Are you using Pinterest for your business?
Some of you might say yes, and some might say no. And that’s ok because Pinterest isn’t for everyone.
I know you may be thinking, “Promote my business on Pinterest? I don’t know if that's right for me.” I will tell you; Pinterest is all about inspiration and education, and with the right content, your business can fit in perfectly.
In this blog, I am going to dive into Pinterest for Businesses, how to use it, what industries do best on the platform, and how to create your business account.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is an online pinboard, a visual take on a social bookmarking site. Content is driven on Pinterest entirely by visuals. You actually can’t even share something on Pinterest unless an image is involved.
Pinterest is all about inspiration, where people share ideas like recipes, images, DIY, quotes, infographics, and more. Millennials say Pinterest inspires them to make dreams a reality more than any other platform. And, it's not just Millennials on Pinterest, 83% of women between ages 25-54, and 40% of U.S. dads frequent the platform. If this is your target market, Pinterest is another platform you can use to reach them.
Why is Pinterest important for businesses?
Pinterest has grown to a record high of more than 320 million monthly users. And, those users are highly engaged and continuously interacting with the content that is shared on Pinterest.
One of Pinterest’s best features is the community. Pinterest has built a community where people can share whatever they inspire through a creative outlet. As a business, you can use this outlet to interact with your audience and other Pinterest users, and engage with them in a meaningful way.
Decisions happen with Pinterest:
- 90% say Pinterest helps them decide what to purchase
- 78% say it’s useful to see content from brands on Pinterest
- 66% buy something after seeing a brand’s Pins
What businesses should be on Pinterest?
I wish I could just say, retail stores should use Pinterest and dog groomers shouldn’t. It's not that simple. Also, if you are a dog groomer, please feel free to use Pinterest!
With 28% of marketers already using Pinterest, it may be worth it for you to join too.
I am not going to say who or who shouldn’t be using Pinterest, but below I will list a few industries that have had success using Pinterest for their business. If you don't see your industry in the list below, that doesn't mean that Pinterest won't work for you. Depending on your industry, and if you choose to use Pinterest, you may have to get a bit more creative with what you want to post on the platform.
- Retail
- Health and Wellness
- Food
- Non-Profit
- Event Planners
- Real Estate
- Artists
- Hotels
- Beauty
With the unique opportunities that Pinterest has to offer, you should consider how to use the platform for your business. Pinterest is successful because it allows you to present your services or products in a new form. Plus, as I mentioned before, people make decisions based on the content they see on Pinterest. 1 in 2 people purchase after seeing a promoted pin. As the owner, manager, or marketer for a business, if you decide to create a Pinterest Business Account. You won’t regret doing so because you’ll:
- Build brand awareness
- Grow your audience
- Make more sales
With that in mind, let’s dive into the types of content these industries should be posting on Pinterest and how to use it to engage their market.
What to post on Pinterest for your industry?
Every business is different, meaning the content each business posts will be different. For instance, a Non-Profit has different goals than a Retail Store. When it comes to Pinterest, you need to post creative, unique, industry-based pictures that will capture your audience’s attention and inspire them to pin or share it.
To get you started with some inspiring ideas, below, I list a few industries and a sense of the types of content that each industry should post on Pinterest.
Retail
What is a retailer’s biggest goal? Sales. Pinterest is going to help the full range of retail companies reach their goals and grow their business. Through pins and boards, a women’s boutique, for instance, can post pictures of the store, the clothing, mood boards, and so much more. For example, below is a board from a women’s boutique called Stile by Per Lei. They created a board specific to Spring with photos of their clothing and outfit inspiration.
Be sure to add links to the clothing in the description of your pictures; it's a great way to drive people to your site or into your store. Also, I recommend using your own images, not catalog ones. This creates a unique look that is specific to your brand.
Health and Wellness
When I think of health and wellness, a nutritionist comes to mind, so I am going to roll with that as an example. Nutrition is an extremely popular trend, and people are continually Googling nutritional information that can help them in their everyday lives. The more educational and informative information you post that helps your audience will turn you into a thought leader in the industry.
As a Nutritionist, a typical post that tends to get a lot of engagement is nutritional food facts. For instance, you can post an image with content written on it about how to make yourself a balanced breakfast. Here is an example from Hello Veggie.
This could be an image that drives to a blog on balanced breakfasts. Think about how to use Pinterest as a way to promote your content in an educational approach that benefits your audience. After all, that is what your content is made for.
Real Estate
Real estate is a popular business that you will find on Pinterest. Whether it is architecture, selling homes, or home décor, it's on Pinterest. Companies in real estate tend to post pictures or how-to guides for selling houses, the process of fixing up a house, or inspiration to decorate a home.
Recently on Pinterest, they introduced Place Pins, where users can add a location to each pin and board for search purposes. Creating a board of Place Pins is simple. Just toggle “add a map” when you create a new board or edit an existing board’s settings. After that, you can map all your new and existing Pins to the board. This comes in handy for real estate agents and many other industries because your pins are tagged to a specific location. Your pins can include details like the address and a phone number, creating an easy way for your audience to get in touch with you.
Below is an example of what a real estate business can post on Pinterest. This is a perfect post to get your audience engaged and provide tips for preparing your house for showings.
No matter what industry you are in, you can find a way to get your business on Pinterest and be successful. It’s as simple as creating an image with text and linking it to your website, landing pages, or social accounts. But first, you need to create your Pinterest Business Account.
What is a Pinterest Business Account?
A Pinterest Business account is a tool that businesses can use to grow their professional presence.
83% of “Pinners” have made a purchase based on content from brands on Pinterest.
Pinterest is different from other channels because it allows you to help inspire those who interact with your content. You get them to try, learn, and share new things.
How to set up your Pinterest Business Account?
To set up your business account, you can either create a new business account, convert your personal account, or add a business profile to your personal account. These steps below are going to be started from the beginning if you were creating a new business account.
*All these steps and content are taken from pinterest.com
1. Go to pinterest.com/business/create
Once you’re on the site, a pop up like the image below will appear. Enter your email and password and select Create Account.
2. Describe your business
Your first step to setting up your account will be to choose your language and location. Once you complete that step, you will need to add in your business name, industry, and website.
3. Claim/Connect social channels
To reach full optimization with your Pinterest account, you should connect your other social channels. One thing that many people don’t know about Pinterest is that you can run ads through your account. The only way you can do this is to connect your other social channels.
4. Build your profile
Pinterest will prompt you with the question of where you would like to get started. I highly recommend building your profile first before you create an ad or post a pin.
To get to the Edit Profile tab from your dashboard, click the ··· and Edit Settings. In your business account settings, you will find that the first tab is Edit Profile. Here you can edit your name, upload a profile photo, write a description about your business, and so much more. I recommend providing all the information below because it creates more ways for customers to find you.
5. Claim your content
In the same Settings tabs as #4, there is a tab that says Claim. In the Claim tab, you can connect your other content with Pinterest.
Claim your website – Claiming your website allows you to get attribution and analytics for your content, which may already appear on Pinterest.
Claim other accounts – Pinterest will use your claimed account information to help distribute your content and offer your additional Pinterest features and content.
6. Create a pin
It's time to get in front of the public! Create your first pin by dragging and dropping an image or video into the image box below. Here you can create a title for your image, a description, and a link to drive your audience to a specific page.
Once your pin is created and ready to go, you have the choice to publish the piece immediately or at a later date. If you choose to publish at a later date, it will be automatically published on the date and at the time you want.
Don’t forget to publish it to your boards. If you don’t already have a board created, you can create one by selecting the drop-down arrow and select Create a Board. Fill in the content that the pop-up requests and you are good to go.
7. Get creative
Your next steps can be one of many. It's up to you where you want to go from here. Whether you choose to build out your boards, that's great. The more content people see from you, the more they are tempted to poke around on your board, social channels, and even website.
Another option is to create an ad. In Pinterest's ad builder, you can promote a pin of your own. With all the analytics that Pinterest has to offer, you’ll never miss a beat.
Now that you have your account set up, it’s time to start building your content calendar. To help you get started, we’ve created a social calendar that you can use as the foundation of your content strategy. It’s important to plan ahead with a strategy so that you maximize your content potential and time.
Get the most out of Pinterest
Pinterest tends to get forgotten about. Whether you are a home decorator, a blogger, a chef, a dentist, or a spokesperson, you have a place on Pinterest.
After reading this blog, I hope you have a better understanding of what Pinterest is, why it’s an important social platform, who should use it, and how to set up your business account. Don’t miss out on a platform where you can gain new customers and widen your target market. It’s all about relating to your customers, and there’s no better place to do so than Pinterest. So, let’s get to pinning!
