How To Use Pinterest To Market Your Business (Step By Step!)

Last Updated: 

February 19, 2024

As a business owner or marketer, you're always on the lookout for new ways to reach your target audience, drive traffic to your website, and boost conversions. 

Pinterest, the popular visual discovery platform, offers a unique opportunity to achieve these goals.

pinterest for business marketing interface
Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

Key Takeaways on Using Pinterest for Marketing Your Business:

  1. Pinterest's Potential: With 498 million active monthly users, Pinterest is the 14th largest social network globally, making it a powerful platform for business promotion, traffic generation, and conversions.
  2. Target Audience Research: Before diving into Pinterest marketing, research the platform to ensure your target audience aligns with its user demographics. Pinterest primarily attracts a female audience, with 57% being women aged 18 to 44.
  3. Marketing Plan Development: Craft a comprehensive marketing plan, specifying goals, understanding your target audience, analysing competitors, and planning content that aligns with Pinterest's visual nature. Regularly revisit and adjust your plan for ongoing success.
  4. Business Profile Setup: Establish a Pinterest business account to access features like analytics, advertising capabilities, and a shop tab. Provide essential business details during the setup process.
  5. Create Relevant Boards: Organise your Pins into thematic boards that resonate with your business and audience interests. Be creative with board topics beyond product categories to provide value and inspiration.
  6. Consistent Pinning: Pin consistently and frequently to maximise reach and engagement. Gradually increase pinning frequency as your account gains traction. Repurpose and reshare existing pins for efficiency.
  7. Experiment with Content Styles: Explore different Pin formats, including videos, carousels, Rich Pins, and Idea Pins. Diversify your content to keep it fresh, exciting, and engaging for your audience.
  8. Analyse Metrics: Leverage Pinterest analytics to track key metrics such as impressions, pin clicks, outbound clicks, saves, and engagement rates. Analyse the performance of boards and pins to refine your content strategy.
  9. Double Down on Success: Identify top-performing content through analytics and create more of it. Replicate successful pin styles, formats, and board themes to consistently deliver value and keep your audience engaged.
  10. Patience and Creativity: Building a successful presence on Pinterest takes time. Stay patient, post regularly, and focus on creative and unique ideas to capture attention and stand out on the platform.
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Why Pinterest?

With over 498 million active monthly users, Pinterest has become the 14th largest social network globally. 

And the best part? majority of the traffic comes from the United States only.

Pinterest Traffic Share
Source: Similarweb 

It's not just a platform for personal inspiration but a powerful tool for businesses to expand their reach, drive website traffic, and encourage conversions.

In fact, according to Pinterest itself, 46% of weekly Pinterest users discover new brands or products on the platform!

If you've been struggling to connect with your audience or haven't seen the results you'd hoped for from your social media efforts, this article is for you. 

We'll explore how to grow your business and make money with Pinterest, from developing a winning marketing strategy to creating captivating visual content, optimising for search engines, and tracking key metrics.

How To Use Pinterest To Market Your Business (Step by Step)

Here is a step-by-step approach to using Pinterest to start promoting your business.

1. Research The Platform

Before diving into strategies for growing your business on Pinterest, it's crucial to research the platform and determine if your target audience is actually present. 

Pinterest's audience is predominantly female, with 57% of users being women, mostly between the ages of 18 to 44. 

Chart of pinterest user demographics
Source: Similarweb

So, if your business caters to a predominantly male audience or targets significantly older or younger demographics, Pinterest might not be the best platform to focus on. 

Successful niches on Pinterest include home decor, fashion, beauty, food, travel, finance, and adventure. 

Businesses in industrial, highly technical, or niche sectors may not perform as well. 

Conduct your own research by analysing your target audience, exploring competitors' activities, and even creating a few Pins to gauge performance before committing significant resources. 

2. Create a Marketing Plan

Alright, now that we've established whether your business is a good fit for Pinterest or not, it's time to dive into the first strategy - creating a solid marketing plan. 

Without a well-defined plan, your efforts will be like shooting in the dark. A well-crafted plan will ensure you're consistently hitting the mark.

Do you want to increase website traffic, boost sales, or drive event sign-ups? Set realistic yet challenging targets. 

Next, take a deep dive into understanding your target audience - their interests, needs, and how to cater to them. 

Analyse your competitors' strategies, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and areas to differentiate. 

Finally, plan your content by incorporating Pinterest-specific ideas into your social media calendar. Schedule boards, Pins, and posting frequency to ensure consistency and brand alignment.

Remember, creating a solid marketing plan is an ongoing process. Stay agile, informed, and focused on your goals for success on Pinterest.

3. Setup a Business Profile

To fully use Pinterest for your business, it's essential to set up a Pinterest business account.

A business account provides access to valuable features like analytics, advertising capabilities, and the ability to set up a shop tab.

Here are the steps to set up a new Pinterest business account:

  1. Create a New Account: Go to Pinterest, fill in your information like Email, Password & Birthdate and click on “Create account” button.
logging in to pinterest
  1. Build Your Business Profile: Provide your business name, logo, website, country, and language. Click "Next."
setting up your pinterest business profile
  1. Complete The Signup Process: Now follow the prompts and complete your Pinterest business account signup process. You may be asked to tell more about your brand goals and business category.

4. Create Relevant Boards

Now let’s talk about boards! Think of them as the backbone of your presence on the platform. 

Boards help organise your Pins and make it easier for your audience to find content they're genuinely interested in. 

So, how do you create relevant boards that will engage your followers and attract new ones?

Start by focusing on specific themes or topics that align with your business and your target audience's interests. 

For example, if you run a home decor business, you could create boards for different room styles like "Rustic Living Rooms" or "Modern Kitchen Designs.

Or if you're a fashion brand, you could have boards dedicated to specific clothing categories like "Summer Dresses" or "Casual Weekend Outfits."

Don't be afraid to get creative and think beyond just product categories. You could also create boards for seasonal inspiration, DIY projects, or even curated collections of content from other creators. The key is to provide value and inspiration that your audience will love.

5. Start Pinning

Now that you've created your boards, it's time to start pinning! 

Remember, consistency is key on Pinterest. Pinning just once or twice a day won't cut it. To truly maximise your reach and engagement, you'll need to pin consistently and frequently.

Start by pinning 4-5 times a day, focusing on your audience's prime browsing hours based on their location. For example, if your target market is in the United States, you'll want to pin during the evening hours when most people are scrolling through Pinterest.

As you gain traction, gradually increase your pinning frequency to 10-15 pins per day. Don't worry, you don't have to create unique content for each pin. Repurposing and resharing existing pins can be a smart strategy.

For established businesses with a large monthly viewers (5-6 Millions+), aim for 20+ pins per day across your boards. The more consistent and frequent your pinning, the more opportunities you'll have to be seen and engaged with by your target audience.

Start slow, stay consistent, and gradually ramp up your pinning frequency. 

6. Try Different Content Styles

While regular standard pins are the most common type of Pin, Pinterest offers a variety of formats that can help you engage your audience in different ways. 

By mixing it up and experimenting with different formats, you can keep your content fresh, exciting, and engaging.

Here are some Pin formats to consider:

  • Videos: Showcase your products or share engaging how-to videos that provide value to your audience.
  • Carousels: Use multiple images in a single Pin to showcase a variety of products or create a step-by-step guide.
  • Rich Pins: Use Rich Pins to automatically pull information like product details, recipe ingredients, or article summaries from your website, providing additional context to your Pins.
  • Idea Pins: Explore this new format to create customised, interactive content, such as step-by-step guides or curated collections.

By using different Pin formats, you can cater to various preferences and engage your audience in unique ways, ultimately increasing your chances of success on the platform.

7. Analyse Your Metrics

Leveraging Pinterest's built-in analytics allows you to gain valuable insights into the performance of your content and overall marketing efforts. 

Track key metrics like:

  • Impressions 
  • Pin Clicks
  • Outbound Clicks 
  • Saves

and engagement rates to understand how your pins and boards are resonating with your audience. 

Analyse which boards and pins perform well, what kind of content generates the most clicks and engagement, and where your audience originates from. 

By understanding these metrics, you can identify areas for improvement, refine your content strategy, and optimise your pins for better reach and engagement. 

Continuously monitoring and analysing your performance allows you to make data-driven decisions and ensure your Pinterest marketing efforts are yielding the desired results.

8. Double Up On What’s Working For You

As your Pinterest presence grows, you'll start to notice patterns emerging. Some of your pins and boards will perform better than others, generating more engagement, reshares, and website traffic. This is where the real magic happens!

Make it a habit to regularly analyse your Pinterest metrics to identify your top performing content. Look at metrics like repins, comments, clicks, and outbound clicks to see which pins and boards are resonating the most with your audience.

Once you've identified the winners, double down on creating similar content. 

If a particular pin showcasing a product shot got tons of engagement, create more pins with a similar style and format. 

If a specific board focused on a trending topic drove a ton of traffic to your site, start curating more boards around that theme.

The key is to give your audience more of what they love. By analysing your metrics and creating content that builds on your successes, you'll be able to consistently deliver value and keep your audience engaged, ultimately driving more growth for your business.

Final Words

To wrap up, using Pinterest to help your business grow is a smart move. It's all about sharing great content and ideas to catch people's attention. 

Remember to keep posting regularly, but make sure everything you share is interesting and useful. 

Check your Pinterest account to see what people enjoy the most and try to do more of that. 

Being creative and different is very important on Pinterest; it's the special and new ideas that really get noticed. 

By keeping these tips in mind, you'll be on your way to making Pinterest a powerful tool for your business. Just be patient and keep at it, and you'll see your business grow.

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