Pinterest is an image sharing and social media platform; it is a visual discovery tool that you can use to find ideas for your interest or project.
Unlike other social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest works as a visual search engine and they connect people base on pins they find interesting.
What are pins? Pins are bookmarks that people use to save content they love on Pinterest, pins can be images, videos, or products
With billions of Pins on Pinterest, you’ll always find ideas for your interest or discover products you love. When you discover Pins you love, save them to boards to keep your ideas organized and easy to find.
Pinterest users are usually referred to as pinners.
They can create board and pin images displaying everything from their interest and favorite products; browse through public pins and boards created by other pinners.
Also, pinners can interact with each other by commenting and saving each other content, following each other accounts, and they can also follow accounts of brands and businesses they love.
This makes Pinterest a platform where you can advertise your products and services.
For example, when someone clicks through your pin, they can visit your website to learn more about the product or idea or how to purchase that particular product.
As a result of this, you will drive traffic to your website and increase sales of your product.
Pinterest for business
Although Pinterest has 459 million monthly active users worldwide which makes it rank below other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube but it ranks above Twitter which has 330 million monthly active users.
But Pinterest works for all kinds of businesses and it’s a great place for you to showcase your product and services.
This is because, unlike other platforms that involve engagements, people actually come to Pinterest to decide what to try or buy next.
People who visit this platform are not there to fend off FOMO (Fear of missing out) or doomscroll, they are there to try new things, to save ideas, and to make their next purchase.
Because Pinterest users are in the mood to buy, it makes it possible for your business to be discovered by people who may not know exactly what they are looking for when they are in the discovery state.
This is because 478 million people use Pinterest every month to find ideas and inspire their next purchase.
Also, 85% of pinners say Pinterest is where they go to start a new project and 80% of weekly pinners have discovered a new brand or product on Pinterest.
If you want to use Pinterest to promote your business, you must sign up for a business account.
A Pinterest business account gives you access to features such as analytics, special pin formats, and much more.
If you have a Pinterest personal account you can choose to convert it into a business account.
Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest works differently because it offers a unique user experience.
That is why you need to understand some terminology used on this before using it to showcase your product and services.
Pinterest terminology
Pins
Pinterest revolves around high-quality images that is why the platform is referred to as a visual search engine.
Contents shared on Pinterest are referred to as pins. Each pin contains an image or video, a description, links to a website, landing page, or an e-commerce store.
You can create pins to share your ideas, give tutorials or sell your products or services.
You can create pins without linking to your website or online store but it’s recommended that you link your pin back to your website or online store if you are using Pinterest for business.
Because it can be a way of driving traffic to your website or online store.
When a user on clicks on your pins they get to see information about your business and even a link that can redirect them to your website or online store.
Pin formats
There are five (5) different types of pin formats that you can choose from whenever you want to create a pin
Standard pin format
This pin format allows you to use eye-catching images to highlight your products and services.
when using this type of pin format, ensure you use a vertical image of high quality that will stand out in people’s feed; it is also recommended that you use 2:3 aspect ratio (1000× 1500pixels) images.
You should also avoid using abstract or lifestyle imagery that doesn’t showcase your product, always put your products or services front and center.
A clear title and description help your pin get discovered in search. You can use up to 100 characters for your title and up to 500 characters for descriptions of your products and services.
If your pin includes a link, check the link to ensure it is active and load faster. Always ensure that your pin aligns with the destination you are sending people to after they click on your pin.
This is because your pins tell people what to expect when they click on your link.
Video pin format
You can use this pin format to captures people’s attention with sight, sound, and motion to showcase your products and services.
When using the video pin format ensure your video clearly communicate your ideas.
Most pinners watch videos with the sound off, so don’t rely on audio to clearly communicate your ideas, use text overlay or caption to communicate your idea.
For people to understand what your video is all about in one glance, you must select a cover image when you upload your video.
Just like the standard pin format, you must include a clear title and description, to help your video get discovered in search.
For organic video content, Pinterest recommends videos between 15-60 seconds, and for video ads 6-15 seconds.
Products Pin Format
You can use this pin format to make shopping easier for people who want to buy your product or use your services by showing real-time pricing and availability, plus a link to your website or online store.
Although information about your product is available on Pinterest, pinners can’t buy directly on the platform.
This is because product pin leads people on Pinterest directly to your website where they can purchase your product.
Therefore a product pin must link directly to your product landing page where you pinners can actually buy your product, you shouldn’t use product pin if your website just show products that must be purchased on another site
Also, product pin is not available in regions where Pinterest ads and catalogs aren’t available.
Collection Pin Format
With this pin format, you can inspire people to take action by showcasing multiples of your product in a single pin.
But this type of pin format isn’t supported in regions where the Pinterest ad is not available.
Ideas Pin Format
This pin allows you to create, actionable multi-page stories.
Idea pins are just like Instagram or Facebook stories It gives people more ways to share inspiration with up to 20 pages of videos, images, and text.
Creators often make use of idea pins because it helps to keep their audience engage and increase their followers.
But you can also make use of idea pins to tell a story about your product and services.
idea pins aren’t available in every region right now.
Boards
Boards are how you organize your pins, they represent what your profile is made of and each board represents a specific category.
You can
These are essentially what your profile is made of. Each board represents a specific category. There’s no limit to your imagination as you can create as many boards as you like.
Pinterest Boards are where you save your Pins. As a brand or business, having a collection of boards to organize and categorize your Pins so your followers can easily search, find and follow the boards that interest them.
These are the following countries where Pinterest ads are available: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States
Although the Pinterest ad is not available in some parts of the world you can create a business account to promote your business on Pinterest.
For example here is an example of a Pinterest account in a region where the Pinterest ad is not available.
So, here are the top 6 reasons you should start utilizing Pinterest for your business, regardless of what type of business it is!
- Pinterest converts more browsers into buyers.
Pinterest helps to reduce the number of steps from discovery to conversion, making it easier for people to get straight to the source. Visitors from Pinterest are more likely to convert into leads or sales faster than from other social media sources. Way to go, Pinterest!
Sometimes it’s good to think of Pinterest as a big, visual search engine. People often turn to it during the research phase of their planning. They also turn to Pinterest for inspiration. I’m pretty sure most of us have tried at least one recipe for Pinterest…
- Pinterest drives traffic (and lots of it).
Pinterest is an excellent tool to help increase links back to your website, which, in turn, drives more traffic. It is more effective at steering traffic back to a website more than any other social media source. (Thank you, rich pins!)
This uptick in traffic obviously relies on good content. If you’re creating and sharing content that your audience likes, they’re more likely to follow your links.
- Pins get you more inbound links.
Because every pin includes a link, it makes it easy to lead it back to the source of the image. Just think of how many visitors you can bring to your website by posting images of your products on Pinterest. This is an often forgotten part of Pinterest. Never underestimate the power of image search!
- User engagement is ridiculously high.
Users on Pinterest seem pretty content to simply find and share things with small groups of people. This is good for your business! Why? It means that your pins are more likely to be seen, touched, and even go viral!
- Pinterest integrates with your website, Facebook profile, and Twitter account.
Why is this a good thing? Because it enables users to automatically post new pins to their news feeds for others to see. Although we’re not big fans of cross-platform posting, many people find it helpful. If you’re relying on automation, you might be trying to do too much.
- Discover what your audience loves.
One of the beautiful things you can do with Pinterest is use it to see what is trending right now. Follow anyone who follows you to see what inspires them – you will have a first-person look into their mind. Pinterest gives you the opportunity to see and understand what’s hot today and use that information to position your offers and products.
Conclusion
Although Pinterest might not be available in your country of origin creating a business account on Pinterest can help you showcase your product and service to users on the platform.
For more detailed practical steps on how to create a Pinterest business account and to promote your business on the platform register for our 90% digital marketing course and get access to other digital marketing strategies that you can use to grow your business online.
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