In the world of B2B marketing, Pinterest may just be the most underrated of all the social platforms. If you haven’t considered Pinterest for your own business, read on! Below, we’re sharing some of the key reasons why and how to use Pinterest in 2024/2025.
With a reach of 522 Million (!) monthly active users, Pinterest continues to grow exponentially year over year, with most of its users falling into the Gen X and Gen Z groups.
Like any other platform, a little strategy can go a long way, especially if you are aiming to use Pinterest to grow your brand reach, drive traffic to your website, and generate leads and sales.
Here’s how to maximize Pinterest for business in 2024/2025, including examples of businesses that are successfully doing just that.
10 Ways to Use Pinterest Strategically in 2024
1. If you’re just getting started, be sure to set up your Pinterest strategically. A solid setup means that your page bio, Board Titles, Board Descriptions/Covers, hashtag use, and Pin strategy should be geared towards your industry and audience. This article explains how to properly set up your Pinterest account.
2. Do some thorough keyword research before you start pinning. Utilize tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or the Pinterest search bar to optimize your pinning approach – to pin content that your target audience is most likely to search for. It’s ideal to start with 10-15 relevant keywords for your brand and ensure to include these in pin titles and descriptions – in both the pins and boards.
3. Strategic re-purposing. If you’re already on Instagram or TikTok, you can re-share your videos and static content on Pinterest by transforming your Reels, vertical videos and posts, into engaging Pins. For example, take a look at how Global retailer ASOS’ Pinterest page is full of vertical videos – several of which were also used on their TikTok.
Source: ASOS (Pinterest)
It’s relatively simple to revamp your previously shared content by reintroducing it with a fresh graphic. Canva is one of many excellent tools for quickly creating and customizing pin templates. Chances are, if you’re using another platform like Instagram or TikTok to share products or information, you’ll be taking a similar approach with Pinterest but simply finding graphics that are ideal for the platform. We have done this very successfully for many clients, including luxury furniture retailer, Once a Tree Furniture – take a peek.
4. Aim to share 2 to 3 pins each day for optimal engagement. To save time and to ensure pins are going out regularly, they can be scheduled through the Pinterest platform itself or through a third-party app – Tailwind is our go-to. It’s recommended to utilize Pinterest’s native scheduling tool in addition to external scheduling tools like Tailwind. Pinterest favors users engaging directly on their platform rather than through third-party sites. We always test both and see how similar content performs via each.
5. Share a variety of Pin formats to discover which will perform best with your audience. Pinterest offers various types of pins including Image Pins (single image), Video Pins, Rich Pins (which automatically pull info from your website), Product Pins (to promote items for sale). The standard pin size is 1000×1500 pixels (2:3 ratio). Here’s a helpful guide to all the different specs. To give you a visual, here’s an example of a Product Pin from Ikea Canada, and a Video Pin from Mac Cosmetics. Static image pins are easier to create, but video pins can definitely be more engaging!
6. Create vibrant, eye-catching pins with click-worthy CTA’s like “free”, “how to”, “5 ways” “the best’, “your guide”, “new” etc. The idea is to invite people to click on pins to learn more/discover something of value. Natural foods retailer, Whole Foods Market does a great job of utilizing strong CTA’s on their Pinterest page.
Source: Whole Foods Market (Pinterest)
7. Plan your content in advance. We highly recommend using a social media planning template to ensure all company promotions, content, and seasonal opportunities are maximized. Here’s a free template that you can duplicate and use in your own business to plan your pins, and other social media content well in advance.
Share seasonal content at least a month or two in advance to maximize impact. For example, Winter Holiday content should be posted in October for December.
As you plan/promote blog content, be sure to share 3 to 5 pins to showcase each of your blog posts, using varied titles and pin designs. This approach can significantly boost traffic to each blog. Wellness platform Head + Heart does this to boost website traffic – this pin and this one have brought thousands of new people to their site.
As part of your ongoing strategy, check Pinterest Trends to discover what’s popular each month, and create pins that align with those trends when relevant.
8. On occasion, promote your Pinterest account on your other social media platforms and through your newsletter to increase reach and traffic to your page. Popular author Brene Brown, recently announced the new Pinterest boards her team is building in an e-blast, a smart way to engage members of her loyal audience who are already active users on Pinterest. Take a look at this board Brene shared in her last newsletter.
9. Promote your blog posts on Pinterest. This platform is a great way to drive traffic to your blog posts, so we always create a few well-designed pins and schedule them to promote each new blog post. As well, you should always add a ‘Pin it’ plug in onto your website, so that you encourage all readers to Pin everything (blogs/products) from your site to their Pinterest Boards. And as a company, it’s a best practice to actually pin everything on your site to the corresponding Board. Here’s what this looks like.
10. Get inspired by brands that are using Pinterest successfully. Many B2B companies like Mailchimp and Shopify, and business coaching communities like Boss Babe use Pinterest for sales and leads very successfully by sharing content and lead magnets. Retailers, like Sephora and Goop use Pinterest for product sales by pinning each product as well as pinning product round-ups, featuring a variety of products with tags in their pins to maximize exposure. This works well because their pins look like infographics, as seen in the examples below, and are save-worthy for Pinterest users! Here’s how to get started with retail tags.
Source: Sephora (Pinterest)
If you follow the above approaches, you’ll be well on your way to Pinning success. Final note, it’s also good to know what to avoid doing on Pinterest:
- It’s not a good idea to Pin the same pin across multiple boards. This action can trigger Pinterest’s spam sensor. New pins are key.
- Don’t create Idea Pins anymore, these are being phased out by the platform.
- Avoid uploading watermarked content – for example videos with the TikTok logo on them.
The fact is, Pinterest is a major driver of website traffic and sales for many of the brands we work with, including agencies. If you’re curious about launching Pinterest for your business, we’d love to help you. We can do everything from setting up, managing, and growing your Pinterest presence. Reach out to learn more: howdy@thesocialagency.ca.
