Pinterest is more than just a discovery platform; it’s a powerful marketing tool for brands looking to expand their reach and drive sales. With its unique blend of search engine functionality and social media features, Pinterest offers marketers an opportunity to tap into an engaged audience. The platform boasts impressive conversion rates, making it an essential part of any digital marketing strategy.

Let’s further explore its key benefits, how it serves as a discovery engine for users, and why it’s crucial for brand success.

Table of Contents

Understanding the Pinterest Audience

Demographics

Pinterest boasts a diverse and dynamic user base, with 537 million monthly active users in the third quarter of 2024. The platform is particularly popular among women, who make up nearly 69.4% of users as of April 2024. However, male engagement is steadily rising, expanding the platform’s reach.

Age-wise, Pinterest attracts a broad spectrum, but it is most favoured by women aged 25 to 34 as of January 2024. This age group is highly engaged, seeking inspiration for everything from home decor to fashion.

Additionally, Pinterest users tend to have a higher purchasing power, making it an ideal platform for brands targeting the mid-to-upper income demographics. Interests vary widely across categories, with users frequently exploring topics like DIY crafts, fitness, recipes, and beauty.

User behaviour

The motivations behind Pinterest usage are primarily driven by discovery, saving, and shopping inspiration. Users turn to Pinterest to explore new ideas, curate collections, and plan projects, often saving pins for future reference. For many, it functions as a digital mood board, organising interests into personalised boards.

Moreover, Pinterest has become a popular shopping platform, with many users discovering products through pins and shopping directly from the app. This behaviour underscores Pinterest’s potential as a discovery tool for users and a marketing tool for brands.

Setting Up a Pinterest Business Account

To set up a Pinterest business account for marketing, follow these steps:

Go to the Pinterest homepage and click “Sign up” in the top-right corner.
Select “Create a business account.”
Type your email address, password, and your birthdate.
Click “Create an account.”
Complete the fields to build your business profile, then click “Next.”
Fill in details about your business and click “Next.”
Select if you want to run ads or skip this step, then click “Next.”
Choose where to start, or click the “x” icon to visit your new Pinterest business account.

By setting up a business account, you agree to Pinterest’s Business Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. To maximise your Pinterest marketing experience, you’ll need to verify your business domain. This allows you to unlock additional analytics, display your logo next to your pins, and add a “Follow” button. Ensuring domain verification can also display a checkmark next to your URL, boosting credibility.

Optimise your Pinterest profile

You can optimise your Pinterest profile to attract potential customers. Start by completing your business details in a concise, engaging bio. Aim for a clear description of your value with relevant keywords.

To improve discoverability, maintain consistent profile names and handles across platforms, and include brand-specific keywords in your bio. Add a high-quality profile image and link your verified website and social media accounts.

Use video content like Idea Pins to enhance engagement, easily editable and highly discoverable. Adjust your profile settings to ensure it’s visible to search engines.

Use Pinterest tools for businesses

Pinterest offers a range of marketing tools to help brands optimise their presence on the platform. Unlike personal accounts, business accounts provide access to Pinterest Analytics, allowing you to track the performance of your pins, boards, and overall profile. You also gain access to advanced features like a visual search tool and a native video player, enhancing how you engage with your audience.

For those interested in paid advertising, Pinterest enables you to run ads and target specific keywords, ensuring your campaigns reach the right audience. The keyword targeting tool helps refine your ad strategy, increasing visibility and engagement with your target demographic. These features make Pinterest an invaluable platform for businesses to build their brand and connect with potential customers.

Pinterest Content Strategy

A well-crafted Pinterest content strategy drives engagement and reaches your target audience. You can share several types of content, as follows:

Standard Pins are the most common and can include images or links.
Video Pins capture attention with moving visuals.
Story Pins lets you share multi-image or video slideshows.
Idea Pins are highly discoverable and perfect for showcasing step-by-step guides, DIY projects, or tutorials.

When creating content on Pinterest, organising your pins into themed boards that align with your brand values is essential. A well-organised board strategy makes it easier for users to discover related content, increasing the likelihood of repins and follows. Consider grouping your boards by product categories, themes, or interests to ensure a cohesive look that reflects your brand’s message.

To make your pins stand out, follow design best practices. The image size should be 1000 x 1500 pixels for optimal display. Use text overlays to add context, but ensure they are readable on mobile devices. Don’t forget to incorporate your brand elements like logos or colours for consistency.

For pin descriptions, write SEO-optimised text by including relevant keywords to help your pins appear in search results. Lastly, take advantage of Rich Pins, such as Product, Recipe, and Article Pins, which add extra information and increase engagement by linking directly to your website content.

Leveraging Pinterest SEO for Visibility

Optimising your content for Pinterest’s search algorithm is essential to increase visibility and drive organic traffic to your profile and website. Here are some strategies to use Pinterest SEO to ensure your pins reach a broader audience and improve engagement.

Keyword research for Pinterest

Use Pinterest’s search bar to identify trending terms and related SEO keywords.
Explore keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest for more keyword ideas.
Analyse competitors’ profiles and pins to see which keywords they use effectively.

Optimising pin titles & descriptions

Incorporate relevant keywords in pin titles for immediate visibility.
Use natural language when adding keywords to descriptions to ensure readability.
Avoid keyword stuffing; focus on creating engaging, descriptive text while naturally including your target keywords.

Using hashtags effectively

Use specific and relevant hashtags to categorise content for better discoverability.
Stick to 5 to 10 hashtags per pin for optimal performance, as using too many can look spammy.
Focus on trending and niche-specific hashtags rather than generic ones for more targeted reach.

Engagement signals

Repins, clicks, and saves are powerful engagement signals that show Pinterest your content is valuable.
The more interactions your pins receive, the higher they rank in search results.
Consistently engage with your audience to encourage more repins and saves, improving visibility and search rankings.

Building and Engaging an Audience

a marketer explaining how to engage audience on pinterest for marketing purposes

Growing and nurturing an engaged audience on Pinterest is critical to long-term marketing success. Below are some ways to effectively build a loyal following and encourage meaningful interactions with your target audience.

Growing followers

Post high-quality, consistent content that resonates with your target audience.
Use SEO strategies in your pins to increase discoverability.
Promote your Pinterest account on other social media platforms and websites.
Encourage cross-promotion with influencers or brands in similar niches.

Collaborative boards

Join group boards relevant to your industry to expand your reach.
Share valuable pins and interact with other contributors for increased visibility.
Regularly update your collaborative boards with fresh content to maintain interest and engagement.

Engagement strategies

Actively comment on other users’ pins to build relationships and increase brand awareness.
Save others’ content to your boards, which can encourage reciprocal engagement.
Timely respond to messages and comments on your pins to build engagement and community trust.

Advertising on Pinterest

Running ads on Pinterest is a powerful way to boost visibility and drive targeted traffic to your content. Here’s how to effectively use Pinterest’s advertising features to achieve the marketing goals of your brand.

Types of Pinterest ads

Promoted Pins: Standard pins that are paid to reach a larger audience.
Video Ads: Engaging video content to capture attention and boost engagement.
Shopping Ads: Display product pins linked directly to your e-commerce site for easy purchases.
Carousel Ads: Multi-image or video ads that allow you to showcase multiple products or ideas in one ad.

Setting up ad campaigns

Budgeting: Set a daily or lifetime budget based on your campaign goals.
Targeting: Use Pinterest’s targeting options, like keywords, interests, and demographics, to reach your desired audience.
Audience Segmentation: Create custom or lookalike audiences to target groups of people who are most likely to engage with your content.

Best practices for Pinterest ads

Use eye-catching visuals that go with your brand identity and resonate with your target audience.
Try and test different ad formats and creative elements to determine which performs best.
Write clear and brief ad copy with a call-to-action (CTA) to drive conversions.
Post ads during peak times when your target audience is most active.

Analysing ad performance

Track impressions, click-through rates (CTR), engagements, and conversions.
Use Pinterest Analytics to refine campaigns and optimise for better results.
Monitor cost-per-click (CPC) and return on ad spend (ROAS) to evaluate campaign success.

Measuring Pinterest Performance

To ensure your Pinterest strategy is effective, learn how you can measure your performance to optimise your content and achieve better results.

Key metrics to track

Impressions: Measure how often your pins are displayed to users.
Saves: Track how often users save your pins to their boards, indicating interest.
Clicks: Monitor how many users click your pins and visit your website.
Conversions: Track actions taken on your site, such as purchases or sign-ups, from Pinterest.

Using Pinterest analytics

Access Pinterest analytics to view detailed data on audience demographics, engagement, and pins’ performance.
Analyse reach, engagement, and click-through rate (CTR) metrics to understand your content’s effectiveness.
Use the dashboard to assess trends and identify areas to optimise.

Evaluating content performance

Identify top-performing pins and boards to understand what resonates with your audience.
Focus on content with high engagement rates to replicate successful Pinterest strategies.
Review your most popular keywords and hashtags to adjust your future content.

A/B testing

Test different pin designs (image style, colours, layout) to see what generates more engagement.
Experiment with pin descriptions to determine which keywords and calls-to-action work best.
Use A/B testing to optimise and improve content performance continuously.

Advanced Pinterest Marketing Tactics

To take your Pinterest marketing to the next level, here are some advanced strategies that can help you maximise your reach and drive even more excellent results.

Utilising trends

Seasonal Content: Leverage seasonal trends (e.g., holidays, events) to create timely, relevant pins that align with user interests.
Trending Topics: Monitor Pinterest’s trending section for emerging topics and create pins that capitalise on popular interests.
Use Trend Tools: Use tools like Google Trends or Pinterest Trends to identify content gaining traction.

Pinterest shopping features

Shopping catalogues: Set up a Pinterest shopping catalogue to upload your product feed, allowing users to shop directly from your pins.
Product tagging: Tag your products in pins and idea pins to make it easy for users to buy directly from your site.
Pinterest’s shopping ads: Enable Pinterest’s shopping ads to drive targeted traffic and increase sales through shoppable pins.

Affiliate marketing on Pinterest

Use affiliate links in your pins, but ensure they follow Pinterest’s guidelines.
Always disclose affiliate partnerships transparently to maintain trust with your audience.
Focus on sharing high-quality, relevant products that align with your brand.

Influencer collaborations

Find relevant influencers who align with your niche and audience on Pinterest.
Collaborate on content creation or sponsored Pins to increase visibility and drive engagement.
Track performance to measure the impact of influencer partnerships on your campaign success.

Partner With First Page to Enhance Your Pinterest Marketing Strategy

Pinterest remains a powerful tool for marketers, offering unique opportunities to engage a highly motivated audience and drive traffic and conversions. Its search engine features, combined with visually appealing content, create an ideal platform for boosting brand visibility and success.

As the platform evolves, staying up-to-date with trends and adapting your strategy is critical to maintaining growth. For brands looking to refine their Pinterest marketing efforts or explore other social advertising options such as Facebook ads or Instagram ads, partnering with a trusted social media agency like First Page can provide expert insights. Our dedicated team can help you create a tailored strategy that maximises results across all channels.

Ready to take your Pinterest marketing to the next level? Contact our digital marketing agency today to start driving real results!

The Ultimate Guide to Pinterest Marketing