About me
I'm Domitille! I help service based businesses DIY their Pinterest marketing so they can create a sustainable visibility strategy for their business.
A lot of you reached out and told me that using Pinterest for your business was on your to-do list. But a lot of you just can’t seem to figure out how to get started. And I know exactly why! You’re overwhelmed! You’ve heard so much about Pinterest, you know how valuable it can be! However, there’s so much information and you’ve read all sorts of things that you freeze just thinking about logging in. I get it. It’s hard to cut through the noise! Well, stick around because I’m going to help you get over what I like to call the “Pinterest overwhelm”! I’ll make it easy and give you only the information you need to start using Pinterest for your business!
This post contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission, at no cost to you, if you click on one of them. Learn more here.
Picture this: you’re ready to start using Pinterest for your business and you want to do it right. So you read all the blogs you can find. And these blogs all talk about how many pins you need to publish per day, how to optimize your account, why you absolutely need keyword and tailwind communities, how you need to be consistent and you should have a website, etc…
I bet your head’s already all over the place!
I just overloaded your brain with a bunch of concepts that don’t make sense to you, at least for now. And it’s the best way to never start using Pinterest for your business.
You’re stuck in choice paralysis. There is a lot to think about but you have absolutely no idea how to prioritize them because you have no clue what they actually are. They’re still “concepts” to you, something fuzzy that you can’t quite understand.
On top of that, Pinterest is great at overwhelming you because it’s a unique marketing platform that ties in social features and search engine optimization strategy and loves to update its algorithm.
What about we work through those beginner concepts and get you started with Pinterest today?
Do you know the expression “with action comes clarity”? That’s what I’m talking about here. If you haven’t even played around with Pinterest for business before how can you understand what we’re talking about?
Ok, my job here is to cut through the noise. I’ll only give you the information you need to get started! I do want you to keep in mind that there’s a lot more to it than what we’re covering but you don’t need it right now! I just want you to take action! Cool?
Pinterest has rules. If you want to use it for your business, it requires you to have a business account. That’s it. No need for questioning if it’s right for you. You’re a business, you need to use a business account. It’s really easy to do! Check out this blog to start with your Pinterest business account now! I’m serious, if you don’t have a business account right now, click on that link and set your business account up before reading more!
The content you publish on Pinterest is called “pins” and the action of publishing them on Pinterest is called “pinning”. The action of saving content that has already been pinned (by you or someone else) can also be called “pinning” or “repinning” although Pinterest is using the term “saving”.
Pins are essentially “visual vehicles” for an outside landing page. They correspond to the link you see when you type a keyword on google, but prettier. So most of the images you publish on Pinterest should be linked to an outside landing page. That can be your blog, your service pages, your opt-in landing page, etc…
I said most of the images because Pinterest has been ruling out new formats lately. However, you don’t need to think about it now because remember, we just want you to start using Pinterest for your business!
Pinterest is a search engine just like google. People come to Pinterest to find new ideas and products and to plan life events. They are in discovery mode which makes it the perfect platform to capture them right when they’re ready to buy but haven’t made their choices yet!
The way to do that is to have your content ranked in the results when they’re looking for a keyword. On the image below, you can see I typed in a keyword and all the pins you see are the pins Pinterest decided to show me based on the keyword I typed. Your goal is to be in these results for the keywords you’ll target.
When you decide to start using Pinterest for your business, you pretty much sign a silent contract with the platform. They’ll let you publish your content for free and use their traffic-driving power as long as you give their users quality and relevant content. They want you to help them provide the best user experience to the pinners. In order to do so though, they need to trust you which is why it takes time for any business to see consistent results on Pinterest. Therefore, that’s why you need to be patient and publish pins every day. Plus, quality and relevant content do mean that you need to create content (that your audience wants to consume) on a regular basis.
I think you realized by now that keywords are extremely important for your success on Pinterest but I don’t want it to block you from getting started. So here’s what you’re going to do: take a paper and a pen and list out your main topics. Let’s say for a business coach for example: starting a business, marketing a business online, creating a product suite, etc… Those are the main topics you can look up keywords for using the search bar on Pinterest. Make a list of these keywords so you can use them to optimize your account!
Optimizing your account basically means adding the keywords you found in the following places: your profile name, your profile description, your board titles, and your board descriptions. That’s it for now! Once you’re ready to take your Pinterest strategy further, check out this blog post to learn how to completely optimize your account.
Tailwind is an automatic scheduler that allows you to schedule all your pins in one sitting for as far ahead as you want. It’s a really useful tool that most Pinterest managers and strategists would recommend if you’re serious about using Pinterest for your business. You can try it out for free here, but if you’re just starting out, I’d recommend you to play in Pinterest first and then invest in Tailwind.
Publishing a pin on Pinterest or “pinning” is the act of saving an image on one of your Pinterest boards. They are three ways you can actually save an image: Uploading it on Pinterest, saving it from your blog and uploading it on Tailwind, and scheduling it to Pinterest from there. You can save a pin to multiple boards and the relevancy of your boards related to the pin is very important. For example, you wouldn’t save a pin about “starting your own business online” to a board called “home decor” but you would save it to a board named “Starting your own Business” or “Business tips”.
To sum up: Publishing a pin on Pinterest is to actually save it to your boards. You can save it in three different ways and in doing so you need to pay attention to which boards you save it to.
The act of saving other people’s pins to your own boards is called “saving” or “repinning”. You can save or repin your own pins. Basically, as soon as you send a pin to a second board it is called saving or repinning. When it comes to saving other people’s pins, it’s the same as for your own pins: you can save them directly from Pinterest, you can save them from their website, you can save them using Tailwind via the extension. The relevancy of the boards is still important.
When you’re just starting out, the metrics you’ll want to monitor are your outbound clicks for your own content & your saves. Do not pay attention to your monthly views, they only mean the number of impressions of your pins and it can be tricky since people might see the pins but if they’re not taking action, there’s no point.
All the above points are the things you should understand before diving into more in-depth Pinterest strategies!
In this next part of our blog, I’m going to list out 5 things I think you should keep in mind when you want to start using Pinterest for your business so you don’t get overwhelmed and drop the ball once the excitement wears off.
Remember we want you to get started using Pinterest today! Find keywords that fit your niche and add them in the places we mentioned. Create your boards with the keywords and write a description for each of them. Our purpose right now is for you to start using Pinterest for your business! However, if you’re “in a rush” and you want to start using Pinterest for business strategically as fast as possible, I’d suggest you get your account optimization done by a Pinterest strategist! This way, you’re starting on solid grounds and you don’t lose time on that part. Bonus, you usually can ask all the questions you want as well! Check out my Pinterest account optimization service, if you’d like to get started sooner rather than later.
Pinterest users describe it as an inspirational platform they like to look at when in need of motivation and ideas. You don’t have to come up with the perfect strategy right away, first, try it out and understand how it works! Then we can move on to a more in-depth strategy! Even later on, when you think you got your strategy nailed down, Pinterest will update the algorithm and you might have to start from scratch again! If you’re fixed on the details, you won’t be able to see the big picture and you won’t be able to adapt to the changes because you can’t see their benefits.
If you’ve been saying “I’ll get on Pinterest” for a year or more but still haven’t made your move, it might be time to reach out for help! If you know Pinterest would be a great place for you to market your business, then a little money will give you the kick in the butt you need to get started! Reach out to schedule a strategy session where you can ask any question you want! We can chat about how the platform works, how to use it for your specific business, create a content plan for Pinterest, review your strategy, etc… This is an hour to do what the heck you want as long as it gets you on Pinterest!
Sometimes, we need to start with something fun to get the momentum! Designing your pins is a creative task and once you see your beautiful templates, you’ll probably want to use them and publish them on Pinterest!! And voilà! Without realizing it, you published your first pins and action has been taken! Or invest in pin templates! Again, investing is usually a catalyst for action because who likes to waste money? Check out the shop for beautiful optimized Pin templates!
You need clarity, that’s the antidote to overwhelm! Why do you want to use Pinterest? What do you need to do to get started? Imagine where you’ll be in six months if you start today? How many new leads and sales Pinterest brought you? If you have no idea how to write down your Pinterest plan of action, download the anti-overwhelm Pinterest checklist! I listed for you every action you need to take in order to start using Pinterest for your business today!
There you have it, how to start using Pinterest for your business today! Remember, if you feel overwhelmed go back to the basics: have fun, don’t overthink it and take action! I’d love to know what’s the first action you’ll take?! Let me know in the comments!
Other topics you might be interested in:
Got it, thanks!
[…] How to Start Using Pinterest For Your Business […]