The Ultimate Guide to Using Pinterest for Marketing

December 7, 2022
Contents

Do you have a presence on Pinterest for your personal or business brand? If you don't have one, you should start now. This is because Pinterest reached 431 million monthly users in 2021, most of which were bloggers, businesses, brands, and corporations.

This means Pinterest allows you to broaden your influence and connect with your target audience. 

While social media marketing practices might be helpful, Pinterest has unique quirks and best practices that make it a great platform to try new things and provide real value to your followers.

An experienced Pinterest marketer shares appealing content to attract users to buy products. 83% of users have purchased something after viewing content on Pinterest, making it an incredibly successful marketing platform.

This article will discuss what Pinterest is and how your company can use Pinterest in your marketing strategy to raise brand recognition and increase conversions.

What is Pinterest?

Users can browse, share, and store visual content on Pinterest that they find interesting, useful, or inspiring.

To keep it organized and help users find new information connected to their interests, users add or "Pin" their preferred content to boards with a similar theme.

Find out more about creating a Pinterest account here if you still need one. After registering, you may start using the site for social media marketing and publishing content.

Maximize the usefulness of Pinterest by adding helpful and applicable content from your company using a computer or mobile device, pinning stuff you come across, and adding content, you come across online using the Pinterest browser button.

Engagement is important. Re-Pin or repost information, follow the boards of your friends and competitors, "Like," and comment on other people's Pins, and include links to your website and blog post in your Pins.

It is vital to remember that Pinterest offers both personal and business accounts. Making the platform perfect for marketers, choosing a business account will give you access to Pinterest Analytics and other tools like a visual search engine, a native video player, and the option to run Pinterest advertising if you so desire.

What is Pinterest Marketing?

Pinterest marketing works by integrating Pinterest into your company's overall social media marketing plan to reach new audiences and increase brand and product exposure.

Social media marketers use Pinterest Business to expand their online presence, engage new audiences, increase traffic to their website or online store, and promote conversions like newsletter sign-ups, ticket sales, or purchases.

In other words, using Pinterest for business can increase your brand's exposure and financial success.

Pinterest Marketing Strategies

There are no regulations that you must follow when it comes to marketing. In the end, marketing is all about trying new things!

But to make the most of your marketing efforts, we have outlined a few strategies to help you progress effectively.

1. Sign Up for A Business Account

You must set up a Pinterest business account to sell to your target market. As previously indicated, this free account gives you access to Pinterest Analytics and other helpful marketing tools, including a profile that explicitly identifies you as a business, Pinterest widgets, and Pinterest tags. 

You can also change your existing Pinterest account into a business account without losing any of your content or work if you already have one. 

Suppose you want to improve your business account on Pinterest and run ads. In that case, you may do so by upgrading your account, setting up your payment method, as this feature of Pinterest is not free, and using the platform's Ads Manager to target your audience.

2. Choose The Right Categories for Your Content

Users looking for content related to your business can more easily find your Pins and boards if you select the appropriate category for sharing. If you are looking for something in particular, you can search on Pinterest.

You can also head to the "Categories" area of any profile to see everything pinned on the platform that fits your criteria. Pinterest's most popular boards focus on travel, health, and beauty.

3. Use Unique Images and Videos

Like many other social networks, Pinterest is packed with photos and videos. Making your photos and videos stand out from the rest of the content on a social media site is just as important as making sure they help you promote your company and sell more things. 

If that is not the case, why should a person follow you instead of someone else? If you want to ensure you pin unique and engaging content on Pinterest, create posts featuring your product or services.

To ensure you are sharing high-quality and unique content on Pinterest, use these strategies:

  • To advertise your brand and business, make and distribute branded films. On Pinterest, people view around 1 billion videos daily.
  • Share pictures and videos of your products in use so that people can more easily picture using them.
  • Aim for less white or blank space in your photographs' backgrounds; they get the most pinned.
  • Make 30- to 90-second videos because research has shown that they perform the best for users.
  • If your organization has some of the most insightful data visualizations and infographics your audience may use as resources for their business, create specific boards to share visuals of them.

4. Leverage Keywords

You can improve your visibility in users' feeds and search results by strategically placing keywords across your profile, posts, Pins, and boards. Including keywords and phrases relevant to the specific interests of Pinterest users are essential.

Use terms and phrases like "vacation" and "going on a trip" in your profile and Pins if you sell luggage, for instance. It will ensure that your profile and luggage photos are displayed whenever a user searches for one of those terms.

To kick off your Pinterest keyword research, try looking for terms associated with your niche on Pinterest.

If you want your Pinterest pins to show up higher in search results, you may add keywords to the following areas:

  • Bio and profile
  • Pin descriptions
  • Board titles
  • Board descriptions
  • Image-Alt-Text

If you decide to invest in Pinterest ads, the platform's keyword targeting tool is available as another means of reaching your target demographic.

5. Share Your Content on Other Social Networks

Promoting your Pinterest account and content means sharing your Pins, photographs, and videos elsewhere to be viewed and followed by more people. Claiming your Pinterest business account on other sites, including Etsy and YouTube, will make it easier for your followers to find you there and discover more of your content. 

By claiming your account and getting access to analytics and data on these Pins, you can check whether other social media platforms are popular with your target demographic.

Connecting your Pinterest and Facebook or Google accounts makes it simpler to add and find friends, share content across networks, log in quickly across all of your accounts, and create a backup of your profile if you ever forget your password.

6. Follow, Engage, and Interact with Other Accounts

Your business can benefit from personal ties with other Pinterest users by following and interacting with their accounts. This interaction can strengthen the bond between you and your fans, encouraging them to return to your profile for further inspiration, ideas, and purchases.

Here are four ways your Pinterest marketing tactics might help you establish enduring connections with your target market:

  • Follow users who have recently created accounts and express interest in your company's work and the content you post.
  • Re-pin, like, and comment on the content your audience and followers share.
  • Customize their experience on your profile and give them a sense of being heard. Reply to your followers' comments on your content.
  • Make intriguing posts that demonstrate your industry knowledge, instruct your followers on a task, or solicit participation from them in a giveaway or contest, for example.

7. Use Social Media Best Practices

Be consistent with your social media etiquette across all platforms when utilizing Pinterest. Some examples include keeping in touch with your audience and following, posting frequently, and avoiding overt self-promotion that comes off as insincere and forced.

To further increase your Pinterest following, consider implementing the five tips below.

  • Activate your audience to use your brand in their content and offer to repost them or re-Pin their content if they do.
  • Give away something of value to encourage people to follow you, engage with your content, and share content that includes your brand's products and services.
  • Provide your followers with promo codes, deals, and information about your newest and updated products to keep them interested in your Pinterest page.
  • All content should serve a function and convey significance to the reader.

How to Use Pinterest for Marketing

All businesses can benefit from these 12 marketing strategies, regardless of their size or specialty. 

Its success can be attributed to the Pinterest marketing strategy working across cultures and languages.

Create A Pinterest Marketing Strategy

Instead of diving headfirst, plan your Pinterest approach like any other social media platform.

When you develop a Pinterest marketing efforts plan, you should focus on the following:

  • The S.M.A.R.T goal-setting method (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound). Do you want Pinterest to primarily help you build your brand's audience, or do you also want people to visit your website, buy your product(s), or sign up for your event(s)? It is essential to answer these relevant questions.
  • Identifying the type of person most likely to utilize Pinterest and learning about the channel's overall audience.
  • Find out exactly who you should be focusing your marketing efforts on Pinterest.
  • Think about what other businesses in your industry are doing on this site.
  • You may improve your Pinterest marketing strategy by creating a content plan and putting brand-appropriate pins into it.
  • You may progress toward your objectives once you have established a clear action plan.

Distribute Your Content

Nearly all Pinners actively seek or prefer visual content. Given its massive user base, Pinterest is ideal for promoting any content, including blog posts. Users can access live links, whereas Instagram does not.

Pinterest boards are where pins and other content are stored and shared. Boards archive your Pins and share them with your followers, who can look through them at their leisure.

To make it simple for your audience to find the content they are looking for, you can create as many boards as you like and categorize them according to topics, ideas, plans, or sources of inspiration.

If you want additional contributors to post content they believe works with your board's topic. You can ask them to join your boards, making them a "group board." It is an excellent method for getting more people to engage with your profile.

Pin Engaging, Captivating Content

Since Pinterest is a visual platform, creating eye-catching content to post is essential for business purposes.

What therefore makes an engaging Pin?

  • Master Vertical Imagery. According to data, 82% of users access Pinterest on their mobile devices. Aim for a 2:3 aspect ratio while taking photos to prevent unwanted cropping.
  • Think about your video and image quality. Choose the best quality image and video that Pinterest suggests if you want to prevent pixelation.
  • Practice descriptive writing. Compelling descriptions can increase SEO, give your image context, and persuade users to click links.
  • Overlaying text. A title that supports your visual content might be included.
  • Elegant branding. Include your logo in your Pins if it makes sense for your business and fits with your Pinterest marketing strategy to prevent your brand from getting lost in the Repin shuffle.
  • Check that your links are active. Your brand won't benefit from broken links. To provide Pinners with the optimal user experience, ensure that the link associated with your Pin doesn't lead to a 404 error and loads promptly.

And lastly, be reliable! Pinning consistently and frequently is more fruitful than loading a Pinterest board with pins all at once. Additionally, consistent pinning guarantees that more people will see your content.

Try Different Pin Formats

Pinterest is a website where users may share images, but it is not only for pictures.

Mix it up! Try pinning a video that encourages Pinners to visit your online business or try putting several images to one Pin to make a carousel.

Nike, for instance, uses video to market their products:

Nevertheless, even though 80% of Pinterest users watch and discover eye-catching brands or products, go beyond simple shopping when developing your brand.

Additionally, 85% of Pinterest users claim to use the site as inspiration for new projects. Think about posting how-to Pins or inspiration boards to give your audience engaging content.

Carefully Plan Your Boards

Your brand's boards can assist in reaching new Pinners interested in particular topics or gaining specific knowledge because 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded.

Oreo's boards include its fancy and jolly Holiday Oreo board, "Oreo Moments" board, and "Oreo Cupcakes & Oreo Cookie Balls" board. These boards inspire for upcoming seasonal holidays.

In other words, the brand expertly combines boards with more promotional content boards that are helpful, interesting, and inspiring.

Optimize Your Pins For SEO

Make sure the Pins for your company are simple to find in a search because Pinterest is a visual search engine! Add keywords to your boards, boards' descriptions, and hashtags.

Rich Pins, which are made to pin new information from your company's website without repurposing it, will also help your brand's Pinterest SEO.

Drive Website Traffic And Boost Online Sales

While Instagram does not allow external links, Pinterest does so that you can share your content on other sites like yours. You can use this function to promote your website by linking to articles and images that you have posted.

Including this in your Pinterest marketing strategy is innovative because it can increase sales in all channels. Various brands use Pinterest to share information and display product photographs.

Try Out Different Pinterest Ads

Advertising on Pinterest is a great way to reach potential business customers. Advertisers can use Pinterest to narrow their audience based on demographics like age, gender, and interests.

Moreover, advertisers can target specific demographics of Pinterest users through the platform's advanced audience targeting features.

  • Visitors or whoever has been to your site before.
  • Visitors to your Pins who have interacted with them.
  • Users who have interacted with related content on the service in the past.
  • One that you've taken the time and effort to compile, like a list of your newsletter's recipients.

Promote Your Pinterest Profile

Promote your Pinterest presence to your existing followers. Add a link to your Pinterest profile from your business website to increase exposure.

Putting the link in your email signature is another option. Another effective advertising method is to promote your company's Pinterest account on the company's other social media pages. Lastly, include your Pinterest account in your internal newsletter.

Build A Community

Like-minded people can find other valuable resources for their businesses through online forums.

If you build a strong enough Pinterest following, you can expect your audience and followers to engage with your boards, read your content, and visit your website.

Pinterest attracts a huge monthly user base, with millions of active users.

Build a following of dedicated Pinterest users who may become customers by treating your board like a two-way street where you can communicate and engage them rather than a one-way billboard.

Finding and adding individual friends by name, Facebook account, or other identifiers is conceivable, but it would be highly time-consuming and limit your ability to expand your network rapidly.

Instead, try any of these strategies for expanding your Pinterest fan base.

  • Be sure to spread the word about your Pinterest account on your other business profiles.
  • Get the ball rolling by following accounts you think will want to connect with you back.
  • Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. It will help you grow your following and model your strategy.
  • Include relevant keywords in your comments.
  • To get the attention of Pinterest users, you could ask influencers to repost some of your content.
  • Advertise on Pinterest by signing up for an advertising account.

Educate Customers

Pinterest is stuffed with instructional articles, diagrams, videos, and guides. Because of its emphasis on visuals, it is an effective medium for informing and entertaining consumers.

Remember your intended audience when you develop and promote content for your Pinterest profile.

Just as you would when making new items, refining your branding, or sharing on other social networks, you should ensure that the content you are pushing out on Pinterest engages your ideal customer, present clientele, and buyer profiles.

There are a few options for doing this:

  • Do some digging into your buyer profiles to find out what kinds of content they would find most valuable and engaging.
  • Conduct a survey or focus group with your current followers and customers to find out what they want to see more of from your business on Pinterest.
  • Look at what your competitors are doing right and wrong to spark ideas for how you may push out your content in a way that stands out.
  • Check out the pinboards of your current fans and buyers to learn more about them and the topics that pique their interest.

Track The Metrics

To maximize your marketing efforts on Pinterest, you need a data-driven approach. In other words, social media managers can see which types of content perform best by tracking, measuring, and analyzing key Pinterest metrics and audience behavior.

Pinterest for Small Businesses

If you run a small business, you might be debating whether investing the time and effort necessary to adopt Pinterest marketing techniques is worthwhile. Yes, indeed!

For businesses trying to convert leads, increase website traffic, and raise brand awareness, Pinterest is one of the most versatile, cost-effective, and powerful marketing tools.

Furthermore, Pinterest users have the highest purchasing intent compared to other social media users. Let's talk about some additional advantages that having a presence on Pinterest may provide for small businesses like yours.

Tell A Visual Story

You may use Pinterest to tell a visual story about your brand. Instead of telling your audience what your company stands for, the values you uphold, the causes and people you support, and the kinds of goods and services you provide.

You can demonstrate these things through images and videos. 

Ensure you have unique and exciting content to present your small business to platform users with the help of Pinterest.

Humanize Your Brand

Any social media, including Pinterest, can assist you in putting a face and personality to your brand. You can communicate with your audience and followers directly through the platform, speak with them individually or in groups, and help them overcome any challenges they may face from doing business with you.

Through freebies, videos of your behind-the-scenes work, the most recent business news, product information, promotions, and discount codes, you can also demonstrate to your audience and followers how much their support and patronage mean to you.

Early on, developing and upholding these business-to-customer routines humanizes your brand, establishes the standards for what your organization will be recognized for, and demonstrates to clients how you want to expand while keeping them in mind.

Feature Your Blog Posts

Your inbound marketing efforts, such as your blog entries or content offers, can be highlighted on Pinterest. 

For instance, you could add a link to a blog post on a particular image or video pinned to a board. It directs traffic to your website while also promoting your blog entries.

Display Your Work and Showcase Your Expertise

Pinterest is an excellent platform for your small business to promote your work and demonstrate your subject-matter expertise. Examples include blog pieces, infographics, helpful data visualizations, and Pins with pictures and videos of your work.

Doing this is especially crucial if your brand still needs to be well-known.

That is because when your company expands and your reputation increases, you'll be more likely to be regarded as an industry leader and a company that offers customers relevant and helpful content.

Drive Traffic To Your Website

Using Pinterest, a small business generates leads, and conversion rates is a great idea. Your profile, as well as your Pins and Boards, are all places where you can share external links. 

One option is content that includes a link to an email subscription form, "About Us," or a blog post.

Conduct Market Research

Using Pinterest for market research is highly recommended. It is beneficial for startups that still need a sizable fan base or the necessary experience to fully understand their target demographic's content needs and preferences.

Using Pinterest, it is simple to research what the leading firms in your field are up to. It can help you learn what strategies they are doing on the platform and whether or not they are successful in attracting the attention of your target demographic. What people follow and interact with and the stuff they Pin may be analyzed.

Important Pinterest for Business Terms

Like all other social media sites, Pinterest has jargon that you should learn to use effectively. Here is a dictionary to give you some context.

Pins and Pin Formats

Pinner

People who use LinkedIn are called their members. Snapchatters are Snapchat users. Pinterest has users known as Pinners. The phrase for a Pinterest user is "Pinner," a trademarked term for the service.

Pins

An introductory post on Pinterest, or "Pin," is a picture or other image. Like bookmarking web pages directly, pins can feature media like images and videos and link to the source.

Promoted Pins

You might think of Promoted Pins as a form of advertising on Pinterest. These are promoted Pins or Pins that a company has paid to have displayed on users' feeds. These Pins are labeled as "Promoted" and appear in the home feed, category feed, and search results.

Repins

A Repin is the Pinterest equivalent of a Facebook share or a Retweet on Twitter. A "Repin" occurs when a Pinterest user saves an item they like from another user's board to one of their own.

Rich Pins

When a user clicks on one of your Rich Pins, further information will automatically be pulled from your website and added to the Pin. The goal is to supply more data, such as current pricing and stock items. There are three kinds of Rich Pins: product, recipe, and article.

Video Pins

These are very similar to traditional Pins, except that they loop video instead of a still image.

Carousel Pins

Carousel Pins have many photos rather than only one. A carousel Pin can hold up to five different images.

Collections Pins

This Pin format streamlines finding similar items for sale on Pinterest. A series of white dots will appear when a user zooms in on a Collections Pin by clicking the magnifying glass in the corner.

Idea Pins

This new Pin format is still relatively uncommon. Customizing the look of your Idea Pin with different colors and fonts, making instructional guides, or compiling collections are all great ways to spread the word about your company in novel ways.

Try on product Pins

Product pins are another brand-new Pin format that has yet to be widely used. Utilizing the Pinterest Lens, Try on Pins' augmented reality (AR) filters let users virtually "try on" items they see on Pinterest.

Boards and Board types

Boards

Consider Pinterest boards as online vision boards. Save, gather, and organize your pins using boards. Many use boards to collect Pins related to the same theme or subject. For instance, you may make a board for seasonal material, wedding ideas, or the organization of a product launch event.

Group boards

The only difference between group and regular boards is that multiple users can add content. Since anyone can participate, this format is perfect for marketers who want to discuss plans or ideas with their team.

Secret boards

Only the creator and invited collaborators are permitted to view a secret board. When you create one, the board name will have a lock icon next to it. 

These secret boards help plan pins you do not want the public on Pinterest to see because private boards will not appear in the home feed, in searches, or anywhere else.

Protected boards

Protected boards are hidden from others and appear at the bottom of your Pinterest profile, functioning similarly to secret boards. However, if a Pinner has a direct link, they can see the Pins on these protected boards.

General Pinterest terms

Audience Insights

With Audience Insights, Pinterest business accounts may track and analyze a variety of useful indicators. Discover more about Pinterest analytics, including how to utilize them and what metrics are most relevant for the platform.

Pinterest Lens

Only mobile devices can use this augmented reality app. With Pinterest Lens, users may snap a photo of an object, such as a product or a Pincode, and instantly be directed to relevant pins on the social media platform.

Pincodes

Pin codes can be considered a variant of the QR code. Using Pinterest Lens, you can scan these codes from printed marketing materials, such as business cards or press releases, and be taken directly to the corresponding pin or profile on Pinterest.

Pinterest Marketing Tools

You can use a variety of ways to engage audiences on Pinterest and connect with your target demographic. You may do this using three main resources: tools for managing your accounts, mechanisms for designing and creating images, and tools for increasing your community and follower base.

1. Social Media Management Tools

Utilizing Pinterest management tools enables you to arrange and schedule posts in advance on any social network, including Pinterest.

By doing so, you can make sure that everything is distributed and shared as intended. 

You can utilize social media management solutions with Pinterest Analytics because they frequently contain analytics features. Several well-liked Pinterest and social media management tools are:

Hootsuite. You can schedule your Pins in advance using Hootsuite, get insights into your statistics and analytics, and track your progress on Pinterest.

Sprout Social. Utilize a variety of services offered by Sprout Social to use Pinterest to connect with your target market and customer profiles. These consist of metrics for the platform, interaction tools, post-scheduling options, and information on the content your audience prefers.

Additionally, Pinterest has released a scheduling feature that enables Business users to plan out their content on the website.

2. Pinterest Image and Video Creation Tools

You may design, edit, create, and publish professional-looking photos and images for the platform using Pinterest's image design and creation tools and any other social media site and your website.

Given that Pinterest is a visual social network that users may find captivating, creative, and aesthetic images and videos, your content must appear flawless to draw in new followers and increase profile engagement.

The next three tools are excellent for anyone who wants to contribute original and well-polished content to their profile.

OFFEO. Create Pinterest videos within minutes with OFFEO’s drag-and-drop interface with thousands of graphics and elements. You can create videos from available templates or start your own on a blank canvas. 

PicMonkey. You can create and modify photographs using PicMonkey, which provides advanced image editing tools like double exposure, mirroring, and masking.

AdobeExpress. Users of all skill levels may create professionally designed photos with AdobeExpress's user-friendly tools, templates, and Photoshop-caliber effects.

3. Follower Count and Community Growth Tools

You may advertise your profile and content and expand your community on Pinterest with follower count and community growth tools.

Both of these tools listed below were developed expressly to assist you in doing this task on Pinterest.

PINGROUPIE. You may decide whether or not you want to join and Pin your content on a group board by looking at the number of Pins, users, and followers present on it using PINGROUPIE.

Loop88. To help you reach your target audience and expand your following, Loop88 works with you to provide shareable content that they have discovered is best for Pinterest.

FAQs: Pinterest Marketing for Social Strategy

Is Pinterest good for social media marketing?

Pinterest is good for social media marketing because it is versatile, cost-effective, and impactful. Furthermore, Pinterest users have the highest purchasing intent compared to other social media users.

How can Pinterest be used for marketing?

Pinterest can be used for marketing by adding links to blog articles on images or videos pinned to a Pinterest board. It will help promote your blog entries while directing traffic to your website.

Why is Pinterest the best social media?

It’s the best social media because Pinterest is a social media site that lets you share visual assets like photographs or infographics. Furthermore, you can add images from other websites quickly and easily using the "Pin it" taskbar button. Pinterest is also becoming increasingly popular with businesses because of its visual appeal.

Conclusion: Pinterest Marketing for Social Strategy

Pinterest is a valuable social media tool. It is an effective marketing tool because it can organically increase brand awareness, enhance conversions and sales, and maintain personal relationships with ideal customers.

Your business can accomplish all your marketing goals by implementing the Pinterest marketing strategies we discussed and using the available tools and resources.

Get a Pinterest business account and start marketing to your customers and followers with content they will not find anywhere else.

Written By
Kim Pañares

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