Many businesses don’t usually consider using Pinterest as part of their marketing strategy.
There’s no doubt that Pinterest is an under-utilised social tool, one that can build your brand by attracting niche, engaged audiences who tend to be genuinely receptive to products and services. The platform is overflowing with people searching for inspiration and helpful resources, including branded content. With 416 million monthly active Pinterest users back in 2020 already primed to make a purchase, your business has plenty of valuable opportunities to capture their attention.
Here’s how businesses can put Pinterest to work.
Optimise Your SEO for Pinterest
Some people think of Pinterest as just another social network for connecting with friends and influencers, but it’s genuinely more than that. Its real value lies in being a visual search engine, almost a productivity tool where users plan out their dreams, whether that’s a wedding, a vacation, or a special dinner.
Search “make-up and beauty hacks” on Pinterest, for instance, and you’ll pull up thousands of Pins, published posts containing images, videos, links, captions, and more, sourced from cosmetic and skincare brands, influencers, online retailers, beauty magazines, and everyday Pinterest users alike.
Much like traditional SEO, you can optimise your Pinterest SEO in plenty of ways, using relevant keywords and phrases for content discovery. Weave those keywords, and links back to your website or social channels, throughout your boards, Pin names, captions, descriptions, and hashtags. Pinning search-friendly content regularly and boosting engagement can help you rank on Pinterest’s Explore Feed, where many users discover popular Pins and trends, or land on other users’ Home Feeds.
Grow Your Brand Using Pinterest Boards
Few things grow followers and brand awareness on Pinterest as effectively as Boards. A Board is simply where your Pins live, and as a business, organising them into a well-structured collection sharpens your brand cohesiveness while making it easier for followers to find the boards that actually match their interests.
A travel company, for example, might create separate boards for key destinations, or build each one around a specific itinerary or travel package. Clear, distinctive topic areas like these give your audience a genuinely better browsing experience, letting them search for information or specific offerings with ease.
Pinterest Pins: Develop Engaging Visual Content
Visual aesthetics carry real weight in attracting Pinterest followers. A Pinterest study found that 85% of Pinners prioritise visuals over text, which is exactly why creating genuinely compelling visual content matters so much when optimising your Pins. Those Pins, typically built around high-quality images, should link back to your business website, especially if you’ve set up a Business Profile for Pinterest.
Every Pin can link back to wherever it was sourced from, an online store, magazine, blog, or company website. When you’ve built a visually strong Pin, pair it with an informative, compelling caption that includes relevant SEO keywords, and you’ll be well positioned to build a genuinely engaged following. You can find more detail on how to craft better Pinterest Pins too.
It’s also worth collecting and saving Pins from other users and websites connected to your business. Doing this builds a striking media library that encourages followers to browse, and more importantly, helps establish authority and credibility in your industry. That kind of trust is what turns your brand into a go-to resource for inspiration and information.
Make Your Website ‘Pinnable’ with the Save Button
One of the easiest ways to get discovered on Pinterest is by adding the Pinterest Save Button to your website. If a customer spots a product image they like while browsing, they can hover over it and click Save, instantly adding it to their Pinterest account or boards without ever leaving your site. That means more people finding your brand and products in the process.
Add Rich Pins for Your Pinterest Business Account
Rich Pins are a type of organic Pin, free for all Pinterest users, that automatically sync information from your website. They let you add extra detail above and below the image or bold title in the feed, and if you update your original website, the Rich Pin updates right along with it.
There are currently three types of Rich Pins:
- Product Pins, useful for any online retailer, making shopping easier through Pinterest with real-time pricing, availability, and product descriptions pulled straight from your site.
- Recipe Pins, ideal for food and hospitality businesses, displaying a recipe’s title, serving size, cook time, ratings, diet preference, and ingredient list.
- Article Pins, built for online publishers and bloggers, highlighting the headline, author, and story description beneath the Pin image so followers can easily save and share what interests them.
Target Audiences with Pinterest Ads & Promoted Pins
Growing your following organically on Pinterest takes time, but Pinterest Ads can speed that process up considerably. Advertisers can target by keywords, user interests, location, and other demographics.
Audience targeting is another effective tool, letting businesses reach specific groups, customer lists like email or newsletter subscribers, people who’ve visited your website, or people who’ve already engaged with your Pins or similar content. You can even build Actalike Audiences by selecting an existing audience as a source, and Pinterest will surface like-minded Pinners for you.
If you’d rather showcase products to the right audience directly, Promoted Pins are worth considering. According to Pinterest, 61% of Pinners make a purchase after seeing branded content in their feed, making this a genuine opportunity to build brand awareness and extend your reach. Through Pinterest Ad Manager, Promoted Pins are simple to create and fit naturally into your existing board aesthetic.
Foster a Seamless Shopping Experience
Make it easy for Pinners to shop your products. Shop the Look Pins are one of the simplest ways to do this, letting people click directly on the product they’re interested in and get redirected straight to your product page for an immediate purchase. Paired with Pinterest Analytics, you can track and measure conversions while picking up deeper audience insights along the way.
Pinterest has also introduced Shop the Look Ads for business profiles, letting retailers feature multiple products within a single ad. Pinners can discover a product inside a Pin’s image and click straight through to checkout on your site, smoothing out the entire point-of-sale process. Advertisers can tag up to 25 items in one image, with customers previewing four showcased items before clicking through to see the rest.
Advertise Your Business Through Pinterest!
Pinterest remains a seriously underrated tool for marketing your business. Why not put it to work with OMDIGI Group’s Social Media Marketing Services? We’ll work closely with your business to deliver strong results across several social channels, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn included. Build your online presence, grow brand awareness, and increase sales by tapping into everything Pinterest has to offer. Contact us now for more information!
