How to Use Pinterest for Beginners

With 322 million monthly active users, Pinterest is a fast-growing social media channel that offers businesses and individuals an opportunity to communicate with and engage their followers in an appealing, visually-oriented manner. 

This platform is particularly useful when it comes to finding inspiration and sharing different creative ideas in the form of photos and videos about their interests, products, or services. 

On the other hand, consumers who use Pinterest say that it helps them make a purchasing decision, while a lot of them report that they discovered new brands through Promoted Pins. 

Here’s how to start using this social media network and make the most of it. 

The Basics 

As Pinterest differs from Facebook, Twitter, and even from the other visually-oriented channel Instagram, it’s a good idea to introduce its general concept and elements. 

• Pins are, according to Pinterest, “visual bookmarks that you collect on boards.” In other words, these are ideas that you can find and save when browsing Pinterest, or you can build your own Pins. A Pin can also be defined as the basic unit of Pinterest and it’s similar to a post on Facebook and Instagram, or a tweet on Twitter. Pins contain images, videos, infographics, and other similar content, as well as the link to the original source. 
• Boards are a digital version of your average cork or magnet board used to save Pins, that is pieces of content that you come across, such as recipes, images, holiday destinations, home makeover ideas, you name it. You can create different boards for different products, situations, and purposes. For example, you can create one for Valentine’s Day, Easter, etc. 
• Repin refers to saving an exiting Pin to a different board. The more repins a certain piece of content has, the more popular it is. It’s somewhat similar to sharing or retweeting on Facebook and Twitter respectively. 
• Promoted Pins are similar to paid ads. Businesses pay for their Pins to appear in places where their target audience is most likely to notice them. 

To learn more about advertising your business on Pinterest, think about investing in an online social media course, as that way you’ll pick up different tricks quickly. 

Register for a Business Account

There are personal and business Pinterest accounts and the latter type comes with useful features such as Pinterest Analytics. 

So, if you use this platform to drive traffic to a commercial website, that is the one you’re trying to monetize, it’s a good idea to opt for a business account. 

If you have a business account, you will be able to:

• Display your company name instead of your personal name, thus coming off as more professional and trustworthy. 
• Access an entire marketing library packed with a lot of useful content that you can use to grow your account and drive traffic. 
• Verify your website and obtain a checkmark symbol next to your company name. This will be proof that your account is legit. 
• Organize contests and engage your followers and boost brand awareness. 
• Monitor the performance of your Pinterest campaigns, so that you can fine-tune and adjust them. 

Pinterest Best Practices

After you’ve created your account, it’s time to start creating your boards and Pins. Here are a couple of tips to get you going and growing your following. 

Define Your Audience 

Just like it’s the case for other social media channels, it’s much better to target a niche group than a broad audience.  For instance, if you are a property manager, you’d want to target people who make high-quality tenants, such as middle-class families.

Such an approach, paired with consistent and relevant content, will establish you as an authority and a source of information or inspiration. Otherwise, you risk your content to be perceived as too bland and diluted. 

Use High-Quality, Compelling, and Aspirational Content 

When it comes to images and videos you pin on your board, it’s crucial for them to be professional and stylized. This means that snapping a pic with your phone and without proper lighting and composition won’t do the trick. It’s worth mentioning that real-life photos don’t exactly perform well on this platform.

Everything you Pin has to be carefully planned and aesthetically pleasing. 

When it comes to what the content is about, make sure to offer your followers a glimpse into what their life could look like if they used your products or services. Don’t forget that people don’t buy products but better versions of themselves. And that’s exactly what you can offer your followers through carefully-created Pins.

It’s always better to include a human element in your images, as that’s how you’ll make them look more genuine. 

Optimize Your Landing Pages 

Creating attractive pins that will capture the attention of your target audience isn’t enough – they need to lead to well-structured and optimized landing pages that give more information about the idea, product, recipe, or any other type of content you shared on Pinterest. 

That’s why including relevant links to the original source of the content is a must. 

For example, if your pin shows a certain product, the link should lead to the page where it can be bought; if it features a dish, it’s important that the link takes those who click on it to the recipe. 

Research and Include Keywords 

People search for topics that they’re interested in using hashtags that serve as keywords. 

If you want your Pin to show up in the searches of people who are interested in a particular category or collection, include several relevant hashtags. Hashtags are particularly useful for new accounts that don’t have too many fans, as that way their Pins will be more likely to be shown to non-followers, thus expanding their reach. 

It’s a good idea to add hashtags for the keywords that are relevant for a particular Pin in its description. Keyword-rich descriptions will also have a higher chance of being featured in Google search results. 

Don’t neglect Pinterest as it has become an increasingly influential channel for presenting your brand in an attractive and visually-appealing manner. Images are more powerful than words when it comes to commanding the interest and attention of your audience. Check out our design tips for branded banners as well.