How To Market Your Online Store On Pinterest: Pinterest Marketing For Ecommerce
Looking to drive targeted website traffic to your online store? What about getting more website clicks, more checkouts and sales on autopilot? All without having ‘show up’ and engage with your audience everyday? Pinterest is the platform for sellers and shoppers alike.
Here’s the exact process I’d use as an expert Pinterest marketing manager to market E-commerce or product businesses on Pinterest:
Optimise Your Business Account
The first step is all about laying a good foundation for Pinterest success. This means creating an optimised profile which starts with a business account. Having a business account not only gives you access to analytics so you can track what is actually performing and where to change your strategy, it also allows you to claim your website and link your online store (more in this below).
Choosing a profile image that includes a photo of you, your product or someone using your product is recommended instead of using your logo as this entices more people to follow you. I know I’m more likely to hit the follow button if there’s a more personal connection rather than when I see a logo that’s often too small to read anyway.
Include your logo or important text about your business in your banner image so that you still get a branded account and a good overall look. Remember: Pinterest is not a social media platform so users are finding individual pieces of your content in searches or their home feed surrounded by a sea of other content. Users aren’t coming to your profile to look around through your boards and all of your content. Pinterest operates differently.
Adding keywords to your profile name and description is more important than having clever copywriting here. Users find your content through keywords and Pinterest is able to accurately categorise your content when you use them throughout your profile. More on keyword research below.
Lastly, claim your website so that Pinterest sees you as a reputable content creator and shows your content more often. While this requires you to inject code into the backend of your website, it’s not as complicated as it sounds! Find instructions for your website hosting platform here and have it done within a few minutes.
Do Your Keyword Research
Keywords are king on Pinterest and they are, in my opinion, the most important aspect of marketing on the platform. Hit the right keywords throughout your content and you’ll be found in searches by your ideal audience (who are actually looking for your content and are ready to buy). This means you get more sales and conversions on autopilot.
Here’s a full article on how I do my keyword research for Pinterest client accounts.
Remember to include keywords in the following places:
1. your profile name and description
2. your board titles and descriptions
3. your pin titles and descriptions
Please avoid naming your boards ‘cute’ names like EAT for a recipe board - I can guarantee you no one is searching ‘eat’ on Pinterest but are being specific with search terms and keywords like healthy recipes, baked treats, easy snacks, etc. Pinterest is less about being on brand with your copy and more about hitting the keywords that your ideal audience is searching for.
Link Your Online Store
There are a few options for making this happen and while the process can be lengthy with all the hoops you have to jump through - it is more than work it. Linking your online store and your product catalogue means you products are automatically shown in the shop tab on Pinterest. Pinterest is more likely to show these to Pinterest users when searching and I’ve noticed they get direct sales more often than through a regular pin! It makes your content shoppable and is so worth it.
If you have a Shopify store this process is simpler - you connect your product catalogue and all of them will link effortlessly. I’m hoping other website hosting platforms somehow start integrating a similar process soon!
Other websites are more tricky and you’ll need to apply to become a verified merchant. Make sure you meet these requirements before applying.
Tag Your Products
If you are unable to link your online store or are simply wanting to get started while waiting for verified merchant status, you can still tag your products in various ways to make them more shoppable. I do this for all of my clients whether their online stores are connect or not. Note that I link the pin to the product page AND tag the product, these are two separate processes.
This can be done on a static pin by selecting the shopping tag option that hovers over the pin image (you can select more than one product if there is more than one option). You’re able to do this before your pin is scheduled in the Pinterest app or after the pin has been posted.
You can also tag products within your Idea Pins. I love this feature because you can track the outbound clicks on individual products, even if you’ve tagged more than one. This works especially well if you have product videos!
Pin Design Graphics
While keywords are most important on Pinterest, getting found in searches is pointless if your graphics or images or videos aren’t appealing and click-worthy. Pinterest is a visual search engine - and let’s emphasise the visual aspect here. In addition to great product photography and video that shows how your products solves a problem or is used, testing pin graphics with text is recommended. You want your pins to stand out in a sea of competitor content and the way to do this is with great imagery and pin design.
Monitor Your Analytics
Diving into your analytics (both Pinterest and Google Analytics) is an important process to see what’s working and where strategy needs to be adjusted. I’ve recently noticed that videos pins for most of my clients get then most click conversions, whereas a couple of months ago Idea Pins were the most impactful. Naturally we’ll be focusing more on video pins if that is what is getting results.
The Pinterest platform is constantly changing and every couple of month we direct our focus for clients. You need to look at what is working for you - providing the most clicks and conversions - and do more of that. Note that sometimes clients even within the same niche perform differently so I caution against blindly following what ‘experts’ and other content creators recommend without testing out your own strategies first.
Once you’ve linked your online store you’ll even be able to track conversions and see purchases that come directly through Pinterest. All of my Ecommerce clients make a few (or more than!) sales within the first month of becoming a verified merchant or linking their Shopify store, guaranteed.
Optimize Your Website
It’s important that I mention that while amazing pin graphics and hitting the right keywords will work for you to drive targeted traffic to your website (pinners who are ready to buy!) - we already know this. However, if your website isn’t optimized you aren’t going to get conversions. This generally means that your website works well, is thought out with the customer in mind and showcases your products in the best way possible.
Hello, I'm Megan!
An introvert at heart, Pinterest is the perfect platform for me. Simply posting your content using the right marketing strategies gets you an abundance of website traffic? No engagement or ‘showing up’ needed?
Who wouldn’t want to use this powerhouse of a platform …
