The Ultimate Guide to Pinterest Marketing
When you think of Pinterest, images of people wearing fashionable clothes or stylish hairstyles will probably come to mind. Or perhaps some drool-worthy pictures of food. And while that is indeed Pinterest’s claim to fame, this social media giant is more than that.
Pinterest had 463 million monthly active users in April 2023 and is ranked 14th in the world’s most active social media platform. And this number continues to go up, with an average of 2.3% increase every three months. Brands and marketers are noticing this trend, which is why there has been a push for Pinterest marketing recently.
That’s why we have for you today a comprehensive guide to everything you need to know about Pinterest marketing – from making boards to running ads, down to creating a great branded profile with the help of our logo maker tool and business name generator.
Let’s get started!
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a social media platform that focuses on visual discovery and inspiration. You can find photos (called “Pins”) on the site for various topics, such as home decoration, recipes, makeup, fashion, fitness, gardening, DIY crafts, travel, and so on.
Think of it as a combination of Google and Instagram. You’ll search for ideas and inspiration about a topic, and instead of sifting through long articles or texts, you’ll see the answers in photos.
While Pinterest can be described as a visual search engine, it’s still a social media platform at its core. People can build communities with other people who share similar interests, engage with brands and influencers who post about topics that they enjoy, or comment and tag on posts.
It also functions pretty much the same as other social media like Facebook or Instagram. You have your “Feed” where you can see Pins from people you follow or by what the Pinterest algorithm thinks you’ll like. You can also use hashtags to search for content that you like, just like on Twitter.
What Are the Benefits of Using Pinterest for Marketing?
There are many reasons why you should hop on Pinterest marketing. Some of them are:
High Reach
As mentioned above, Pinterest has 463 million active users. That’s a huge number of people who can potentially find your content or discover your brand!
If you run a US-based business, you’ll find great success on Pinterest as they have 84.6 million users located there. The same goes if your brand’s target audience is women, as 76.2% of Pinterest users are women.
Ads on Pinterest are also growing. According to Data Reportal, Pinterest’s Ads audience reach grew by 20.2% over the past 12 months. That’s higher compared to Facebook’s growth. If you’re not seeing much success on your Facebook Ads, you might want to consider Pinterest.
Strong Purchase Intent
According to studies, Pinterest users spend 2x as much when shopping on Pinterest compared to other social media platforms. It was also found that 45% of their US users have an income of over $100k.
As you can see, Pinterest is definitely the site to go to if you want to sell your products. This is even more important if you sell high-priced products such as furniture and luxury goods.
E-Commerce Integration
Related to the point above, Pinterest knows that its audience has the money so they made shopping easier on their site. This is seen from easy and seamless e-commerce integration. Pinterest users can see Pins that are directly linked to an outside e-commerce site or buy directly through Pinterest Shopping.
Prioritizes Visual
If your business focuses on products such as clothing, cosmetics, skincare, or home decor, then Pinterest is your site. It’s mainly a visual platform like Instagram. If your content is filled with high-quality images or scenic shots, you’ll find more success here compared to Twitter or Facebook.
Longevity of Content
Unlike other social media platforms where trends and buzz go away quickly, content on Pinterest tends to have a longer shelf life. This is because Pinterest is less focused on virality. Instead, they focus on the quality of content.
People also tend to go back over and over on Pins that they like. If there is an article, recipe, or tutorial that they saved, they go back to Pinterest if they ever need a reference. This is even made easier with Boards that make sorting and collecting your Pins a lot easier.
Opportunity for Small Businesses
90% of Pinterest searches are unbranded. This means people tend to search for keywords or items instead of looking for a specific brand. For instance, they search for “brown sofa” or “white nordic table” instead of “IKEA”. This gives small businesses or local businesses a chance to get discovered.
Subtle and Creative Advertising
If you find that your audience is getting tired of ads, it’s worth giving Pinterest a try. Pinterest leans toward subtle advertising instead of in-your-face ones.
Let’s say you sell vegan dough. Instead of making a poster saying that you sell vegan dough, you’ll create a Pin that shows a recipe for a vegan pizza or a vegan flatbread. You can also create a Pinterest Board that shows different vegan recipes or show health benefits of eating vegan.
They work pretty similarly to LinkedIn Marketing. They focus on creating useful and compelling content for their users instead of just a direct advertisement.
How to Use Pinterest for Marketing
Now that you know what Pinterest can do for your business, it’s time to get started on your Pinterest marketing strategy. These are some of the things that you should leverage:
Create A Business Account
The first step to successful Pinterest marketing is to have a business account. This way, you’ll be able to monitor your page performance, run ads, and gain access to other marketing tools.
There are three ways to have a business account. The first is to create a new business account. This is for people who don’t have an account before or those who want to use separate emails for their personal and business profiles.
To do this:
- Go to https://www.pinterest.com/business/create/. Fill in the details and select “Create Account”.
- Next is to select which category best describes your business.
- Then you are prompted to enter your brand name, location, and website.
- Next is to add more detail about your business and marketing goals. This will help Pinterest give more customized recommendations to help you later.
- Your account is created! From here, Pinterest will ask if you want to start by creating a Pin or by fully completing your profile. Choose one that you want to start on.
You can also convert your personal account to a business account. To do this:
- Log in to your personal account. Click the
button and click Settings. - Click “Account Management”.
- Look for the “Convert to Business Account” option.
- Fill out the details to build your profile.
- You’re done! You can select where you want to get started or just click X to go to your account. You can always revert back to a personal account if you find that a business account is not for you.
button and click Settings.The last option is to create a linked account. It means you have both a personal account and a business account, but they use the same email. You can only link up to 4 business accounts to your personal account.
- Log in to your personal account. Click the button and click Settings.
- Click “Add Account”.
- Click “Create a free business account”, then click “Create a linked business account”.
- Fill out the details to build your profile.
- That’s it, your account is now created! As always, you can choose to start creating pins, complete your profile, or just view your account.
Optimize your profile
Now that your account is created, it’s time to fill out all the details and make sure that your branding is visible on it.
You don’t want an empty profile that doesn’t say anything about you. You’ll want it to be brimming with your personality – one where your target audience can take one look at your profile and immediately get an idea of what to expect from you.
Here are some tips to optimize your Pinterest profile:
- Add your logo or photo – Adding your brand’s logo (or a nice photo of you if you are a content creator or influencer) is a great way to reinforce your branding and instantly let your audience know that it’s your profile. Need ideas for your photo? Check out our Pinterest Profile Photo maker tool.
- Add an eye-catching cover photo – Your cover photo is another way to show your brand’s personality or aesthetic. Use colors, patterns, designs, illustrations, photos, or captions that accurately reflect your branding. If you have an upcoming event or a new product, you can also use your cover photo to promote that. You can check out our Pinterest Board Cover Maker if you need help in designing.
- Write a great bio – Add a short but snappy description about you or your brand in your bio. Write it in your brand voice for maximum impact.
- Edit your name – This is the name that will appear on your profile. Add your name or your business name on it. Don’t have a business name yet? You can read through our article on the 8 aspects of a memorable name for more info or use our business name generator tool. Just enter a short description about your brand and we’ll give you suitable name options.
- Check your username – Your username is the one that shows up on the URL and is how your audience will find you on Pinterest. Make sure your brand name is on the URL so that they can easily find your account. Avoid adding long strings of numbers or too many underscores as it can be hard to remember. (ex. /nike is easier unlike /nike_18312024_, right?)
You also need to keep the correct size requirements in mind for all your creative assets. This ensures that your images will show up properly and not get awkwardly cut off.
The sizes are:
- Profile Photo – 165 x 165 pixels. Just like in YouTube, your photo will be cropped into a circle so keep that in mind when choosing your photo.
- Cover Photo – 800 x 450 pixels with a 16:9 horizontal aspect ratio.
Your profile photo will also cover a small portion of your cover photo, especially if viewed on mobile. Don’t put any important info on the bottom part of your cover photo to avoid this issue.
Create Pins
Pins are the images or videos that you see when you browse Pinterest. It serves as a visual bookmark for users. People can create, like, comment, share, or save a Pin that they like.
There are different types of Pins that you can create. These are:
Image Pins – these are the single-image posts that probably come to your mind when we say Pins. The recommended size is 1000 x 1500 pixels.
Video Pins – think of this as Pinterest’s equivalent to Instagram Reels or TikTok videos. You can upload one or multiple videos in one Video Pin. The recommended size is 1200 × 1800 pixels or a 2:3 aspect ratio. Pinterest also suggests to not go over than 15 seconds per video.
Rich Pins – These Pins will automatically sync information from your website to the Pin. You can use these for creating a Pin for a recipe or for your blog article, as all text and information will be automatically added to the Pin. If you make any changes to your website, the Pin will also reflect that.
Product Pins – You can link items to your website, e-commerce shop, or sell them directly on Pinterest. You can also create a 2-5 images Carousel post for your products. You can also create a Collections Pin, where you can group Product Pins together so that your audience can easily find similar products. Lastly, you can even harness the power of AR with the Try-On feature on these Pins. This feature is only available in selected regions though.
A good mix of different Pin type will work wonders for your business. This will diversify the content that your audience will see from you, making you more engaging for them.
- Create Boards
Boards are a way to organize and sort your Pins. You can select Pins that follow a similar theme and then save them in a Board for easier organization. For example, you can save all your winter outfit inspiration to a Board named “Winter Outfits” or all your chicken recipes to a “Chicken Recipes to Try” Board. You get the idea!
Boards that have a specific and clear name usually get more views. Try adding SEO-rich keywords to your board and naming them properly (instead of just “Barbeque” try “Best Affordable Barbeque Recipes for 2024”). Keep in mind that while you can use up to 100 characters, only the first 40-50 will show up on the search results.
Make sure to optimize your Board’s description as well. Clearly state what your Board is all about so that your audience will know what to expect from you. Try to incorporate keywords and write them in your brand voice as well.
Don’t forget your Board’s Cover photo as well. Create a cover that fits in with your brand’s identity and aesthetic for best results.
You can use Boards to subtly promote your products, show engaging and educational content for your audience, or give inspiration or ideas to those who see your Boards.
You might even want to participate or create a Group Board, where people can collaborate on adding Pins to a specific Board. These can help boost engagement and build a stronger community with your audience. This can also open a door for networking or to collaborate with a known influencer.
Run Pinterest Ads
Pinterest advertising is a great tool to reach more audiences inorganically. If you pair it with organic posts, you’ll improve your chances of getting more engagements and traction.
Pinterest Ads are also slightly different from other social media platforms because of their visual-first approach. That means the viewers would see the image first — before the “sponsored” label. This is important as some people stick away from sponsored posts due to their intrusive and unrelated nature. Pinterest Ads blend in with other organic posts, so there’s a higher chance that your ad will be clicked on and visited.
And when it comes to cost, Pinterest prides itself as 2.3x cheaper per conversion than other advertising platforms.
Now, interested in incorporating Pinterest Ads into your strategy? Here’s how to get started:
Like all marketing activities, you need to identify your objectives or goals first in creating ads. This helps you and the advertising platform efficiently use its algorithm and tools to really deliver the best results. Fortunately, Pinterest lets you pick four main objectives:
- Awareness: Reach new and previously untargeted people to build product awareness.
- Consideration: Increase traffic and leads
- Conversions: Boost actions like website sales, signups, and subscriptions
- Offline sales: More in-store purchases
Once you pick an objective, it’s time to create the ads. Start by creating a business account. Then, create an ad account by following these steps:
- Click ≡ icon at the top-left of the page
- Under Ads, select Account Overview
- Click the ˅ icon next to your account name at the top of your screen
- Click Create new ad account
- Enter an Ad account name, select your Country, then click Set up billing
- Enter payment information for your new ad account and Save
By now, you have the platform to create the ads. Feel free to take your time creating and designing the image or video that will be posted. You can seek the help of tools like BrandCrowd Pinterest Pin Maker to quickly create a stunning pin. Or you can invite a designer to do it for you. DesignCrowd hosts a global pool of talented designers, from email marketing professionals to graphic design experts. You can tap anyone on a budget.
What are the types of ads that you can prepare? These are:
- Collections Ads: a collection of images and videos that pop up once the viewer clicks a single sponsored image.
- Video Ads: A single video that can run up to 15 minutes
- Carousel Ads: it’s like Collection Ads, but the images are all included in one single pin and viewers can choose to swipe all the images.
- Idea Ads: A collection of images too
- Lead Ads: Provide questions for the readers to answer
- Showcase Ads: several images and videos with their own clickable outbound link
- Quiz Ads: quiz format that helps the advertiser provide suitable content to the audience
Run Pinterest Shopping
Pinterest users are not your usual social media users. When they visit the platform, they also decide to do a particular activity, they just haven’t made up their mind on the specifics. Pins help inspire and provide more depth to their decision. It can be what kind of tattoo to get, how to style a birthday party, creative ideas for a proposal, the best desktops for gaming, or an insightful DIY business idea.
Because Pinterest viewers are more open to ideas, they are also open to buy from brands that present their products at the right time and place. What’s better is that Pinterest Ads act like organic pins, hence worthy of clicks and visits.
Pinterest Shopping allows users to buy directly from brands on Pinterest. In other words, there’s no need to search the name of the product and find the website because they are directly linked to the sponsored pin.
Best Practices For Pinterest
While Pinterest is fairly easy to manage, there are certain ways that will make the most bang for your actions. Here are some tried and tested tips to make your Pinterest marketing smooth and effective.
Optimize Your Keywords
Keywords are not only effective in search engines but also on Pinterest. Remember, people are looking for ideas and inspiration on the platform. And they use not just related images but also words. Having enough keywords on your pins will help it surface in front of its target audience. Therefore, more engagements and conversions.
Try to use keywords that are directly related to the products your selling. For instance, if you’re selling speakers, try incorporating long-tail keywords like “best-sounding speakers,” “high-quality sound,” or “speakers under 100 dollars”. Short keywords like “sounds,” “music,” “songs,” or “Bluetooth” are great too.
Other than using Ahrefs and Moz for more insightful keyword research, Pinterest offers keyword options, too for marketers. Just type in a particular keyword related to your brand, and on top, you’ll see search terms that you might find relevant.
Here are some places where you can place your keywords:
- Titles
- Description
- Pins
- Profile bios
- Comments
Engage and Follow People
Engaging and following other Pinterest users helps drive engagement too. When you see and like other posts, that means you are on the platform paying attention. When you do it consistently, the algorithm will not only present your relevant posts, but your content will also surface in other dashboards.
Following other people also creates community. These are the users who will also support your content. And they’re the ones that will inspire your future creative trajectory. Remember to keep your comments alive. When people ask, answer, and provide feedback and more information. More activity on your profile and pins means more engagement and, ultimately, sales.
Promote your Pinterest on Other Social Media Platforms
Don’t make the mistake of using Pinterest alone and expecting it to blow up immediately. One way to garner more traction on your accounts is by also reposting your content on other platforms. Famous platforms to cross-post are the following:
- TikTok
Cross-promotion helps tap into existing followers on other apps and websites (if you have built them already). Also, this technique helps you not waste the potential of your content and the time it takes to create it. Just don’t copy and post. Instead, try to customize the captions, video length, or image curation to suit the platform’s specific format requirements and target audience.
Pro tip: place a watermark on the video or on the picture that states the name of your accounts across social media. So viewers can find that specific content on any platform. Also, switch up sounds and voiceovers. Another pro-tip: make a different format of content, i.e., videos, collection images, collages, sounds, ASMR — all based on a single main content.
Check Your Analytics
Monitoring your Pinterest analytics is crucial to understanding what works and what doesn’t in your marketing strategy. Good thing Pinterest gives its users and advertisers detailed insights into the pin performance, audience demographics, and engagement rates.
By regularly checking these metrics, you can adjust your content strategy better to meet the needs and interests of your audience. Look for patterns in what types of pins get the most interaction and use this data to inform future content creation.
Also, pay attention to the times and days when your pins receive the most engagement, as this can help you optimize your posting schedule for maximum visibility.
Do Competitor Research
Keeping an eye on your competitors on Pinterest can provide valuable insights into what might work for your brand. Analyze their most popular pins, notice the keywords they use, and observe how they engage with their followers. This doesn’t mean copying what they do but rather learning from their successes and failures.
By understanding the competitive landscape, you can identify gaps in your own strategy and find new opportunities to stand out. Also, consider looking at brands that are not direct competitors but share a similar audience to see if there are any creative approaches or trends you can adapt for your own use.
Conclusion
Mastering Pinterest for business requires a strategic approach that combines creativity with analytics. By running targeted ads, optimizing for shopping, and engaging with the Pinterest community, you can significantly increase your brand’s visibility and drive sales.
Remember, the key to success on Pinterest, like any social media platform, is consistency and engagement. By combining it with well-defined branding, such as a beautifully designed logo as well as other platforms like Instagram Story or LinkedIn Posts, your efforts in Pinterest will take fruit.
