How to Make Pinterest Work For Your Business

Pinterest is one of the most popular social media sites for thousands if not millions of businesses. One business that I believe uses this platform the most is blogs. Bloggers love using Pinterest and many of them get good traffic from Pinterest. This is not the case for everyone. I’m going to tell you how you can make Pinterest work for your business.

There are even more businesses missing out on Pinterest traffic because they don’t know how to utilize Pinterest features or they don’t understand what it takes to grow on Pinterest. That is why I am writing this today. I’ve grown several Pinterest accounts in the past and am currently working on an account I just started from scratch for this blog.

Here are ways to grow on Pinterest:

• Use a Pinterest business account
• Create Idea Pins
• Include text on your pins
• Focus on engagement rather than followers
• Tailor your content to meet Pinterest preferences
• Truly seek to understand your target audience
• Create designs that will stand out
• Join group boards
• Add fresh content
• Don’t do a lot of repining
• Write Keyword Rich Descriptions and Titles
• Be Consistent
• Have Patience

Use a Pinterest Business Account to Grow on Pinterest

The first thing you should do when you start on Pinterest for business is to create a business account. You can actually convert a personal account into a business account or start one from scratch. It doesn’t really matter but your personal account may have some longevity and this could help your account. If it would be too much of a headache to convert your old account then just start a brand new account.

Grow on Pinterest by Creating Idea Pins

So lately Pinterest has been placing a lot of priority on idea pins. Idea pins, formally known as story pins, can be video pins or pins with several different slides. Pinterest views idea pins in a greater light than static pins. I’m going to be honest, I do not care for idea pins. They just don’t make sense for every business.

Idea pins are meant to be for tutorials. If you don’t have any way of doing tutorials, then idea pins may not be the best for you. I am going to experiment with this and see if I can get good stats with static pins only. It may or may not be successful but I’m going to find out.

If you have a business that calls for tutorials for example a hair styling YouTube or fashion blog then you should definitely work on creating idea pins. Idea pins can be a great way to get your point across. They can also be a great source of indirect traffic.

You cannot leave links on an idea pin but you can leave a call to action for them to follow your profile and when they follow your profile they can find your website and go to it.

Include Text on Your Pins

Do not just add a picture to a pin and call it a day. No, you need to tell your audience and potential followers what your pin is ultimately about. Sum your topic up in a few words and add it as a text overlay to your picture.

Text on your picture can be read by Pinterest and this will help them to know how to categorize your pins. Use keywords on your pins so that Pinterest can recognize your pins and show them to more people.

Focus on Engagement Rather Than Followers

On Pinterest, followers are important but engagement is even more important. You could have thousands of followers but if your audience is not engaged, it doesn’t matter. Make sure you post things that your audience can engage with. This should be your biggest focus, not followers.

Followers on some other social networks is important such as Instagram and Twitter. This is not the case with Pinterest. You have to be consistent to get engagement as well.

Tailor Your Content to Meet Pinterest Preferences

Pinterest has best practices to help us know what will and won’t work for their platform. These preferences and best practices are laid out for a reason. The best thing we can do as creators is try to follow those best practices.

There are benefits to sticking to Pinterest’s preferences. If you follow this closely, you will like see a lot of growth.

Truly Seek to Understand Your Target Audience

You need to seek to understand your target audience. You probably think you know them and have them all figured out but I’m sure you don’t. Whatever you like is what they like, right? Wrong. Just because you like something doesn’t mean your audience is going to take to it well.

The key is to study and research your target audience and figure out what it is that they want and need from your business. Once you do all of this, you should have a good idea about who your target audience is and what they are looking for. You need to understand their pain points and what it takes to help them. So you can do just that.

Create Designs that Will Stand Out

So if you’ve been on the business side of Pinterest for any length of time, you may have noticed that many of the pins look alike. And those that really stand out are the ones that get the most attention. I love feminine, soft colors but it just doesn’t fit my brand. So it wouldn’t make sense for me to use those colors on my pins.

Unless I was trying to experiment and see what really resonates with my audience. Your pins should look like no one else’s. I feel like this is hard for a lot of people to do because they are afraid to step outside of the box and create designs that are different.

What you want to do is stand out from everyone else. Use different colors. Also try using paid stock photos. I’m sure you’ve heard about the free stock photos and they can come in handy if you’re on a tight budget.

However, it is best practice to use paid stock photos because less people are using them. A lot of people are using free stock photos and this can confuse the algorithm. For example, you may use a picture for a fitness post but someone else may have used that same picture for a food post. Now, Pinterest algorithm is confused and may not know how to label your pin. Which could also lead to further issues.

A great place to make unique pins is a free software that I really love and use faithfully, Canva. Canva has a free version but I found that I’ve outgrown the free version and now invest in the paid version. This is a great way to make pins for your Pinterest.

Join Group Boards

Now, personally I do not think group boards are as big of a deal as they use to be. However, I do feel they can still be very helpful. Do some research and find good group boards to join. It may be best to get a Tailwind subscription and join Tailwind tribes as most group boards are actively accepting new members.

If you are going to join a group board make sure it will help your profile and not hurt it. Yes, some group boards can do more harm than good. For example, if you join a group board that allows pins from several different unrelated categories then your account could be penalized.

So if you can’t find any group boards that fit what you are looking for, it is best not to join any of them.

Add Fresh Content

I’m not going to go too deep into this one because it is self explanatory. You need to post new, fresh and related content. By fresh content I mean new pictures, new title, new descriptions. You can kind of play with this when batching content such as new picture but same title or new title but same picture. All of this would still be considered fresh content.

Pinterest really rewards those who consistently post fresh content. They will show your pins to more and more people and you’ll likely get more engagement on your profile.

Don’t Do A Lot of Repinning

Honestly, you should barely be repining. Again, Pinterest is very picky about repining and if you repin too much they’ll penalize you and stop showing your profile to others. I know how silly it sounds but its true. You do not want to play with the Pinterest algorithm. It is unforgiving.

Write Keyword Rich Pin Descriptions and Titles

The design of a pin is important but it is not the most important part of your pin. What I consider to be the most important are your descriptions and titles. This is what Pinterest will also look at when deciding who to show your pins to.

You can have great designs but if your descriptions and titles are off then your pin won’t do good.

When writing your descriptions be sure to use related keywords but do not keyword stuff. Your descriptions should read naturally with keywords included. Same with the title. Your title should read naturally but should also include keywords. Do not keyword stuff your title either.

Final Takeaway

I am putting the last two points together because I feel they are equally important and go hand-in-hand.

• Be Consistent – Consistency is key. You have to constantly be on Pinterest, creating new pins and posting them. Share your blog or store where ever you can. Do not get lazy or tire of trying. You can’t be consistent one day and inconsistent the next. If you have to post 1 pin a day to be consistent then that is what you should do. Do not post 10 pins one day and no pins for a week. You are not being consistent at this point.
• Have Patience – Overall, you need to be patient. Patience is the key to success. Anything worth having is worth fighting for and part of that fight is to have patience. I know it is hard and Pinterest is definitely a waiting game. In the end, you’ll be glad you waited!

I hope you enjoyed this article! You may also enjoy:

• Don’t Believe the Hype About Making Money Online
• Reasons Your Business Isn’t Growing and How to Fix It!
• Things You Can Do to Make Your Business Unique

What was your favorite tip in this article? Please let me know in the comments down below!