4 Ways to Use Professional Pinterest to Boost Sales

Many brands shy away from using professional Pinterest because they’re not always sure exactly how it works. Pinterest is a platform built on imagery that is compelling and shareable, creating opportunities for shopping cunningly disguised as everything from outfit inspiration to makeup tips to DIY home projects. Pinterest gives consumers a place to hunt for what inspires or entices them and to gather it together and categorize it. For brands, it can be a treasure trove.

Success for professional Pinterest accounts doesn’t depend on posting hundreds of pins several times a day. Instead, you should aim to create pins that others will share — spreading your images and products across the platform and reaching users beyond the ones that follow your boards. Using these 4 tips, your brand can boost sales on your professional Pinterest account.

1. Take Advantage of Rich Pins for Professional Pinterest

Rich Pins are one of the rewards that come with Instagram for Business and contain extra information (besides the photo) inside the pin. There are five different types of Rich Pins: Movie, Recipe, Article, Product, and Place. Each has a fully loaded set of features that help boost engagement and drive traffic to your site. Rich Pins for professional Pinterest provide real-time price updates, direct links to your site, and interactive map locations — all of which make it easier for potential customers to make a purchasing decision.

Using Rich Pins can improve the discoverability and click-through-rate of pins by making them eligible for the Pinterest curated feeds. Customers that repin Rich Pins also receive email notifications letting them know if there is a price drop or prompting them to make a purchase. Professional Pinterest accounts that use Rich Pins (including big names like Walmart and Target) see an 82% increase in their repin to pin ratio. Not only can they help drive traffic and boost sales overall, but also they are full of useful information that is valuable for generating more traffic.

2. Choose Quality over Quantity

With many social media platforms, quality stands above quantity. Professional Pinterest is the same way. Volume is important for consistency and you should pin new products and keep your content fresh and updated. Taking the time to create highly “repinnable” images is worth the return in engagement and driving traffic. Since Pinterest is extremely visual, it’s important to know what images work best.

On Pinterest, anonymity is key. Images without faces received 23% more repins that those featuring faces. Consumers can envision themselves better in photos that don’t show someone else’s face front and center. Color is also important to consider — Pins with multiple dominant colors receive 3.5x more repins than those with a single color. Interestingly, red images perform better than blue. Bright, crisp images that are 736 x 1102 pixels are the most attractive to pinners. The best times to pin and engage on professional Pinterest are between 2 and 4 PM and 8 and 11 PM, but looking at your metrics can confirm the peak times for your customers.

3. Market Your Brand Lifestyle

Professional Pinterest is about more than just selling products. You want to inspire your audience of potential customers and help them see how your brand integrates into their world. Creating boards around lifestyle themes and brand values, rather than creating boards filled with your own products is a good start. Instead of having a board dedicated to a specific product, create a themed board that features your products and includes other pins. Successful brands understand that their customers come to Pinterest for inspiration and information.

Stay true to your brand when creating curated boards. If your brand specializes in a certain kind of product (whether it’s cosmetics, home goods, or outdoor gear), integrate your original pins with related pins. Your pins and boards should mesh and create a story that reflects your brand image. Pinterest is another opportunity for storytelling and to show customers what makes you and your products unique.

4. Leverage Popular Trends

While it’s always important to be unique, there is something to be said for following the popular trends on Pinterest. Seasonal content is just as important online as it is in brick-and-mortar stores. Pins that tie in with major holidays, seasons, and events will perform well. The caveat with following the trends is to know your audience. Paying attention to your analytics and customer demographics is the most important aspect to crafting your professional Pinterest marketing strategy. While gourmet coffee recipes and DIY Christmas ornaments may have the potential to go viral, staying relevant to your audience and their interests is crucial.

Pinterest can be intimidating for many marketers — there is a ton of content and much of it is beautiful and professional. However, by following the best practices mentioned above, your brand can create a successful professional Pinterest strategy to drive engagement, generate traffic, and boost sales. Choosing high-quality photos and knowing your audience will help you post relevant, repinnable images on Pinterest that reach far beyond your initial followers.

What are some other ways to use a professional Pinterest account to reach consumers? Share your ideas in the comments section below!