How to use Pinterest: Complete Guide for Beginners & Businesses

Pinterest is a valuable platform for driving traffic to your business if you understand how to leverage its features. It allows you to visually pin content, create boards for different categories, and link pins to websites. According to recent Pinterest statistics it attracts over 220 million users seeking inspiration, product discovery, recipes, travel ideas, fashion trends, and more.

Heard about Pinterest but are at a loss for how to get started? In this guide, I will walk you through the process of Pinterest marketing, starting with the platform and scheduling pins.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a visual discovery and planning tool that allows users to save and share images and videos, known as “pins,” on virtual boards. Users can create boards to organize and categorize their pins, and they can also browse and discover new content through searching and exploring boards created by other users, including Pinterest pin dimensions.

The platform is often used for inspiration and ideas, such as for fashion, home decor, and cooking, and it also has a feature for shopping, allowing users to purchase products directly from pins. Users can also use it for planning events, such as weddings and parties, by creating boards with themes, color schemes, and ideas.

Users can also follow other users, boards, and topics to see content that aligns with their interests. They can also interact with others by commenting and sharing pins. The platform also allows users to save and share their own content, such as their own photographs and videos, and it also has a feature for creating and sharing collections of pins, known as “pinboards.”

Pinterest is also a great source of inspiration for businesses, as well. It’s a place where businesses can showcase their products, services and ideas, connect with potential customers and drive sales using a Pinterest business account. Additionally, it can be used to research and gather information on trends, as well as to generate ideas for marketing campaigns and content.

How does Pinterest Work?

Pinterest works by allowing users to create and share image and video “pins” on virtual boards. When a user signs up for an account, they can create boards to organize their pins and begin saving and sharing content. Users can save pins from other users or from the web, by using the “Pin It” button or by uploading their own content. Pins can be saved to multiple boards, and they can be categorized using hashtags, keywords, and descriptions.

Users can also discover new content by searching for keywords, browsing boards created by other users, exploring popular pins and topics, and using the social media call to action examples that you’ve dropped for them. Users can follow other users, boards, and topics to see content that aligns with their interests, and they can also interact with others by commenting and sharing pins.

Pinterest also allows users to shop directly from pins, by featuring product pins that link to e-commerce websites. Additionally, it has a feature called “Shop the Look” that allows users to buy products from photos, by tagging products in the photos and linking them to a shopping website.

Businesses can use Pinterest to showcase their products and services, connect with potential customers, and drive sales. They can also use it to research and gather information on trends, as well as to generate ideas for marketing campaigns and content.

How to use Pinterest for beginners

Below are the steps and Pinterest instructions to kick-start your colorful pinning journey on the platform.

1. Sign up for a Pinterest account

When Pinterest was first launched, it had just an invite-only sign-up available. That means you had to wait for an invite to join the platform. After some time, as the user base increased, it became open for everyone to sign up for an account. You can just go to the Pinterest website and sign up using your email address. 

When you first sign up, you will get the option of linking your Facebook and Twitter accounts to it. By linking other social accounts, it will be easier for you to find your friends, family members, and favorite blogs and brands to follow on Pinterest. If you prefer to start with just your e-mail address, you can always connect your social accounts later.

2. Create your profile

Have a look at your other social media profiles. Try to pick out a username that is used on other sites like Instagram or Facebook. It will bring consistency across your social profiles and will make it easier for people to find you everywhere. Also, set a profile picture in which your face is clearly visible. If you are making an account for your business, you can set the company logo as the profile picture.

3. Dig into settings

We are talking about setting the email notifications for your Pinterest account. After activating your account, you must check your e-mail settings. Fortunately, the e-mail choices on Pinterest are simple to grasp and clear. When you begin pinning, it is recommended that you keep all the notifications all for a while. This will help you find new people to follow by seeing who likes, comments, or repins ideas from your boards. You can turn them off afterward if they are filling up your inbox unnecessarily.

How to use Pinterest – Creating pins

When you are all done with the account creation process, it’s time to saving pins and creating your own Pinterest boards.

If you are new to Pinterest, then you should first read our guide on how to post on Pinterest and create Pinterest pins. If you are familiar with it, then here is how professionals use Pinterest.

1. Install the ‘Pin it’ button

You can add the “Pin it” button to your web browser – the easiest way to add content from any website. Visit the “Goodies” page on Pinterest to learn how to install it on your Google chrome. You can also add pins via the “Pin It” button on your favorite sites. It will usually be close to the Facebook and Twitter share buttons.

2. Add a pin

Click the “Pin It” button on the bookmark bar or on the website you are reading to add a pin to one of your boards. If there is more than one image on the page, a pop-up will ask you to select the image that you want to pin. After selecting the image, you’ll get another window to create the pin. 

On this window, you need to do two things – select the board in which you want to add the pin and write a description of the image. You can select the board by using the drop-down menu. If you want to add the pin to a new board, you can create one directly from the drop-down menu. The description will help remember why you created the pin.  

3. Create new boards

While being on the main Pinterest page, click the “Add +” button in the right-hand upper corner. Select the option to create a board. Give a descriptive name to your board so people can get an idea of the kind of pins they’ll find in it. Category choices are set by Pinterest, so pick the one that is nearest or pick “other” for the wildcard boards.

The final thing to do before you create a board is to add another pinner to it. This ensures that they would be able to connect pins and other pinners to the shared board. However, they’ll not be able to edit the board or change its category.

4. Liking and commenting on other’s pins

Let’s say that you like someone’s pin, but not so much to insert it to one of your own boards. In such cases, you can simply like the pin. The original pinner will be able to see that you liked their pin, but it won’t be added to the feed of pins that how to get followers on pinterest. By using the comments option, you can also add comments to your pins or pins of your friends.

5. Upload a pin

If you have a picture that you want to upload to Pinterest from your camera roll, you can do so by using their upload feature. From your main Pinterest feed, click on the “Add +” button on the right-hand upper corner. From the pop-up window, you can create a new pin by selecting any picture from your device or by pasting any website’s URL.

6. Repin pins from your feed

If somebody you’re following has posted a pin you like, you can also save it to one of your boards. Just hover over the Pinterest image, and three buttons will appear — repin, like, and comment. To add that pin to your account, click repin and follow the same steps you would do to add a pin.

Benefits of using Pinterest for business

You thought Pinterest was only for individuals? You got it wrong! Pinterest offers businesses an equal proposition like any other social media network. You can find influencers, and business ideas, see the pins of your competitors, provide informational content to your audience, link your blogs, and much more on this pretty platform. Below are some benefits of using Pinterest for Business:

1. Engage with users easily

Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest does not follow the game of getting followers or connections. The users here simply find stuff and share it amongst their small groups. The users here are actively interested in what’s trending. 70% of Pinterest users aren’t just visiting or scrolling their feeds, but they are actively engaged in taking actions like pinning images and visiting websites through images. Thus, you can easily engage with users as they are actively looking for some kind of information.

2. Increase your brand authority

When you create a Business account on Pinterest, you get a few additional features that normal accounts don’t have. You will get:

• A header full of your own branded pins
• Add links to your website
• Number of people who viewed your pins

These features help you increase your brand authority and build a good online presence. The information that you provide on your boards will be trusted by users more.

3. Find out trends

As compared to other social media platforms, Pinterest is a place where people share products, designs, and trends that they love. When you are actively using the platform, you will be able to find the current as well as upcoming trends in your industry. 

You can follow industry influencers, watch their Pinterest tutorials, and connect with them to promote your business. Pinterest will also regularly curate content on your feed according to your searches, which further helps in finding out trends.

4. Drive traffic to your website

When you have a business account on Pinterest, you are able to add your website address in your profile. This is a great way to start driving people from Pinterest to your website. You also get access to Rich Pins – which is a type of Pin where you can include more information about your landing page as compared to a normal pin. Product pins can be created that show information about prices and features of the products. You can also post blog links that drive people to visit your website. Another way to drive massive Pinterest traffic would be by creating pins for Pinterest images.

5. Dig into analytics

This is one of the greatest advantages of having a business profile on Pinterest. You get access to analytics where you can find out the data related to your pins, especially the ones that you have saved from your website.

You will be able to check out the views, impressions, engagement rate, clicks, and much more. It’s easy to filter this information according to date range. You can see the data for all pins or only the ones that you saved from your website. This data will help you find out which kind of pins are performing better and are liked by your audience.

6. Run paid ads

As you hold a business account, you can run ads and promote your pins on Pinterest pages, just like on Facebook or Instagram. It is possible to run targeted ads, which helps you in gaining more success for your Pinterest profile. 

Choose to build ad campaigns for brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, or to get conversions, and you can also select hyper-specific interest targeting for your ads. Marketing on Pinterest through ads is also very affordable. Thus, if you have a visual product or service, you should definitely consider investing in this platform.

7. Inspire people to purchase

One of the most distinguished characteristics of Pinterest is that it reduces the number of steps that people take from discovering a product to making a purchase. It has the ability to convert leads into sales much faster than any other social media platform. After people see your product on Pinterest and find it interesting, they simply proceed to the website to find more about it and make a purchase.

How to use Pinterest for business?

Now that you know why to use Pinterest for business, let’s see how to use it. An average Pinterest user spends about 15 minutes pining images every time they log in. The half-life of a Pinterest pin is 1,600 times longer than a Facebook post.

Since its launch, Pinterest is growing at rapid rates. As the shelf life of content is longer, Pinterest can prove to be a great platform for content marketing. Imagine your content popping up in the feed of users after 2 or 3 months of posting. Isn’t that something worth working for? 

Even after providing amazing results, people have got many misconceptions about Pinterest. Some of them include – Pinterest being used by females only, People pinning content related to food and weddings only, or their target audience is not present on Pinterest.

Well, none of these are true. Any company can gain a captive audience with the right visual content on Pinterest. If you have a story to share and aspire to reach a whole new audience, then Pinterest is for you. To stay ahead of the trends and maximize your efforts, check out our latest guide on Pinterest Marketing 2024. You can also learn how to post on Pinterest for creating viral pins for your business.

Here’s how you can successfully use Pinterest to market your business.

1. Find your target audience

Concentrating on a niche community of highly dedicated users like any other social media site can yield much more results than targeting a large, unspecific audience. If you concentrate on sharing consistent content within your niche, people will begin to consider you a continuous source of motivation and knowledge. Focusing on a target audience would also yield positive results according to the Pinterest algorithm.

2. Be patient and stick with your efforts

Unlike other social media platforms where engagement happens just within 24-48 hours, Pinterest takes days, weeks, or even months for content to show up on the feed. In that context, Pinterest is one of the strongest social media sites for long-term growth and consistent traffic for your website. A piece of advice the Pinterest team gives goes like “Be patient and stick with it. Publishing consistently over consecutive months is the best way to build a dedicated audience.”

3. Use eye-catching, unique vertical images

Pinterest content that stand out are vibrant, exclusive, and say something concrete about what you have to offer will give you a big advantage over other content on this site. Any image that you use should be in high-resolution, as Pinterest is all about the content that looks appealing. If your photos are pixelated, small, or vague, they will not catch users’ attention in the Pinterest feed.

The ideal aspect ratio for a vertical Pin is 2:3—600px wide x 900px high. Square images that are 600px wide x 600px tall, work well too. If your images do not have enough context on their own, the Pinterest team suggests adding a copy to the image to help you deliver your message.

4. Use well-searched keywords and hashtags

One of the keys to ensuring that your Pins stay discoverable over a long period is to think about the Pinner’s thinking while they’re looking for content like yours and then apply certain keywords directly to the title and description. Pinterest is essentially a search engine and you want to be listed at the top. Besides keywords, hashtags play an important part in improving your content’s discoverability. The Pinterest team suggests that individual Pinners and companies should use up to 20 hashtags to help users discover popular and meaningful content.

5. Always include relevant links

When people click on a pin, they expect to be redirected to a landing page so that they can learn more about the concept or knowledge you shared on your Pinterest profile. This means that you must ensure that the content/image contains a relevant link to the original source every time – even if the link does not lead to your own website.

How to use Pinterest for different industries?

1. How to use Pinterest for marketing

• Create a business account: This will give you access to analytics and other tools to help you track your progress and reach a wider audience. You can check out the Pinterest user guide provided by the platform to gain more information about professional accounts.
• Optimize your profile: Use keywords in your profile description, username, and board titles to help people find your content.
• Create boards: Organize your content into boards based on themes or product categories.
• Pin high-quality images: Use visually appealing images that are relevant to your products or services.
• Use keywords: Use keywords in your pins, boards, and profile to help people find your content.
• Engage with others: Comment on and repin other users’ content to build relationships and increase visibility.
• Promote your pins: Use promoted pins to reach a wider audience and drive more traffic to your website.
• Track your performance: Use Pinterest analytics to track your performance and see what’s working.
• Use Rich Pins: Rich Pins allow you to add extra information to your pins like prices and availability, these pins are more engaging and interactive.
• Collaborate with influencers: Partner with influencers in your niche to reach new audiences and gain credibility.

Discover full potential of Pinterest for your business—discover expert tips and strategies in our guide on how to use Pinterest for marketing!

2. How to use Pinterest for blogging

I will summarize pinterest for blogging in this section, but if you run a blog you should check out our guide on Pinterest for Blogging.

• Create a business account: This will give you access to analytics and other tools to help you track your progress and reach a wider audience.
• Optimize your profile: Use keywords in your profile description, username, and board titles to help people find your content.
• Create boards: Organize your content into boards based on themes or categories related to your blog.
• Pin high-quality images: Use visually appealing images that are relevant to your blog content and include a title and description with a link to the blog post.
• Use keywords: Use keywords in your pins, boards, and profile to help people find your content.
• Create a Pinning schedule: Pin new content regularly and consistently to keep your boards fresh and engaging.
• Engage with others: Comment on and repin other users’ content to build relationships and increase visibility.
• Promote your pins: Use promoted pins to reach a wider audience and drive more traffic to your website.
• Track your performance: Use Pinterest analytics to track your performance and see what’s working.
• Create pin-worthy blog post: Optimize your blog post with good quality images, catchy title, and include keywords to make it easy for pinterest users to find your post.
• Use Rich Pins: Rich Pins allow you to add extra information to your pins like prices and availability, these pins are more engaging and interactive.
• Collaborate with influencers: Partner with influencers in your niche to reach new audiences and gain credibility.

3. How to use Pinterest for personal use

• Create a personal account: You can create a personal account using your email or sign in with your Facebook or Google account. Set up a Pinterest profile picture and complete your bio.
• Build boards: Create boards to organize your content, such as “Home Decor Ideas,” “Recipes to Try,” or “Fashion Inspiration.”
• Pin content: Use the Pinterest search bar or browser extension to save content from around the web to your boards.
• Use keywords: Use keywords in your pins, boards, and profile to help you find your content later.
• Organize your boards: Organize your boards by theme or category to make it easy to find what you’re looking for later.
• Collaborate with friends: Share boards with friends or family members to collaborate on projects or find inspiration together.
• Personalize your profile: Add a profile picture and bio to personalize your account and make it easy for people to find you.
• Explore: Browse other users’ boards to find inspiration and new ideas.
• Keep it private: you can make your boards private if you want to keep your saved pins for your eyes only.
• Use Rich Pins: Rich Pins allow you to add extra information to your pins like prices and availability, these pins are more engaging and interactive.
• Track your performance: Use Pinterest analytics to track your performance and see what’s working.

4. How to use Pinterest for artists

• Create a business account: This will give you access to analytics and other tools to help you track your progress and reach a wider audience.
• Optimize your profile: Use keywords in your profile description, username, and board titles to help people find your content.
• Create boards: Organize your content into boards based on themes or categories related to your art.
• Pin high-quality images: Use visually appealing images of your art, along with a title and description that includes a link to your website or online shop.
• Use keywords: Use keywords in your pins, boards, and profile to help people find your content.
• Engage with others: Comment on and repin other users’ content to build relationships and increase visibility.
• Promote your pins: Use promoted pins to reach a wider audience and drive more traffic to your website or online shop.
• Track your performance: Use Pinterest analytics to track your performance and see what’s working.
• Use Rich Pins: Rich Pins allow you to add extra information to your pins like prices and availability, these pins are more engaging and interactive.
• Collaborate with influencers: Partner with influencers in your niche to reach new audiences and gain credibility.
• Create boards for inspiration: Create boards to save your favorite artworks or inspiration, it could be the work of other artists or just art that you like.
• Share behind the scenes: Share pictures of your studio, sketches, or process of creating a piece of art. This can help you build a personal connection with your audience.

5. How to use Pinterest as an influencer

• Create a business account: This will give you access to analytics, promoted pins, and other features that can help you grow your following and reach a larger audience.
• Optimize your profile: Make sure your bio is clear and informative, and include links to your website or other social media profiles.
• Create boards: Organize your content into boards based on topics related to your niche, such as fashion, beauty, travel, or food.
• Pin content: Share a mix of your own content and relevant content from others to keep your boards fresh and interesting.
• Engage with your audience: Respond to comments and messages, and actively engage with other users in your niche to build relationships and grow your following.
• Use Promoted Pins: Utilize Pinterest’s promoted pins feature to reach more people and drive more website traffic.
• Measure and Analyze: Use the analytics provided by Pinterest to track the performance of your pins, boards and profile, and see what’s working and what isn’t.

How to use Pinterest on iPhone?

Posting to Pinterest through iPhone is a fairly straightforward process. Here are the steps to get started:

• Download the Pinterest app from the App Store on your iPhone.
• Open the app and sign in or create a new account. If you’re creating a new account, you’ll need to provide your email address and a password.
• Once you’re logged in, you’ll see the Pinterest home feed. You can browse through pins and boards by scrolling through the feed.
• To search for specific content, tap on the search icon in the top right corner of the screen. You can search for keywords, users, or specific boards.
• To save a pin, tap on the save button located at the bottom of the pin. You can save a pin to one of your existing boards, or create a new board.
• To create a new pin, tap on the plus icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. You can create a new pin by uploading a photo from your camera roll, or by using the camera to take a new photo.
• To view your profile, tap on the profile icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. From here, you can see your boards, pins, and followers.
• To interact with other users, tap on the speech bubble icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. This will take you to your notifications, where you can see comments, mentions, and other interactions.

To sum up,

If utilized properly, Pinterest can yield amazing benefits for individuals, bloggers, and businesses. It has a huge potential to drive genuine traffic to your website. Once you’ve mastered the basics of how to use Pinterest, the next step is driving more visitors to your content. Check out how to increase Pinterest traffic to learn proven strategies for growing your reach and engagement.

You can also try out Best pinterest scheduling tools to keep your Pinterest account consistently updated with fresh content. 

Now that you know how to use Pinterest scheduler effectively go and begin your pinning adventure!

Frequently Asked Questions

Dinesh Agarwal

Dr. Dinesh Agarwal, founder of RecurPost, transformed from academic researcher to social media technology innovator in 2013. With a doctorate in Cloud Computing, he applied scientific principles to develop a pioneering social media management tool that streamlined content scheduling processes for digital marketers, leading to its successful acquisition. Today, his RecurPost platform serves as an enterprise-grade social media automation solution helping over 100,000 businesses optimize their online presence. Dr. Agarwal actively contributes to the social media marketing ecosystem through educational content, including conference presentations, podcast interviews, and in-depth articles focusing on social media optimization techniques and algorithmic content distribution strategies.