Question

Pinterest for business

Answer 1

What is Pinterest?
How Pinterest works for business
Marketing Mix: the advantages of Pinterest for your company
Create a Pinterest account for your business
Boost your brand reach with Pinterest
Create your first board
Community management on Pinterest
Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest or Instagram?
Create a profile
Pines vs. repines
The basis for the scope is set on the web
What makes a pin interesting or relevant?
Strategy for pins and boards
Categorization and design
Create detailed pins

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Pinterest for business

Since Instagram has been on everyone's lips thanks to its new business services, many quickly forget that there is another social network that focuses on high-quality visual content: Pinterest. After all, this platform has more than 100 million registered users around the world, a number that is tending to increase. And, of course, companies, whether services or online stores, are also part of this community of virtual boards. As part of their social media marketing strategy, Pinterest helps companies highlight content on a powerful platform to reach more potential users and customers. In our Pinterest guide for your business we show you its main functions and features so you can find the perfect strategy to intensify your corporate presence on Pinterest..

Index

1. What is Pinterest?
2. How Pinterest works for business
3. Marketing Mix: the advantages of Pinterest for your company
4. Create a Pinterest account for your business
   1. Create a profile
5. Boost your brand reach with Pinterest
   1. Pines vs. repines
   2. The basis for the scope is set on the web
   3. What makes a pin interesting or relevant?
6. Create your first board
   1. Strategy for pins and boards
   2. Categorization and design
   3. Create detailed pins
7. Community management on Pinterest
8. Pinterest Analytics
9. Pinterest or Instagram?

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is not a social network in the classical sense, but rather its offering could be defined as an excellent platform for discovery and inspiration, where registered users can create virtual boards according to their personal interests. In them, individual pins are collected, that is, images or videos on specific topics. These individual pins are then saved to any of the boards chosen by the user. Additionally, it is possible to share the boards with other users.

Once logged in, Pinterest displays the pins of favorite users

Auf Pinterest folgen Sie Nutzern oder einzelnen Pinnwänden . Suchen Sie Inspiration und Ideen zu bestimmten Themen, finden Sie passengersde Pinnwände über die Schlagwortsuche. Relevant Pins heften Sie wiederum an Ihre eigene Pinnwand. Neue Pins von abonnierten Nutzern tauchen im News-Feed auf der Startseite auf. The Pinnern und Pinnwänden Sie folgen, desto präziser und relienter wird der Newsfeed, den Sie damit individuell auf die eigenen Interessen abstimmen. Zu Beginn geben Sie außerdem verschiedene Themengebiete an, für die Sie sich interessieren. Beiträge zu den Themen und Schlagworten zeigt Pinterest ebenfalls im News-Feed an..

Pinterest allows you to explore its content according to your interests

How Pinterest works for business

There are two ways to add photos to Pinterest: on the one hand there is the direct upload on the platform and, on the other, the option to save pins with the button for the browser that allows Pinterest users to access the content of different web pages. The button for the browser allows the user to save and add an image to their dashboard with one click. Conversely, the user can access the original website where the content is located by clicking on the image. In other words, the pin refers to the source of the content and, in this way, the websites get referral traffic from Pinterest .

From a user perspective, Pinterest is a collection of personal interests and preferences, and, in the eyes of an entrepreneur, it is a visual collection of links . This represents a great opportunity to increase the reach of a web page, since all the images exchanged, shared, commented and saved in the users' boards, are linked to a URL. The more accessible the content of a web page is to Pinterest and the more it is shared, the more links will be generated on the page. In this way, companies will be generating traffic to their website ..

The browser button on the upper left makes it easy to save images

Marketing Mix: the advantages of Pinterest for your company

Besides the traffic aspect, Pinterest is also very useful for branding purposes . Indirectly, the broad reach also drives brand awareness. Often times, companies use Pinterest to promote new products or offers, as well as to extend corporate image campaigns. By itself, the platform is designed to increase customer loyalty, and as a consequence, many companies show themselves from an emotional and private side. Thus, when an entrepreneur takes advantage of this platform to promote dialogue with the client , he keeps his target audience always in sight.

In any case, communication objectives such as brand recognition, customer loyalty or the strengthening of the corporate image, must be understood as part of the general digital communication strategy . Here, Pinterest is no exception. Only when a strategy for social media has been defined, as well as a communication guide relevant to the business, can a specific plan be defined for activity and engagement on Pinterest. Interaction with other channels is a key issue. This includes linking with other platforms, especially your own website, corporate website or blog, as well as with other social networks.

The corporate profile on Pinterest includes relevant information about your brand

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Create a Pinterest account for your business

For this you have two options: convert your private profile into a company one or directly create an official Pinterest for Business account . The most important thing is that you verify said account with the official website of your company. This is accomplished by using an HTML file or meta tags. In this way you will automatically see your logo or profile image next to the pins on your website that have been saved by users.

First of all, with this type of account, users know that it is the official profile of the company, something that is professional and reliable. After verification, Pinterest makes the available analytics features available to you. It is also recommended that you make sure to make your profile visible to search engines in the settings. In addition, we advise you to associate your account with other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Google+.

Set up your Pinterest business account in just a few steps

Create a profile

First, select an appropriate profile image for your business account. It is recommended to use a clear image. At this point, most companies use their logo as it is more meaningful and has a high recognition value. The output format is 200 x 200 pixels. The profile picture is accompanied by a short description . This is not just about introducing the brand, but about highlighting the purpose and inspiration provided by your Pinterest account, as well as stating what the user can expect from it.

Boost your brand reach with Pinterest

To increase the reach of your content, you have to understand how to generate it. On Pinterest this happens only from the home feed of each user and not when a user visits your company profile. This is mainly because the purpose of Pinterest is, above all, to inspire users and it is in the feed where they find relevant content and share it. The principle is very similar to that of Facebook, where users receive the most content and messages through the News Feed and not by visiting a specific company page. And if so, they usually do so because they are aware of the page's existence and are looking for specific information. 

Remember that although the search function is highly used on Pinterest, as a merchant you should focus on the home feed. Finally, anyone who wants to increase the reach of their content has to ask themselves how it gets to the news page of many users.

Pines vs. repines

On the one hand, the reach of Pinterest is generated by the images saved from the web and, on the other, by the images saved within the same platform , the so-called? Repins ?. Both are equally important and independent of each other. Thus, if a web page includes the respective widgets, users can share the content at any time with their network on Pinterest. The latter is a fundamental aspect for the scope in general, since each pin generated by a user is a potential multiplier of possible repins on the platform.

The basis for the scope is set on the web

If users of a web page cannot save their photos to Pinterest, there will be no repins. The first condition to increase the reach of your content is that your website is designed in such a way that users can share its content without any problem .

The golden rule is to avoid technical hurdles at all costs. To this end and to save pins, Pinterest created the button? Save? (in English, Pin it) . Pinterest provides the necessary tools for the integration of these widgets on your website. Widget-Builder allows you to create buttons and widgets to later implement them on your website or application. In addition to buttons to save and go, it is also possible to integrate individual pins, boards or complete profiles. It is advisable to take into account both the desktop version and the mobile version. Pinterest for businesses also offers the possibility to integrate the button? Save? for Android or iOS applications.

Developer tools on Pinterest include a wide range of options

Ideally, users will start saving pins from your website to their Pinterest boards. Thus, most images arrive on the platform through people who are already clients or followers of a specific brand or company. However, this is only the first step and there are no guarantees that other users (who have not had contact with your brand so far) will share or save them on their boards. A key aspect for this is the quality of the content , that is, the content that will be shared in the future.

What makes a pin interesting or relevant?

Besides the technical requirements, a very important aspect is the visual appeal of the images . In this sense, businesses on Pinterest run into many competitors. Here, the deciding factors are the quality and originality of the images. Regardless of whether an image is provocative, funny, romantic or minimal, it must be worthy of a user sharing it with their friends and family. At the same time, each image should match the brand identity of the company and be part of the respective website.

advice

Pictures in portrait format tend to be best viewed on smartphones. These cover more screen space than in landscape mode and achieve a better impression on the user. Studies have also shown that crisp, warm-toned images such as orange, red, or yellow have a better effect on the viewer than blurry or dark-hued images.

What you like and what you don't like so much is relatively easy to identify depending on how many repins the image has. As on Instagram or similar platforms, user interaction is what determines which images work and which do not. You can also encourage your audience to save pins and actively share them through actions or contests. The only condition is that you do not lose sight of the Pinterest brand guidelines.

Create your first board

Create dashboards and presentations easily with Pinterest

Creating boards on Pinterest is easily done by pressing the button "Create Board".

The only thing that needs to be specified here is the name and the category, but also it is possible to add a short description. As an online marketer, you can't forget the most relevant keywords here . These keywords will be of great help not only within the category, but also to make your content visible to users when they use the Pinterest search function. If there is a local reference, you can also link your content to a geographic map.

It is recommended that you explicitly invite other users or share your boards by email and, last but not least, define a cover photo. At the time of creating a board it is possible to define it as? Secret? so that it does not appear in the home feed, in searches or on the platform in general. Once your profile is created, Pinterest will suggest that you create some boards. However, as a company, you should be consistent with your strategy and first decide how you want to manage the creation and administration of your dashboards.

Strategy for pins and boards

Initially, it may be helpful to start with collecting the material . To do this, it is advisable to create a secret board in which to gather and organize the appropriate content. In addition to the images on your website, you can also include other resources.

Each Pinterest user can upload photos and add the URL of a web page to them. To do this, the most important thing is that the URL corresponds to the image . If you aim to raise user expectations with an attractive image, but link to a boring page, you are not likely to receive a positive response from your audience. It is also possible to add video pins , especially if, for example, your company has an active YouTube channel that you can use as a source. In this case separate video boards are an option.

Categorization and design

Have a wide variety of content to share on Pinterest? Then you should define a clear structure and classify them appropriately. It is a priority to empathize with those users you want to address: what is the most appropriate name? What category is the most relevant? What does the user expect when seeing the name and the cover image of a board?

The most successful dashboards are always clear and understandable, as well as attractive and highly relevant to the user. As a company, it is not recommended that you use highly commercial content, as notice boards are not, as such, online sales platforms. Create a dashboard with the? Product category XYZ? not the best way. Rather, the different categories covering the product range should be defined in relation to the relevant topics.

One of the most-followed accounts on Pinterest is National Geographic, which has created and classified its content into specific categories that not only include pictures of animals, but go further, such as? Our favorite space images? (? our favorite images from space?),? Underwater scenes? (? underwater scenes?) or "#YourPlate? (? #tuplate?).

It is convenient to prioritize the categories and themes of your boards

At the beginning it is advisable to create at least five different boards. It is important that you integrate the keywords in the name of the board or in its description. Try to create a visually appealing first impression, and make sure that all images are high-quality, relevant, and thematically consistent.  

Another very successful profile on Pinterest is that of the company dedicated to the manufacture of soups and creams Knorr. Each board follows a clear line: all the recipes are identified in a homogeneous way, as well as the photos have a coherent look.

One of Knorr's boards focuses solely on recipes

Create detailed pins

In addition to the normal pins, it is possible to create so-called detailed pins (in English: rich pins), which include additional information. Currently, there are six types of detailed pins:

• App
• Movie
• Recipe
• Article
• Product
• Place

However, Pinterest is the one who approves your post. After inserting the respective meta tags on your web page, you can put your detailed pins to the test and ask Pinterest to add them.

Community management on Pinterest

Now is the time to actively use the platform. A proper management of social networks is crucial for success, which means increasing the range of your pins and get more followers. Usually the first step is to connect with users who have a broad reach. On Pinterest there are also recognized influencers who have positioned themselves as opinion leaders on certain topics and who demonstrate a wide range of influence. Thus, the task will then be to identify them and, if possible, make them your followers. The easiest way is to follow them first, save your pins, and follow your boards. On Pinterest, the classic interaction of many social networks also usually works :? If you follow me, I will follow you ?.

This is how you draw attention to your content, so you can count on your pins and followers to grow. Another possibility to make your content visible to other users is to tag other users, linking them to your content through the @ symbol. The user receives a notification when he has been tagged in the caption of an image, in this way you will be showing him the way to your profile. Even if you save third-party pins, you can mention other users, which in turn generates chain attention from more than one person.

Today, these tips are perhaps the only way to increase the reach of your content on your own. The Spanish market is still awaiting the launch of the so-called promoted pins, which are intended to artificially increase the reach of each post. Until then, the biggest success factor is community management, the only strategy to build a community of followers on Pinterest for your business and to extend the reach of your pins. As of now, these pins are only available in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.

Pinterest Analytics

Measuring success is a central issue for online marketing, as no company wants to invest time and budget in a channel without knowing exactly whether or not its efforts will pay off. On Pinterest, companies should also regularly check whether the applied content strategy is working properly. This platform makes available to its users the respective analysis tools and specific data on the corporate profile. In Pinterest Analytics you will find information on the following statistics:

• Your Pinterest Profile - Here you can view current figures on your pins and repines to identify the most successful pins and boards. With this profile data it is possible to recognize exactly which aspects are working for your Pinterest business account and which are not. You also have here the number of impressions, clicks and repins in the control panel, as well as in the function? All the period ?. 

• Target audience (People you reach): in this area you get more information about your followers. In addition to the traditional demographic information such as country, city, language and gender, here you will also find a detailed description of how they interact with the company and what they are most interested in. The most important are the questions related to: what your audience likes, the boards with many of your pins and the companies in which your audience participates. 

• Activity on your website: This feature is of great interest to merchants as they can analyze referral traffic. The number of clicks indicates how many visitors come to your website from Pinterest, as well as through which pins and boards. Additionally, an evaluation of the search options and the identification of the so-called ? Power Pins? that generate greater interaction on the part of users.

 

Pinterest or Instagram?

Long-term success requires a large investment of time, patience and, above all, enough relevant and quality audiovisual content. While on Instagram it is possible to use semi-professional images, Pinterest is characterized by presenting high-quality product images , whose prerequisite would be to create them.

Compared to Instagram, Pinterest offers the possibility of linking users directly to the website or online store from the platform. On Instagram it is possible to create promoted content, that is, paid, with a call to action and a link to your website. On Pinterest, however, each pin has the potential to drive potential customers to your website or store, thereby generating valuable traffic.

If you want more information, take a look at our comparison Pinterest vs. Instagram.

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