HOW TO USE PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS- tips on driving traffic, sales and more
Why should you use Pinterest for business? Isn’t it just for finding recipes and new hairstyles?
No, Pinterest is a powerful visual search and discovery engine. It’s more like Google than Instagram.
To get the most out of Pinterest you should change to a business account, get rich pins and learn Pinterest optimisation (or SEO).
Read my quick start tips to help you use Pinterest for your business.
What is Pinterest Optimisation/ SEO?
You’ve probably heard of Google SEO but what is Pinterest SEO?
Pinterest SEO is optimising your profile to get found when people search for specific words.
So if you sell ceramics you would enter ‘ceramics’ into the search bar. Pinterest will also suggest more related terms.
Some of those terms are ‘art’, ‘pottery’, ‘DIY’, ‘painting’, ‘jewelry’ etc. Click on any of these words that are relevant, keep going until they become irrelevant or Pinterest doesn’t suggest anymore.
Some accounts don’t have the guided search boxes anymore so you can’t use autocomplete Pinterest suggests (like Google).
Trends.Pinterest.com is also a good place to find popular searches and keywords around your niche.
Search boxes seem to appear (or not) depending on search intent. If Pinterest think your search will end in a sale they will suggest shoppable pins to you.
Also narrow down your searches by getting more specific like ‘handmade ceramic mug’, ‘handmade ceramic vase’ etc.
Also include other ways people would find your product eg, handmade gifts, handmade Christmas gifts and so on (think seasonality and trends).
When you have a good selection of keywords you can use them to create boards.
How to use keywords on Pinterest
Think of umbrella searches (like dinnerware or homeware for example), these are the more general search terms and more niche terms. I do a deep dive into Pinterest SEO and keywords in this post.Anything that is relevant to your product/service should be included. Where relevant use trends and seasonality. So, for example, for a ceramicist you could use keywords like:
“Create a spring picnic that the family will love with our handmade ceramic dinnerware. Our dinnerware comes with a picnic hamper too.”
Boards help with SEO and distribution. Every time a pin moves through a relevant board more data is added to it. This helps Pinterest understand what the pin is about and who to share it to.
How to use Keywords in Pin Descriptions- continued
Use keywords from your research in your pin descriptions. Remember not to keyword stuff, that’s something like “ceramic cups, ceramic mugs, ceramics, gift ideas, handmade gifts”, and so on.
This is against Pinterest’s best practice.
Instead, write an organic sentence or two- how would you describe the product/service, how could it answer their query. How can it fit in with their life? Use a couple of the keywords in there, just like you’re talking to a friend and potential customer/reader. Like the example above.
When creating new pins you can use the other related keywords from your research. This will help you get found when people use different search terms.
Think about the ways people might search for you and optimise for that.
Also think about how these search terms can help with content ideas, services or products. Pinterest is an amazing market research resource.
Creating Pins for Pinterest
Once you’ve carried out keyword research and optimisation. It’s time to think about how you can get people to click on your pin when they appear in the homefeed, search, and other places your pin can surface in Pinterest.
This is where pin design is important.
Pin Design Basics- tips for creating clickable pins
- Standard pin 2:3 ratio (eg 1000 x 1500 pixels).
- Add your URL/logo in the top half of your pin. Keep branding subtle.
- Lifestyle images that provide context for your product/service perform better than single product shots.
- Add a text overlay to add further context, where appropriate. What is the pin about? How would it benefit someone? How could it answer their question?
- Add a call to action (CTA)- don’t assume that the Pinterest user knows what you want them to do. What might seem obvious to you might not be clear to others.
- Square and 2:3 ratios are good for video.
- Video pins let you add even more context to your service, products or content.
- Get creative! Tell a story, can you help solve a problem? Can you be inspirational, valuable, fun or unique?
- Re-use content from Reels, IGTV, Tiktok, Youtube etc. Adapt it for Pinterest. Don’t give yourself extra work!
- Remember that Pinterest is a search engine. Trends and seasonality are a big factor for what people are searching for.
- Don’t be afraid to play about with different pin styles. Pinterest is a great testing ground, and you might be surprised what works on there!
Pinterest has a really useful best practices for pins here.
A good mix of the right keywords, pin image and understanding your audiences needs will help you see success on Pinterest.
On-site Optimisation for Pinterest
What we do on Pinterest is only half the battle. Where the pin links to is very important too.
Pinterest gets signals from lots of places to understand what the pin is about, and who to share it to. Pinterest gathers information from the landing page of the pin too.
Pinterest use crawlers, like Google. Pinterest regularly sends crawlers out to landing pages of pins to understand what the pin is about.
The crawlers look at the page’s title, main body and meta description to gather information so it knows how to index the pin.
Make sure what the pin is about matches the landing page’s content. Pinterest use something called ‘pin cohesion’ to index and distribute your pins.
The landing page should be an extension of the pin. Inconsistency will down rank you on Pinterest.
Don’t give Pinterest mixed signals. It is best to be clear, consistent with your language.
Giving Pinterest strong consistent signals from pin image to description to landing page will help you get indexed quicker and help with distribution of the pin.
Keeping your Pins Relevant- tips for getting your pins seen
Pinterest users come to Pinterest to get inspired, plan and find help. Some of the main ways Pinners search are:
Everyday searches – dinner ideas, home decorating etc.
Life events– weddings, births etc.
Seasonal– winter outfits, spring cleaning etc.
Trends– pallet furniture, Dalgona whipped coffee etc.
Align your content, services, products with timely searches, if possible. This will help keep your pins relevant and fresh.
Just make sure what the pin promises is answered by the landing page.
Seasonality and trends are great ways to plan content too. In fact, Pinterest is amazing for content ideas!
How to Share Content on Pinterest
Like other platforms, consistency is key!
You can either pin manually, use Pinterest’s native scheduler or use something like Tailwind (Tailwind is my favourite).
The idea that you should share 20% of other people’s content and the other 80% yours is a myth!
You can share all your own content- Pinterest have said this. You can, of course, share other people’s content if you wish.
There is no 80%/20% rule.
Don’t repin (save/share) your own content within Pinterest. It could be seen as spam. It’s always better, for numerous reasons, to pin into Pinterest from your site/shop or other URL.
Using a scheduler like Tailwind is a good way to pin too. I have a referral link for Tailwind here, This will give you a month’s free Tailwind and if you upgrade I will receive a free month too.
Fresh Pins on Pinterest- How to Add Pins for Old Content
A fresh pin is a pin that Pinterest has never seen before (they have AI that can ‘look’ at the pin image). It can be a pin that leads to new content (or other URL). Or a newly made pin for old content (or URL).
Pinterest don’t want us to keep pinning the same pin repeatedly. It doesn’t make for a good user experience.
Instead, update old content with new relevant pins (use trends, seasonality, different keywords) to put a new twist on old content/services/products. But try not too share the same content too much. You will see diminishing returns on it. If you can, create new content where possible.
You don’t need to add the pin to your URL. You can upload the pin to Pinterest or Tailwind and link to the URL. Just make sure there is cohesion between pin and landing page.
Pin your fresh pin to the most relevant board first. Boards help with SEO and distribution. You can then share to a few more relevant boards. Spread the pinning out. Tailwind is great for this.
How often you share one fresh pin to different boards is dependent on how much content you have to share.
If the same pin is pinned too close together it will look like spam in your feed. Think about how your pin can help the pinner. What is the best experience for them? This will help keep you right.
Use Different Keywords to hit more searches
When making a new pin you can also use slightly different (but still relevant) keywords to hit slightly different searches. Think about all the different ways people could find your pin. Consider colloquialisms and synonyms too.
As a pin moves through different, relevant boards Pinterest gets more information about it. This helps with distribution. Just like a snowball gathering more snow as it rolls down a hill.
Using different keywords on different boards will help Pinterest understand what the pin is about. It is important to keep them relevant to your content/products/services.
I hope this brief overview of why and how to use Pinterest for your business is helpful.
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