Pinterest is very different from the other social networks out there, but when used right, it has the power to help you promote your brand and increase sales. Often, business owners have misconceptions about Pinterest with many seeing it as simply a place to find inspiration for crafts, recipes, fashion, or home décor. However, Pinterest works more like a search engine than a social network, making it a very useful way to drive traffic to your website. Here are some of the best ways to use promoted pins on Pinterest to market your business.

Design a Great Pin:

Promoting your pin is going to get it seen by more users, so you’ll want to make sure that it is worth your while by spending some time putting together an irresistible pin that users will want to open. Striking, interesting, and on-brand pins are key to success here. You can easily design a template for your pin using your favorite image editing software like Photoshop or Canva, where you can save it to make changes for each pin you make so that the theme remains consistent. To design a stand-out pin, follow some key rules including minimizing visual cutter, using vertical-oriented imagers, limiting colors, and making sure to add your URL.

Use Rich Pins:

A Rich Pin allows you to add more information to your Pins. There are five types to choose from, which are:

• Product Pins: These will include prices, availability, and where to purchase
• Movie Pins: These include cast members, reviews, and ratings
• Article Pins: Including the headline, story description, author, and a link
• Place Pins: These include an address, map, and contact number
• Recipe Pins: Including an ingredients list, cooking time, and serving information

To take advantage of promoting your Rich Pins, you will first need to validate your website. You can do this by clicking on Edit Profile and then on Confirm Website. A meta tag will be provided for you to copy. If using WordPress, you can then install the Yoast SEO plugin on your website and click on the SEO tab in the sidebar. Click on ‘Social’, select the Pinterest tab, and paste in the meta tag before saving.

Optimize for Search:

Since Pinterest acts more like a search engine than a social network, you will need to optimize everything for search in order to get the best results. To do this, make sure that your niche and keywords are added to your bio and name your boards using popular search terms. Make sure that keywords are added organically to the descriptions that you add for each board and Pin that you create.

Promoting a Pin:

Promoted pins run on a cost-per-click basis and you can set a daily budget and duration. Once you have designed the perfect Pin to promote, simply hover over the Pin and select Promote. You’ll then be able to set up your ad. Bear in mind that Pinterest has a few rules on which Pins can be promoted. For example, you cannot include promotional information or calls to action, so choose your promoted Pins wisely.

Pinterest isn’t just for finding kitchen décor inspiration or your next hairstyle. Take advantage of promoted Pins to market your business.