How to Use Pinterest for eCommerce: A Guide

Pinterest is a social media site with over 400 million monthly active users. Apart from being the go-to place for millions of users looking for recipes, DIY advice, and fashion tips, the platform can also be used for business.

Electronic commerce stores, in particular, can benefit from it, and today we’re going to find out how to use Pinterest for eCommerce, what groups of people use this social media site the most, and a lot more.

Let’s get started with some important statistics.

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Vital Pinterest Stats 2023

• 85% of Pinterest users have purchased from a brand they saw on the site.
• In 2022, Pinterest generated $2.51 billion from advertising revenue, and the ad revenue is forecasted to grow by 15.9% in 2023.
• Users spend 25% of their time on Pinterest shopping.
• 90% of Pinterest users use the platform to plan their future shopping sprees.
• Pinterest is the second most visited social media in the United States, with 15.85% of all social media visits.
• The active monthly users grew from 220 million in 2019 to 445 million in the third quarter of 2022.

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How to Use Pinterest for eCommerce: 9 Tips

1. Create a Free Business Account
2. Define Your Goals
3. Research Your Target Market
4. Craft an Awesome Pin
5. Organize Your Pinterest Board
6. Keep Publishing Consistently
7. Optimize Your Descriptions For SEO
8. Follow the Trends and Stay Interesting
9. Utilize the Power of Pinterest Ads

1. Create a Free Business Account

The first step is to create a free account for your business. There are two ways to do this:

1. If you already have a personal account, and want to use it for business, you can convert it to a linked business account.
2. If you are completely new to the platform, you can register a free business account.

2. Define Your Goals

Naturally, the path to success of any business endeavor depends on the goals you set.

For example, you need to decide whether your main goal is to generate sales, to increase brand exposure, to gain more followers, etc.

Some realistic targets you can set for Pinterest eCommerce strategy are:

• Generate Leads
• Improve Brand Awareness
• Increase ROI
• Boost Engagement

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3. Research Your Target Market

It’s always crucial to know who your target audience is. So, in order to understand what Pinterest users are looking for, you need to research data. This will help you figure out the type of content you’ll be creating, and the tone of voice that people will enjoy.

Furthermore, you should continue to keep track of data once you start publishing. For this purpose, there is Pinterest Analytics that provides audience insights.

4. Craft an Awesome Pin

On Pinterest, Pins are a way to bookmark posts you like. Having a business account allows you to add a link to your website, which can ultimately bring more traffic to your site, and new customers.

There are certain guidelines on how to create a great pin for business:

1. Use a vertical image. In order to stand out, you should use high-quality vertical images. Pinterest recommends using a 2:3 aspect ratio, so 500px × 750px, 1000 × 1500px, etc.
2. Focus on your brand. Your brand should be in the spotlight, it would be pointless to use abstract images or other kinds of pictures that have nothing to do with your brand.
3. Insert your company logo. It’s a good idea to include your logo on each of your pins. Position it in a visible place, and make sure it is pursuant with the image size.
4. Add text overlay. Even in images, text is important. Keep it nice and short, since it must be easy to read on mobile devices. In case you want to target multiple regions, make separate pins for each, so that they can be translated into the according languages.
5. Optimize your copy. As with every social media, Pinterest has its own SEO rules. To ensure your pins are easy to find in search results, you have to follow the guidelines, and write clear descriptions and titles.
6. Include a link. As mentioned above, you can include a link to your website. However, do make sure that the included link is working, loads fast, and corresponds to the idea and message of your pin.

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5. Organize Your Pinterest Board

Breaking your Pinterest board into private subsections will grant you extra visibility, and let you reach more users. You see, Pinterest is in a way divided into specialty boards with niche topics.

Therefore, you can better organize and optimize your Pinterest account, if you use different boards.

6. Keep Publishing Consistently

There is no magic formula for how many times you should post per day to be successful. The keyword you’re looking for is consistency. Don’t get discouraged if you’re not achieving immediate results.

It’s the same principle as with any other social media platform – publish regularly, but not too much as to overload your followers, and not too little as to make your followers lose interest.

Also, there are times when it’s best to post on Pinterest. For instance, 8 PM, 4 PM, 9 PM, 3 PM, and 2 PM are proven to be the most effective times to post.

7. Optimize Your Descriptions for SEO

As we mentioned earlier, Pinterest has its own SEO specifics. For example, if you want to optimize your descriptions, you should:

• Use natural language.
• Be genuine in the product description.
• Do not use unnecessary words.
• Only include the most important information.
• Avoid duplicate content.

Use the opportunity to let your audience know how informative your content is, and how they will benefit from it. Regardless of the medium, the best optimization is to be brief, interesting, and helpful with your content.

8. Follow the Trends and Stay Interesting

Just like any other social media site, Pinterest is dictated by trends. Posting about a trending topic can bring you a lot of new followers, engagements, and, yes, traffic.

Your Pinterest eCommerce strategy is not just about sales pitches. Quite the contrary, you have to make sure to keep in touch with recent tendencies, and connect with your target audience in as many ways as possible.

We all know the average human attention span is only around 8 seconds. Users, especially from the younger generations, can very easily become bored with your profile, and your brand.

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9. Utilize the Power of Pinterest Ads

Pinterest Ads are a hidden gem, when it comes to cost-effectiveness. Advertisers on the platform actually earn $2 for every $1 spent. Wow!

Promoted pins function in a pay-per-click system, so, naturally, you have to place bids. Should you win the placement, you can harvest the benefits in two ways:

1. Browsing ads. When a user is browsing on Pinterest, your advertisement can be shown to a person who would be interested in it. Also, when someone is browsing through a category which is related to your ad, it will also be displayed.
2. Search result ads. A person is looking for vintage colognes for men, and it happens so that’s just what your business is selling. When someone is intentionally searching for a product, chances are, they will also buy what they were looking for.

These functionalities are a clue to why promoted pins might be so successful. And here’s how to utilize Pinterest Ads in the most effective way:

• Pick a pin you want to see in relevant searches.
• Target the right audience.
• Pay when users click through to your website.
• Track your campaign and make corrections, if needed.

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Summary

Pinterest can be used for eCommerce. In fact, it could turn out to be the most underutilized social media platform when it comes to selling, especially compared to Facebook and Instagram.

So, what are you waiting for? Go and try out Pinterest for business, if you haven’t yet. It might just be the boost your entire business was waiting for.