How to Use Pinterest For Marketing: A Bright and Beautiful Beginners’ Guide

We ran a version of this post way back in August of 2013, so we thought it was high time to revisit it! Read on, and find out how to use Pinterest for marketing [Updated April 14, 2020].

How to use Pinterest for marketing is a question that should be on your mind if you have a visually interesting product or your customer base is largely women.

In 2017, I posted an informal Facebook poll asking the question: Pinterest or Instagram? Like all things internet, the results were surprisingly contentious.

And guess what?

No one on my Facebook profile preferred Instagram! That’s right. Not a single person opted for Instagram over Pinterest. Maybe in 2020 people prefer Instagram, but Pinterest still matters.

Here’s why. Pinterest is the sixth most popular social media app and is used globally. It has unique tools that set it apart from other social media, one of which is visual search. You can take a picture of an object and it will show you other pictures that are similar. Pinterest is a great place for shopping so showing products on Pinterest can help business. Lastly, Pinterest is great for brand awareness. People go to Pinterest to discover new things, they spend hours searching for the perfect wedding inspiration photos, for example, so they see tons of different accounts. If you post a lot on Pinterest you have a high chance of being seen and start to create more brand recognition. 

Much has been said about Pinterest’s popularity among women, so if your business or target market is oriented toward women, Pinterest should interest you (get it?).

This post will explain how Pinterest can:

  • Benefit your business
  • Be used for marketing and provide some
  • Pinterest pro tips

I’ll also throw in a word or two about Pinterest’s analytics because, after all, if you aren’t measuring, it isn’t marketing.

HOW PINTEREST BUILDS YOUR BUSINESS

Pinterest can help build your business by:

  • Driving traffic to your website
  • Promoting engagement
  • Providing awesome market research opportunities and
  • Telling your brand story through images

Pinterest is a woman and lifestyle driven social media channel. Your brand will do best if it is (or can be):

  • Appealing to women and
  • Visually interesting

Pro tip: An absolute must is great photography and graphics. Don’t skimp on these!

HOW TO USE PINTEREST FOR MARKETING

Start by using Pinterest for marketing in these five ways:

  1. Set up a business account. Having a business account means, among other things, that you can feature your website right on your profile. In order to enable Pinterest Web Analytics, you must verify your site. 
  2. Optimize your profile. Make sure it includes your brand logo, keywords and links in your bio, and a branded cover board. 
  3. Engagement. Pinterest is a great venue for contests. Here is a great post about how to hold a contest on Pinterest.
  4. Research. Look at how people are pinning your images. Because pins can be pinned and re-pinned, you can find out how other people contextualize your products. Of course, you can also do searches on Pinterest to find out about competing products.
  5. Pinterest SEO. Use keywords and hashtags to help your pins become “findable.”
  6. Pinterest Web Analytics. Pinterest has great web analytics and lots of tutorials to go with it. Watch this Pinterest Web Analytics tutorial to get started.

Pinterest is great for marketing because of its popularity, potential for engagement, and because the platform is set up to accommodate businesses like yours.

PINTEREST PRO TIPS

Here are some Pinterest pro tips that will enhance your marketing experience:

Pro tip #1: Learn the ins and outs of how to pin. Remember, since you are dealing with content and images, it’s important to source what you use. Here is a great tutorial that will provide you with all you’ll need to be a great — and legal — pinner.

Pro tip #2: Use your own content. And make sure it links to your website so that you will be driving traffic to where you want it. I know that may seem obvious, but there are still plenty of people out there who don’t do it properly.

Pro tip #3: Use alt tags. Alt tags are the descriptions that come with photos. The person pinning your image may not edit the description. In that case, your alt tags will be the default. So make sure they use keywords that describe your product and brand, and that they sound professional.

Pro tip #4: Don’t forget to add ‘pin it’ buttons. If you have an e-commerce site, adding pin it buttons to your products helps everyone share your good news.

Pro tip #5: Get more followers. Search for one of your keywords or products and then click on “boards.” Follow the boards of people who are already in your niche. Pinterest has a much higher “follow back” rate than Twitter and is less restrictive than Facebook or LinkedIn.

Now that you know a little bit more about Pinterest, it’s time to get started. Happy pinning!

YOUR TURN

Can Pinterest help your company market its products and services? Find us on Facebook or Twitter and let us know what you think!

Colibri Digital Marketing

We’re the digital marketing agency San Francisco trusts to focus on the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. Based in the Bay Area, close to Silicon Valley, we’re the team with the sneak-peek into the future of digital marketing. If you’re ready to work with San Francisco’s first and only full-service B Corp-Certified digital marketing agency, drop us a line  to schedule a free digital marketing strategy session!