How to Use Pinterest for Business – B2B & B2C

Let’s talk Pinterest today. This social network was made for the single ladies and their cats in 2010 and as of 2016 there are over 170 million users. It has about 85% female domination.  Many people still consider Pinterest as a big garbage disposal full of pretty pictures. However, savvy entrepreneurs found ways to squeeze out money from this platform and make hundreds thousands of dollars. From 2013 up till today Pinterest’s user base has almost quadrupled in size. It’s quite clear that planning ahead is crucial and it’s important to see the future potential.

If you want to find out how to use this hidden gem as marketing tool – stay focused and read on.

Why Use Pinterest and General Advantages

Traffic is at the base of everything

If you’re looking for more referral traffic to increase your sales, then Pinterest is your tool of choice. Not to mention, according to many studies this social network is more effective in traffic generation in comparison to Facebook.

Let’s talk a little about links and how to manage them

On the page of your website install a button called “Pin it” and if the user shares the link to your page on Pinterest, then the pin (that’s how the post is called, similar to tweet on Twitter) will contain a link back to your website.

Yes, you’re right. Those are no-follow links and they won’t help much with SEO, but for the marketing purposes this works perfectly. Plus, if you share the picture right on Pinterest, in the description you can include the link to any necessary website.

High activity with easy engagement

This social platform has one unique feature about it, unlike blogging, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Instagram, on Pinterest people generate content by themselves. You don’t have to write any posts or tweets, record videos or negotiate with any hostile Instagram bloggers. The users of this platform will steal any picture they like from your page and that picture will start its journey across the lovely land of that social network. Moreover, the content’s lifespan can last up to months and even years, unlike Facebook.

Strict yet caring control of the platform

This social network is quite famous for banning anyone for a slightest break of the user’s agreement. However, it’s also famous for a thought through and easy system of promotion. Pinterest has everything that a business needs: business accounts, ways to promote the content, tools for internet marketers – you can find all of the help and tips regarding that on the official business Pinterest page. All you have to do is spend up to an hour reading it and get started (or you can read this article and start immediately). Now try to compare everything Pinterest has to offer in terms of help with Instagram or blogging where you have no idea how to start out, what to do, where to go to for help.

Think Long Term

Pinterest is famous, but this social network hasn’t yet reached its peak of popularity. It’s on its way from getting out of the first league and stepping up its game, so it’s important to plan ahead and spend a few resources in order to grow your account right now.

How to Increase Followers

Alright, so you have a page on Pinterest, you already connected it to Twitter, uploaded a profile picture, filled out all the necessary information, created a few boards with images and now what? Where do you get the followers from?

The most popular and obvious answer – you have to upload interesting content on a regular basis, and the people will find you themselves. You will see this particular advice on many articles regarding Pinterest and it has a point. Create boards with one specific topic per board, add only the best content there, re-pin publications of other people, like and comment images of others – basically you will have to work. But don’t we all know the popular saying No Pain No Gain?

It’s necessary to do some proactive work to attract more followers as well. Firstly, you have to make your followers on other social platforms aware that you are also on Pinterest now. This will automatically increase your follower’s count on Pinterest. Word of mouth is an effective technique. Secondly, this method is classic and well known – use simple mass following. Just do it right, which means following niche specific accounts on Pinterest, trust me you will see results in a short amount of time.

Use “rich pins” For Your Products

Not long ago Pinterest introduced a new type of pins called “rich pins”. They are very useful in terms of e-commerce and online business. At the moment this platform offers four types of “rich pins”

• Videos
• Recipes
• Products
• Articles

With the help of “rich pins” marketers will be able to place useful information such as pricing, whether the product is in stock or in the warehouse etc. This information doesn’t only make the product more available for the users of Pinterest, but it also increases the chances that your pins will be shared with friends.

It’s a fact that pins that include a price on the product are reposted 36% more, than those without it. The only downside to “rich pins” is that in order for you to use them you have to have quite a high level of computing skills, similar to the level of developers. You can read more on how to use the “rich pins” on the official Pinterest business page.

Analyze Your Marketing Campaign

Find time to sit down and analyze the results. Pinterest Analytics allows you to see your activity and shows what pins are the most popular, who re-pins them to their board. In addition, it also shows what your followers tend to share with their friends. Follow the analytics and see what products attract the most attention.

Diversify Your Pins

Even though you’re using Pinterest as a tool to promote your business, your boards don’t have to be packed solely with your products. In the end Pinterest is not a marketplace for products, it’s a social network made with a purpose of sharing useful information with others and saving it for yourself. So instead of polluting your follower’s newsfeed with countless pictures of your products, try to diversify your pins.

Similar to Facebook or Twitter, Pinterest gives you an opportunity to stay in touch with your customers. Keep that in mind and create pins that would relate to your business. For example, a site about home décor can include sections such as “DIY”, new designs, color pallets and even instructions on how to live more ecologically aware in the city.

Of course, around these boards you can place information about your products, but don’t forget to split all the information equally not to bore or overwhelm your followers. This way you will be able to increase the number of your followers, and increase your value amongst the users of that platform.

Don’t Forget About Giveaways

Who doesn’t like a good giveaway? Contests have always attracted attention and were an effective marketing technique. With that said, Pinterest doesn’t differ in any way from other social media platforms. In fact it’s a very convenient platform to create giveaways. Whether you are just starting out and you need more followers or you’ve been in the game for a while and you want to increase your following, a contest will come in handy. The only thing is, make sure to read Pinterest’s Terms of Service for your contest to run smoothly.

Keep Your Images High Quality

Since Pinterest’s biggest asset are the pictures, then it would be logical to make sure your pictures are not simply good, but high quality, in order to increase the number of the followers. The best picture is the one that has a resolution of 736 pixels in width (the length can be any size). All the pictures are cut to 192 pixels in width for the preview on the board, but when the user opens them, they show full size: with the 736 pixels’ width.

Even though there are restrictions regarding width, Pinterest doesn’t extend them to length. Try to make pictures longer vertically. This would allow for the picture to last on the page a tiny bit longer while the user is scrolling down to look at other pins.

Plan the Future of Your Business and Use Pinterest

It doesn’t matter what business you have, whether you’re a professional SEO or you’re just entering the market with your start up, using Pinterest will allow you to grow faster in a short amount of time. Initially it was created simply for the people to bookmark useful information. But on the other hand this platform has many other opportunities. Don’t make a mistake by ignoring the potential it has for your business. If you use the tips given in this article you’re on your way to growing your business and increasing your brand awareness.