How To Grow Your Small Business On Pinterest in 2023
I've been using Pinterest for just about as long as the platform has been around. I remember when Pinterest started back in 2010 and my mom told me about it because she thought it would be a platform i'd like for exploring art and getting ideas for craft projects. As soon as I started using Pinterest, I never stopped. I've been on it ever since, first for just personal use and then once I started my business I began using it for business purposes.
I've had seasons where my own Pinterest account was receiving over a million views a month. I've also had seasons where my Pinterest tanked and dropped massively in views. I've grown an audience of just shy of 10K people without even trying that much.
You see, to me Pinterest feels like play. It doesn't feel like work and growing your business on the platform is incredibly fun as well as low pressure. Unlike other social media platforms, with Pinterest you don't really have to talk to people 😂 . My introverted nature loves this and I often find Pinterest to be a breath of fresh air in comparison to other platforms we often use to grow our businesses online.
It's a visually-driven platform much like Instagram, which is probably why it's my second favorite social platform to grow businesses on next to IG. For anyone who enjoys creating visually exciting content, is into design and aesthetic, or just is already an active Pinterest user, it is definitely worth it to consider using the platform for your business (so long as your target audience is also actively hanging out there!).
In this article, i'm going to share with you my TOP tips for using Pinterest to grow your business. Right now, we manage half a dozen Pinterest accounts for clients. Just this last week, we had one of our clients whom we just started managing their Pinterest account in January message me to announce they received their first client lead from Pinterest. SO exciting, right?! There is a ton of potential in Pinterest, but there is also a lot of stuff that goes into seeing success in growing your business there. Let's get into it.
Tips to help you grow your business on Pinterest
Regular pinning
…but not like it used to be! Back in the day the recommendation was like 60+ pins a day. Who has time for that?! Now, the recommendation is to pin at least 4-5 times a day… and to try to keep your daily pinning to 25 pins or less. Keep in mind: There is no perfect number! I have tested so many different formats for this and it ends up being different for each account. So, it really is important to experiment, try different amounts out, and find what works for you and your business.
What does it mean to make a Pin?
What you first want to know is that Pinterest favors what they call fresh pins. Fresh pins are pins that you design and pin to a designated board on your Pinterest page.
Fresh pins can also be pins you share that OTHER people have created. I like to think of this as not-mine-but-still-fresh content 😉 . Also note that Pinterest LOVES consistency and it's better to be consistent with less pinning but still pinning that it is to do what most folks do and that is to go all in on Pinterest for a month and then drop off the face of the earth for months…rinse and repeat.
Pinterest also loves when pins are getting shared from websites. So, make sure you have Pinterest direct pinning set up on your website so you can pin content from your site directly onto Pinterest. You can also pin content from other sites you love that are on brand and fit with the typical topics you pin on directly to your Pinterest page, too.
Schedule your content
To keep it easy on yourself, set yourself up with a scheduler, establish a certain date you design and set up all of your fresh pins, and schedule them out for the month! Then, all you need to do on top of that is be active on Pinterest throughout the week, pinning not-mine-but-still-fresh content and interacting on the platform to keep things lively.
Our Studio currently is partnered with Sprout Social for all media and brand management and they are who we are using right now to schedule out content. I am actually disappointed with Sprout Social, though, so i'm going to recommend checking out Tailwind for scheduling pins. You can also manually schedule content directly on Pinterest, which is something I also do at times!
Attach links to your pins to drive website traffic
Pinterest is one of the best ways i've found to drive consistent traffic to your website. One of the reasons for this is that Pinterest rules for evergreen content. Unlike platforms like Instagram, where content has a shelf life of on average 48 hours, Pinterest pins typically have a shelf life of 3.5 months or longer! This means, you can continue to see results from your pins for a long time!
But here's the thing: Pinterest does NOT like you to direct pins to the same link on the same day. You want to use different URLS for pins you are sharing on the same day, not directing all of your pins to the same place at once! A great rule of thumb is to plan out your pins in a way that you have a handful of URLS you are wanting to drive traffic to, then plan pins out to direct to varying links so that they are all driving to different places.
Limit the amount of boards you are pinning to
This is something new-ish that seems to be favored on Pinterest and that is to not go beyond having 10 boards on your Pinterest. The sweet spot is actually around 5 active boards that you are regularly pinning fresh pins to.
You know all those random boards you created that have, like, 2 pins in them? Hide or delete them! Clean up your boards and get them organized as well as optimized.
Write great copy!
I have been on a kick re: the importance of optimizing your copy and messaging… with very good reason. Now more than ever before, social media is leaning into SEO and keywords to help your content get discovered. Done are the days of just being able to attach a few hashtags and voila! You receive awesome reach and engagement. Creating content takes a lot more work, strategy, and intention now.
There are some great tools that can help you not only write awesome copy but strengthen it. I know there is a lot of opinion floating around regarding AI technology, but I will say that some AI copy tools have been a game changer for our Studio. We don't depend on the tools, rather, we use the tools to help us outline, brainstorm, or optimize the copy we've already written. We don't take AI copy and use it as is, instead we just use AI copywriting tools to help us get started or finalize copy! My fave AI tools for copywriting right now are Copy.Ai, Notion's new AI tool, and Jasper.
Make sure to set up both your titles and descriptions in a way that you are using keywords and sharing concise, engaging information.
Create eye-catching and visually hip pins
Pinterest loves visuals, so make sure your pins are well-designed, distinguishable, easy to read, and relevant to your brand. High quality images, photos, and graphics matter A LOT on Pinterest and help you stand out!
Interaction does matter!
Though I do love Pinterest for the fact that I don't have to socially engage the same way I do on other platforms, that doesn't mean you don't need to interact and be social to some extent! Comment on other pins, follow relevant accounts, and connect with folks!
Pay attention to what Pinterest predicts and what's trending
My last tip is simple but very effective. Pinterest loves to help small businesses by providing tips on what's trending! This can help you understand what keywords to potentially use, what topics to potentially create pins on, and so on.
Right now, the top trending categories on Pinterest are:
Travel & Leisure
Health and Wellness
DIY Projects and Crafts
Beauty and Fashion
Food and Drinks
Home Decor
It's totally OK if your brand doesn't relate to the above topics. That doesn't mean your brand can't succeed on Pinterest! Find out what is trending for YOUR industry!
Check out who your followers are following and what pins they are re-pinning. That will give you a great understanding of what pins they want to see and engage with!
I hope this article helped answer some of your questions regarding not only whether Pinterest is a good platform for you to focus on growing your business on, but also ways to go about using Pinterest for business. The most important thing to understand is that, like all content marketing, there is not a one size fits all way to approach growing your business on Pinterest. It’s essential to test things out, experiment, track your progress, and get strategic.
If you are interested in focusing on Pinterest for business, our Studio would love to support you. Check out our media management services and reach out if you have any questions!
Until next time…
Natalie Brite - DoGoodBiz Studio
