Social media has become an integral part of our lives. We us use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, Instagram to share life highlights, and Twitter to voice our opinions. Oh, and we can always turn to YouTube for a virtually endless stream of entertainment and information.
Most companies have realized the opportunity that social media represents and the amazing access it grants them to their customers. We’re sure your organization has Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter profiles. But what about Pinterest?
If your company isn’t yet using Pinterest for business, it’s definitely missing out! In this article we’ll explain the benefits of promoting your brand on Pinterest, how to get started on the network, and five advanced strategies you can use to market your business effectively.
What’s Pinterest?
Pinterest is a social media network that allows users to share images and videos of the things that interest them. Sound like Instagram? It’s not. In fact, Pinterest is quite different from pretty much every other social media channel out there.
Here’s how it works: users can create different themed boards and “pin” pictures and videos to them. These boards can then be viewed by others users and individual images and videos can be liked and commented on.
Think of it like a giant, well-organized digital bulletin board. You pin things of interest to you to your own boards and display them for the world to see, which leads to social interactions.
We should also mention that most of the content on Pinterest is clickable, which makes it an amazing tool for business marketing purposes. Your company can start a Pinterest for business account and use the platform to post content related to your products and services, driving traffic to your website via clickable pictures and/or videos.
What Are the Benefits to Pinterest for Business?
There are a lot of benefits to using Pinterest for business. First, there’s the fact that the network is less crowded than others. Second, the folks that use the site regularly like to buy stuff and have the means to do so. Check out a few of these stats:
- Pinterest has 250 million monthly users. While that number may seem small when compared to social media behemoths like Facebook and Instagram , it’s still an incredibly large group of people to market your business to.
- 84% of Pinterest users use the platform when deciding which new products to buy. The folks that pin on the regular are constantly looking for cool stuff to purchase. A “hungry” audience is hard to beat!
- 40% of Pinterest users have an annual household income of $100,000 or more. Which means many of the people you promote your company’s products to on the network can afford to purchase them.
Have we convinced you that Pinterest is worth your time yet? Great! Let’s dive into the nitty gritty of Pinterest for business, starting with creating an account for your company.
Getting Started With Pinterest for Business
Let’s briefly cover the basics of Pinterest for business. In this section, we’ll outline how to create an account for your company, specific terms you need to know, and how to start using the site.
1. Create an Account
Creating your pinterest for business account is really simple. Just follow these directions and you’ll be up and running in no time:
- Make your way to the Pinterest for Business sign up page, enter your email and password, and then click the “Create Account” button.
- Once your account has been created, you need to head to your settings and fill in some important details like your company name, website, business category, etc.
And that’s pretty much it. You now have a functioning Pinterest for business account and are one step closer to marketing your company with this social channel.
2. Terms You Need to Know
Now that you Pinterest for business account is live, there are a few terms you need to know before you can start using the social channel:
- Pins: Pins are the images and videos you save to your company’s pinterest account. Like we mentioned earlier, most pins contain links which can drive traffic to websites outside of Pinterest. This is incredibly valuable for businesses.
- Boards: Boards are what pins live on and help to keep things organized on the platform. For example, you could create a “products” board and only pin pictures of your company’s products there. You could also create a “testimonials” board and only pin pictures of your customers with links to their comments about your company. It’s worth mentioning that other Pinterest users can follow your entire account or just specific boards that you’ve created.
Here’s what a board looks like:
Source: DreamGrow
- Feeds: Lastly, we have feeds. There are three different feeds on Pinterest: the Home, Explore, and Following feeds. The Home feed is a collection of all the recent pins saved by the users and boards you follow. It will also feature pins from related accounts so that you have the opportunity to discover new things.
The Explore feed houses all of the networks most popular pins and is updated regularly to reflect what’s currently trending. If you’re familiar with Instagram, this feed is similar to the ‘Gram’s explore feed. The Pinterest Explore feed is great for making new discoveries and finding inspiration.
And last but not least, we have the Following feed which only displays pins from the users and boards you follow. Unlike the Explore feed, the following tab displays in chronological order.
3. Start Pinning!
Now that your Pinterest for Business account has been created and you have a basic understanding of how the social platform works, you can begin using it. Start by creating a board. To do so, navigate to the “boards” tab in the upper left hand corner of your Pinterest screen and click the red and white plus symbol.
After you’ve entered a few basic details for your board, scour the internet and start pinning images and videos to it. This is most easily done by first installing the Pinterest browser button. Now, just about any picture on the net can be added to your board with a few clicks.
Market Your Business With Pinterest: 5 Strategies You Can Use for Massive Results
You’ve got the basics down. Let’s dive into some more advanced techniques. The five strategies outlined below will help you take full advantage of your Pinterest for business account.
1. Give Your Website a Save Button
First things first, add a save button (pictured below)to your company’s website. A save button will allow website visitors to pin content from your site to their boards with a single click. You know how it is, if you want somebody to do something, you need to make it as easy as possible for them.
You can easily create a save button for your company’s website using the Pinterest Widget Builder.
Source: Pinterest
2. Follow Social Media Best Practices
Many of the same rules that apply to other social media sites also apply to Pinterest. We’re talking about posting consistently, being social, sharing great and shareable content, and keeping SEO in mind. Let’s take a quick look at each of these.
Pin Consistently
Random pins here and there will do absolutely nothing for your business. To get the most out of this network, you need to craft a consistent content schedule and stick to it. The folks at Pinterest recommend pinning at least once a day in the evenings.
Be Social
Remember, Pinterest is a social network, which means you need to engage with other users and take part in the pinner community. So peruse the site, follow other people’s boards, and like and comment on content that moves you.
Pin Great Content
It all comes down to great content. A consistent pinning schedule is great. Engaging in the Pinterest community is advised. But neither will benefit your company if you don’t also post amazing images and videos. So work hard to make your content exceptional like these posts:
Source: Vanessa Kynes
And:
Source: Ryan Erskine
Pro Tip: Lifestyle pins, AKA images and videos that showcase someone using your company’s product rather than just the product by itself, tend to perform best.
Pro Pro Tip: 80% of the Pinterest community uses their phones to access the app. Keep this in mind and make sure that the content you pin can be easily viewed on a small screen.
Make Your Pins Discoverable
Pinterest is a highly visual platform but that doesn’t mean you can slack off when it comes to your pin captions. The right words can make your pins more discoverable and more likely to get clicked on. For discoverability, use a few targeted hashtags to help drive traffic. And when it comes to clicks, describe what pinners will see if they click on your pin in an enticing way.
3. Use Different Kinds of Pins
Pinterest for business users have access to a few different pin types: Normal Pins, Rich Pins, and Product Pins. Normal pins are just the typical images and videos everyone pins to their Pinterest boards. But let’s take a closer look at Rich and Product Pins:
Rich Pins
A Rich Pin is a pin that includes metadata and gives pinners more detail about what they’ll find if they click on your pin. You can use Rich Pins to promote apps, recipes, products, and articles. Take a look at the Rich Pin below and see how much extra information it contains.
Source: Simple Pin Media
Product Pins
Product Pins are fantastic for Pinterest for business users. Why? Because they allow pinners to purchase products directly from the pin. That’s right, pinners don’t even have to leave Pinterest to buy your company’s goods. Here’s what a Product Pin looks like:
Source: Tailwind App
4. Promote Your Pins
Want to drive more traffic via Pinterest? Just like other social media platforms, Pinterest for business users are able to pay money to promote their pins to a targeted audience. Luckily, creating promoted pins is pretty simple.
Start by signing up for the Pinterest Ads Manager. Once your company’s account it set up, you can begin promoting pins. This excellent guide from Hootsuite will walk you through the entire process of creating successful Pinterest ads.
5. Take Advantage of the Analytics Platform
And finally, we suggest that you take full advantage of the analytics platform that Pinterest for business users have access to. The analytics dashboard will give you valuable insights like which pins are the most popular and which ones drive the most traffic to your company’s site. In other words, marketing gold.
You can then use this information to optimize your approach to the social network and better achieve your goals. Don’t neglect this amazing perk.
Your Turn
Pinterest for business represents an exciting opportunity for your business. We suggest you jump on the bandwagon before it gets too crowded. Once you do, just follow the marketing strategies we outlined in this article:
- Give Your Website a Save Button
- Follow General Social Media Best Practices
- Use Different Kinds of Pins
- Promote Your Pins
- Take Advantage of the Analytics Platform
Now get out there and start pinning!
Jacob Thomas is a freelance copywriter and content marketer based in Nashville, TN. His professional writing approach has helped numerous businesses gain more traffic, leads, and sales. To contact Jacob, visit www.jtcopywriting.com.
