The document provides guidance on using Pinterest for business purposes. It outlines the top 3 reasons to use Pinterest including its large user base of women who drive purchasing decisions. It recommends setting up a business account for commercial use and provides tips for creating engaging pins, including using images, videos, and infographics. The document also offers strategies for getting started on Pinterest, including filling out business profiles and pinning original content that drives traffic. Overall, the document serves as a guide for businesses to effectively utilize Pinterest.

1. How to Use Pinterest for
Business
Julia Campbell
Social Media Specialist
J Campbell Social Marketing

2. Today You Will Learn
• Top 3 reasons why your business needs to be
on Pinterest now
• Why you need a Pinterest Business Account vs.
a Personal Account
• 5 ideas for great, shareable pins
• How to get started, get found and get followers
on Pinterest
• BONUS: A list of 102 Things to Pin on Pinterest

3. About Me
Julia Campbell has a long history of helping nonprofits and businesses
find success online. After 10 years in the nonprofit sector as a
development director and marketing coordinator, she founded J
Campbell Social Marketing, a boutique digital marketing agency
based in Beverly, MA.
Julia received her degree in Journalism & Communications from Boston
University and earned a Master in Public Administration from Old
Dominion University as well as a Certificate in Nonprofit
Management from Tidewater Community College.
A Beverly native, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, a mom of 1 and a
social media marketing specialist, Julia helps businesses and
nonprofits connect with constituents and customers by effectively
harnessing the power and potential of online marketing and social
media tools.
Julia’s clients include small community-based nonprofits and large
universities. She also offers one-on-one coaching sessions, group
seminars and college courses. Her blog was named one of the Top
150 Nonprofit Blogs in the world: www.jcsocialmarketing.com
Julia has been featured on MarketWatch, Alltop, Salon, Social Media
Today, Forbes and Business 2 Community.

4. What Is Pinterest?
• “Pinterest is a tool for collecting and organizing things you
love.”
• People use it to make wish lists, plan trips, organize
events, start collections, interior decorating, plan projects

5. Top 3 Reasons Why Your Business Needs
to be Interested in Pinterest
1) Pinterest is growing leaps and bounds.
– Pinterest has almost caught up with Twitter in
terms of adult U.S. Internet users (15%
compared to Twitter’s 16%).
– Pinterest has >25 million monthly unique
visitors.
– Nothing to sneeze at
when you want more
customers!
All statistics taken from the Pew
Internet & American Life Project
(PewInternet.org)

6. Top 3 Reasons Why Your Business Needs
to be Interested in Pinterest
2) Pinterest is where women are, and
women make purchase decisions.
– As a general trend, women make up more of
the population on most social net working
sites – but they make up 82% of active users
on Pinterest.
– Desirable demographic of women 35-44 years
old.

7. Top 3 Reasons Why Your Business Needs
to be Interested in Pinterest
3) Pinterest has a totally different culture
than the other social networking sites.
– Pinterest is aspirational, not of-the-moment.
– It is also transactional, not relational like
Facebook, Twitter.

8. Top 3 Reasons Why Your Business Needs
to be Interested in Pinterest
– What we pin reflects what we covet, what
moves us, what we desire, who we want to
be.
– Pinterest works more like a Vision
Board, rather than an off-the-cuff, in-themoment statement of what we are eating or
where we are hanging out.

9. BONUS REASON!
Pinterest posts (pins) last much longer!
– Pinterest pins have a shelf life of over one
week!
– A tweet is 5-25 minutes; 80 minutes for a
Facebook post.
– People pin photos on Pinterest to share with
friends, to collect and to save for later.
– You can’t easily “save” Facebook posts or
tweets. In this way, Pinterest is unlike every
other social network.

10. Getting Started
• Pinterest Business
Pages vs. Personal
Profiles
– New Pinterest TOS asks
you to have a Business
Page, if you are using it
for work or promoting any
type of commercial
activity.

11. Getting Started
• Pinterest Business Pages vs. Personal
Profiles
– You can convert your existing Personal Profile
to a Business Page.
– Must convert entire Profile; can’t do individual
boards.
– You can create a new account at
business.pinterest.com

12. Getting Started
• Main benefits of Business Pages
– Account verification –check box in the bio!
– You can sell stuff .
– You can hold
contests.
– Insights!
– Promoted Pins
(coming soon)

13. Getting Started
• Add Pin It bookmarklet to your browser
(Google Chrome, Mozilla) for easy pinning
from the web.
• Add “Pin It” buttons to each page of
your website and to each blog post
(they should all have images, right?)
– http://about.pinterest.com/goodies/

14. Getting Started
• Add a “Pin It” button to every single
product if you have an online store.

15. Get Found On Pinterest
• Strategically fill out the
About Us section.
– Use keywords, think of how
people would search for you
and your products.
– Verify your website.
– Link to Facebook
(profile), Twitter. Go to
Settings, Social Networks.

16. Get Followers On Pinterest
• Pin interesting, visually
compelling stuff!
• Follow others.
• Repin, Comment, Like – engage.
• Share select pins on Twitter and
Facebook.
– Remember that you can only share pins on a
Personal Facebook profile.

17. Get Followers On Pinterest
• Go to: www.woobox.com/pinterest to get a
free Pinterest tab for your Facebook Page!

18. What Should I Pin?
• 80% of people on Pinterest are just repinning with no strategy!
• What is your goal?
• Drive traffic to the website?
• Email sign ups?
• Sales?
• Determine your goal.

19. What Should I Pin?
• To get results for your business, you must
focus on original content that links back
to your website.
• To get ROI you must pin images that:
– Link back to your website or blog
– Link to your email opt-in page
– Link to your product page
– Link to your YouTube or Vimeo channel
(videos are effective pins!)

20. What Should I Pin?
• A list of 102 Things
to Pin on Pinterest
is at:
– http://jcsocialmarketi
ng.com/2012/08/102things-to-pin-onpinterest/

21. What Should I Pin?
ROI IS IMPORTANT
BUT… don’t just pin
your own stuff!
– It’s an interactive
community.
– Share and repin.
– Good combination of
original content and
repinning or pinning
content from others’
websites and blogs.

22. What Should I Pin?
– No silver bullet.
– No one size fits
all, perfect formula.
– It depends on your
capacity, your
knowledge, your
interest and your
time.

23. Ideas for Great Pins
1) Videos from YouTube/Vimeo
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
How-To use your product
Testimonials & Success Stories
Fun videos
Behind-the-scenes
Training videos
Keep them short (15-20
seconds)
Everyone can be a
videographer with a
smartphone!

24. Ideas for Great Pins
2) Images with text overlay
–
–
–
–
Use your images and inlay text
over them.
Make sure they link directly to
your blog posts or website!!
PicMonkey
(www.pickmonkey.c0m) to easily
edit photos.
Quozio (www.quozio.com) to
make quotes or text to go with a
blog post.

25. Ideas for Great Pins
3) Infographics
• Take valuable info and make it visual!
• A great way to d build yourself as an
expert who shares great resources.
• Use Infogr.am (www.infogr.am)
• Re-pin others’ infographics – can search
“Pinterest infographic”, “diy craft
infographic”, “clothing infographic”
#pinning4good @pinning4good

26. Ideas for Great Pins
• Great resources for business infographics:
– http://www.pinterest.com/infographics4u/busin
ess-infographics/
– http://www.pinterest.com/infographiclist/infogr
aphics-business-/
– http://www.pinterest.com/alyssagregory/smallbusiness-infographics/
#pinning4good @pinning4good

27. Ideas for Great Pins
4) Your product catalog!
– Add “$7.99” etc. in the caption of your pin.
– Pinterest has a gift section on their home
page and in order to be selected to you need
to add a price.
– Pins with prices get 36% MORE likes!

28. Ideas for Great Pins
5) DIY and How To Pins,
Tutorials

30. Ideas for Great Pins

33. Successful Pins…
•
•
•
•
•
Are visually compelling.
Are of interest to your
online community.
Have clever captions.
Use hashtags #diy
#Halloween
Use keywords and links
(they get hyperlinked).
#pinning4good @pinning4good

34. Successful Pins…
•
•
•
•
•
Are vertical.
Are colorful.
Are eye-catching.
Have words on them.
Lead back to the blog
or website for more
info.
#pinning4good @pinning4good

35. Successful Pinners…
– Research what people are
already pinning and go from
there – find the community.
– Clearly identify goals:
•
•
•
•
Drive traffic to the website.
Increase brand affinity.
Grow online community.
Drive sales of a specific
product.

36. Successful Pinners…
– Plan boards
strategically.
– Launch boards
internally (with
staff, VIPs, clients)
then externally.
– Draw on existing
online cheerleaders to
spread the word!
– Have fun.

37. Pinterest Tools
GROUP BOARDS
• Great for getting in front of
new people
• Showcasing your customers
• Companies you work with
• Promotion – running a
contest, acknowledging best
customers, online
ambassadors
• Event committees
• Volunteering
• Another way to help
establish authority

38. Pinterest Tools
SECRET BOARDS
• Use as an inter-office
collaboration tool
• Social media content
development board
• Event planning board
(private)
• Cultivate ideas that you do
not want people to see just
yet
• Ideas for future
presentations
• Ideas for blog posts

39. Pinterest Resources
• Analytics and Scheduling – check out:
– Pinster – www.pinster.me
– Reachli (formerly Pinerly) – www.reachli.com
– Pingraphy – www.pingraphy.com
• Find out who’s pinning your stuff!
– www.pinterest.com/YOURURLHERE.com
– www.pinterest.com/source/jcsocialmarketi
ng.com
#pinning4good @pinning4good

40. Pinterest Resources
• Cynthia Sanchez:
http://www.pinterest.com/CynthiaPins/
• Peg Fitzpatrick:
http://www.pinterest.com/pegfitzpatrick/
• 30 Pinners to Follow, 2013 Edition (TIME)
http://techland.time.com/2013/09/04/30pinners-to-follow-2013/

41. Move The Needle

42. Homework Activity
Go to http://about.pinterest.com/goodies/
Move The Needle

43. Homework Activity
Go to http://about.pinterest.com/goodies/
Move The Needle

44. Key Takeaways
Top 3 reasons why your business needs to be on
Pinterest now
Why you need a Pinterest Business Account vs. a
Personal Account
5 ideas for great, shareable pins
How to get started, get found and get followers on
Pinterest
BONUS: A list of 102 Things to Pin on Pinterest

45. Thank You!
Learn more at
www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org