How To Use Pinterest to Market Your Business

pinterest for business

Marketing your business on social media and online platforms is a crucial step in gaining an audience and achieving success. It’s unheard of for any business to not have somewhat of a presence on social media; but what platform should you use to gain traffic? Try using Pinterest.

While it’s important to have a presence on the popular social media accounts, such as Facebook and Instagram, the growth on those platforms can be slow. If you’re looking to gain traffic fast and increase your business’s following, then focus on using Pinterest. 

What is Pinterest and Why Should I Use Pinterest for Business?

Pinterest is a social media platform and photo-sharing service that allows users to discover information on any topic they’re interested in. Whether it’s about DIY crafts, business strategies, or writing tips, users can find whatever it is they’re looking for.

A great aspect of Pinterest is that it works as a search engine, despite being known as a social media site. Users will search for something and see an image related to that topic. Once they click that image, they are led to a site outside of the Pinterest domain. Pinterest is essentially an aggregate of multiple sites because each pin will lead to a plethora of outside sources. 

So, why should you use Pinterest for your business marketing strategy? 

You’re able to gain traffic incredibly fast to your website, which ultimately increases your audience, allowing you to expand your business and make a profit. Using Pinterest for Business may seem daunting at first, but here’s an in-depth guide on how to use Pinterest to market your business. 

pinterest for business

How Should I Use Pinterest for Business? 

There are many ways to use Pinterest for your business, but below are what we found to be the 13 best.

1. Create a Pinterest Business Account 

The first step to applying Pinterest marketing tactics is to create a Pinterest business account. Users have two options when they sign up and make an account: personal or business. 

Some opt to have a personal account because they’re just searching for information and use it for personal, leisurely reasons. You, on the other hand, are using Pinterest to market your business and gain a following. That means you need a business account. 

With a business account, you have access to a plethora of features that allow you to promote your content. You also show the Pinterest algorithm that you’re serious about using Pinterest to market your business, which results in your Pins being optimized. You can read about more benefits of a business account here, but the bottom line is that you should create a business account. 

Signing up for a business account is free (with the option to purchase certain features later) and if you already have a personal account, you can convert it to a business one.  

2. Create Some Boards In Your Niche Area 

Your Pinterest account will consist of “boards,” which are composed of various “Pins.” Pins are the images you see when you search for something, and if a user likes that piece of information or wants to save it, they will pin it to a corresponding board. 

Think of it as the digital version of pinning something you like on a corkboard, yet that corkboard has different categories where the pins will be placed.

For instance, if you own a food company and are using Pinterest for your business, you would create boards about dinner ideas, lunch recipes, baking hacks, etc. If you came across a pin about the best cupcake recipe in the world, you would pin it to your baking hacks board, not your dinner ideas board. 

When marketing your business on Pinterest, you want to make sure you have various boards in your niche area. Whether you’re an up and coming clothing company or trying to start a blog, you want to create boards related to your area of interest. 

Having boards that speak to your niche are important, not only because they are visible on your profile, but they tell users exactly what your business is about. 

Start by making 20 boards related to your niche. It may seem daunting to have that many boards but think of all the topics that could relate to you (you can even look at similar accounts in your niche for inspiration!) 

Once you have your niche boards set, start pinning some content to them. 

Social media for business

3. Verify Your Website with Pinterest

To show users that you’re legit and trustworthy, you need to verify your website on Pinterest. Verifying your site shows you’re a reputable source, which is crucial in gaining site traffic because no one wants to go on to a site that isn’t approved of. 

You have space in your profile to include a link to your website (which you definitely should include) but take it a step further and get your site verified. 

Verifying your site is super easy and it only takes about a day or so for the verified icon to appear next to your site’s URL. 

Follow this link for instructions on how to verify your website. 

4. Use the 60:40 Rule When Pinning Content 

When pinning content to your boards, 60 percent of it should be yours and 40 percent of it should be others. You shouldn’t only save your own content. Save pins related to your niche that have been created by other users. For an in-depth explanation of why you should pin other’s content, click here

When first starting, most of your pins will be created by others. Once you grow and create your own Pins, you can start applying this rule.  

5. Pin Frequently

The Pinterest algorithm likes it when you’re an active user who is pinning frequently. When you pin often, there’s more of a chance for people to interact with your content. 

When first starting, try to save 30-40 Pins a day. It seems like a lot, but it’s a fairly easy process, although it may be time-consuming. 

Pin in the morning, at lunch, at dinner, and whenever you have some free time. You can even do it on your mobile phone using the Pinterest app. 

6. Use Pin Scheduling Apps 

If you don’t have time to manually pin content, you can use pin scheduling apps. The number one pin scheduling app is Tailwind, which allows you to schedule pins to post throughout the day and allows you to join Tailwind Tribes to help promote content. 

When beginning, start by manually pinning content first. Tailwind is a paid service, but it’s not necessarily required to grow your audience and be successful. Tailwind is great if you have a super busy schedule and can’t invest the time into manually pinning. 

If you do decide to use a pin scheduling service, try to manually pin some content now and then. The Pinterest algorithm likes it when users manually pin content, which will only reward you in the end. 

pinterest for business

7. Create Visually Enticing Pins 

When creating your own Pins, you need to create visually appealing graphics that go along with your content. 

Pinterest is a visually-oriented platform, and users rely on the appearance and design of Pins to attract an audience. When you search for something, only images pop up, and those images have links to a website. 

If a pin doesn’t simply look interesting, then no one is going to click on it. Even if you link that pin to the best content in the world, if it doesn’t look good then no one will engage with it. 

Try using Canva or Adobe products when creating Pins. Canva has a bunch of built-in and free options for creating Pins in a super-easy way. 

8. Create Multiple Versions of Your Pins 

You shouldn’t just create one pin for a piece of content. You should create multiple different Pins that link to the same piece of content to optimize and grow your audience. 

Creating multiple Pins is beneficial because it allows you to see which design elements work best for attracting an audience, and it gives you more chances to promote content. 

Try changing up the color scheme, wording, and overall design of your pin graphic when creating new Pins. 

9. Utilize Pinterest SEO 

Pinterest is an above all search engine, even though it’s classified as a social media site. When considering this, you should be applying Search Engine Optimation tactics.

Good SEO practice means implementing keywords in your posts. You should have keywords related to your niche not only in your pin descriptions, but also in your pin titles, board titles, board descriptions, profile description, and profile name. That way you’ll rank higher on Pinterest. 

To find what keywords work best when creating a pin specifically, you can search for keywords right in the Pinterest search bar on the site itself, and see what topics people are searching for most. 

The Success Bug SEO

10. Follow Others in Your Niche

You should follow others in your niche area and check out their profile to see what tactics they are applying and see what works best. Following them will inspire you and give insight as to how you can better run your Pinterest account. 

Engage with their content and they may even engage with yours. As we mentioned earlier, pinning other’s content is just as important as pinning your own. 

11. Join Group Boards in Your Niche

Joining group boards is a great way to promote your own Pins and engage with other users in your niche area! Group boards are focused around a certain topic and have multiple contributors that pin content to that board. 

Most group boards have rules that for every content you Pin, you must re-pin other content as well. This is great because you’re engaging with others and they are sharing your content with their network, thus expanding your audience. 

You can search for group boards right on the Pinterest site, or look for group boards on Pin Groupie

12. Know That The Number of Followers You Have Doesn’t Matter 

When considering that Pinterest is primarily a search engine, it doesn’t matter how many followers you have. You’ll still be able to reach a wide audience outside of your following.

Many users simply look at their Smart Feed, a feed that the Pinterest algorithm curates to meet the interests of what you’re searching and pinning, rather than your Following Feed. The Smart Feed also introduces new content to users. 

It’s so easy to get caught up in how many followers you have on social media. On many other social media platforms, your success is essentially measured by how many followers you have. That’s the great thing about Pinterest though, the number of followers you have doesn’t measure your success one bit. 

What you do want to pay attention to is the number of monthly viewers you have. This is the number people will see when they click on your profile. Your monthly viewers comprise of all the people who’ve viewed or engaged with the Pins you’ve saved or created. Some accounts have little to no followers, but millions of monthly viewers. 

success using pinterest for business

13. Keep At It

Using Pinterest for business may seem tedious and time-consuming. But if you put the time in, you’ll be rewarded in the best way possible. It may not seem like it at first, but growth on Pinterest is much faster than any other social networking site. If you stick to it and apply these tactics, you’ll see your monthly viewer’s number increase rapidly thus bringing more traffic to your website and contributing to the success of your business. The best piece of advice when using Pinterest for business is to simply keep working at it. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

If you’re a young entrepreneur, small business, or aspiring blogger, you’re probably searching for ways to market your business and grow your audience fast. To do this, you need to have a presence on social media, but the best social media platform to use is Pinterest. Pinterest allows you to reach a wide audience, expand your following base, and ultimately turn your business dreams into reality. It may seem challenging at first but follow this in-depth guide on how to use Pinterest for business and achieve success.