By: Elisabeth Horvet
Everyone is familiar with Pinterest in one way or another. Some of us need décor inspiration while others are looking for new outfits. Or maybe you’re neither of those people and you’re simply looking for a drawing reference so you can finally finish that sketch you’ve been working on. What a lot of us don’t see, however, is how much effort goes into each pin. Businesses large or small put a lot of forethought into the content they post on Pinterest. When done right, it can be a useful tool that has proven to drive sales and marketing strategies and according to Forbes, 50% of Pinners have made purchases after seeing a promoted pin. Throughout this article we will go over how many have chosen to grow their business through Pinterest and how you can do it too.
The first thing to establish when utilizing Pinterest as a business tool is that you will not be able to make a significant impact using a regular account. Instead of putting yourself through the struggle, start off by creating a Pinterest business account. Creating a Pinterest business account allows you to access additional tools that will help you monitor performance, run ads, and create rich pins. After visiting business.pinterest.com and setting up your account, one of the first things you will want to do is start creating pins, and from there, add them to your personal boards so people will be able to view your content. It’s important to be strategic about what boards to create when managing your content because if your boards aren’t well organized it might cause confusion for some Pinners. For example, if you were selling clothes, don’t just make two boards for men’s and women’s clothes. Instead, create a few different boards showcasing dresses, pants, business shirts, etc. This will help make sure that Pinners within a certain niche won’t get lost or give up while looking through your profile.
One thing to be aware of while creating pins is Pinterest’s SEO. According to Forbes, “SEO is the only tactic that can directly impact your brand’s awareness with prospective consumers who have actively made a choice to look for a solution to the problem you solve, or for the product, service or experience you offer.” To really take advantage of Pinterest’s SEO, you will need high-quality content that tells your brand's story through a photo. Beyond it being an eye-catch, your keywords will have to be well-researched and consistent with your brand's values and content. Pins are searchable through Google, which is a huge opportunity to gain more domain space.
Beyond all these things, being consistent on any platform is a key part of success. Posting close to every day is quite a time commitment, but luckily Pinterest business accounts allow you to schedule posts ahead of time. One piece of advice when considering this is to pay close attention to your pin performance. What scheduled posts do well? On what days of the week? If there is any trend regarding your pins, capitalize on it using Pinterest analytics. This tool will guide you on impressions, engagement, total audience, engaged audience as well as performance over time. This tool is especially helpful if you plan on running an ad and need details on what already does well.
In summary, Pinterest can be as advantageous as any other platform if used correctly. Your business can be seen by creating a business account, putting out high-quality content, and utilizing Pinterest’s tools. 89% of users are on the platform looking for purchase inspiration and 97% of top searches are non-branded, according to Forbes. This is a good indicator that the opportunities for expanding your business are endless!