How to Optimize Pinterest for Business

Pinterest recently opened its Promoted Pins platform to small businesses, meaning that they can now target and segment their ads at a much deeper level. They can also now collect data and audience insights that were previous off-limits.

This capacity to realize and analyze return on investment makes Pinterest a serious marketing tool that should not be overlooked, even by the smallest businesses. If you haven't already, sign up for a Pinterest for Business account and activate a Promoted Pins campaign today.

To get the most of your Pinterest marketing efforts, keep these three tips in mind:

Optimize Pins

While this is not technically a feature update, it is of critical importance to boosting your Pinterest for Business presence and gaining the desired ROI from the platform. If you're taking advantage of Promoted Pins, ensuring that they are optimized is essential. There are a few simple tenets to follow in order to successfully optimize your Promoted Pins:

• Try different-sized Pins: Conventional wisdom dictates that tall Pins (portrait-oriented) are the most popular, but there are vague guidelines about specific measurements. Try different-sized pins on your audience to see which sizes they respond to. Keep in mind that the 2:3 aspect ratio should generally be maintained while you try out different sizing options.


• Use your words: Pinterest is known as a visually oriented platform where images take top billing. However, when an image is captivating, the probability of that person reading the accompanying caption and description is extremely high. The viewer is actively searching for information about the product, service or subject, so make sure these narratives are thoughtfully crafted and include everything you want the customer to know. This is your opportunity to hook them, which can lead to repinning, reviewing of your Pinterest account and investigating your website for further details. This is a significant engagement turning point; don't let a brief and generic description deter your potential customers.


• Inspire people to act: A visually appealing image with a text overlay is one thing, but having a directive, or call to action, within your description or caption motivates viewers to go from passive voyeur to active researcher. Asking a user to, “Discover your new summer style,” or, “Wow your guests with a brunch buffet,” tells them what they're looking for and what you can provide. It takes the decision-making process out of the viewer's hands and into yours. Directing the conversation and the understanding of your content increases your chances of engaging the right kinds of people for your product, instead of leaving the interpretation up to the individual, who may interpret your pin very differently than you had intended. In fact, “pins with CTAs actually have an 80 percent increase in engagement over pins without CTAs,” so including them nearly goes hand-in-hand with a successful pin. To best fit your target audience, you'll need to implement trial and error to find what kind of CTAs engage them the most.

Create How-To Pins

How-To Pins were designed to give the viewer an at-a-glance perspective of the steps needed to complete project. These rich Pins encourage viewers to linger and consider the idea for moments longer than they typically would for a single-image pin. The sequential breakdown of steps reinforces what's required and encourages people to “Pin it” to one of their boards.

Try cinematic video Pins

Utilizing this feature in your Pinterest for Business account is likely to drive more engagement from your followers, get more repins than basic single-image pins and ultimately create a broader audience that sees your business on this platform. These pins do not have to be DIY, but they can show the steps associated with your product or services from start to finish. For example, a follower can see how a room renovation goes from before to after by capturing numerous images of the room before, during and after the renovation. This enticing visual journey captivates audiences and builds on your credibility in the marketplace.

With all of these updates and changes to its business strategy, it's hard to ignore Pinterest as a profitable and important social media outlet. Will you take the plunge and utilize Pinterest to catapult your business to the next level?

Sarah Matista is the marketing communications manager for Vistaprint's digital services division.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.