Pinterest is a great tool to market, share and sell your products and services, share tips and tricks on how to use Pinterest in an enjoyable, easy and effective way that won’t take over your life. So… what are the steps needed to make Pinterest work for you and your business.
Why your business needs to be on Pinterest
Increased awareness
Traffic to your website and/or online store
New customers
Increased sales!!!
More than 50% of all Pinterest users, and 75% of new signups come from outside the US. The UK are using Pinterest to plan, discover and BUY! In fact, 52% of Pinterest users report that Pinterest helps them find products to buy.
Before you start using Pinterest to market your business it’s a good idea —to create a personal profile to help learn the ropes. Get familiar with the language and explore the different features that Pinterest offers. It’s free and takes minutes and you can easily convert to a business account when you’re ready. A business account is also free.
The Terminology
Pins
Pins are visual bookmarks that you collect on boards. You can save Pins you find on Pinterest or add new ones from your favourite websites. You need to create Pins your products or service. Beautiful lifestyles photos of your product or service.
Pinterest boards
Think of a virtual version of an old-school cork board – allowing users to save their favourite pieces of content (Pins) in one place.
Repin:
A Repin is when a user adds a Pin to their own board while browsing Pinterest. It’s important to remember that when a user Repins an original Pin, the user who first pinned the image will also get credit if they are a business account and have set up rich pins. Add extra value to your followers through Repins. Discover why we should share other people’s content on Pinterest
How to use Pinterest
To use Pinterest effectively for your business the most important thing to understand is that Pinterest isn’t a social media network.
Pinterest is a visual search engine. It works the same way as Google.
Users type in ‘the search’ what they want to discover and a series of images pop up. Your product or service could be one of them if you’ve included the words they have used in your Pin description. Once they have found your pin if you have included a link to your product or service they can click directly to that page on your website or online store and purchase! They may save for later but you are now on their radar and have a new potential customer.
Get started – the basics
Create a Pinterest Business Account
If you are logged on to your personal profile, you need to log out of it before you can create a new business account. Learn more about setting up a business account and the advantages here It’s quick, easy and free!
If you only want one Pinterest account then you can convert your personal account to a business account also quick and easy!
Upload a profile picture
This needs to represent your business. Either a clear photo of you on a white background or your logo. If you are on other social media sites then use the same profile picture so your brand becomes recognisable. The dimensions of your Profile picture are 150×150 pixels—photos smaller than that will look stretched
Choose your username (this might autofill when you set up the account) — this is your chance to brand your URL the way you’d like to see it and be seen!
Add your bio — including keywords that describe your business. What you sell and what they can expect to see on your Pinterest boards. Check out other Pinterest accounts in your niche for ideas and inspiration
Click here for more support on setting up your profile: https://help.pinterest.com/en-gb/article/edit-your-profile
Add your website
Now claim your website to have access to Pinterest analytics.
Here’s how to get it done: https://help.pinterest.com/en-gb/business/article/claim-your-website
Add Rich Pins
What are Rich Pins? The official Pinterest definition –
‘Rich Pins provide more context about an idea because they show extra information directly on a Pin. There are four types of rich Pin: app, product, recipe and article.’
https://www.simplepinmedia.com/complete-guide-rich-pins-pinterest/
How to add rich pins – https://developers.pinterest.com/docs/rich-pins/overview/ (you need to be logged into your business account to access this page)
With the technical stuff out of the way, you’re ready to set up boards & start pinning & re-pinning.