In today’s video, I’m sharing how you can use Pinterest for business so that you can get more traffic leads and sales this year.
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So first things first.
Why should you even be using Pinterest for your business?
Now, the first and most obvious reason why you should be considering using Pinterest for your business is because of the large and growing global user base.
So not only are Pinterest users based in the US, which accounts for about 20% of the users, but a large majority of about 80% is actually based in other countries around the world. There are about 440 million monthly users that are using Pinterest every single month, running up to two billion searches every single month as well.
Not only this, on Pinterest shopping is actually a top priority for Pinterest users just after viewing photos whereas other platforms like Facebook, for example, it is not even in the top five priorities. This means that if you have a global audience and you have a product to sell, then you should start leveraging Pinterest, like right now.
The next question really is-
What types of businesses are best suited for Pinterest?
Now, Pinterest is best suited for media or publishing companies, bloggers, e-commerce brands and businesses, as well as lifestyle-related businesses. Now, this doesn’t mean that your business is not going to do well on Pinterest, but it just might mean that your target audience might be a little bit smaller than some of the more bigger lifestyle-related businesses such as home decor or travel. So let’s hop over to the Pinterest platform and actually show you what are the top categories on Pinterest right now.
So you can see what are the top 16 categories on Pinterest if you simply head to this tab, which is pinterest.com/ideas/.
You will see what are the top categories that generally perform well on Pinterest, but of course this doesn’t mean that these are the only categories or the only types of accounts that do well. It’s just the top 16 categories on Pinterest. So when you click through to one of these categories, you can see more about what are the trending articles, as well as trending searches on that particular topic.
So for holidays, of course, it is a huge thing on Pinterest because a lot of people are planning for inspiration, they’re looking for gifts on holidays, and they’re just generally looking for cool things to do, let’s say with their family or with their kids.
So you can see for example, that all of these areas or aspects are trending such as family activities, homemade cards, appetisers, et cetera. And you can also look at the top Pinterest searches so that you can see if you can create content in these particular searches and get your content as well as your products discovered for the audience that is looking for it.
So if your business falls into one of these 16 categories, that simply means that you have a higher probability of success on Pinterest and you also have a larger target audience, but it doesn’t mean that your business doesn’t exist or cannot benefit from Pinterest. So if your niche is let’s say not in these top categories, I have another way for you in which you can find out whether or not it’s worth your while to actually spend time on Pinterest.
So what you can do is you can simply go on your Pinterest search bar, you can type in let’s say personal finance. Let’s say you are someone who is interested in talking about the stock market and you want to see if this is something that would do well on Pinterest. So the first search by default is going to be all pins, which are going to be all the images that are trending in this particular domain. But what you can also do here to figure out whether or not Pinterest is worth your time is to actually filter your search by people.
And when you do that, you’re going to find all the top accounts in personal finance space, which are of various sizes. So you will see accounts which have let’s say just been made, you’ll see accounts which are established, and all this to say that this is a way for you to dig a little deeper and figure out whether or not Pinterest is the right platform for you.
So let’s say that we go into one of these accounts and see what other kind of people that are following it. What is the kind of reach that these people have?
You can also click through and see some of the bigger accounts. And as you can see, there is a massive established account.
They have 10 million monthly viewers and they have 60,000+ followers. Now stats like this would be virtually impossible for people to have, especially on platforms like Facebook or Instagram where organic reach is pretty curtailed and is not something really that happens or really exists anymore.
Whereas on Pinterest, people are still able to reach millions and millions of people for absolutely free. So this website/business here, as you can see, is on budgeting and I guess they are about family budgeting as well, and they talk about financial tips. So if you’re someone who is let’s say in this niche, you could look for this niche as well.
Another thing to do would be, let’s say if you are looking for another niche, maybe you can look at let’s say wedding photography and see if you should be actually listing your business on Pinterest and if it is really worth your while to even spend time on this particular platform. So you can, again, filter by people, and then start looking into what are the some of the most established as well as newer accounts and see what is the kind of reach that they have and whether or not it is worth it.
How exactly does Pinterest work for business?
Now, Pinterest is a visual search engine, which means that the best way for your business to get discovered on Pinterest is by playing by the platform’s rules and showing up as pins. Now pins are, simply put, images with or without checks on them that are usually linking to some kind of URL or website on the internet.
Now think about it this way, just as on Google, you need to be creating blog posts to get discovered, and on YouTube, you need to be creating videos to get discovered.
On Pinterest, you need to be creating pins to get your business discovered. When it comes to what types of pins you should be creating, they’re usually vertical pins in a two to three format, and they can either be a static image or they can be a video showcasing your product or service.
Now I’ve made a detailed video on this so make sure to check out that video in case you’re interested in learning about the best practices for creating pins. Now, the beauty of Pinterest really is that it is a platform that is designed for people not to stay within the platform, but instead to click out and check out other websites and businesses. This is in stark contrast to other social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, which actually want their users to stay within the platform and spend as much time as possible within the platform.
This means that Pinterest by design is a platform that is more suited for businesses to promote their offers compared to platforms like Instagram or Facebook. So as a business owner, if you’re looking to leverage Pinterest, then you should be creating targeted pins that lead to your content or your blog posts or even your products or offers.
Now on Pinterest, there are different types of pins that you can create and promote. So let me show you some examples of the types of pins that you can create to promote your business effectively. All right.
Type 1 : Image Pin
So it’s a regular image pin, which is the most common type of pin that you will see on Pinterest. It usually links to a URL here as well as has a title and a pin description, as you can see, so you can see exactly what this pin is about.
When you click through to this pin, you will be then led to the blog post or the article that is linked to it. So here’s how Pinterest really works when it comes to linking your pins.
Type 2 : Video Pin
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/837106649487133424/
It can be linked to a product. It can be linked to anything that has a URL on the internet. This is one of my own pins. And as you can see, it is basically a small video clip that plays. You can also show behind the scenes if you, for example, have a product or you can show how a product looks like when you wear it as well. But in effect, it is pretty much similar to the article pin, just that it has a video here instead of a image, which is static.
Type 3: Recipe Pin
A recipe pin, which is also a pin that is something that describes a little bit more into detail exactly what this recipe is about. So as you can see here, you can see the number of reviews the recipe has, how much time it will take to cook that recipe, how many people it serves as well as the ingredients that you need to create that recipe.
So people who’ve actually created or used this pin recipe can actually then add photos to showcase exactly what it looks like when they cooked it or created it. Now, if you are a food blogger or in the food industry, then this would be a great benefit for you to have, because once you’ve activated your recipe pins then they show up like this, which is pretty awesome because as a user, it is pretty helpful just to see exactly how this recipe is made in a summary format.
Type 4: Infographic
The next pin that I want to share is an infographic, which is essentially a graphic with a lot of information on it. That’s the simplest way to describe it.
Irrespective of whether you sell products or services, an infographic is something that pretty much every business that can create and benefit from. And then finally, you can connect a URL that you want that people should go to when they click through to this infographic to find more information.
Type 5: Product Pin
So this product pin again is about a trolley enamel pin showcasing a photo of the product. And again, you can see the price of this article is mentioned here. So product pins are also specific pins that you can activate on your account. And when you do that, then they will showcase more details about the product.
You can add reviews, you can click on shop, and that will lead you to the website directly to the e-commerce store and then you can literally click through and add to cart. So as an e-commerce owner, or as anyone who sells products, this is literally super, super helpful because not only do you get to showcase your products for free on Pinterest, but you also get to directly drive sales without having to do anything else.
Now that you know what these pins look like, the next question really is –
Where exactly do these pins go?
Now these pins are saved first and foremost to your profile on Pinterest, much as it works in any other social media platform. And then they’re also saved to your boards. Now, both are essentially categories or topics that you can create to represent your business. So let’s take for example, that you have a home decor online store. So in this case, your boards could look like home decor ideas for kitchen, home decor ideas for living room, cushions, blankets, things like that.
Of course, there are a few more things that you should be considering when you create your boards and you can check out my video on how to create boards so that you can understand what are the best practices when it comes to creating boards for your business. Moving on, how do you actually promote your pins on Pinterest?
How To Promote Your Business On Pinterest
The first thing that you can do is to create new pins of fresh content because that is something that Pinterest has been pushing a lot over the last year. And that effectively means that the more fresh content that you are able to provide it to the platform, the faster your account will grow and the more traction your business will get on Pinterest.
The second thing that you can do to grow your business on Pinterest is to optimise your pins for search. Now this means that you understand something called keywords, which are basically words that your target audience might be looking for on Pinterest. Now remember we spoke about how Pinterest is a visual search engine so these keywords should be optimised on your pins as well as on the descriptions that accompany your pins.
Now I have a full video on how to create epic pin descriptions so make sure to check that out to understand exactly how this works. So when it comes to successfully growing your Pinterest account and your business as a result of it, the formula is pretty simple, and it looks like this. First create pins that are high quality. Second, optimize them for search and third, make sure that you have a consistent promotion strategy on Pinterest.
When you do these three things well, over time you will start to see a lot more traction on your Pinterest account, which will then further lead to more traffic leads and sales to your business as well. Now if you’re interested in learning more about how to grow your traffic from Pinterest, you can check out my free Pinterest traffic class .