Pinterest is a social network where users share images and videos about their interests, services and products. It is also a platform to visually discover new interests by browsing Pins and forums posted by others.
Think of Pinterest as an organized bulletin board on the Internet or a bookmarking site. People save or pin the images they find on the Internet to various boards that are categorized by the user.
Most of the pins link to the original source where they were found. Like other social networks, Pinterest users interact with each other by leaving comments, liking, and re-saving each other’s Pins. They can also send private messages.
To illustrate how Pinterest works, let’s look at ergonomic furniture.
If anyone is interested in purchasing a knee chair, they will click on the image for more information.
As you can see in the picture above, pins can contain details such as price, description, a link to where to buy the chair, a place to comment, and the ability to send a pin to one of your boards.
Pinterest is free, but you need an account to use it. You can register with your email address and password, or use your Google or Facebook account.
Key Features
Below are some of the main features of Pinterest.
Home Feed
Based on your recent activity on the platform, Pinterest will show people, Pins, and brands that match your interests in your home feed. It will also suggest topics, forums, and people you might want to subscribe to.
Pins
Ideas that Pinterest users create, save, and find online are called Pins. Click a pin to link to a webpage for more information, including where to buy it. You can also save the pin to your board.
Boards
Boards are where you save live pins. Name, arrange and arrange your boards however you want. You can also invite other Pinterest users to collaborate on group boards.
It is also possible to keep your boards private by marking them as secret. Only you and those you invite to these boards will be able to see them.
Profile
All boards you create and saved Pins will be on your Pinterest profile. In addition, your profile lists the people you follow, as well as the people, forums, and topics you follow.
Business or personal account?
People use Pinterest for different reasons than other social networks like Instagram and Facebook. Pinterest users seek inspiration on the platform. This includes getting ideas for products to buy as well as showcasing their visual design.
Which account is best for you – personal or business? The answer depends on the circumstances. How do you plan to use Pinterest and what are your goals? If you’re using Pinterest for commercial use, the answer is obvious. You must have a business account.
Pinterest Business Account
Pinterest business accounts give users free access to platform analytics, ads, and other tools to help brands grow their professional presence.
There are several ways to create a Pinterest business account:
- If you already have a personal account, you can easily convert it to a business account Use the email address of the account you want to convert. Complete your business profile with your company type, company logo, and a description of what your company does.
- If you’re new to Pinterest, go to the home page and select Create Business Account at the bottom of the page box.
- Enter your email address, add a password and click “Create Account”.
- Fill out your business profile information and then accept the terms of service to complete your account opening.
- You can also keep your personal account and add a new company by following the same steps above.
Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest offers free business account analytics tools to help you optimize your Pinterest strategy. Use analytics to identify many important metrics such as:
- Which Pins are most interesting?
- Are there more interactions with desktops or mobile devices?
- Which Pins are getting the most traffic on Pinterest?
Analyze traffic, measure Pins performance, and see what your customers want. To access website analytics and let others know where they can find more of your content, claim your website on the settings page.
Get valuable insights into your audience with Pinterest analytics such as demographics, other topics your target audience is interested in, audience comparisons, and general audience.
- Sign in to your Pinterest business account to access analytics.
- Click Analytics in the upper left corner and then Browse.
- Below the graph on the Google Analytics overview page, select “Click Clicks” from the drop-down menu.
Which Pins generate the most Pinterest traffic?
- Below the graph on the Overview of Analytics page, choose Link Clicks from the dropdown menu.
- Then set the filters to Content-Type = Organic or Claimed Accounts = your URL.
The results will show you which Pins are sending the most traffic to your website. Analyzing the content types, infographics, themes, and image styles that drive the most traffic to your site will help you plan your Pinterest strategy.
Which pins are the most interesting?
To find out, select “Engagement” from the same drop-down menu under the “Top Contacts” section. Knowing what attracts users will help you understand what types of Pins are best for your audience.
Is your strategy working?
If you’ve revisited or changed your Pinterest strategy to test if it’s working, set a date range just before you make the change. Select one of the following filters:
- If you want to compare your actions with others, select Link Clicks again, but this time from the drop-down list next to Split By, select Source.
Valuable metrics to track
Below are some of the most valuable metrics you need to track to gauge your success on Pinterest.
Impressions are the number of times users see your content in category feeds, search results, and in their own feed. See which keywords and categories are getting the most impressions.
Clicks. To see if your content is driving traffic to your website, look at the number of clicks. The number of clicks your Pins get is a more important metric than impressions because it relates to an action.
Repins: Like Twitter retweets, repins refer to the number of times a user has saved your PIN to one of their boards. They are more valuable than impressions because they relate to actions taken by someone who is interested in your Pin.
Top Pins: To determine your best content on Pinterest over time, look at your Top Pins. You can analyze your best Pins based on:
When a person saves one of your Pins, it means they are interested in your content. Saves increase the reach of your pins. They can also mean that the user plans to come back to continue working with your content later.
How do your pins work?
Select a date range, view impression data to see how many times others have seen your Pins.
Using the same time frame, see the following metrics to better understand how your Pins are performing:
Create, Add, and Manage
There are several ways to create a pin. These include:
- Using the pin button in the browser.
- Clicking a pin on an image on any website.
- On the Pinterest website.
Except where you start, the process for creating a pin is the same.
- To create a Pin on Pinterest, click the red + sign in the upper right corner of the Pinterest home page
- Click Create Pin. Add a title, description and destination link.
- Drag or click to download images or videos.
- Click “Save From Site” if you want to download the image from your site and enter the URL. You also have the option to publish your pin immediately or later.
- Select the board you want to post your pin to by clicking the Select drop-down menu next to the Post button.
- To create a board, click your profile and then click Boards. Find the red check mark in the box above “Create Whiteboard” and click on it.
- Give your board a name and check the “Visibility” box if you want to keep it private.
To manage and organize your contacts, place them on boards that match the category. You can change the order of the saved pins by dragging and dropping them.
Optimize your Pinterest account
What can you do to get your content found?
- Use relevant hashtags.
- Turn on extended pins.
- Secure in sequence.
- Create and pin high quality content for better engagement.
- Track your clicks and save.
- Republish popular content to your boards.
- Use relevant long -tail keywords on your Pins, Boards and Profile.
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