How to Sell on Pinterest: 6 Things Your Ecommerce Should Do

Pinterest is not the most used social network nor with the greatest number of followers, but it does presume to be one of the most segmented: 79.5% of its users are women, compared to 20.5% of men, according to Statista data. The ecommerces related to decoration, art or the world of fashion must have an obligatory presence in this platform. But how to sell in Pinterest? This is not an easy question to answer.

statistic id408229 pinterest us user distribution 2013 2019 by gender
Source: Statista

With the launch of Pinterest Business, thousands of brands from all sectors were encouraged to commercially exploit this platform. In spite of which, of all the existing social networks, Pinterest is the great unknown for a part of the companies.
However, several studies show that more and more brands are investing in Pinterest. According to eMarketer, advertising revenues in this social network exceeded 500 million dollars in 2018 in the United States alone. By 2020, estimates indicate that they will reach 1,000 million. Amazing, isn’t it?
Publishing testimonials from influential people, launching contests, practising SEO or taking advantage of Rich Pins and Buyable Pins are key to selling in Pinterest. Want to discover these and other strategies?

6 Keys to Sell on Pinterest Effectively

Is it possible to sell in Pinterest? This is the question that many companies are asking nowadays. The answer is yes. But to use the same strategy in Pinterest as in Instagram or Facebook would be a big mistake. Below, you will discover some of the keys to do marketing effectively in this social network:

Use Buyable Pins and Promoted Pins

It is possible that when accessing the Pinterest profile publications of a brand you have noticed the ‘Buy it’ button next to the classic ‘Pin it’. This is one of the most interesting resources for companies on this platform. Through the Buyable Pins of Pinterest, e-commerce can expand the borders of their store, also covering the universe of this social network.
Buyable Pins allow consumers to add products to the cart and process their purchase without having to leave Pinterest. These buttons are also easy for the user to detect, so there is no risk of confusion or misinterpretation.
Another fantastic option for companies is Promoted Pins. These are the Pinterest ads. They can be designed by specifying keywords, audience segmentation, and their locations, as well as determining the objectives of the campaign. These objectives can be:

  • Build awareness
  • Video views
  • Drive consideration

The contests at Pinterest are a perfect strategy to connect with the audience, generate engagement and achieve a greater number of interactions. Good examples are Country Living magazine and it’s Dream Bedroom Pinterest Contest or eBay and its Halloween Sweepstakes contest.
However, organizing a contest does not guarantee success. The e-commerce must be creative and surprise with a unique gift or an interesting theme. In addition, Pinterest exercises great control over these types of events, due to bad practices in the past.
How to Sell on Pinterest 6 Things Your Ecommerce Should Do - Contest

Don’t forget the Rich Pins

Part of Pinterest’s success lies in its simplicity. But this simplicity is not always effective, especially for brands. However, thanks to the use of Rich Pins it is possible to include details such as the price, ingredients or ratings of a book or film. In this way, e-commerce can show a greater number of features and details of their products in the pins. Rich Pins improve click rates and conversions.

Publish testimonials from influential people

And if you are still wondering how to sell on Pinterest, you should know that the use of social influencers helps to improve campaign performance. Used correctly, bloggers, YouTubers and other internet personalities provide a very useful word of mouth for e-commerce. Combined with the power of product testimonials, influencers generate very good results at Pinterest.

Commitment to SEO

Did you know that Pinterest is an incredible source of web traffic? But not all online stores make this profit with their profile. The reason lies in SEO. But what relationship can organic search engine positioning have with Pinterest? Google attaches great importance to images, and therefore many of the searches on fashion and recipes are monopolized by Pinterest boards.
E-Commerce can take advantage of this by developing a series of useful practices to optimize the SEO of Pinterest:

  • Customize the URL of the company’s account so that its trade name can be read on the account, rather than a generic code.
  • Mention keywords related to e-commerce products in the Pinterest biography.
  • Include optimized links, hashtags and SEO descriptions in each of the product pins, as well as in informative images (for example, infographics).

Avoid spam and bad practices

Even the most respected brands can make the mistake of using bad practices to increase their community of followers or achieve other goals. However, Pinterest (like Facebook or Twitter) penalizes spam and other inappropriate practices. For example, you should avoid following random users on a massive scale or doing other bad practices that could lead to account blocking. Without a doubt, another key recommendation to know how to sell on Pinterest correctly.
However, advertisers should consider that all social networks are fit to sell, but not all networks can sell everything. Pinterest does not have the same target as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. For example, if the target customers of e-commerce are not millennials, Pinterest could be a bad choice for your marketing strategy. Why? Because more than 50% of the users of this platform belong to the Y generation, according to data provided by Pinterest.

Image credit : Jonathan Rodrigo

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ECN Team
E-Commerce Nation is The 1st B2B Web Media about E-Commerce in Europe. The team of E-Commerce Explorers help businesses to reach new potential market through delivering useful content. Let us know in comment if you enjoyed this content.