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In today's digital landscape, Pinterest stands out as a powerful platform for businesses to showcase their products, connect with their audience, and drive traffic to their websites. A Pinterest business account offers unique opportunities to boost brand awareness, engage potential customers, and implement a targeted social media strategy. With over 400 million active users, Pinterest has become an essential tool for marketers looking to tap into a visually-driven, highly engaged audience.
This article will guide you through the process of creating and optimizing your Pinterest business account. We'll explore the platform's potential for business growth, walk you through account setup, and share tips on developing a content calendar that resonates with your target audience. You'll also learn how to craft pins that grab attention, use Pinterest's business tools effectively, and grow your following. By the end, you'll have the knowledge to leverage Pinterest marketing to its fullest, helping your business thrive in this dynamic visual search engine.
Understanding Pinterest for Business
Pinterest has emerged as a powerful platform for businesses to showcase their products, connect with their audience, and drive traffic to their websites. With over 400 million active users each month, Pinterest offers a unique opportunity for brands to reach a highly engaged, visually-driven audience.
Benefits of a Business Account
Creating a Pinterest business account opens up a world of opportunities for brands looking to enhance their online presence. Here are some key advantages:
Increased Brand Awareness: Pinterest has the potential to expose businesses to a massive, global audience. Users discover new brands and products through Pinterest every week, making it an excellent platform for increasing visibility.
Evergreen Content: Unlike other social media platforms where content quickly disappears, pins have a much longer shelf life. They remain discoverable until removed, allowing for continuous engagement and potential traffic.
Targeted Audience: Pinterest's algorithm shows users content based on their search history, ensuring that businesses reach a hyper-relevant audience interested in their offerings.
Increased Website Traffic: With clickable pins, businesses can drive more traffic to their websites. A well-crafted pin with an engaging hook can lead to significant increases in website visits.
Search Engine Visibility: Pins can show up in Google search results, particularly in image searches, providing an additional avenue for discovery.
Positive Platform Environment: Pinterest is known for its positive content, making it an ideal space for brands with uplifting messages and heart-centered ethos.
Key Features and Tools
Pinterest business accounts come with several unique features and tools to help brands maximize their presence on the platform:
Pinterest Business Hub: This central dashboard provides access to various tools and resources for managing your Pinterest presence.
Rich Pins: These enhanced pins offer more information about your landing page than regular pins. For product pins, they include pricing information and other product specifications.
Analytics: Pinterest Analytics provides valuable insights into your audience demographics, most popular pins, and engagement metrics. This data can help refine your Pinterest strategy.
Advertising Capabilities: Business accounts can access Pinterest's advertising platform, allowing for targeted ad campaigns to boost brand awareness, traffic, or conversions.
Pinterest Insights: This resource helps businesses stay on top of current trends and predictions, as well as understand the overall Pinterest audience.
Save Button: Adding a Pinterest Save button to your website makes it easier for users to pin your content, potentially increasing your reach.
Group Boards: These collaborative boards allow multiple contributors, offering an opportunity to expand your reach through shared content.
By leveraging these features and understanding the unique benefits of Pinterest for business, brands can create a powerful presence on this visual discovery engine, driving engagement, traffic, and ultimately, sales.
Creating Your Pinterest Business Account
Creating a Pinterest business account is a straightforward process that unlocks a range of powerful tools and features to help businesses thrive on the platform. By following these steps, businesses can set up their account and start leveraging Pinterest's unique capabilities to reach their target audience.
Step-by-Step Setup Guide
Visit Pinterest: Navigate to the Pinterest website. If you don't have an account, a pop-up will appear prompting you to enter your email address.
Create an Account: Enter your email to create a basic account. You can adjust your username later to reflect your brand better.
Access Account Settings: In the top right corner, click the drop-down button to access various account options.
Edit Profile: Fill in your name, username, profile picture, website URL, and location.
Convert to Business Account: In the left-hand sidebar, go to "Account Settings" and scroll down to find the option to convert to a business account.
Unlock Business Tools: Click the "Switch to Business" button to access analytics, ad manager, and audience insights at no cost.
Complete Business Profile: A pop-up will appear asking for additional information about your business. Enter your business name, website, niche, and goals for using Pinterest.
Account Settings to Configure
Once your business account is set up, it's crucial to configure several settings to optimize your Pinterest presence:
Claim Your Website: Ensure your brand name appears on every Pin created from your site by claiming your website.
Enable Rich Pins: Set up Rich Pins to automatically sync information from your site to your Pins, providing more context for users.
Add Pinterest Widgets: Implement the follow widget on your website to allow visitors to follow your Pinterest account without leaving your site. Consider adding widgets that enable users to save Pins or boards directly from your website.
Set Up Analytics: Familiarize yourself with Pinterest's analytics tools to gain insights into your audience and Pin performance.
Configure Ad Settings: If you plan to use Pinterest ads, set up your ad account to start creating campaigns.
Customize Profile: Craft a compelling profile that showcases your brand's personality and offerings.
Create Boards: Organize your content by creating relevant boards that align with your business niche and target audience interests.
By following these steps and configuring these settings, businesses can create a robust Pinterest presence that leverages the platform's unique features. A well-optimized business account opens up opportunities for increased brand awareness, engagement, and website traffic, setting the stage for success on this visually-driven platform.
Developing a Pinterest Content Strategy
To create an effective Pinterest content strategy, businesses must focus on identifying their target audience and planning a comprehensive content calendar. These elements are crucial for maximizing engagement and achieving marketing goals on the platform.
Identifying Your Target Audience
Understanding the Pinterest audience is essential for tailoring content that resonates with potential customers. With over 522 million monthly active users, Pinterest offers a vast and diverse user base for businesses to tap into. Gen Z has become the fastest-growing demographic on the platform, making up 42% of the global user base. This generation is particularly active, searching and saving more content than other age groups.
In the UK, Pinterest reaches a significant portion of various age groups:
39% of people ages 18-24
31% of people ages 25-34
29% of people ages 35-44
30% of people aged 45+ [7]
The platform's audience in the United Kingdom is predominantly female, with 70% of users being females aged 18 and above, while males 18 and above make up 28% of the user base [7]. Pinterest also attracts high-income earners, reaching 28% of those in the top household income quartile.
To effectively target specific audience segments, Pinterest offers various targeting options:
Audience Targeting: This feature allows businesses to reach specific groups by combining customer information with Pinterest user behaviour data.
Visitor Retargeting: By implementing the Pinterest tag on their website, businesses can retarget users who have previously visited their site.
Engagement Targeting: This option enables advertisers to show ads to users who have interacted with their content on Pinterest.
Actalike Targeting: Businesses can reach new users similar to their existing audience, helping to expand their customer base.
Planning Your Content Calendar
A well-structured content calendar is crucial for maintaining a consistent and engaging presence on Pinterest. To create an effective calendar:
Conduct a Social Media Audit: Evaluate your current Pinterest performance and identify areas for improvement.
Choose Content Types: Decide on the types of content you'll post, such as product pins, infographics, or video pins.
Determine Calendar Components: Include essential elements like posting dates, times, platforms, links, graphics, videos, and copy.
Use Color Coding: Implement a colour-coding system for easy visual organization of different content types or campaigns.
Incorporate Seasonal and Trending Topics: Utilize Pinterest's Trends Tool to identify popular topics and plan content accordingly.
Schedule Regular Planning Sessions: Conduct quarterly planning meetings to brainstorm ideas and align content with business goals.
Analyze Performance: Regularly review Pinterest analytics to understand which content performs best and adjust your strategy accordingly.
By implementing these strategies, businesses can create a robust Pinterest content plan that engages their target audience and drives results. Remember that 80% of weekly Pinners feel inspired by the shopping experience on Pinterest, and 96% of top searches are unbranded, presenting opportunities for businesses to capture new audiences and inspire potential customers.
Optimizing Pins for Maximum Engagement
Visual Best Practices
To maximize engagement on Pinterest, businesses need to focus on creating visually appealing and effective Pins. The platform recommends using vertical images with a 2:3 aspect ratio (e.g., 1,000 x 1,500 pixels) to stand out in users' feeds. This aspect ratio ensures that Pins are not truncated and perform optimally.
When designing Pins, it's crucial to make the brand the focal point. Businesses should showcase their products or services front and center, avoiding abstract images or lifestyle imagery that doesn't directly represent the brand. This approach helps users quickly understand what the Pin is about and increases the likelihood of engagement.
Including a logo on every Pin is essential for brand recognition, but it should be subtle. It's advisable to avoid placing the logo in the lower-right corner, as this area is often covered by Pinterest's product icons. Instead, consider incorporating the logo in a less obtrusive location.
Text overlay can significantly enhance a Pin's effectiveness. When adding text to Pins, keep it concise for better readability on mobile devices. It's important to create separate Pins for each target country, allowing for translation into local languages and improving relevance for different audiences.
Writing Effective Pin Descriptions
Pin descriptions play a vital role in driving engagement, traffic, and reach. A study by Pinterest analyzing 21,000 Pins revealed that including the business name in the first sentence of the caption leads to a 54% higher conversion rate for email signups. Additionally, using clear, actionable wording and a strong call to action can increase email signups by 70% and online sales by 6%.
When crafting Pin descriptions, it's essential to optimize them with relevant keywords. This practice helps Pinterest understand the content and increases the chances of Pins being surfaced in search results and the Smart Feed. Think of Pinterest as a search engine and use descriptions to clearly communicate what the content is about.
To write effective Pin descriptions:
Think like the Pinner searching for your content.
Write in a conversational tone, using keywords naturally within sentences.
Conduct keyword research using Pinterest's search suggestions and trend tools.
Keep descriptions concise, typically one or two strong sentences.
Place important keywords at the beginning of the description.
Consider adding a call to action at the end to encourage user engagement.
Pin descriptions can be up to 500 characters long, providing ample space for keyword inclusion, a call to action, and essential information about the linked content. However, it's important to note that only the first 30-60 characters are likely to appear in the feed, so prioritize the most compelling information at the beginning.
By implementing these visual best practices and crafting effective Pin descriptions, businesses can significantly improve their Pinterest performance and drive meaningful engagement with their target audience.
Leveraging Pinterest's Business Tools
Pinterest offers a range of powerful business tools that can help brands maximize their presence on the platform and drive meaningful results. These tools are designed to enhance visibility, increase engagement, and ultimately boost sales.
Promoted Pins
One of the most effective ways to leverage Pinterest's business tools is through Promoted Pins. These are essentially ads that allow businesses to reach a wider audience beyond their existing followers.
To create a Promoted Pin:
Access Ads Manager: After setting up a campaign and ad group, select the Pins you want to promote.
Choose Pin Type: You can create new Pins or promote existing ones. However, secret boards and Pins cannot be promoted.
Filter and Search: Use the filter icon to sort ads by format or to display only existing ads. The search bar allows you to find specific Pins quickly.
Create Organic Pins: If needed, use the Pin builder to create new organic Pins. You can create multiple Pins, duplicate existing ones, or edit them in bulk.
Review and Edit: Before publishing, review the ad name, destination URL, and add any tracking parameters.
Preview: You can send a preview of the ad to your mobile device to see how it will appear in users' feeds.
For businesses looking for a quicker option, Pinterest offers a "Quick Promote" feature. This allows you to create an ad directly from your profile without using Ads Manager. Simply click "Promote" on eligible Pins, set your budget and duration, and choose your targeting options.
Shopping on Pinterest
Pinterest has become a powerful platform for e-commerce, with 9 out of 10 Pinners using it for purchase inspiration. The platform offers several shopping tools to help businesses capitalize on this intent:
Product Pins: These special Pins highlight product information, including price and stock availability, making it easy for users to shop.
Shopping List: This feature allows users to find all their saved Product Pins in one place, encouraging revisits and purchases.
Shop in Search: The "Shop" tab in search results displays Product Pins related to the search term, making it easier for users to find and buy products.
Shop with Lens: This innovative feature allows users to take a photo of an item in a physical store and find similar products from Pinterest sellers.
Shop from Pins: Users can find Product Pins to shop from within static Pin images, leveraging Pinterest's visual search capabilities.
Shopping Spotlights: Pinterest curates daily "favorite picks" featuring Product Pins, which users can find under the "Today" tab.
These shopping tools are particularly effective given that Pinterest users are primed for purchasing. Pinners are seven times more likely to buy things they Pin, and they spend twice as much as non-Pinners every month.
By leveraging these business tools effectively, brands can tap into Pinterest's highly engaged, shopping-oriented user base. Whether through strategic use of Promoted Pins or by optimizing product listings for Pinterest's shopping features, businesses can significantly enhance their visibility, engagement, and sales on the platform.
Growing Your Pinterest Following
Growing a strong Pinterest following is crucial for businesses looking to leverage the platform's unique ability to drive website traffic. Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest allows users to insert website links in every post, making it a powerful tool for redirecting users to a business's website [17]. This direct link between Pinterest engagement and website traffic underscores the importance of building a robust follower base.
Cross-Promoting on Other Platforms
Cross-promotion is an effective strategy to expand a brand's Pinterest presence by leveraging existing audiences on other social media platforms. This approach involves using one platform to promote another, effectively driving traffic and engagement across multiple channels.
Utilize Existing Followers: Encourage followers, fans, and email subscribers from other platforms to follow the brand on Pinterest. This can be done by sharing regular "What we're pinning" updates in email newsletters or Instagram Stories.
Showcase Pinterest Content: Share snippets of Pinterest-exclusive content on other platforms, directing users to Pinterest for the full experience.
Run Cross-Platform Contests: Organize contests that require participation across multiple platforms, including Pinterest. This strategy can significantly boost follower counts across all channels.
Case Study:
Jeep's Facebook-to-Pinterest PromotionJeep successfully leveraged their large Facebook following to grow their Pinterest presence. By posting a single picture of a vehicle with a link to their Pinterest account on Facebook, Jeep gained over 1,000 Pinterest followers in just two days. This promotion tripled their growth rate from 35 to 110 followers per week.
Case Study:
Xyron's Email CampaignAdhesive crafting company Xyron used targeted email blasts to their Pinterest-active subscribers. In just over a month, this strategy resulted in:
Over 4,000 new followers
A 1,317% increase in monthly engagement
Growth in pins with at least one repin from 83% to 100%
These impressive results were achieved with just seven emails. [19]
Engaging with Your Community
Building an engaged community on Pinterest goes beyond simply accumulating followers. It involves creating a space where users find inspiration, share ideas, and discover new interests.
Consistent Pinning: Regularly share high-quality, relevant content to keep the audience engaged and attract new followers.
Diverse Content: Offer a variety of content types, including how-to guides, tutorials, inspirational images, and infographics.
SEO Optimization: Use relevant keywords and hashtags in pin descriptions and board titles to increase discoverability.
Active Engagement: Respond to comments on pins and engage with other users' content by commenting, liking, and repinning.
Collaborate with Influencers: Partner with Pinterest influencers to reach new audiences and create authentic, relatable content.
Utilize Group Boards: Participate in and create group boards to engage with like-minded individuals and expand reach.
By implementing these strategies, businesses can effectively grow their Pinterest following, increase engagement, and ultimately drive more traffic to their websites. The key lies in consistently providing value, actively engaging with the community, and leveraging cross-platform promotion to tap into existing audiences.
Conclusion
Pinterest has emerged as a powerful platform for businesses to showcase their products, connect with their audience, and drive traffic to their websites. By creating a Pinterest business account and leveraging its unique features, brands can tap into a visually-driven, highly engaged audience of over 400 million active users. This article has provided a comprehensive guide to help businesses create, optimize, and grow their Pinterest presence, covering everything from account setup to content strategy and engagement techniques.
To wrap up, the key to success on Pinterest lies in understanding your target audience, creating visually appealing pins, and consistently engaging with your community. By using Pinterest's business tools effectively and cross-promoting on other platforms, brands can significantly boost their visibility and drive meaningful results. Remember, Pinterest is more than just a social media platform – it's a visual search engine with the potential to have a significant impact on your brand awareness, website traffic, and ultimately, your bottom line.
FAQs
Q: What are the best practices to enhance my Pinterest business profile?
A: To optimize your Pinterest business profile, follow these six best practices:
Include all relevant business details in your profile.
Enhance your profile's search engine optimization (SEO).
Add and verify your website domain.
Optimize your profile picture, pins, and boards for visual appeal.
Adjust your profile settings for optimal performance.
Incorporate video content on your Pinterest boards.
Q: How can I increase the visibility and effectiveness of my business on Pinterest?
A: Here are eight strategies to boost your business on Pinterest:
Develop a comprehensive Pinterest marketing strategy.
Pin engaging and visually captivating content.
Experiment with different pin formats to see what resonates.
Plan your boards with a strategic approach.
Optimize your pins for SEO to increase visibility.
Explore various Pinterest advertising options.
Monitor performance metrics to gage success.
Actively promote your Pinterest profile to attract more followers.
Q: What steps should I take to create a successful Pinterest account?
A: To build a successful Pinterest account, consider the following steps:
Convert your profile to a business account for more features.
Brand your profile to make it easily recognizable.
Ensure your website is verified with Pinterest to build credibility.
Consistently create and pin fresh content.
Use high-quality, vertical images and videos to stand out.
Choose strong, appealing cover images for your pins.
Organize your content using Pinterest boards for better navigation.
Q: How do I manage my Pinterest business account effectively?
A: To manage your Pinterest business account, start by converting your personal account into a business account. Here’s how:
Log into your existing personal Pinterest account.
Click the directional chevron down icon at the top-right corner.
Select 'Settings' and then 'Account management' on the left side of the screen.
Click on 'Convert to a business account', then confirm by clicking 'Convert account' again.
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