Over 150 million people a month use Pinterest, with 2 billion monthly searches (and growing). Using Pinterest can help to increase website traffic, raise awareness of your brand and crucially boost sales through content rich, visually appealing ‘pins’.

Here’s a basic guide to getting started.

1. Brand your profile
Once you’ve created a Pinterest for Business account, it’s important to brand your account appropriately. Add your logo and a snappy, informative profile description in your tone of voice (160 characters and under). Your profile description should say who you are, what you do and give pinners a reason to follow you. If you can, add your @ handle to encourage engagement. For example:

It’s important to think about the Pinterest audience and what they’re looking for. This is a platform for visual inspiration and content that leaves the pinner richer than they came. That doesn’t mean changing your tone of voice or that Pinterest isn’t right for your brand; just look at Wickes, a DIY and home improvement brand predominantly aimed at male consumers:

Branded pins ‘How to build a sandpit/bee hotel’ have high levels of engagement and speak to the Pinterest audience – does it capture your attention? Does it inspire your creativity? 

2. Uploading pins and pin descriptions
Pinterest images should be portrait instead of landscape and at least 735px wide. You can brand images for certain content types (see the Wickes example above), or create an image specifically for the Pinterest audience:

Pin descriptions should be optimised for search:

• Use the most relevant keywords early in the description to help pinners find your pin first
• @ mention brands or influencers where relevant
• Use a hashtag, if relevant (any more than one and Pinterest will mark it as spam) to further optimise pins – for example:

Pinterest guided search helps you find out what people are searching for. Use these to help inform your pin descriptions and discover an insight into popular search terms.

3. Trending topics

4. Publishing Case Studies
The publishing sector is a perfect fit for Pinterest – eye-catching imagery and dynamic content is the name of the game. Read up on the latest case studies from Elle magazine, Hearst and Vogue Paris who use Pinterest to inform their content, connect with readers and boost traffic by millions.

Pin our handy guide to daily, weekly and monthly activity to build your profile and raise awareness of your brand through Pinterest! Don’t forget to find us @magazine.co.uk