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Pinterest for Business

How to use Pinterest for business

If you ever thought that Pinterest is where pretty pictures suggesting the cutest fall outfits or where snapshots of drool worthy soup season dinner recipes live…

 

You’d be right!

 
But that’s not all you’ll find on the platform. There’s plenty of space on Pinterest to find how-to crafting ideas on mastering jasmine stitch knitting or mastering your disorganized life with useful tips on productivity and organization.
 
There’s a wide net to cast on the different topics and niches you’ll find on Pinterest including using Pinterest for business.
 
As a Pinterest Marketing Expert I’m often asked, why use Pinterest for business.

 

Among the long list of social media platforms, new and old, including those that have come and gone, it’s confusing to know which ones to use that have the greatest positive impact on your business. Add in the noise of marketing guru’s left and right telling you why their preferred platform is the best easily clouds your own best judgement.

 

In this digital age where distractions are high, entrepreneurs are often skeptical about where to spend their precious and limited time.

 

I experienced it too.

 

Not to add to the noise, but in this blog post I share sound reasons why Pinterest and small business go together like the perfect pairing of pretzel sticks dipped in Nutella.

Interested in learning more from me about Pinterest marketing? Grab this free Pinterest mini-course to get started today.

Free 3 Part Video Series - Pinterest Mini Course
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Why use Pinterest for business

Pinterest is Free

Pinterest is a free marketing tool accessible to all businesses whether service based or product based, big or small, located in the United States or Japan.
 
As powerful as Google paired with the satisfying visuals that elevate every day life, inspiring Pinners to take on new projects to curate their best lives.
 
Pinterest is a unique free platform so good that society collectively gives the term “pinterest-worthy” to describe the visual standard for images.

Pinterest is a Search Engine

The visuals alone on Pinterest are enough to send you down an hours long rabbit hole, chock full of twists and turns to delight and introduce you to brands you have never encountered before.

 

As a visual discovery engine, Pinterest is often described as Google with pictures.

 

It’s a search engine, paired with compelling images, Pinterest stands out the the preferred platform when you’re looking for something specific.

 
Through the power of visual search, audiences easily find what they’re looking for in pictures rather than being limited by words alone.

Tap Into New Audiences

Businesses grow when they attract new audiences to their business and brand. Pinterest is the ideal place to discover a new brand, product or service.

 

It’s where 465 million world wide users head when starting up a new project. In the discovery phase of starting something new, viewers are primed to make new discoveries about businesses that can help them take on their new projects.
 
If you’re on Pinterest, you can be the new business that they discover.

Pinterest Increases Visibility

Even established businesses use Pinterest to reinforce their brand.
 
Visibility is the objective.
 
To be familiar and top of mind to potential buyers deepens the know, like and trust factor. And that’s the key to making conversions and sales.

Organic Ads for Your Business

One feature that separates Pinterest from all other social platforms is the ability to add links to every single pin posted.

 

This unique feature lets each pin stand alone, acting like a free megaphone for your business with a direct call to action to head to the link that you reference.

 

In marketing we call this organic traffic and it’s just as, if not more powerful than, paid advertisements. Where else can you pair visuals with strong copy and a call to action to lead customers down your sales and marketing funnels?

 

Basically no where, other than Pinterest.

Grow Your Email Subscriber List

If used to its full potential, Pinterest becomes the perfect place to grow that all important email list. It’s where you can flaunt all your awesome freebies and lead magnets attracting the right folks to subscribe to your weekly newsletters.

 

Psst, if you don’t already know, the email list is incredibly powerful. I’ll even go as far to say that the email list is the most powerful asset in your business other than yourself.

 

Why?

 

Because the email list, when engaged (notice I didn’t say large), is the asset that will drive home the most sales for your business.

Drive Traffic to Your Website and Your Offers

Each pin that you post is an opportunity to drive traffic to your website and to your offers. The all knowing algorithm makes social media frustrating and you’re left throwing up your hands, giving up on the idea that you have any power in wielding the algorithm to actually show your content to your followers.

Who knew that would be such a big ask. It’s largely out of your power in other social media platforms, but not so on Pinterest. Because it’s a search engine, built on that framework, you can use keywords and key phrases to get in front of the right audiences.

When done correctly Pinterest may become the number one traffic driver to your website.

More Money with Pinterest

Have you heard that the average millionaire has at least six different sources of income?
 
Pinterest can be one of them. As a platform, Pinterest understands the importance of monetization for businesses. That’s why Pinterest makes it easy to make money through the platform.
 
With linking capabilities and product stickers, there’s a long list of ways to add sales and increased revenue to your business using Pinterest.

Why Use Pinterest for Business Recap

That’s a long list of reasons why use Pinterest for business. Now that you’ve made it down the list you might be left wondering how to use Pinterest for business.
 
That’s up next in the discussion of why Pinterest and business is a powerful combo much like the jab, cross that’s so effective in boxing.
woman seated with open laptop and hands on keyboard Pinterest for business getting started with Pinterest pinwithspark.com
How to use Pinterest for business new blog post woman seated on floor with open laptop and open notebook Pinterest for business, pinwithspark.com

How to use Pinterest for business

Create a Presence on Pinterest

To start using Pinterest for business you must begin with a Pinterest account. Whether a personal or a business account, setting up a presence on Pinterest is the first step.

 

When creating an account on Pinterest take special care in optimizing your account profile. This is not where you slop it together, claiming done is better than perfect.

 
While I agree in most cases that B minus work is far better than A+ work that takes forever, when it comes to crafting your profile, spend the time to optimize your account fully so that you increase your chances of being found in the search results on Pinterest.

Decide on a Niche

Now is the time to narrow down your niche in your Pinterest account. While it’s okay to personally like Thai food, traveling abroad, and watercolor painting, I recommend thinking twice about putting all these different interests together in the same Pinterest account. There are two main considerations to be aware of.
Risk Confusing Pinterest​

When you post content to Pinterest, you’re telling Pinterest what your account is about. If you post about diverse topics that do not closely align like cats as pets and home decor, it can take Pinterest longer to understand your account.

 

And this delay in understanding your account contents can hamper your pin distribution. Meaning, no eyeballs on your pins. Nada or zilch impressions after posting because you’ve confused Pinterest and made it difficult to know which audiences to put your diverse topics in front of.

 

In business, any delay of reaching your audiences costs money so carefully consider this when picking your niche and content topics for your Pinterest account.

Risk Confusing Your Audience

Posting pins on cats and home decor can also confuse your audience. One day you posted an inspiring video pin on elegant home decor and you grew your audience with many new followers. The next day you posted a ‘funny things cats do’ video.

 

Home decor and cat humor don’t naturally go together and while both might be of interest to a small subset of your audience, it can largely alienate the majority.

 

You risk unfollows and lower or no engagement from your core audience. Consider this when deciding the best topics to include under your content umbrella.
 
Above all I encourage testing if you’re firm in including both niches. The only way to know for sure is to test it on your specific Pinterest account.

Develop a Content Strategy and Follow Through

After deciding on the specific niche you want to share content on it’s important to develop a content strategy. This is a two parter. Even after developing the strategy, you’ll need to follow through with it. Pinterest only works if you do both.

 
To see results on Pinterest crafting a content strategy is key. If you’re thinking you can simply throw up some content here and there like you do with cooked spaghetti, this is not a recipe for success on Pinterest.
 
I share my complete Pinterest strategy that got me over 270K followers on Pinterest in my Pinterest course, Pin with SPARK.

Consistent Application of the Content Strategy

Marketing works, but not when applied inconsistently.
 
To achieve success on Pinterest, consistent application of your chosen content strategy is needed to see results. Many well meaning business owners, go through the steps of creating a Pinterest account, defining their niche and content, and will even purchase a digital course on how to apply a Pinterest strategy.
 
But when the shiny newness of Pinterest for business wears off, the strategy is inconsistently applied and the business owner concludes that Pinterest doesn’t work. When in fact, inconsistency doesn’t work, not Pinterest.
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open notebook and keyboard on top of tabletop with quote "you can't reach people with content you don't post" by Sandy Park Pin with SPARK Pinterest for business

Getting Started on Pinterest for Business

Easy Step-by-Step Guide

Interested in getting started on Pinterest for business? Start here. I’ve included a simple checklist of decisions to make when you’re just getting started.

Step 1: Pinterest Account Type

Make a decision on which type of Pinterest account you will create, a personal or business account. I recommend a business account for business owners especially if you want access to all the analytics on your pins.

Step 2: Decide on Content Topics

Decide which topics and niches you want to cover in your Pinterest account.
 
For example, home organization and home decor are closely aligned and sharing content on both topics would be complimentary in your Pinterest business account. 
 
On the other hand, pairing social media marketing and Regency Era romance novels are not closely aligned to pair together.

Step 3: Establish and Develop Content Plan and Strategy

A content plan lays out exactly what you will post about and when.
 
Crafting a plan for Pinterest helps to save time and overwhelm when posting content.
 
Some helpful questions to ask yourself are:
 
  • How many pins to publish on Pinterest?
  • What is the desired content mix on Pinterest?
  • What are the Pinterest content pillars to post about?

Step 4: Posting Consistently

The planning part of getting started with Pinterest is complete and now it’s time to take action with pinning consistently.
 
One of the best ways to take the thinking out of posting and pinning to Pinterest consistently is through a scheduling tool. Several third party tools exist that will post your pins to Pinterest.
 
The key is to find the one that best suits your needs and budget. If budget is a concern, I always recommend using the Pinterest app directly to schedule pins. Using the in app Pinterest scheduler is perfect if you’re just getting started.
Seated woman with open laptop with text overlay Grow your business with Pinterest pinwithspark.com
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Growing Your Business with Pinterest

Growing your business is a top priority for most businesses. Pinterest is one of those perfect solutions that can help you do this, but you’ll need to know what to do.
Start an Email List
To start I highly recommend any business, service or product based businesses, to start collecting email addresses. Building up this list will help you form a direct line to your audiences, specifically those who want to hear from you on a regular basis to absorb your content and learn more about your offers.
 
I like building an email list for several reasons.
 
You get to control the message and the delivery. With social media you can also control the message, but the delivery, not so much.
 
If you want to make certain that your message is delivered straight to your audience, build an email list. This is especially important for timed promotions or limited opportunities to join offers.
Attract with a High Value Free Resource
The next step is to create a highly desirable and valuable free resource that your ideal audiences will gobble up.
 
Use this freebie to attract the right folks onto your email list. In exchange for the freebie, the recipient shares their email address with you.

In just a few steps growing your business with Pinterest can be set to autopilot and you’ll start to build your email list even while you sleep.
 
That’s the equivalent of making money while you sleep. Can I get a hell-yeah!
 
Speaking of freebies, make sure to grab mine. It’s a free Pinterest mini course delivered in on-demand videos that explains
 
  • What is Pinterest, 
  • Why use Pinterest for business, 
  • and a high level tour of the platform.

Conclusion

Pinterest becomes a valuable free tool to keep in your marketing toolbox when used beyond personal uses. It’s not only for getting inspo on home decor and outfits. That simply reduces the power of Pinterest.

 

The platform is a powerful visual discovery search engine that connects your business to those who are looking for the exact product or service you offer.

The question is, will your business have a presence on Pinterest, driving traffic to your website and your offers instead of to your competitor’s?

 

When I first started my business I ignored the platform because I didn’t understand how to use Pinterest for business.

 

That was a BIG mistake (think Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman). Huge.

 

I know better now so it feels like a duty to share it with you.

 

In this blog post I shared:

 

  • Why use Pinterest for business
  • How to use Pinterest for business
  • Getting started on Pinterest for business
  • Growing your business with Pinterest

Now that you know better, it’s easier to do better and be a step ahead of where I was when I first started.

Interested in learning more from me about Pinterest marketing? Grab this free Pinterest course to get started today.

Free Pinterest Mini Course - 3 Part Video Series

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