Pinterest marketing got weird - in a good way
Most social platforms are built for vibes and hot takes. Pinterest is built for intent.
People don’t open Pinterest to argue. They open it to plan. Recipes. Outfits. Nursery themes. Renovations. Gifts. And yes - to buy stuff they didn’t know existed 30 seconds ago.
That’s the opportunity. Pinterest is basically a visual search engine where your content can keep working for months, not minutes. If you sell physical products that look good in a photo, Pinterest can quietly become one of your highest ROI channels.
Below is the clean, practical version of how to set up Pinterest, what to post, how to think about keywords, and how to measure whether it’s actually working.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a social media site that lets users (pinners) save pins that contain links, descriptions, and images onto different boards for later use.
It’s a big visual search engine where people can find ideas for recipes and style inspiration, and even shop the brands they like.
Pinterest has become a place where people feel good, with eight in 10 users saying the platform makes them feel positive.
Users create pins by uploading images and links manually, stumble across pins in their feed, or find pins via search. The feed and search are both real opportunities to market to future customers.
Pinterest is designed to store ideas and inspiration in a way other social media sites aren’t. Users organize what they find into boards, mostly for themselves. That’s why “secret” boards exist - private boards only specific people can view.
How effective is Pinterest for marketing?
If you’re debating whether Pinterest is worth your time, here’s the case for it. Not theory - actual platform stats.
It has a growing international user base
Pinterest is the 14th most popular social network, with more than 478 million active users.
Pinterest’s quarter-over-quarter change in advertising reach went up by 6.2% in 2021, and should keep rising as it continues to add new customers to its ad targeting capabilities.
Q1 2021’s user figures showed a 30.2% year-over-year increase. A majority of that increase came from the rise in international users throughout 2021, which grew by 37% year over year.
Why this matters for ecommerce - Pinterest users are often searching proactively, not just doomscrolling. That intent shows up downstream as higher purchase behavior.
There’s a place for every brand
Ninety-seven percent of searches on Pinterest are unbranded.
That’s a big deal. It means users aren’t typing brand names. They’re typing problems, aesthetics, and categories. Your job is to show up when they do.
98% of people polled by the brand say they try new things based on what they find on Pinterest.
Brands can target buyers early in the purchase process without hard selling.
Ideal for product discovery
There are over 240 billion pins saved by users on Pinterest. And it’s not just mood boards - it’s discovery.
80% of weekly pinners say they’ve discovered a new brand or product while browsing Pinterest.
After relaunching our new site in June 2021, we took the opportunity to overhaul our Pinterest to provide people with relevant, engaging, product-centric content. We decided to make all our items available through Pinterest, so users could pin them on their boards. This made it easier for people to find AreYouGame, start the purchasing process, and spread product awareness. With this approach, we went from zero impressions to almost 700,000 in four months!
Pinterest also gives interactive insights into audience demographics, interests, and behaviors, so you can tailor pins and ads based on what’s actually happening.
It’s become a place to shop
Pinterest recently reported, “Shopping ad revenue once again grew faster than our overall business and we saw a 6x increase in the number of businesses that used the shopping ads format in Q4 [of 2020].”
Shoppers on Pinterest spend twice of much times on the platform per month than people do on other platforms.
Pinterest found when brands add Shopping or Collections ads to their Pinterest mix, they see three times more conversions and a two times increase in return on ad spend.
Product pins connect to your Shopify product catalog. Once you upload it, you get a Shop tab on your profile and people can find your products more easily. Users can also browse shoppable pins in the Shop tab of their search screen.
What types of businesses should use Pinterest?
Many businesses can get meaningful results from Pinterest, especially online stores selling physical goods that can be photographed.
Business-to-consumer (B2C) companies generally have a much easier time on Pinterest than business-to-business (B2B) companies, but B2B isn’t impossible.
Who uses Pinterest?
Women have historically used Pinterest more than men. That’s still mostly true, but men are growing quickly.
Women now make up 60% of the platform’s users, while younger men are beginning to join.
Pinterest reports:
- Male pinners and Gen Z pinners are up 40% year over year
- 35% US millennial pinners are up 35% year over year
- 45% of all pinners have household incomes of more than $100,000 annually
That last stat is the one ecommerce brands should care about. Higher disposable income usually means less friction to purchase.
Set up your Pinterest profile for success
Your profile is the foundation. Get this right once and you stop bleeding time later.
Make sure you set up a business account instead of a personal one. Business accounts unlock Pinterest analytics, rich pins, and other advertising and marketing tools.
There are a few ways to create a Pinterest business account:
- Convert a personal account to a business one.
- Create a linked business account.
- Create a new business account.
Convert a personal account to a business one
If you already have a personal profile with followers and saved content, convert it.
- Log into your personal Pinterest account.
- From the top right of your screen, click the directional chevron down icon, then click Settings.
- From the left side navigation, click Account settings.
- Scroll down to Account changes.
- Under Account changes, find Convert to a business account.
- Click Convert account.
- Fill out the fields to Build your profile, then click Next.
- Fill out the fields to Describe your business, then click Next.
- Select if you want to run ads, then click Next.
- Select where you’d like to start, or click the X icon to go to your converted Pinterest business account.
Create a linked business account
This connects your personal and business accounts under the same login so you can switch between them.
- Log into your personal Pinterest account.
- From the top right of your screen, click the directional chevron down icon, then click Add account.
- Under Create a free business account, click Create.
- Click Create a linked business account.
- Click Create linked account.
- Fill out the fields to Build your profile, then click Next.
- Fill out the fields to Describe your business, then click Next.
- Select if you want to run ads, then click Next.
- Select where you'd like to start, or click the X icon to go to your linked Pinterest business account.
Create a new business account
If you want a clean slate that isn’t tied to a personal account:
- Head to Pinterest and create a business account.
- Enter your email, create a password and enter your age.
- Click Create account.
- Fill out the fields to Build your profile, then click Next.
- Fill out the fields to Describe your business, then click Next.
- Select if you want to run ads, then click Next.
- Select where you’d like to start, or click the X icon to go to your new Pinterest business account.
Once you set up a business profile, you can choose the next steps:
- Importing products from your Shopify store
- Running ads
- Showcasing your brand
Create your Pinterest marketing strategy
Pinterest rewards consistency and relevance. Random posting won’t do much. A simple strategy will.
Set goals
According to the 2021 Sprout Social Index, the most common goals for social include increasing brand awareness (58%) and community engagement (41%).
Realistic goals for Pinterest include:
- Increase brand awareness, or get your name out there. Building awareness means publishing content that builds trust and shows your personality, not just posting promotional messages.
- Generate leads and sales. Pinterest helps people find products and connect with brands. You can drive traffic to your website, where you can control the experience, get email sign-ups, etc. Or you can sell directly on Pinterest through product pins. Knowing your conversions and URL clicks helps you determine social media ROI.
- Build your audience. This means finding different ways to reach new audiences on Pinterest and introduce them to your brand. It also means having conversations with followers and taking advantage of industry trends.
- Boost engagement. The Sprout Social Index shows that 46% of consumers think brands that engage with their audience are best in class on social media. Experiment with messaging and content on Pinterest to grab the attention of your followers.
Pick 1-2 goals to start. Keep it boring and measurable.
Example:
- ❌ Improve Pinterest ROI
- ✅ Increase revenue from Pinterest 10% each quarter until end of year
Research your target market
Pinterest marketing starts with knowing who you’re talking to. The platform is broad, but your content shouldn’t be.
Here’s what we know about Pinterest already:
- 50% of Pinterest users live outside the US
- 77% of Pinterest’s audience is female
- 32% of Pinterest users are 18-29 years old
- 34% of Pinterest users are 30-49 years old
- 38% of Pinterest users are 50-64 years old
- 30% of US Pinterest users come from suburban areas
- 80% of US mothers use Pinterest
- Male pinners and Gen Z pinners are up 40% year over year
Food and drink and home decor are the popular categories on Pinterest. Health and fitness, women’s fashion, and health and beauty are close behind.
As you post, use Audience insights in Pinterest Analytics to see who’s actually engaging with your pins.
Fill out your Pinterest business profile
To update info, click on the pencil emoticon in your Business hub.
Keep branding consistent across your site and social profiles. Match your username to other platforms like Facebook or Instagram if possible. Use the same logo for your profile picture so you’re instantly recognizable.
After filling in your information, click Claim in the left side navigation bar. Here you can claim assets like your website, Etsy, and YouTube channel, and install the Pinterest app on Shopify.
Organizing your Pinterest boards
Board organization is a growth lever, not busywork. If you break boards down into niche subsections, you’ll get more followers because:
- You optimize for more keywords users are searching for
- Niche boards are more relevant to specific audiences
- Users can instantly understand what a board is about
Use separate boards for different product lines and audiences. You can also create sections (boards within boards).
Example board structure for a jeweler:
- Birthstone Jewelry, with sections for each month
- The Meaning of Gemstones, with blog posts and on-site resources
- Engagement Rings, with sections sorted by style
- Men’s Watches, with sections for different brand names
Take keywords into consideration
Pinterest is a search engine wearing a social media costume. Keywords are the whole game.
Pinterest is a unique platform because the SEO and social hybrid are ripe for shopping.
Pinners use the site to research buying decisions and make direct purchases. You want your pins showing up when they search.
Patrick Crane, founder of Love Sew says:
Use relevant keywords in the pin description that align to the page you are linking to. This helps Pinterest serve your content to the most relevant audience on the platform. These keywords should preferably be placed at or near the beginning of the description for maximum impact.
Example: say you sell a subscription service for dog toys like BarkBox, but we’ll make up a name and call it WoofCrate. Your description might be:
Have dog toys delivered to your door once a month, and spoil your pup with gourmet dog treats.
Tip: If you aren’t sure what keywords to target, one strategy is to use the Promoted Pins creator keyword suggestion feature. Type in a general keyword and it provides similar suggestions with an estimation of how many searches they receive per month.
Decide on your content mix
All pins must link to another site and include a visual component. And your links should go to the most relevant page - not your homepage.
Here are the formats that tend to work.
Product Pins
Product pins contain pictures or videos of specific products, which take users directly to the site to purchase.
They’re enriched with metadata and formatted to signal they’re shoppable. A pin could say “Bestseller” if it’s a most-purchased item in a Pinterest product category, or “Popular” if it’s the most clicked product on Pinterest. These labels don’t reflect your individual sales activity.
Blog posts and content
Blog posts can do very well on Pinterest if you treat the pin like an ad for the article.
Use text on the image itself (tools like Canva can help) and write a description that explains why the article is worth reading. Pinterest is where “how to” content gets discovered over and over again.
Infographics
Infographics fit Pinterest naturally because they’re visual and skimmable.
Make sure your infographic meets the platform’s standards or it’ll show up too small to read, which kills saves and clicks.
Videos
Videos are becoming more popular on Pinterest, and you can import videos directly from YouTube if you’ve built a channel there.
Autoplay videos are currently only for promoted pins. Tutorials and DIY videos generally perform well because they match why people use Pinterest in the first place.
If you’re using UGC style videos for Pinterest ads, this is where the economics matter. Traditional UGC is often ~$200 per video plus time to find creators, brief them, review, and iterate. With EzUGC, you can generate AI UGC videos for ~$5 each, iterate instantly, and keep creative testing moving without the back-and-forth.
Story Pins
Story pins are a newer type of pin that let you tell stories with video, voiceover, images, and text overlay.
Think of them like Instagram Stories that last longer. Story pins can be saved to boards and discovered over time, which is the whole Pinterest advantage.
Text on Pinterest: What part does it play?
Pinterest is visual, so the image stops the scroll. The text closes the click.
Your description helps Pinterest understand what the pin is about (distribution) and helps the user decide if it’s worth tapping (conversion). Put the most important keywords near the beginning, keep it readable, and make sure it matches the landing page you’re sending them to.