are three bidding strategy options you’ll find under Pinterest Ads Manager’s Catalogue Sales objective section:

1. ROAS (return on ad spend)
2. oCPM (optimized conversions per mille, aka per thousand)
3. oCPC (optimized cost per click)

Each one corresponds to different ecommerce goals, so make sure all of these campaign elements are aligned for maximum results —and returns.

Sponsored pins blend seamlessly into organic content. (Image: Screenshot)

4. Evaluate creative variety to identify gaps and opportunities

Trends are huge on Pinterest. It’s a top platform bloggers, influencers, and everyday Pinners turn to when seeking inspiration for everything from personal style and home interiors to craft projects and recipe ideas.

And any marketer who’s been in the game for a while knows today’s trends move at lightning speed.

So, what does that mean for your Pinterest profile? If you want to use Pinterest for marketing, you’ve got to keep the content (and creative) fresh.

Luckily, you can leverage Pinterest’s search engine features to get the inspo you need right from the platform itself. Check out what others in your industry are posting and pinning, and see what gaps you can fill with your own brand.

5. Optimize accordingly

Once armed with all of the insightful information above, don’t just sit on it —use it to take action. Once you’ve completed your Pinterest account audit, create a plan for how to modify your current efforts.

Do you need to expand your target audience reach? Create more eye-catching graphics? A/B test different CTAs and text overlays?

Lastly, it’s wise to go ahead and make a plan to conduct another audit in 6-9 months — put it on your calendar so you don’t forget.

Further reading: Check out our guides to other social platforms like TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

Tools to help audit your Pinterest ads account

“The most valuable tool is Pinterest Ads Manager itself,” says Flask. “Reviewing live and historical campaigns will show you what’s working, what isn’t, and where adjustments are needed.”

For creative benchmarking, the Pinterest Ads Library is a great resource to see what competitors are running in the market — “not to copy them, but to understand the landscape and identify ways your brand can stand out,” she adds.

Pinterest ads audit missteps to avoid

“One common oversight is failing to use keyword targeting, which is unique to Pinterest compared to other paid social platforms,” warns Flask.

“Combining keywords with interest targeting can significantly increase campaign relevance.”

Another missed opportunity is underutilizing Pinterest’s AI-powered Performance+ campaigns and bidding strategies.

These tools are designed to optimize delivery and help advertisers gain an edge in the auction, so incorporating and testing them can unlock stronger performance.

The takeaway

A Pinterest ads audit ensures your campaigns are working as hard as possible toward your goals.

Without it, “you risk wasting budget on misaligned objectives, outdated targeting, or underperforming creatives,” says Flask.

An audit helps you spot inefficiencies, identify growth opportunities, and stay competitive in a platform where trends move quickly.

“In short,” she adds, “it’s about making sure every dollar you spend is intentional and that your brand is positioned to capture attention at the exact moment people are planning for the future.”

Need help with Pinterest management, or just curious how a marketing agency like HawkSEM can take your paid social efforts to the next level? Let’s talk.