Choosing between Facebook ads and Pinterest ads? First, ask yourself if that’s a necessary choice.
Not that one is better than the other. The matter lies in their advertising tools, the audience you can target, and your overall strategy.
Both platforms can drive growth. They simply work differently, and you should know the difference before investing in your ads.
This article breaks down Facebook ads vs. Pinterest ads so you can pick the right tool for your goals, in addition to tools and integrations that help you achieve just that.
Facebook ads vs. Pinterest ads: What’s the difference
Right off the bat, here’s the quick version of Pinterest vs. Facebook ads comparison.
You should choose Meta ads when you need scale, advanced targeting, and performance at every stage of the funnel.
Here’s an example of a Facebook ad by L’Oréal Thailand, showcasing a new product with an approachable ad content.
Alternatively, go with Pinterest when you sell visual products, want high-intent traffic earlier in the journey, and value longer discovery windows.
Or you can use them both when your market is visual and competitive. Get creative with your workflows.
For instance, capture intent on Pinterest and close the sale on Facebook with strong retargeting, remarketing, and CRM data syncs.
For reference, here’s another ad example in the same industry on Pinterest. Take a look at this simple and aesthetically pleasing ad by Klowthing.
Notice the difference?
Now, let’s talk about the technicalities that make these ad platforms distinct from one another.
Pinterest ads vs. Facebook ads: Audience mindset
Your target audience should be the first indicator of which marketing channel is best.
Facebook ads appear in feeds where people browse friends, creators, and groups. You basically interrupt the user.
That’s proved a powerful technique for demand creation, retargeting, and quick testing across many objectives.
Pinterest ads show up on people’s feeds when they’re actively planning projects and purchases. Here, you are aligned with their intent.
Pinterest users save Pins, compare options, and often convert days or weeks later. For commerce categories, this intent is worth real money.
Targeting and data signals
When it comes to targeting, your Facebook ads vs. Pinterest ads comparison becomes quite different.
Meta targeting is extensive. It offers Advantage+ targeting, detailed interests, custom audiences, and lookalikes based on CRM or Meta Pixel events.
Pinterest targeting is much softer and centers on keywords, interests, demographics, customer lists, and act-alike audiences.
When your keywords map to project planning (e.g., small home office, or fall outfits), Pinterest can reach buyers at the research stage.
Learn more tactics in this guide to Pinterest audience targeting.
Creative format and message fit
Facebook supports image, video, carousel, Collection, Reels, and lead ads. Creative fatigue is a problem, however. That’s why frequent iteration and hooks matter.
If you are focusing on lead generation, follow this step-by-step guide to Facebook lead generation ads.
Pinterest leans toward high-resolution vertical images, Idea Pins, and clean, text-light overlays. For example, ads showing the use case and the benefit at a glance, and using high-quality images.
Pinterest’s format rewards both utility and style, so it’s great if you want to use it to seed ideas and collect saves.
Cost and competition
Any seasoned advertiser knows that costs depend on niche and season. In many retail categories, Pinterest CPMs and CPCs can be competitive due to different auction dynamics and a planning-first audience.
Facebook can outperform on CPA (Cost Per Action or Acquisition) when you have strong conversion signals and a broad targeting strategy. However, you need to have a general idea about online ad costs and what it means (financially) to run Facebook ads for small businesses.
It’s best to test both with the same business outcome (e.g., cost per purchase or cost per qualified lead) and let data, not myths, decide.
Measurement and attribution
Feeding each platform high-quality conversion and CRM data can improve your ad delivery and reporting accuracy.
But how does tracking work on these platforms?
Facebook offers complex conversion tracking, especially through its Conversions API. It optimizes well with sufficient pixel events, quality creative, and clean server-side data.
You can set up Meta’s API using code-heavy processes manually, or use click-and-build automated integrations with no additional maintenance cost and effort:
Pinterest’s tracking instead focuses on capturing early planning and delayed conversions. So you can expect longer attribution windows to matter.
Server-to-server integrations help recover signal lost to browser limits.
How LeadsBridge streamlines Facebook and Pinterest
LeadsBridge basically connects your CRM, ecommerce platform, and offline databases to these ad platforms. The most popular integrations are both Facebook lead ads and Pinterest lead ads for their intent and focus.
Integrating these lead generation tools into your system allows you to segment your audience, no matter where they are in their customer journey.
More importantly, Pinterest lead ads integrations as well as Facebook lead ads integrations help you create automated data triggers. This way, you can send instant follow-up messages when your leads are entering through sign-ups and lead magnets.
In addition to syncing your leads in real time, automated data bridges give you the data you need to track your conversions through Facebook and Pinterest Conversions API integrations.
It also allows you to build audience lists that update automatically using Meta and Pinterest audience targeting integrations.
Meta-specific benefits of using LeadsBridge
Meta offers the Conversion leads optimization feature that allows you to connect your CRM to Meta so its algorithm can sharpen your campaign’s focus on the users who are most likely to convert.
Additionally, you can increase your Facebook ad performance with LeadsBridge Performance Booster. This feature is exclusively available to LeadsBridge clients.
It de-duplicates, enriches, and sends conversion events back to Meta via Conversions API so the algorithm optimizes even further for buyers.
Considering TikTok for your advertising?
You first need to measure it against another platform like Facebook. Here’s a complete rundown on Facebook ads vs. TikTok ads.
What to take away from this?
When you consider Facebook vs. Pinterest ads, the choice is more about fit than anything else.
If your buyers plan visually, Pinterest can lower CPA by catching intent early. If you need scale and sophisticated optimization, however, Facebook is a superior choice.
There’s nothing that beats multi-channel marketing and having a system that can sustain it. So in most cases, the best outcomes often come from running both.
Using LeadsBridge, you can automate your workflows and keep data flowing in real time so platforms learn faster and waste less.
When your data moves instantly, your audience stays fresh, and your ads perform much better. Explore LeadsBridge integrations for Facebook lead ads.
And join the waiting list for Pinterest lead ads integrations to capture and sync leads natively.
