I spent the last decade building advertising products at Pinterest, Amazon, TikTok, and now Reddit. Each move taught me how these platforms were different and similar at the same time. The same advertiser objectives show up everywhere, but the way you build products to serve them changes dramatically based on who’s using the platform and why.

Advertiser Expectations Stay Constant

Let’s start this journey from the advertiser side. This predominantly influences what the advertising product on any platform should look like. To keep things simple, let’s focus on advertisers’ two broad objectives: Increase brand visibility and increase sales. These expectations remain the same across any surface where advertisers want to advertise – TV, Social Media, Print or Radio.

But here’s where it gets complex. Each of these platforms has a unique product with a strong user base. Users come to each platform to achieve a different need.

Pinterest users plan. They search for “fall wedding guest outfits” weeks before the event, save dozens of options, and return repeatedly before purchasing.

Amazon users are ready to purchase. They type “wireless earbuds under $50” expecting to click “Buy Now” within minutes. Gen Z now visits TikTok before traditional search engines when researching products, which changes how discovery-based advertising works.

Building for these different mental states means the same feature can succeed on one platform and fail on another. A format that interrupts the TikTok scroll has about three seconds to prove its worth. The same format on Pinterest can afford a slower reveal because users expect to explore.

Organizational Structure to Balance This

Organizational structures are defined to meet the needs of these individual user segments and outcomes. All these companies found success by building a core product experience (commerce, entertainment, discussions) that resonated with a large user group. There comes a pivotal moment when all these companies now look to become a revenue-generating business.

This is when a team is built to create advertising products that work hand-in-hand with the existing core product. Typically, user product teams have goals such as DAU, MAU and engagement. Advertising product teams optimize for overall revenue. (I’ve simplified some of these metrics to convey the overall message; in reality, there are so many metrics each team looks at to ensure the success of their product)

In order to maintain the balance, advertising teams often work very closely with the core user teams to build advertising experiences that meet the advertiser needs and are in line with the core product experience. There is art and science behind this. The most successful organizations have well-defined success and guardrail metrics in place to meet their objectives.

Small Business Advertisers Need Different Tools

Great products are built by ensuring different user persona needs are met. Advertisers could be broadly classified into large and small and medium businesses (SMBs). Each segment possesses different levels of sophistication and product needs. While large advertisers have dedicated account managers, SMBs may or may not have one. And, even if they do, it’s not truly scalable.

73% of SMBs lack confidence in their marketing strategies, with limited budget and time as their top constraints.

At Reddit, I focus specifically on SMB products. This segment requires a different approach to make them successful – a simple interface with a balance of automation to instill confidence, a good support system, a performant ads system and scaled education. A single interface should balance the needs of large advertisers and SMBs. It’s an interesting challenge. A common misconception is that tools built for large customers can be directly applied to SMBs.

The Playbook That Transfers

After four platforms, the principles that hold up are consistent: Always start with user needs, understand the magnitude of the problem and ensure it aligns with the overall direction of the company. Not all problems need to be solved immediately. And, last but not least, a cohesive platform is where user and advertiser experience work hand in hand.