Organic posting on Pinterest for businesses

Pinterest has a lot of potential as a platform, but many businesses haven't realized it yet.

A shame, because with organic posts you can reach a large audience of pinners who want to try or discover ideas and products.

Pinterest is often automatically thrown into the "social media" bin by many people. But Pinterest is not a social media platform. It is a visual search engine. Simply putting your Instagram and Facebook posts on Pinterest makes no sense. Want to know what does work? Then read the tips from this blog.

So what is Pinterest anyway?

Before we give you all the tips and tricks for posting optimal images, it is first important to understand what Pinterest is and how it works.

Pinterest is a platform where people find inspiration. Remember when you used to go through all the magazines to cut out and collect the most beautiful pictures? That's exactly how Pinterest works. Pinners collect "pictures" and post them on their digital boards. For example, pinners create boards for their dream garden, dream wedding or for the tastiest recipes for the Christmas table.

Pinterest is way ahead of seasons and trends. To be specific: about 3 to 4 months. As a business, you can capitalize on this by also posting about things that will be relevant a few months from now. So you can post about Christmas in September. And in the middle of winter about the summer.

Why is Pinterest interesting for businesses?

Pinterest is an ideal platform for businesses because pinners are looking for ideas and inspiration. So your target audience is totally open to discovering and trying your ideas or products. With every pin you can link to your website. For example, to a blog, a landing page or to your webshop.

Where you get likes and comments on other platforms, Pinterest is all about the user. Pinners are very engaged with your content. That's what makes Pinterest so valuable.

In addition, pinterest also allows you to rank in Google. How about that. Boards that are very popular on Pinterest are shown in Google as search results. That looks like this, for example:

Keyword usage in Pinterest

As with Google, it is important with Pinterest that you use the right keywords. But beware: you can't just copy the keywords you picked for Google to Pinterest.

In fact, with a search in Google, a user often already knows what he or she wants. With a search in Pinterest, someone wants inspiration.

Where someone would search "black shirt" in Google, someone would be more likely to search "menswear 2022" in Pinterest.

How do you determine relevant keywords?

You can find out the keywords appropriate for your pins in Pinterest itself. Make a list of your organization's most important keywords in advance. Have you come up with 20 or so terms? Then it's time to switch to Pinterest.

Then enter all the terms 1 by 1. Just in Pinterest's search bar. Pinterest will then make its own suggestions for terms that might be of interest. And so those are also the terms you can use on your account.

Another way to find out interesting keywords to use on Pinterest is to look in your account at the "popular" feature. You can find that under the "statistics" category.

Here you will find an overview of terms that are popular. Unfortunately, the feature is not currently available for Dutch terms, but it already gives a good idea of what Pinterest users are looking for.

So be sure to take a look at the terms that are popular (in the UK) and use it to your advantage.

Setting up your business account

When setting up your business Pinterest account, it is important to take a few things into account. Just as you optimize your website for Google, it is important to optimize your Pinterest account for Pinterest's algorithm.

• Give your account a title. Enter your business name here and add the main keyword. For example, add "women's fashion 2022" after your name for optimal findability.
• Provide the account with a description in which you use keywords. By the way, we don't mean by this that you list all possible keywords. Pinterest disapproves. So write a short piece about your business and incorporate the keyword a few times.
• Create boards: Give each board a title, optimized with keywords. You've already collected those keywords if all goes well, so that's a breeze. It doesn't matter if the boards overlap. So if we take the clothing store again as an example, it's quite possible that you will have boards with, for example, "women's fashion 2022" "women's fashion," "summer clothing ladies 2022," etc.
• Give signs a good and complete description in which you also use the keyword. Make use of the space you have.
• Then populate the boards with at least 10 pins. Pinterest values boards that are well-stocked and regularly updated better.

Setting pins

To make sure your pins are found in the best possible way, it is important that your Pins meet Pinterest's guidelines. Below we have listed some tips for optimizing pins:

• Always post images and videos in 1000×1500 pixel format.
• Use visually appealing images that appeal to the user. Look around the platform yourself. What images stand out?
• Give each pin an optimized title and description. Make sure the title and description also fit well with the board you are posting the pin to.
• Use 5 to 6 hashtags with each pin. Add them at the very bottom of the description.
• Very important: Add a URL to each pin. Always link through to the most relevant page. So, for a product pin link through to the product on your website and for a blog pin link through to the article on your website. This is how you attract more traffic to your website via Pinterest.
• Use unique content. Pinterest disapproves of duplicate content, which is not good for the findability of your pins. So don't place 1 pin on each board on your account, but make sure the image and content match the board you choose.
• If possible, use a text overlay on the image. That way the user knows exactly what can be found on your pin. And it attracts attention.

Pinterest's algorithm

Just like Facebook and Instagram, Pinterest works based on an algorithm. As a business, there are a few things you can do to make sure Pinterest values your new content:

• Make sure you pin consistently. It's better to post a pin daily than to add a bulk at once and then disappear again. To avoid being busy on Pinterest every day, you can schedule Pins (max) 2 weeks ahead on the platform itself.
• Take advantage of the different types of content you can post. Video is becoming increasingly important on Pinterest. But you can also post idea pins, product pins, carousel pins and rich pins, for example.
• Re-pin pins from other account. Re-pinning is an important part of the findability of your account. Re-pin pins from partners or colleagues (not competitors, of course). Keep as a guideline 80% own content and 20% re-pins. Tip: put the re-pins at the back of your board. This can be done very simply by opening your board and pressing "rank".

Rich pins placement

Do you post a rich pin on Pinterest? Then Pinterest extracts all kinds of relevant information from your website and adds it to the pin. Based on the URL you provide, additional information is added.

You can do that if you post 1 of the following type of content:

• An article or blog: Pinterest adds the title, description and author
• A product: Pinterest adds price and availability, for example
• A recipe: Pinterest adds the preparation time and ingredients, for example

Have you updated the information on your website? Then the information at the pin is also automatically updated. Ideal!

Are you using the YOAST plugin on your website? Then make sure that "open graph" is enabled under the "social" heading. Is that the case? Then all you have to do is submit your website's URL in the rich pin validator.

Are you using the Rankmath plugin? Then go to "general settings" and click on webmaster tools. There you will find an entry field for Pinterest verification. There, enter the html tag that you can find in your Pinterest account. Which you'll find in your Pinterest account at "settings" -> "claimed accounts."

Are you not using these plug-ins? Then we recommend contacting your developer to add the rich pins schemes to your website. You can find the rich pins schemas here.

Adding product feed to Pinterest

A slew of new features have been added to Pinterest recently, and the platform is giving business accounts more and more options for posting optimal pins.

For example, do you have a web shop? Then we recommend adding your product feed to Pinterest. By adding your product feed, you can pin all your webshop products to your account at once. Pinterest automatically shows only the products that are in stock and updates this every 24 hours.

So that's how you put all your products in Pinterest with just a few clicks. Pinners can shop through the pins and automatically end up in your shop. And that's what you want, of course!

In your account, the products are placed under the "shopping" tab. See below for an example of Bol.com's Pinterest account:

You can add the product feed in Pinterest under "ads" -> "Catalogs"

Then insert all the data and add a link to your product feed. Not sure how that works or where to find the product feed? Then check with your developer.

Getting started with organic posting on Pinterest

So, you now know exactly what you need to do to score organically in Pinterest. So quickly get started setting up your account, creating boards and posting pins. Be creative and inspire your target audience. Good luck!