How to Take Advantage of Pinterest for Business

Should your business be on Pinterest?

The answer is a resounding yes. It is one of the fastest growing social media platforms out there right now, and is especially popular among the coveted millennial generation (though older cohorts are also getting in on the act). In addition, it is an explicitly visual platform and images are a much more effective way to draw people to your brand and get them to remember you and your products.

Pinterest is also steadily increasing their offerings to those with business accounts, allowing you to study the analytics of who is visiting and liking your posts, which helps cultivate new followers and respond to already committed ones by providing them with content that they want to see.

Pinterest is also both making it much easier for you to sell to customers directly on the platform (in conjunction with Shopify), so that people can purchase your products as soon as they see it. Even if online sales are not a goal, or even possible for your business, Pinterest (like Instagram) is becoming an important tool for promoting your brand’s lifestyle or message in an appealing and memorable way. By posting how-to infographics or behind the scenes tutorials, you’re letting potential customers and clients into your world and making them feel more connected to your brand.


Before you dive right in though, there are some tips and best practices to keep in mind:

• Make sure your account is business and not personal, this will give you access to analytics, as well as Rich Pins and Promoted Pins. Rich Pins are an ad on to business accounts that allow your Pins to provide more context to the viewer without them having to leave Pinterest-making them more likely to absorb the information you’re providing. Pinterest offers four kinds of Rich Pins (app, product, recipe, and article) so there’s something for everyone. Promoted Pins are native ad units that can be used to boost the visibility of your Pins and make it easier for people to discover your brand (you will pay per action with these i.e. clicks, re-pins, or close-ups)
• Longer images increase re-pins, as they take up more of the viewers feed
• Images can have an aspect ratio of 2:3 to 1:2.8 and must be at least 600px wide
• Make sure your images don’t have background images, images embedded in iFrames or within Flash websites as Pinterest doesn’t recognize these
• Pinterest caters to people who are, or who want to be, creative. Therefore, your Pins will need to be creative and engaging to attract attention. Be sure to create and curate content that is not only appealing, but useful to the demographics you want to interact with your brand
• In the same way that re-tweeting creates goodwill and engagement on Twitter, pinning your customers when they’ve used your product is a great way to not only show them you’re paying attention, but it’s also a great opportunity to showcase your brand in action
• Encourage your employees to create and pin to their own boards, or use one as a way of showing the behind the scenes of your company. Not only does it make customers feel more involved and invested in your brand, it can also be a great way of utilizing your team’s other talents and making them feel more connected to the brand