Plenty of businesses successfully utilize social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook but for some reason there aren’t many using Pinterest for business. Maybe businesses avoid Pinterest due to the stigma that only crafty women who love DIY use it or the idea that Pinterest is not an effective marketing tool. Regardless of the reason, businesses are losing access to customers and potential sales. Not only is it important for businesses to be on Pinterest in the first place, but also it is important that they use the platform effectively.

Guidelines for Using Pinterest for Business

1. Businesses should create 3-5 main Pinterest boards that relate to your business’ core purpose and goals.
2. Pinterest is an organized and creative search engine so businesses should use it for the intended purpose. Make 5 creative boards that relate to your business but provide content not otherwise found on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.
3. Pinterest is a marketing tool that drives users to take action. Make your pins strategic and meaningful while also linking the pins back to your website so users can click on the image and can purchase your service or product. (Dead links mean fewer sales/customers)
4. Content Types: Users save pins to either look at later (ex. beautiful vacation spots, wedding details, recipes) or to click right now (ex. humorous images, products). Think about which pins your users would save for a rainy day and which would generate clicks right away. If possible, have both types of content to give users instant gratification while also giving them a reason to come back to your page in the future.
5. Use Promoted Pins to expand your reach on the platform. Expand your reach to gain more followers and more sales.
6. Use descriptions with substance. Pinterest is the only platform where it is encouraged to have lengthy text under photos.
7. Use Pinterest Analytics to measure what users find to be the most useful content and topics on your page so you are continually improving your user experience. Stale pages become irrelevant.

Don’t Overlook Using Pinterest for Business

Unknown to most, Pinterest is a major driver of website traffic. Just ask the VP of Growth and Data at Buzzfeed who said, “Pinterest is BuzzFeed’s second largest social network referrer. It also has a much longer lifecycle than other social networks, often driving traffic to posts months after publication. In fact, more than half of BuzzFeed’s traffic from Pinterest goes to posts published more than 2 months ago.” There is no shortage of business opportunity on Pinterest. Hopefully the information provided inspires readers to take on the challenge of creating a Pinterest for their business. Check out these business’ Pinterests!

Success Stories of Businesses Using Pinterest

Bank of America

Ziploc

Four Seasons