According to Pinterest’s “creating a business account” page, it only takes 15 seconds to sign up to get started. Signing up is quick and easy, but I’ve found it takes a little longer to completely set up an effective Pinterest Business Account.
Don’t worry, with a guide like this one, it’ll still only take less than half an hour to complete the initial process.
I set up a Pinterest Business Account for one of my family’s newest businesses (BestFamilyBoardgames.com) last week. Below I’ve included some screenshots of the setup process that can help you feel confident using this guide.
Signing up for a Pinterest Business Account
If you already have a personal account that you are using for your website then you can easily convert it to a business account. Marketing a business account is much easier than doing it with a personal account. Business accounts come with extra features like analytics and you can create ads with a business account as well. Also if you are using Pinterest for any business purpose then a business account is mandatory.
Converting a Personal Account to a Business Account
Converting a personal account to a business account is easy. Log into your personal account, then follow this link: https://www.pinterest.com/business/convert/, fill in the required info and click done. That’s it! You now have a business account.
Opening a Brand New Business Account
If you’re brand new to Pinterest and don’t have a personal account, or if you do not want to convert your current personal account to a business account, you’ll need to open a new business account.
To open a new business account, first, log out of your personal account if you have one. Then go to https://business.pinterest.com/ and click on “Join as a Business”.
Or, if you are on the Pinterest homepage, right at the bottom of the box it says “continue as a business” click this.
You will need to fill in some details about your business and designate who is going to manage your business profile, then read and accept the Terms of Service, and click “Create Account”.
When filling in your details, use your logo as your picture so people can easily identify your business. If you don’t have a logo use the same photo as on your FB page or a friendly yet professional photo of you from your website.
Also, fill in the “About You” section with what your business is about and what makes it unique. Work in applicable keywords if possible as well.
Claim Your Website and Link Your Website to Your Pinterest for Business Account
This is an important step, you will want to “Claim” your website. Doing so gives you access to stronger branding for your business and additional benefits not available to business pages that haven’t do so.
The benefits include access to more detailed analytics for your account. You’ll be able to see the number of clicks through to your website from Pinterest. You can’s see this stat without claiming your site.
Claiming your site gives you early access to new tools Pinterest rolls out for business accounts. Also, doing so will help you rank better in search results on the app. Claiming your site is definitely worth the effort, it gives you valuable insight and advantages you won’t get any other way.
Once put in motion, claiming (or verifying) your website on Pinterest usually takes 24 to 48 hours to process.
Pinterest gives you 2 ways to go about claiming your website.
First, you click on the Claim Website button (in “settings”), and a small window will open and give you the 2 options. The first option is to copy a line of code and add it to the head section of your site.
Many themes have a section where you can add this code to in the “theme settings” If you have added the Google Analytics code already you add this line of code to the same place (under the GA code).
Or, the second option is to download a file and add it to your website via FTP.
This post on Tailwind’s blog about claiming your website on Pinterest provides a step by step guide to getting it done if you need a bit more help.
Apply for Rich Pin Status for Your Pins
Once your website is claimed you then can apply for Rich Pin status. Rich pins will pull additional info from your website and automatically add it your pins. It’s easy to apply, just copy and paste a URL from a page on your website into the Rich Pin Validator and click the Validate button. Rich Pins will be approved in 24 hours or less. This post explains the process in more detail if you’d like more info.
That is it! You now have a Pinterest business account.
Steps to Take Before you Pin Your First Pin
Before you save your first pin you will need to create at least one board. You should create boards that fit your business category and your brand’s identity. Each board you create on your page should have a distinct topic that relates to your business. Avoid creating boards about personal preferences and make ones that can relate directly and even indirectly to what your business does. The first board I would create would be a “Best of (your website name)” this board should only contain pins from your website only.
Once you have created a few boards you are ready to pin to them. You can create your own pins from your website’s content and you can repin other websites pins onto your boards, just make sure to match your topic of each board. I would use the 80/20 rule, 80 percent of the pins should be from other people and 20 percent your own to avoid looking spammy.
When creating your own pins, use great images that tell a story, make sure it is something compelling then add details about the pin and make sure you use your keywords in the description.
A Few Best Practices for Building and Maintaining Your Account
A lot of business owners have questions after their account is set up. They’ve created some pins and boards that relate to their business and done a bit of pinning from other quality sources but feel a little lost when it comes to knowing how to use Pinterest effectively.
This list of best practices will help answer some common questions that people have when trying to market their business on Pinterest.
1. Pin at the best time
Save pins to your boards during the busiest times on Pinterest. This is generally evenings and weekends in the U.S.
Consistency is better than spotty pinning. Pinterest says pinning regularly, daily like 10-15 pins a day instead of 100 pins on one day a week is best.
Your first 5 pins of the day will be prioritized by Pinterest for distribution. Make sure you save to the most relevant board to your business first.
2. Create and link multiple pins to the same website content
It’s beneficial to have different looking pins linking to the same content. Different types of images will appeal to a wider range of pinners. Just make sure the pins descriptions are unique to each pin for SEO purposes on Pinterest.
3. Capitalize on trends
People use Pinterest to plan things in their lives. It’s smart for businesses to keep this in mind and start saving pins relevant to seasons and holidays about 45 days in advance.
4. Always link your site to your pins
When someone clicks on a pin they want more information. Make sure if they click on one of yours it goes to a relevant page on your website. Always link articles and web content that matches what’s on your pin (the image and description). Pins that link to irrelevant info or a broken link (404) will be penalized by Pinterest.
5. Get the Save button on your website
Getting the Pinterest save button for your website is a must. You want people to save your content, right? Having the save button increases saves up to 5 times because it’s the fastest and easiest way to save content to Pinterest.
Conclusion
Pinterest is a great platform to market any business. It is different than other social networks as it functions as a search engine. People search the app to find things they need or want. Also, people use it differently than other platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Pinners use Pinterest to plan for the future where other social networks are centered around celebrating the past and the present.
One very important things businesses need to keep in mind is patience is key to success on Pinterest. Unlike other social media channels where all of the social reach happens within 24 hours, content on Pinterest will continue to grow and be shared over the course of months and years. Pinning quality content consistently over consecutive months is the best way to gain authority and build a dedicated following.