Overview of Pinterest for Business

Pinterest is a visual bookmarking site and social network where you can “pin” images and video from the web into “boards” to archive them in an organized fashion. People use Pinterest for inspiration for crafts, trip planning, redecorating ideas, wedding plans, and for shopping research.

Boards are collections of images and video. Pins usually link out to the source of the image or video. Pinterest continues to be a strong website traffic driver as well as one of the better social networks for leading to online sales.

Here’s a checklist of the elements of Pinterest that could benefit your business.

1. Make sure you’ve set up a Pinterest business account. If you set up a Pinterest account before the company rolled out business accounts, you can convert your personal Pinterest account into a business one and not lose your followers. Go to the Pinterest business website at business.pinterest.com for instructions.
2. Verify your Pinterest account. Tie your Pinterest business account to your company website by downloading an HTML file that Pinterest generates and uploading it to your website’s server. Once you do, you’ll see a checkmark in a circle next to your website URL in your Pinterest profile. This lets you see what people are saving from your site and adds your logo to Pins that come from your domain.
3. Pin from your own website. While you shouldn’t only pin from your site, not pinning your images and video at all limits Pinterest’s ability to drive traffic back to your site. If you have an online store, pinning products from your product pages is totally appropriate. Make sure the images and video on your website are sized appropriately for Pinterest – the larger the better.
4. Add the Pin It button to your site. In addition to making sure your website visuals including video are formatted properly for Pinterest, add the “Pin It” button to your blog posts and web pages to make it easy for others to pin from your company site and drive even more traffic to you. If you’re selling products online, the “Pin It” button can be even more useful to help drive sales.

5. Check your Pinterest stats. Under the Settings gear on your Pinterest home page, choose Analytics to see which of your boards and pins are the most appealing to others, find out who is engaging with your pins, and check how pins from your company website are doing. Check your metrics regularly to track your progress and improve how and what you pin.
6. Use Rich Pins. Rich Pins contain enhanced information pulled from the pin source or added based on the type of pin you’ve posted. There are six specific types of Rich Pins: app, movie, recipe, article, product and place. An app pin will include a download button. A place pin includes a map and even an address and phone number of a specific place. Recipes include ingredients, cooking times and serving information. You can greatly enhance your pin stream with Rich Pins.
7. Promote pins. Pay for Promoted Pins to raise brand awareness and boost engagement. Pick a pin, choose your target audience, and pay only for clicks to your website. Access metrics from your pin campaigns to measure results. If you don’t see the Promoted Pins button yet on your company account, you can sign up to be on the waitlist at ads.pinterest.com.

Pinterest is a high-content social network, even more than Instagram. Be prepared to create Pinterest-specific images and Pinterest-friendly content on your website or blog. Be strategic about uploading appropriate images to Pinterest – and adding your company URL to the pins – to get noticed and lead people to your website or online store.