Why pin on pinterest

The fervor sets in and you begin to pin all the things you can find: photographs, infographics, logos, icons. As long as it's an image, it gets pinned.

But if you're trying to grow your business through Pinterest, that strategy won't help you at all. Sadly, you can't pin a million things and expect people to click through to your content every time. You've got to make each pin count. Optimizing pins instead of posting willy-nilly isn't hard.

It just calls for more thought into your brand: What exactly are you pinning? What does it say about your business? Why should your audience and ultimately, your customers care? Keep reading to learn how to create your own pin, as well as the most important parts of a pin your audience will want to pin themselves. If you're using a desktop computer, clicking "Create Pin" from your Pinterest profile page will bring you to the pin-creation form shown below.

To upload an image file from a folder on your computer, simply click the gray box and select the image file from the window that appears on your screen.

You can also drag the image file itself directly into this gray box. Once your image is uploaded, click "Add a destination link" on the bottom-righthand corner of the form and enter the website you want this pin to link to when users click on it. If the image you want to pin already lives online somewhere, click "Save from site" beneath the gray image-upload box, and enter the URL of the website. This will be the website your image automatically links to when your pin goes live.

In the window that appears, you might see more than one image to choose from -- these are all the images Pinterest found living on the webpage you're linking to. Scroll until you find the image you want to pin, and select it.

With your image successfully uploaded, it's time to optimize your pin with appropriate text. Click the "Add your title" preview text and give your pin an enticing preview that best represents the content of your pin -- and the website to which the image links. For example, if you're pinning an image of a denim outfit, and linking to the purchase page of that outfit, you might title your pin "New Denim Wear by [Company Name].

Add a description for your pin beneath your title, up to characters. Keep in mind only the first 50 characters of your pin description will appear beneath the image in user's Pinterest newsfeeds. We'll talk about how to optimize your pin description in the next section of this blog post. Your final task before saving your pin is to add this pin to a "board.

To select or create a board for this pin, click "Choose a board required " beneath your pin's destination link. You'll be taken to the page shown above, where you can choose or create a board that best represents the type of content you're currently pinning. Once you've selected a board to add your pin to, return to the pin-creation form and hit the red "Save" button at the top of your screen.

Follow the prompts to push your pin live, and you'll be all set. This seems like the most obvious of them all Images should be about pixels wide when expanded with no pixelation. In general, tall images work best as they will appear on the screen longer while people are scrolling through their feed, but you don't want your images to be overwhelmingly long.

There are lots of ways to make your pins look more beautiful, but if you're just getting started, sticking to a large, high-resolution image will work. You don't have to create every image you pin though if you want to, here are some free tools to help you , but you should stay away from pinning cheesy stock photos -- Pinterest users love inspirational, beautiful photos or graphics, or images that are extremely helpful, clever, or informational.

Besides being high quality, the image should be indicative of what's at the pin's link. You don't want to mislead your Pinterest followers with an image that doesn't match up with the accompanying link -- it feels like a bait-and-switch. Instead, choose an image that reflects the link's contents. If you're struggling to convey an abstract concept, feel free to add text to your image to describe it.

The above example didn't need that -- the icons themselves conveyed what was behind the link: free downloadable icons. If you want an example of a great pin with text on it, check the one out below. Without the title on the image, the pin wouldn't nearly be as strong -- people would have no idea that this was an ebook they could download. Moral of the story here: make sure that people know what's inside the pin so they feel enticed to click.

If you feel like the image isn't pulling its weight on its own, add text. That little bit of text could make the difference between someone clicking on your pin or not. Although you might provide a link to the content you're promoting in the pin's description which we'll talk about in step 5, below , it's just as important to include this link in the image you're pinning. If the image you're pinning already lives somewhere online, this is easy to do -- you'll simply add the website link first , then select the image you want to pin once this link has been entered.

What Pinterest won't prompt you to do, but you should do anyway, is add a UTM code to the end of this link. UTM codes, also known as tracking tags, allow you to identify where your website traffic came from if it didn't come organically from a search engine. In this case, you can add a UTM code indicating when your website traffic came from a Pinterest pin. New to using UTM tracking codes? Get the low-down on how they work here.

Attribution goes both for pins you create yourself and pins you post from other people's content. It's really easy to get content stolen on Pinterest , so you want to make sure you're always giving credit where credit is due and protecting yourself if others won't do the same for you.

It's pretty simple: If you're pinning someone else's content, give them credit in the description or the link you're connecting to your pin. If you're pinning your original content, add your logo or website URL in the photo -- if folks share your content without attributing it to you, people will still know where it came from.

In the example above, this is a design HubSpot made, so we threw up our logo in the background -- it's not intrusive, but it helps identify the image as ours. A pin's description is one of the most overlooked parts of a pin -- scroll through Pinterest and you'll see lots of pins without any at all. Even though others are doing it, you shouldn't. If you're trying to use Pinterest to build your business, you can't forget the description -- it could have too big of an impact on your results.

Keep your copy concise, yet enticing. Tell readers what they'll get if they click on the pin. Pinterest allots up to characters of space for a pin description, reserving the first 50 characters for what will appear on most user's Pinterest newsfeeds.

All things considered, pins with descriptions around characters are often ideal to maintain brevity while enticing users to click your pin. Also make sure you're using SEO-friendly terms to describe the content behind the pin so your pins can successfully rank in search engines.

Keep reading for 8 actionable tips. Pinterest is a visual platform, so effectively using it for business means producing high-quality, engaging visual content to share. Finally, be consistent! Consistent, daily Pinning is more effective than creating a board and filling it up at once. And Pinning regularly ensures your content will reach a wider audience. Using Hootsuite to schedule Pins will help your brand stay on top of your content calendar. Learn more about how to use Pinterest with Hootsuite below.

Mix it up! Pin a video encouraging Pinners to shop at your e-commerce store or try adding multiple photos to a Pin to create a carousel.

Consider also posting how-to Pins or inspiration boards to provide your audience with fun and valuable content. In other words, the brand skillfully mixes useful, engaging and inspiring content boards with boards that are more promotional:. But the brand also has other boards, like the Earth Day board that includes Pins indirectly showcasing the brand while showing an understanding of what their audience values and supports.

Find more SEO tips — and the top Pinterest keywords— in this article. Another effective way to market your business on Pinterest is with ads. Pinterest allows advertisers to target ads around keywords, interests, location, age and other metrics and categories. And detailed audience targeting lets advertisers reach specific groups of Pinterest users, including:.

From video ads to collections to promoted Pins, there is a range of ad types available on Pinterest. Learn everything you need to know about Pinterest advertising here.

A successful Pinterest marketing strategy is data-driven. In other words, tracking, measuring and analyzing key Pinterest metrics and audience behavior helps social media managers see what content performs best and what content is a little less engaging. We let you know which metrics you should be tracking and which tools you can use to monitor them here.

Promote your Pinterest profile:. Add your professional email and your age, and create a secure password. Then, click Create account. Then, click Next. Get here by clicking on the last button a simple arrow icon in the top right hand menu. This opens a drop-down menu.

Then, click Settings. And click Convert account under the Convert to a business account section. Another option is to link a Pinterest business account to your already-existing personal account. To do that, simply click Add an account after navigating to settings while logged into your personal account:. Like every social media site, Pinterest has its own lingo you should familiarize yourself with to set yourself up for success.

LinkedIn has members. Snapchat users are Snapchatters. And Pinterest has Pinners. In other words, a Pinner is the branded term for a person who uses Pinterest. A Pin is a primary post published on Pinterest.

Pins include images or videos and can link back to an original source, much like a website bookmark. Promoted Pins are a kind of Pinterest ad. They are Pins that companies have paid to promote so that more Pinners are likely to see them. Promoted video Pins, carousels, and app Pins are also available.

Learn more about Pinterest ad options here. Think of a Repin as a share on Facebook or a Retweet on Twitter. Rich Pins automatically pull more information from your website to the Pin.

The point is to provide more information, such as product availability and up-to-date pricing. These are much like regular Pins, but instead of a static photo, they feature a video that loops. Instead of just one image, carousel Pins feature multiple images. Up to five images can be added to a carousel Pin. This Pin format makes it easier for Pinners to shop for similar products.

When a Pinner clicks on the magnifying glass in the bottom right corner of a Collections Pin, white dots will appear. Idea Pins can be used to promote your brand in a new way, by customizing the colors and fonts in your Pin, creating step-by-step guides or curating collections.

Think of Pinterest boards as digital mood boards. Use boards to save, collect and organize your Pins. Many use boards to group Pins according to a certain theme or topic. For example, you might create a board around the planning of a product launch event, for seasonal content, or for wedding inspiration.