Pinterest Is Your Next Favorite Business Social Media Platform

Using Pinterest for your business yet? If not, you’re missing out! Did you know there are more than 150 million pinners? That’s a huge number of potential clients and customers.

Pinterest is the perfect sales tool because it is, as Pinterest itself asserts, “the world’s catalog of ideas.” Each “pin” is an idea—whether it be how-to for new moms, fresh recipes for family dinners, or technological tips for rookies—and Pinterest is the place to browse the best of those ideas. And, of course, you have the best ideas, so why not showcase them on the platform where, significantly, “two-thirds of the content saved to Pinterest comes from businesses.”

Pinterest Basics

If you use Pinterest for personal reasons, you’ll know that “pins” are what you save and “boards” are what you pin them to. It’s a “visual bookmarking tool” you can use to find new ideas, then save them to boards you create. You can create boards based on your interests and hobbies, allowing you to organize your ideas. Need ideas for gardening? Create a gardening board, search gardening pins and group boards, and start pinning. Interested in music? Find and follow boards with your same tastes and create your own boards to share your passions with others.

Here’s a short list of Pinterest terms:

• Pin: the idea, presented as an image and pinned to a board, that links to an external page (article, product, blog post)
• Board: where you save your categorized content
• Secret board: same as above, except only you can see it
• Group board: multiple pinners share to the board
• Repin: sharing someone else’s content with your followers
• Comments and likes: similar to other social media platforms, you can like or comment on a pin you love and want to support
• Pin-it button: a widget you can add to your site so your followers can pin your content to their boards

Need more of an introduction? Pinterest has a short video tutorial to get you up to speed on how to use the platform.

Why Pinterest?

First, let’s dispel the myth that only crafty women frequent Pinterest (20 percent of users are male). Next, let’s emphasize that it’s a visual platform, so your pins need to be eye-catching. We’ve spent a lot of time on our blog sharing how to create great content, and Pinterest is possibly the best place to share that content because pins have more staying power. The life of a tweet or Facebook post is extremely short—about twenty-four minutes for a tweet and ninety for a post. A pin? Try three and a half months. You read that right! It’s because a pin that is repinned even once will be seen over and over again. And pins are more accessible—they can be found and seen on a user’s home feed and on other users’ boards. Not only does a pin stay around longer and get more views, the folks looking at pins are those actively wanting to buy. According to recent research, pinners are more apt to buy. Eighty-seven percent purchased a product they found on Pinterest, and ninety-three percent plan to buy in the future. That’s why Pinterest is the perfect place for your quality content: pins can be shared for—well, forever, giving your blog and site more traffic over time, increasing brand awareness, and earning more sales for your store.

How to Set up for Business

So now that we’ve convinced you Pinterest is a must for social media marketing, here are some tips for getting started:

1. Go here to set up your business account.
2. Enter in your email, business name, and website.
3. Follow five boards, and Pinterest will customize a feed for you (you can always follow more, but Pinterest asks that you follow five to start with).
4. Confirm your email address (Pinterest will send you a confirmation email), upload a profile photo, and complete any other account details that will make your profile stand out, including your username (pick a good one that reflects your brand!), your bio (pro tip: include keywords for optimized searches), and your location.
5. Confirm your website to get access to add your company or brand logo to any pin that originated from your site, as well as getting more analytics.
6. Request access to rich pins—pins that have extra “oomph.” They include information right on the pin itself. There are currently six types of rich pins: app, movie, recipe, article, product, and place. (Pinterest suggests getting help from your web developer to set these up, as they can be a bit technical.)
7. Download these guides for tips on creating beautiful pins, pinning to boards, sharing pins, and all things Pinterest.
8. These Pinterest tools will help you explore more options for becoming a pinner pro!

Best Practices for Business

So you’re all set up to start pinning. What’s next? Here are a few tips on how to get the most out of Pinterest:

• Create a lot of boards
  • Name the boards using keywords from your website or terms your followers are likely to search and follow.
  • Stuck on what boards to create? Here are a few general ideas:
    • Products: All kinds! Monthly featured products, products on sale, board-follower-only specials, etc. The possibilities are endless!
    • DIY: If you own a gardening business, give your followers some handy do-it-yourself tips on getting the garden prepped for spring planting. Or if you run a health blog, give them a few free recipes for healthy and nutritious meals.
    • Things you love: Show off your individuality and your business’s personality by sharing content that speaks to you. Are you that gardening blogger? Share information about your favorite gardening tools. Or if you’re the health blogger, share your favorite exercise programs. Get involved with your clients by sharing your passions.
• Pin great content
  • As with other social media platforms, pinning quality, original content is important, but so is sharing content from other sources. Follow boards related to your business and your passions and share the great content you find there with your followers.
  • As for your own content, take quotes from your blog or newsletter and create eye-catching graphics that grab other pinners’ attention.
  • Use high-quality images of your products to create stunning visuals that resonate with other pinners.
• Check your analytics
  • See which of your pins is getting the most traffic and who is sharing your pins so you can get an idea of which ones are working and who’s in your network.
• Spread the word
  • Don’t forget to announce that you are officially on Pinterest on your other social media platforms, and on your blog and website!

Do you use Pinterest? What other tips do you have? Please share with us in the comments below!

Lindsay Flanagan

Lindsay Flanagan is a senior editor and project and social media manager. She earned her Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing and spent over a decade working in higher education before joining the Eschler team. She and her husband are the proud parents of two brilliant daughters and make their home in Heber, Utah.

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