Pinterest. The image sharing app we all turn to when looking for inspiration for recipes, home décor, style, DIY projects, arts and crafts, and more. Whilst many view Pinterest as another social media platform, the truth is that Pinterest is more of a visual discovery search engine – and we use it just as we would use Google search to find images of things we want to try and experience for ourselves. This concept is exactly what Pinterest wants of its users, with their mission being to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love.

And because Pinterest acts as more of a search engine for pinners that are looking for something to do, try or buy, this presents a huge opportunity for businesses globally. In fact, many renowned businesses have run targeted campaigns on Pinterest, including the likes of Burberry, Häagen-Dazs and Fenty Beauty, to help drive sales and increase brand exposure.

Let’s look at some of the stats:

– over 90% of active pinners claim that Pinterest guides their purchasing decisions

– 78% of pinners say content from brands on the platform is helpful

– 95% of the top searches on Pinterest are unbranded (meaning pinners are open to discovering new products and ideas)

– 2 billion searches are performed on Pinterest every month (remember that Pinterest consider themselves a search engine, and not a social network)

Despite there being over 100 billion pinned images and over 400 million international annual users, many brands fail to utilise Pinterest to its full potential as they don’t see how it could help them to grow, or add value to, their business. If you are a business owner, think of it this way; Pinterest is still a platform in its infancy, and is not yet as widely used as other channels such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. That being said, user base has been growing year on year since its launch in 2010 and this presents an opportunity, an opportunity to build a solid community on Pinterest before it becomes as saturated as other names mentioned previously.

Pinterest offers several advantages for businesses, namely:

– increasing brand exposure: get more eyes on your brand by creating shareable pins that sell your product or services

– driving traffic to your website: possibly one of the best things about Pinterest is that it drives traffic to your website. The interface makes it incredible easy for users to click through to a page on your site or article, simply by clicking on the pin itself

– increasing brand authority: by creating pins that clearly follow the same branding and colour scheme, users will begin to recognise your brand’s pins as being distinctly yours, and once you’ve established your brand’s authority and expertise in a relevant subject, pinners will recognise your brand, and that it is the place to go for said topic

– helping to convert browsers into buyers: since 95% of top searches are unbranded searches (for example – red sole shoes rather than Louboutins), every brand has the chance to be discovered

All of the above are great reasons to start promoting your business on Pinterest today! And so, if you are considering opening a Pinterest account for your business here are some tips and tricks to get you started on the right note:

1. Open a Pinterest Business account (not personal) and verify your site. This ensures you are in line with Pinterest’s terms and conditions, as well as allow you to access Pinterest analytics and ads.

2. Enable Rich Pins. Rich Pins pull titles and descriptions from your website and show this information directly on the Pin.

3. Create 3 to 5 boards for the area your business falls under, to make the subject matter of your brand and its products or services clear to users. This, however, is just the start. As content for your website increases and you become more familiar with pinning, you can (and should) pin each piece of content you produce for your website to at least 3 relevant boards.

4. Remember quality is critical and is applicable to pin quality, website quality, your overall account quality and the optimisation of boards and pins

>>Pin quality – pins should always be vertical and use dimensions of 1000 x 1500px (aspect ratio of 2:3)

>>Website quality – ensure site is verified and Rich Pins are enabled

>>Account quality – consistency with pinning and overall quality of your boards and pins in terms of SEO and engagement. Accounts consistently creating new content are considered of a higher quality

>>Optimisation of boards and pins by using relevant keywords (see next point)

5. Pinterest SEO. Just like with the search engines we are all familiar with, SEO is just as important for Pinterest. Keyword research still needs to be carried out, albeit not in exactly the same way (it’s actually much easier on Pinterest!).

6. Keywords should be used wherever possible to clearly indicate what your page and profile is about. Keywords should ideally be placed in your display name, profile description, board titles, board descriptions, pin titles and pin descriptions! Always, of course, in a natural fashion so as not to keyword stuff as this can come across as spammy!

>> Written by SHE member; Sarah Borg Barthet. Sarah is the founder and editor of  Dukes Avenue – a luxury lifestyle online resource for the modern woman.

Sarah also seeks to educate readers and aspiring entrepreneurs on the world of SEO, and all of the undiscovered opportunities and possibilities that come with it. She offers an online course, private sessions or group trainings.

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