Pinterest Guide: How to Use Pinterest

Pinterest is a social network based on images categorized in terms like pin and interest into a large panel of ideas and inspirations. If the user needs ideas for home decoration, clothing style, furniture or some art, they will find it on this platform.

Pinterest is a social network based on images categorized in terms like pin and interest into a large panel of ideas and inspirations. If the user needs ideas for home decoration, clothing style, furniture or some art, they will find it on this platform.

Hardly anyone uses Pinterest? Many think that it is a social network only for a highly segmented audience, which is only used to find beautiful decoration images or recipe ideas. Regardless, it may seem like there is no room for marketing your business.

Are you one of those who think so? Or do you not have this thought, but you are not sure? If so, we have prepared this content where we review the key concepts of this platform.

While many brands ignore Pinterest, this social network is becoming increasingly relevant to businesses.

Yes, it is totally visual oriented. Yes, you will find photos of well-decorated apartments, DIY ideas (do it yourself), destinations to visit and thousands of images on design, illustration, travel, fashion, cooking and other various topics.

The good thing about Pinterest is that it has become a great reference catalog for users. And it is in these references where your brand can appear to get closer to the public, reinforce your branding and influence the purchasing decisions of users.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a social network that allows you to discover, share and save ideas . By browsing the Internet or postings on the web — called pins — users can find inspiration and create folders (public or private) that bring together various references on topics of interest.

And it is to facilitate this discovery that Pinterest works today. Although it emerged in 2010 as a social network, the company is positioned today as the first visual search engine in the world.

Various tools have been released to strengthen the intelligence of visual search and differentiate itself from any other search engine.

Inspiring people’s lives: That’s what Pinterest is all about!

Pinterest for business

Like any social network, Pinterest was created primarily for people. But it is clear that brands have seized the potential to get closer to their audience, and it has also entered the marketing spotlight.

Realizing this movement, the social network also developed new features for companies, such as the business account and measurement tools, which we will learn about later. That’s why Pinterest is also a great business platform.

Ok, Pinterest’s base is nowhere near that of Facebook and Instagram , which have 2.9 billion and 1.478 million users respectively. But it is not so much the reach that brands are looking for in this social network.

The great benefit of entering people’s plans when they are looking for references to carry out their life projects.

By posting inspiring ideas and engaging with users, brands can get discovered by new audiences, strengthen relationships with them, and send more visitors to the site.

In addition, they are able to influence the purchasing decisions of consumers, who are willing to buy what they find on Pinterest. Some user statistics show this power:

• 84% use Pinterest to decide what to buy;
• 98% tried something they found on Pinterest;
• 77% discovered new brands or products on the platform.

On the other hand, we can check interesting information in which this social network reached 400 million active monthly users.

Plus, the idea that “Pinterest is only for women” can now be revoked forever. Yes, they are the majority (around 60%), but the male audience is also there: it has increased the growth of this target audience by 48%.

So, did you like learning about Pinterest and the audience that uses the platform? Next, you will better understand how to exploit its functions.

How to use Pinterest?

Creating a Pinterest account is simple; but it is important to know that for your brand to act online, you need to have a commercial account. To create it, choose the “create a business account” option on the Pinterest home page .

But if your brand already has a personal account, you can add a business profile to it. To do this, access the account and click on the settings (the three dots in the upper right corner of the screen).

To set up your business account, Pinterest wants to know a few questions, like your name and the type of business you represent. In addition, you can embed a link to the website, integrate with other social networks, and select the topics that best describe your business (humor, architecture, nature, pets, etc.) to receive platform pin suggestions.

That’s it, the trading account is already created! If you created this account from a personal profile, Pinterest gives you the option to choose 20 boards to add to your business profile, and only the first 250 pins from each board are copied.

After that, you can start creating pins and boards for your profile.

For each folder, it is possible to define a name, description and category, add a cover, keep it public or private and even invite collaborators.

When creating the pin, you can:

• choose an image from your device or from your website;
• select the folder to add it (or create a new one);
• add a title and description (with hashtags if you wish);
• add a destination link;
• post on time or schedule post.

In addition to pinning and creating boards, it’s also fun to interact with people. Start following brands and users that can bring good references to your brand. Use the search engine for this: enter the terms of your interest and save in the folders what seems most interesting to you.

How to use the main features of Pinterest for business?

Now that you know how to take your first steps on Pinterest, let’s get to know its main features.

Since its inception, the network has added many features that enrich the user experience . And Pinterest has a special eye for brands, which increasingly have more resources to do business online.

Discover now the main ones.

Save button for websites

One of the ways to submit your branded posts to Pinterest is to have users do it, as they can save images to the platform directly from your website.

To encourage this, the network offers an interesting tool: the save button for websites. When you install it, you appear on all the images on the site, so users can click on it and save them directly to their boards.

Rich pins (advanced pins)

Advanced pins (or rich pins ) provide richer information about images, going beyond the title, caption, and link that exist in regular pins.

This is done through metadata that needs to be added to your website or ecommerce and validated with Pinterest ( see instructions ). That way, every user who saves that image to Pinterest will automatically bring the metadata information to the platform.

Rich Pins are free and available to business accounts only. There are 4 types:

• product pins, including price, real-time availability, and purchase link;
• recipe pins, which report ingredients, cooking times, and serving sizes;
• article pins, which display the title, author, and a snippet of text;
• app pins (currently only compatible with iOS), which include an install button.

Shop the look

Shop the Look is a Pinterest initiative to further encourage shopping on the platform . With this feature, the user who likes a product in the image can click on it and be directed to the purchase link.

Shop the Look pins have white dots that identify the linked products. To add them, brands must have a business account.

When creating the pin, you need to click the tag icon to tag the products in the image, add the destination link and a separate product image.

Here’s an example of what a Shop the Look pin looks like:

Pincode

Pincode is a way to bring Pinterest into the real world. It is a personalized code (similar to a QR Code ) that carries information about the social network. When scanned with the Pinterest app, the user can be taken directly to your brand profile or folder.

Okay, but what is that for? Think that you can insert this code in printed materials such as business cards, packaging or folders. Also imagine, for example, putting a Pincode on a lipstick package and directing it to a makeup-inspired folder. Nice, isn’t it?

Pincodes are available for both personal and business accounts. Any user can create the code by clicking on their profile picture and downloading the Pincode.

If you want to create a Pin Code for a specific folder, you must access it on the platform and click on the icon to generate the code:

Pinterest Lens

We said earlier that Pinterest considers itself a visual search engine; and the platform has been developing tools to strengthen this solution. Pinterest Lens is one of them.

This tool, called “Buscar la camara” in Spanish, allows you to search the web for objects that you find there , in the physical world.

Did you like the lamp you saw at a friend’s house? Did you see a flower on the street and want more photos of it? So, just point the app’s camera at the object and it will show references similar to what you’re seeing.

Thus, the search for ideas is further enriched.

Pinterest Ads

Pinterest Ads is the network’s advertising platform. There it is possible to sponsor pins, in image, video, carousel and app pin formats, in addition to defining a specific target audience and measuring the results of the investment.

In this way, brands have one more tool to increase the reach of their profile or generate more traffic and conversions.

How to optimize posts on Pinterest?

If Pinterest is a search engine, why not apply SEO strategies on the web? The intention is for your Pins to rank higher in search, be found by more people, and therefore generate more interactions and visits to your Pages.

When someone accesses their own feed or performs a search, Pinterest uses certain criteria to sort the pins based on their relevance to the user. You can consider, for example, the popularity of the profile, the keywords of the post and the engagement it has already generated.

So, now let’s look at some tips to optimize your Pinterest posts and earn points with the network’s algorithm.

Fill in all the pin information

Like Google, Pinterest can’t read images.

To understand what the pins are about, the network algorithm reads the contextual information, especially the title, description, hashtags, and destination URL of the pins.

Realize that, even being a visual network, the texts are very important. Therefore, do not leave these fields blank.

Take the opportunity to complete the information with keywords that identify your business and products, so that the pins appear in searches for those terms. You can also put a pinch of creativity to capture the attention of users!

Organize folders with keywords in titles

Keywords can also appear in the folder title and description, as they also show up in user searches.

By organizing your boards by keywords, you not only target your top topics to the search engine, but also to users, who more easily find what they’re looking for in the brand feed.

Visual him

One of Pinterest’s search ranking criteria is the popularity of a pin. And the main way to make your pins more popular is to improve their appearance. After all, we are talking about a network that likes to fill the eyes of users!

It’s ok, you don’t need a machine or a professional studio. Even with few resources, it is possible to adopt photography and design techniques that enhance your images.

The lighting, the focus, the colors, the composition and the alignment are some points that you can take care of.

One good reason for this is Pinterest visual search. On all pins, there is an icon in the bottom right corner that allows you to search for “visually similar results.”

Therefore, the better the quality of the images, the more likely they are to appear in this search.

Prepare your website

On Pinterest, users themselves can bring branded content to the network. This happens when they save images from the company’s website in their own folders.

Therefore, marketing on Pinterest also means preparing your website images for optimal saving by users.

You can think of infographics and vertical images, which are often successful on the web. Additionally, you can also add a Save button for websites and include metadata to use in advanced pins (we talked about this earlier).

Integrate Pinterest with other channels

To increase the popularity of your Pinterest profile, attract more strangers!

You probably already have a Facebook or Instagram profile, right? Then, share your Pins on these networks and drive an audience to Pinterest who already likes your brand.

You can also use your website or blog to promote pins and boards. To do this, use the function to embed posts in posts or add widgets. That way, you also direct your visitors to this amazing platform.

Pinterest Analytics: How to track statistics?

Pinterest leaves no marks in the dark. The platform offers, exclusively for business accounts, a data analysis tool called Pinterest Analytics.

In this tool, you’ll get an overview of your account with metrics like impressions, engagements, close-ups, link clicks, saved pins, total audience, and engaged audience. You can also view the top account pins based on these metrics.

To see this information, you can filter by the run time, the device used by the audience, and the content format.

In Pinterest Analytics you can also get to know the platform’s audience better; the tool reports the age, gender, location and devices used by users. You can see this information about your audience, the general audience of Pinterest, and even compare this data.

How do Pinterest Ads work?

But how can Pinterest Ads be used in practice? Check out some tips to understand more about how it works!

Account on Pinterest Business

In order to use the ads function of the social network, it is also necessary to invest in the creation of a business account, the so-called Pinterest Business.

Ad format

To use this ads feature on Pinterest, you must first understand the different ad formats available.

After all, this will have a direct impact on the bottom line of your campaign, especially given the variety of templates available. For you to understand better, we have separated the main details about the formats available on this social network .

• Static – This is the standard ad model, where the idea is to be more direct when it comes to communicating with the consumer, presenting your product immediately and making it clear that your brand is there.
• Video – Another ad format option is video, where you can have more time to communicate with the user, but one particular detail of the platform is that videos without sound make more sense for users.
• Shopping – With a focus on customer conversion, the mall format wraps the ad into segments that make sense, increasing the chances of driving the impacted user to your e-commerce, for example.
• Carousel – Similar to the Instagram post format, the Pinterest carousel allows you to use multiple images in sequence, promoting a more efficient storytelling strategy.
• Collections – Another model available for advertising on Pinterest is collections, where the advertiser is entitled to one main image and can use three other smaller images to complement the campaign.

Segmentation types

Another cool feature that Pinterest Ads offers is the ability to target ads . In total, you have six customization options to make your campaign even more attractive:

• Automated targeting: the platform itself defines the targeting criteria and directs the ad to the specific audience.
• Demographics – You can also use information such as age, gender, geographic location, and languages ​​to target ads.
• Interests – The platform algorithm can also identify which users have similar interests to your brand.
• Keyword – The keyword concept is also very efficient in highlighting ads within Pinterest.
• Customer List – It is still possible to create different customer lists from the advertiser’s own targeting.
• Similar audiences : the platform offers so-called lookalikes, that is, users with a similar profile to those who are interested in your brand.

Ad Requirements

To advertise with Pinterest Ads, you must follow some requirements:

• the announced pin must be saved in a public folder;
• the pin must take the user to an external URL;
• the links used cannot be shortened;
• third party images, videos or GIFs are prohibited;
• Follow the rules and guidelines of the platform.

Billing types

Pinterest Ads has two ways to charge advertisers.

• The first is to pay for the accumulated ads from the previous month on the platform;
• and the second is when the billing threshold defined by Pinterest itself is reached.

In the second case, this limit is set automatically based on the results your campaigns have generated.

How to make money on Pinterest?

Below we are going to list three ways to make money with Pinterest , both independently and with the possibility of partnering with companies interested in the platform.

Have a website

If you understand how the platform works, you’ll know that images aren’t hosted directly on Pinterest—they’re linked to external sites. Users who are interested in the content are then directed to the original sources.

That is why it is important to have your own platform: so you can see Pinterest beyond a social network of images, and find the opportunity to generate organic traffic , clicks and even conversions.

In other words, we can understand that Pinterest ends up being an image search engine, just like Google! In a simplified way, this is the ideal step by step:

• create your blog or website;
• publish relevant content and with a good frequency;
• create your Pinterest account;
• add Pins (images) on the platform, linking to your website;
• Post the content and wait for it to generate hits!

Generate traffic

This way of earning money with Pinterest is linked to the initial step that we pointed out above. Now that you understand that we are talking about a search engine, like Google, it is time to learn the best tips to generate traffic to your blog or website.

The pillar of the strategy must be to publish images frequently. In this way, more and more people will carry out their daily searches and find your content as an “answer”.

Make a list of the main topics related to your product or service. Then, it produces the image and registers the pins.

We recommend that you study keywords and planning strategies to ensure that you are delivering the most appropriate content possible for the best searches.

Monetize some skill

Do you know that concept Do It Yourself, or DIY? On Pinterest, it has a lot of space. That’s because users are often looking for tutorials from people who share skills in general. They can be:

• cooking;
• painting;
• sewing and minor clothing alterations;
• minor furniture repairs;
• decoration of domestic environments.

You don’t have to be a great expert in any of the areas, just gather enough knowledge and make it accessible. In the pandemic, for example, many people began to be interested in small reforms in the home environment to make it more comfortable, or in making sweets to supplement their income.

Invest in knowledge and share it on the platform!

Others

In addition to these three good ways to make money on Pinterest, there are several other strategies that can be done together. We list a few below:

• using Affiliate Marketing , inserting the links of each campaign in the Pins registered by you;
• If your profile grows enough, you can become a kind of “micro-influencer” and promote brands interested in investing their Marketing strategies on Pinterest;
• offering freelance services for companies, being a Social Media specialized in the social network.

Bonus: cases of companies that use Pinterest and have good results

So, did you like to know how Pinterest works and how to use it in marketing? Good, us too!

Some companies are already far ahead in this social network and are already reaping good results there. Let’s look at some examples to inspire you.

Nature

Natura is considered a case by Pinterest in Brazil. It is no coincidence that the brand was one of the guests at the launch of the Shop the Look and Pincode resources in the country.

In the cosmetics industry, Pinterest is a valuable tool for customers to find makeup and look inspiration. Realizing that its audience was already there, Natura decided to optimize its web presence to expand its pin reach and traffic generation.

To do this, it created the profile Maquiagem Natura in Brazil or Natura Cosméticos Oficial for the rest of Latin America, and it is specific to this business area. Discover how images communicate with the public who love cosmetics, with a dynamic visual language and relevant makeup tips and tutorials.

With this action, the company increased Pinterest’s share of the brand’s social traffic generation to 40%.

Tastemade from Brazil

If you explore Pinterest for a few minutes, you’ll find hundreds of recipe posts and cooking tips. Users love learning how to cook with this platform!

That somewhat explains the success of Tastemade Brasil on the web or TastemadeES for Spanish-speakers. However, the brand has also given engagement a bit of a boost by adopting a daily frequency of posting to the network, especially with the advanced revenue pin format.

Therefore, Tastemade Brasil had a growth of 97x in impressions and 85x in referral traffic from Pinterest.

In addition, he noticed through Pinterest Analytics that certain pins were more successful, such as those images produced especially for the network, with high resolution and in a vertical format. Therefore, he began to tailor his content to get more audience engagement.

This is the end of our long and exciting tour of Pinterest!

Finally, we hope this article has awakened your desire to explore Pinterest in your strategies. After all, it is worth giving a chance to a social network that is capable of generating so much engagement, traffic and conversions.

The platform is committed to improving the experience of brands and users, especially with visual search tools. So there are a lot of opportunities there!

In addition to the results for your business, rest assured that you will have fun producing content and interacting with users in this interesting and dynamic social network.