11 Tips for Using Pinterest Like a Pro

We pin the drool-worthy recipes, the latest fashions, and the hottest products.  More importantly, this time of year, we’re pinning home renovation ideas, interior design, and garden inspiration. We pin A LOT—and if Pinterest isn’t currently part of your business strategy, you are missing out on potential clients! (Over 250 MILLION clients, actually.)

What is Pinterest? Why should you use it?

Pinterest is a social network that allows users, or “pinners” as they are commonly known, to share and explore new interests. A process that is known as “pinning.” Pins are images or videos of products uploaded by companies/other users, that are then saved, or pinned, on personalized user “idea boards.”

Over 250 MILLION people use Pinterest every month, making it the fourth-most-popular social media platform in America. Pinterest proudly outranks Snapchat, LinkedIn, Twitter and WhatsApp. Why? Because Pinterest inspires action.

98% of active pinners try the ideas they find on Pinterest, 93% of pinners said they use Pinterest to plan for purchases, whereas 50% have made a purchase after seeing a promoted pin. Pinterest also refers to 5% of the world’s referral traffic.  The only other player who can beat that is Facebook.

In a nutshell, Pinterest is full of users who have no problem leaving the Pinterest platform to discover new businesses. Follow these 10 Tips for Using Pinterest like a Pro and the next website they discover could be yours!

Claim your website on Pinterest.

Claiming your website will allow you to verify your website’s authenticity. This means Pinterest will credit you when someone pins an image that’s found on your website. Claiming your website will also give you access to website analytics and a deeper insight into what content your audience saves the most. Therefore it will show you what content you should be posting more of.

Switch your personal Pinterest account to a business one.

Step 1: Go to business.pinterest.com, and click the red ‘Convert your existing account’ button.
Step 2: Next, select your ‘Business Type,’ and update your ‘Contact Name,’ and ‘Email Address,’ if necessary.
Step 3: Still on the same page, fill out the next section, ‘Profile Info.’
Step 4: Scroll down to the ‘Agreement’ section, and read the agreement. Then, click agree, and voila!

Once your business account is set up, your profile picture will show up next to any Pins that come from your site, and a small globe icon will appear to the left of your website’s URL on your profile.

Now it’s time to claim your website.

In order to claim your website via Pinterest, you’ll need to add a meta tag or upload an HTML file to your website’s HTML code. Most people will need the help of their webmaster for this part.

Use Rich Pins to Your Advantage

Rich Pins are like ad copy for your post; they add extra details to pins and update important information from the websites they came from. If something changes on the original website, the Rich Pin updates to reflect that change. Rich Pins help improve your potential reader’s experience by giving pinners a few key details about your article, feature or design.

There are three types of Rich Pins: product, article, and recipe. Product Rich pins show the most up-to-date information right on your pin. Article and recipe Rich Pins will reflect any edits you may make on your site and will update on their own as soon as an edit is made.

How to Apply for Rich Pins

Does your interior design business’s website have a blog? Mark up each blog post with rich meta tags! (Find out how here.)

Once you do so, you’ll need to validate one of your correctly marked-up content pages in the Rich Pin validator. If your webpage is correctly “marked-up,” then an “Apply” button will appear.

Click the button to apply for your Rich Pin. Pinterest will process your application within 24 hours.

Claim your Instagram account.

Just like claiming your website, when you claim your Instagram account via Pinterest you unlock a whole new world of analytics. More importantly, when you claim your Instagram account, you get the attribution you deserve on your original design photos.

By claiming your account, a link to your profile will be displayed next to your pin, linking your Instagram account to the pin every time someone shares it. The benefits of claiming your Instagram account are two-fold: your design images will be branded to you protecting your work against copyright (as much as possible, anyway), and it can help you gain new followers by allowing people to click through to your Instagram account.

Here’s how to claim your Instagram account through Pinterest.

1. Go to your profile page on Pinterest.
2. Tap the Menu icon in the top right-hand corner.
3. Go to Settings → Edit settings.
4. Scroll to the Claim Accounts section. Find Instagram in the list of available apps and toggle the switch next to it.
5. Enter your username and password and log in to your Instagram account when prompted.

As soon as you log in, an authorization request will pop up. Tap on Authorize to confirm your decision to link your Instagram account to your Pinterest account.

Pinterest SEO

Pinterest is all about the visuals, right? Well, sort of. Pinterest isn’t just a visual platform, it’s a visual search engine. Whatever you want to look at, you type into the Pinterest search bar, which means—keywords are 100% necessary, in your descriptions AND in your account name.

For your username

Add “what you do” in a nutshell to your user name. This will appear on your page, and it will help people find you when they search for you. Here’s what that looks like:

Your Name → Wingnut Social | Social Media Management ← What You Do.

For your pin’s  description

Pinterest descriptions can include up to 500 words. However, only the first 75-100 words will appear in the feed so it’s important to make the first sentence or two the most compelling part of your description. Think about the content of your pin and what someone might type in if someone were searching for content related to that pin. For example, if it were this blog post, someone may type “how to improve my Pinterest reach,” “how to get more business from Pinterest” or “Pinterest tips.” These phrases and more should be incorporated into my description word for word.

Before writing out your description, do a search to see what keywords people are using while searching for topics related to your brand. Type in things like “interior design” or “interior design ideas” and see what pops up. Make a list of these keywords and be sure to spread them throughout your pins.

Studies show that shorter descriptions may result in more engagement immediately, but longer, keyword-rich descriptions are more valuable for being found via the search, which can result in more engagement over a longer period of time. So, load up on keywords and send your pins out into the cyber-verse!

Add the “Pin It” button to your business’ website

If you want people to take action on your website, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to do so.  Adding the “pin it” button to the high traffic areas on your website will allow visitors to save your content for later—including your contact info!—and will hopefully result in a consult in the future.

Using the “Pin It” button is a great way to promote the visual content you have on your site, especially that of new designs! See your website builder’s widget section to add the “Pin It” button to your site.

Pin engaging content consistently.

There is an age-old debate on when and how often you should post, for each of the different social media platforms. The truth is, the best times to postreally depend on your audience—though, there are a few peak times that you can follow to get started.

Best day to pin: Saturday

Best time to pin: Between 8:00 pm & 11:00 pm, with 9:00 pm being the peak time.

How many pins per day: You can start with one per day, but best practices show:

Minimum 5 → Maximum 10

However many pins you choose to post, remember to be consistent. Once Pinterest’s algorithm sees that you’re consistently sharing high-quality content, Pinterest will start increasing your impressions and showing your content to other users more often.

Pinterest content Ideas.

Got a freebie you wanna pimp? Pinterest is a great (and effective!) way to build out your email list, get more views on your blog, and gain more subscribers for your YouTube channel.

It all starts with creating “pinnable” images. Images that are captivating, engaging are more than likely to be saved, resulting in a click-through later. But as we discussed above, though Pinterest may be a visual medium, it’s also a search engine and you NEED to include keywords to help people find your pins.

So, create your gorgeous pin, fill the descriptions with searchable keywords, and link the pin directly to your landing page, for easy almost effortless list building.

Another great way to gain some traction for your brand through Pinterest is to create engaging, informative infographics. Infographics and Pinterest go together like pb+j. In fact, if you visit the homepage, the majority of pins you’ll see are infographics—and the audience loves them!

Create a few great infographics using high profile Pinterest searches that fit within your niche and create a landing page for them on your website. Then, put your advertising dollars to use and promote the posts. As your pin grows in popularity, it will continue to generate leads for years to come as new people find and pin it.

Vary your Pinterest image sizes.

There are three different image sizes that are commonly used on Pinterest:

-Normal Pin – 600 x 900 pixels, or 2:3 ratio

-Long Pin – 600 x 1260 Pixels, or 1:2:1 ratio

-Infographic Pin – 600 x 1800 Pixels, or 1:3 ratio

We recommend using a combination of “Normal” and “Long” pin sizes. Mixing in “long” pins will help your content stand out among the rest. Infographic size is great for posts that require a lot of detail, but the image will be cropped within the feed and won’t be as eye-catching at first glance. Canva is a great resource for resizing your images to fit within these dimensions!

Create Pinterest boards related to your local area.

A great way to create a buzz for your interior design business locally is to create a Pinterest board reserved for all things happening in your area. Pin cool things to do and see in your town. Follow boards and share pins related to the businesses and your partners in town, too.

Create Pins that capture all of life’s moments.

Pins that revolve around life’s greatest moments have a much higher share rate. These pins can be related to holidays and birthdays, as well as buying your first home, the birth of a new baby, and marriage. Create boards dedicated to upcoming seasons, holidays and life’s greatest moments to help your interior design business get noticed by potential clients and partners alike. It goes without saying that these boards should feature some of your original designs, but don’t be afraid to share inspirational pins too!

Engage with other boards.

Like all social networks, Pinterest is based on social activity. If you want people to engage with your pins… you need to be engaged yourself! Follow pins and boards in your niche from relevant but non-competitive brands, fellow designers and interior design enthusiasts.

Reach out to others and ask to create a collaborative board with them or ask them to share your pin. Do this only if you’ve already built a relationship with the person or company.

Pinterest is a vital tool for increasing your web traffic, and with the tips above, you’ll be “pinning” like a pro in no time!

Need help with your Pinterest strategy? We would love to chat!