How to Grow your Business Using Pinterest
Are you looking for a fresh approach to grow your business or are you just starting a business? If so, consider setting up a business Pinterest account and automating your pin posting using Tailwind in order to enhance your current digital marketing strategy. Pinterest is a social media platform that can be used to drive traffic to your website and increase sales, whether you own an online store or sell professional services. We tell our clients to think of Pinterest as a visual search engine. The goal is for users to see your pins when they search for terms related to your products or services. In this guide (and in the TMG Collective), we will teach business owners how to use Pinterest to link to your content and grow your business. We will cover an overview of setting up your account, creating attractive and effective pins, and automating posting using a tool like Tailwind. When we create Pinterest strategies for our Marketing Greenhouse clients, these are the steps we take and the tools we use. We would love for you to drop into TMG Collective Office Hours to ask more specific questions about Pinterest and your own business structure--it is a robust tool to help you reach your target audience and drive traffic to your site.
Why We Use Pinterest at The Marketing Greenhouse
Simply, because it is an effective tool to grow brand awareness within a limited (or zero) advertising budget. Because Pinterest can convert customers who are not your followers on other social media channels, it can drive traffic to your website and increase exposure of your brand with relatively minimal effort. Additionally, pin promotion on Pinterest is cost effective because you only have to pay when promoted pins are clicked on. We have had clients with Pinterest impressions in the millions with quite minimal expense. Which begs the questions...
How do I set up a Pinterest account for my business and how do I begin pinning?
Setting Up Your Account and First Steps
How do you set up a business Pinterest account? First, you'll need to create a personal account if you don't already have one. Then, you can switch to Business mode by going to your settings and selecting "Switch to Business Account." Once you've done that, you can fill out your profile with information about your company, including a description, website, and logo.
Next, it's time to start following other users and boards that are relevant to your industry. Then, start creating pins that are both attractive and informative and start sharing your content. We also recommend creating boards as soon as you set up your account--five or ten is sufficient to start. When we set up Pinterest accounts for our clients, we use tools like SEMRush and Keywords Everywhere to optimize Boards descriptions. Aim to post at least ten pins to each board, and you can build from there. Lastly, you can use tools like Tailwind to help schedule and publish your pins so that they're getting seen by as many people as possible. At this point, you will be started on building an audience of your own and will have a foundation to build upon.
Creating Pins
Take advantage of Canva's free design tools to create pins that are visually appealing and easy to read. If you want to make your Pinterest pins more effective, there are a few steps to follow. Make sure to follow relevant boards and pin regularly. This will help ensure that your pins are seen by people who are interested in what you have to offer. Remember that the goal is for potential customers to click through your pins to your business website. Finally, ensure that your pins are keyword-rich so that they come up in search results. Both SEMRush and Keywords Everywhere can tell you what keywords people search when trying to find businesses who sell your products and services. By following these simple tips, you can improve your Pinterest pins and get more eyes on your products or services, which is always the goal!
There are two types of pins on Pinterest - rich pins and idea pins. Rich pins include more granular details and they sync to information on your website via a tag (which Pinterest provides) installed on your site. For example, a rich pin for a recipe might include the ingredients, cook time, and Servings. Likewise, a rich pin for an article would include the title and author, as well as a description. Idea pins provide a multiple page canvas on which to share ideas and education, and they can be shared on other social platforms. Idea pins are excellent for sharing evergreen content because they last forever and don't get lost in a chronological feed.
Planning Content
When it comes to planning content on Pinterest, the key is to start early and be strategic as you consider seasons and holidays. Because so many people use Pinterest for inspiration in areas like education, travel, cooking, and design, they search for content far ahead of time (think Back to School in May and Halloween in August)! Give yourself 3 months lead time if you are posting seasonal and holiday content. Take a look at your existing boards and see which ones could be repurposed for the holidays. For example, if you have a board dedicated to Christmas decorations, plan to freshen it up with new pins in October, and expect that those pins will start to dip in December, because people will have moved onto planning for the next year. You can also create new boards specifically for seasons and holidays.
Posting Pins with Tailwind
Tailwind is a powerful tool that can help you maximize your reach on Pinterest. With Tailwind, you can schedule pins to be posted in advance, so your content is fresh and you don't have to spend time posting manually. Both Pinterest and Tailwind provide excellent and detailed analytics, so that you can see which pins are performing well and make adjustments accordingly. To get started with Tailwind, simply create an account, connect it to your Pinterest account, and start scheduling pins for maximum impact. Keep in mind that Tailwind is most effective when used in conjunction with other marketing efforts, such as following other users and engaging with their content. By using Tailwind, you can truly take your Pinterest presence to the next level without being on your laptop posting for cumulative hours of your day.
Measure your success!
We have loved the results our clients have seen from executing on detailed Pinterest strategies. The results have been measurable and gainful. We are happy to help if you want to talk through the specifics of Pinterest as it relates to your business growth.