Master Pinterest Marketing With This Ultimate Guide

Many companies use platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for their social media marketing campaigns. Pinterest may not even be on their radar — but it’s a potential goldmine for your business.

Pinterest is a steadily growing platform. Compared to last year, its monthly active users across the globe increased by 8% to 482 million.

Pinterest is also dominated by female users — 79.5% of its audience, in fact — so it’s a great platform to market on if your target audience is women.

With that in mind, let’s look at the best practices for marketing on Pinterest, including how to set up a business account and advertise on it.

Pinterest: Creativity meets conversions

Pinterest is a digital pinboard where users can discover, collect and organize various visual content. This includes products, photography, artwork, graphic designs, videos and GIFs.

Users can “pin” any such visual media, which saves it to their account, then categorize and organize their Pins in custom boards.

People use Pinterest in a myriad of ways, such as:

• Creating product wishlists for themselves or their friends.
• Finding inspiration for personal projects, from interior design to cooking to arts and crafts.
• Creating mood boards for art, writing or other creative projects.
• Collaborating with others on creative projects.
• Saving images and videos to share with others.
• Seeing what’s trending in their industry, interest or hobby.

In short, Pinterest combines content curation, image sharing and social media, and people usually use it to find inspiration or new products they would like.

As it’s a visual search engine of sorts, good graphics are a must if you want to market on Pinterest. Users enjoy content that is cute, beautiful or aesthetic. More than anything, it must be high quality and appeal to your target audience.

Why businesses should market on Pinterest

Pinterest isn’t just any other social media website. Its highly visual and creative nature sets it apart, and certain brands may more easily appeal to its niche users than the general audience on other social networks.

Every Pin links back to a source. This means you can direct traffic back to your product pages or wherever you want to send people. It also allows you to ride Pinterest’s domain authority and have your pinned images rank high in Google Images.

Pinterest drives 10x higher off-platform branded searches than other platforms. That means once people see your posts on Pinterest, they start looking for you offsite.

And because Pinterest users are looking for actionable solutions — be it finding a gift for a friend or planning their next recipe — it focuses on action over vanity metrics. This platform prioritizes engagement. In other words, the people clicking on your Pins, visiting your website and buying your products.

Pinterest is appropriate for businesses that market to women or young adults and have products in categories like health, beauty, art, home decor, cooking, fashion, travel and DIY.

However, almost any brand could succeed on Pinterest if they know how to find their market and create high-quality graphics to appeal to them.

How to create a Pinterest business account

There are several ways to get started with Pinterest marketing, but the first step is to create a business account.

It’s very similar to a personal account, but you get access to the Business Hub. Here, you can learn how to run your business account, check analytics for your Pins and launch advertising campaigns.

There are three ways to set up a Pinterest business account: create a brand-new account, convert your personal account or link a new business account to your personal account.

Create a new business Pinterest account

If you don’t plan to use Pinterest for recreation, you can create a free business account from scratch.

1. First, head over to Pinterest and select Sign up. Click Create a free business account at the bottom of the pop-up.

2. Enter your details, and you’ll be prompted to describe your business and its purpose.

3. After that, you can create a Pin or an ad, build your profile or back out to explore the Business Hub.

Convert your personal Pinterest account to a business account

Already on Pinterest and want to use your Pins and boards? You can convert your personal account to a business account easily.

1. If your personal account is already linked to a business account, you’ll need to unlink it first.

2. Click the arrow in the top-right corner and find the Settings page. Go to Account management and scroll to Convert to a business account.

3. Click Convert account and fill in your business details, and your account will be switched over.

Link personal and business Pinterest accounts

Lastly, if you want to keep a separate personal and business account, you can link these two accounts. This lets you quickly switch between them to keep browsing Pinterest for fun, too.

1. Click the arrow in the top-right corner, then click Add account. Look for the option to create a free business account, then click Create a linked business account, which is located at the bottom of the signup page.

2. Fill in your details to finish signing up.

3. After that, you’ll stay logged in to both accounts at once.

Whichever option you go with, it’s time to optimize your profile.

How to optimize your Pinterest business profile

A poorly made Pinterest profile is sure to turn away prospective leads. Pinners want to see a beautiful profile populated with thoughtfully crafted boards, an interesting bio and ample links to your website so they can easily find what they’re looking for.

Let’s go over some quick tips for optimizing your Pinterest profile:

• Select a relevant profile picture and cover photo: An empty profile will turn away people who might have otherwise followed you.
• Use keywords: Like any social media, you must keep search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. Add keywords to Pin descriptions and titles, boards and profile areas. Explore Pinterest trends for an idea of where to get started.
• Use consistent branding: When people see something they like on Pinterest, they often research its brand. But if they can’t find your website or social media profiles, that’s a lost lead. Keep things consistent, such as using the same avatar on all branded profiles.
• Link back to your website: Every Pin on Pinterest links to an original source — in this case, your website. Make sure you’ve linked to it on your profile, as well, to encourage people to click through.
• Claim your domain: This will add your profile info and a follow button to any Pins originating from your website and let you see custom analytics for all Pins created this way.
• Use Pinterest Analytics: All business accounts have access to analytics. With this feature, you can tell which Pins and boards are hot and which have flopped and make changes accordingly.
• Create high-quality boards: Pinterest users love to browse boards, so keep making them and set your best as featured boards.

Successful Pinterest marketing strategies

Leveraging the visual nature of Pinterest and the unique content marketing features it has to offer will lead you toward better brand awareness and success. Let’s explore the key tactics to help your Pinterest marketing campaigns thrive.

Generate organic traffic with high-quality Pins

A solid Pinterest strategy can help you generate organic traffic and draw users to your business website.

The best way to do this is to create high-quality Pins that resonate with your target audience:

• Create new Pins: Start by crafting original Pins related to your brand and services. The Save widget lets you and others instantly create Pins from images and products on your website, and other Pinterest widgets help you embed your Pins and boards.
• Prioritize visual quality: On such a visual platform, high-quality work is a must. It’s best to hire talented graphic designers, photographers or artists. But your budget doesn’t allow for that, you can use graphic creation tools to make professional-quality work.
• Use video Pins: Video marketing gets a lot of engagement on any website, so upload engaging GIFs and videos to add a little movement to your profile.
• Use rich Pins: Similar to Google’s Rich Results, rich Pins automatically sync info from your website using schema markup. There are currently three types: recipe, article and product Pins.
• Optimize Pinterest SEO: Improve the discoverability of your Pins and profile by keeping SEO guidelines in mind in your Pin, board and profile titles and descriptions with appropriate hashtags. You can also organically add keywords to alt text and image file names.
• Schedule Pins: Maintain consistency while keeping your page fresh and active by scheduling Pins so they’re released at specific times.
• Feature blog posts and pages: Products aren’t the only thing you can post. You can also feature blog posts or any page on your website alongside an interesting visual or infographic.

Organize your profile with boards

If there’s one big mistake you can make on Pinterest, it’s only creating Pins and forgetting to use boards.

Boards help you organize and curate your Pins — both those you create and those made by influencers. Besides making your profile less messy, it also allows you to create appealing collections that cater to your audience’s interests. Set featured boards on your profile to keep people scrolling through your content.

Create Pinterest boards that use target keywords or trends you want to focus on. Make boards about your own products and brand, as well as general inspiration boards.

For example, a clothing company could create a “Fall Outfit Inspiration” board that links to their autumn clothing lines.

Avoid creating empty boards with very few images, as this can look bad on your profile. Instead, use secret boards to curate content until you’re ready to release a well-put-together board to the public.

Sell on Pinterest with product Pins

Pinterest offers opportunities to sell your products using special product Pins and shopping catalogs.

Rather than selling directly through Pinterest, it instead integrates with third-party platforms or your own website. That means your products get shown off to users, but sales take place elsewhere and Pinterest doesn’t charge any processing fees. It’s free.

There are three ways to sell on Pinterest:

• Use a third-party platform, such as a WooCommerce store. Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Shopify are also supported.
• Set up Pinterest Catalogs to draw data directly from your website.
• Use the shopping API if you have a large, frequently updated inventory.

If you qualify, you could also apply to the Verified Merchant Program. This offers various benefits, like having your products appear organically to certain users. You’ll need to meet Pinterest’s guidelines to qualify.

Finally, you may want to install the Pinterest tag to track how well your product Pins drive conversions on your website.

Advertise on Pinterest

If you want your Pins and products to be seen by a wider audience, you can advertise on Pinterest. This involves choosing what goal to meet, including driving offline sales or growing awareness, and setting your budget.

You’ll also choose whom to target with your ads, singling them out based on factors like their interests or specific search terms. To reach more users, target those with similar interests to your primary audience.

There are several types of Pinterest ads to pick from:

• Standard: Simple, standard banner image to showcase your brand.
• Video: Engaging video to capture extra attention.
• Idea: Multimedia, multipage format that links back to your website.
• Carousel: Multiple images that users can swipe through.
• Collection: Collection of products that allows both images and video.
• Shopping: Product Pins turned into ads.
• Showcase: Multimedia format that features multiple swipeable cards and supports video.
• Quiz: Includes up to three questions and offers custom results pages.

When your campaign ends, go over the in-depth analytics to learn how impactful it was.

Pinterest claims to offer twice the return on ad spend that other social media platforms provide for retail brands, so it’s a good investment if your audience uses this website.

Before you start, check Pinterest’s ads best practices to get an idea of how to make the most of your money.

Engage with others

Pinterest has a strong community, and making friends can get you far. Engage with other people’s work naturally to drive interest toward your efforts.

Here are some options:

• Repin and share: Repin content from other users in addition to posting your Pins. However, avoid overdoing it and cluttering your boards with third-party content.
• React and comment: React to other people’s Pins and leave kind, genuine comments.
• Follow creators: Follow other creators in the community, especially those in your niche or related fields. They may just follow you back, expanding your reach a little more.
• Respond to messages: When you get attention through comments and direct messages, respond promptly. Engaging with your followers builds trust and loyalty.
• Join group boards: Consider collaborating with others to curate content that aligns with your brand.

Keep an eye on users

On Pinterest, it’s easy to watch your target audience and see their current interests and the top trends.

Besides watching Pinterest’s Explore page, you can check out your followers’ boards and repins. This can give you a good idea of their related interests.

You can also track down your competitors’ profiles. Compare your profile setup to theirs, and take note if they seem to be posting higher-quality content or getting more followers.

Finally, you can select any of your boards and check out More ideas to find similar Pins. This could give you an idea of related trends and ways to expand your focus.

Use Pinterest’s analytics

The comprehensive analytics on your business account will help you track the performance of your Pins and Pinterest advertising campaigns.

Once you’ve converted to a business account, you’ll see a new Analytics dropdown at the top of the screen.

Here, you can explore an overview of statistics, audience insights and conversions. You can also examine the top Pinterest trends, including those your specific audience is getting into.

Final thoughts: The complete guide to Pinterest marketing strategies

Pinterest is an essential social media platform and an invaluable source of leads. Any brand that creates high-quality visual media can find an engaged audience here.

With a Pinterest business account, you can focus on your customers’ interests and market content they love. And the right digital marketing strategy will bring your brand to interested users ready to take action.

If you’re ready to try it, Bluehost offers WooCommerce hosting to help you set up an eCommerce store and start marketing on Pinterest. The social media website integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce, so you can set up your Pinterest Catalog fast.

Pinterest marketing FAQs