What Is Pinterest Marketing? Expert Guide for Beginners [2025]

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What is Pinterest marketing?

If you’ve been asking yourself this simple question and are not sure where to look for the correct answers, you came to the right place!

I have been an active user of Pinterest for nearly 10 years and have grown my oldest blog to over 500,000 monthly sessions, fulfilling my dream of quitting my day job and working for myself.

I continue achieving similar amazing results for my clients as a full-time Pinterest manager.

In this article, I will offer a full guide on everything you need to learn about Pinterest marketing, and also lay out the first steps to get started!

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What is Pinterest Marketing? A Beginner’s Guide

Pinterest marketing is a powerful strategy that businesses and individuals can use to promote their products, services, and content on the Pinterest platform.

As one of the most visually-driven social media platforms, Pinterest offers unique opportunities for brands to reach potential customers, drive traffic to their websites, and boost sales.

Pinterest is where people shop, plan and discover new ideas. (source)

This guide will walk you through the basics of Pinterest marketing, explaining key concepts and terms in simple terms, and providing examples to help you get started.

Understanding Pinterest as a Visual Discovery Engine

Before diving into Pinterest marketing, it’s important to understand what Pinterest is.

Pinterest is often described as a social media platform, but it’s more accurately a visual discovery engine.

Users, known as “Pinners,” search for inspiration, ideas, and products through images and videos known as “Pins.”

These Pins are grouped into collections called “Boards,” where users save their favorite content based on themes or interests.

Unlike other social media platforms that focus on interaction and real-time communication, Pinterest is centered around discovery and planning.

People use Pinterest to find ideas for future projects, purchases, or experiences, making it an excellent platform for marketers to influence potential customers at the early stages of their decision-making process.

Why Pinterest Marketing Matters

Pinterest marketing involves using the platform to promote your brand, products, or content to the millions of users who visit Pinterest every month.

Here’s why it matters:

  • High Intent: Pinners are often in a planning mindset, meaning they are actively looking for solutions, ideas, or products to purchase. This makes them more likely to engage with your content and take action.
  • Long Shelf Life of Content: Unlike other social media platforms where posts quickly disappear from feeds, Pins can continue to drive traffic and engagement for months, or even years, after they are first posted.
  • Visual Appeal: Pinterest’s focus on visual content makes it an ideal platform for brands with visually appealing products or services. High-quality images and videos can grab attention and encourage users to explore further.

Key Concepts and Terms in Pinterest Marketing

To effectively use Pinterest for marketing, it’s essential to understand some key concepts and terms.

Let’s break down the basics:

What Are Pins?

Pins are the core of Pinterest.

They are images or videos that link back to a source, such as a blog post, product page, or website.

Each Pin can include a title, description, and link. For example, if you’re a fashion brand, you might Pin an image of your latest clothing line that links directly to your online store.

What Are Boards on Pinterest?

Boards are collections of Pins grouped by a common theme or topic.

For example, a travel company might create Boards for different destinations like “Tropical Vacations” or “European City Breaks.”

Boards help users organize their Pins and make it easier for others to discover related content.

What Are Rich Pins on Pinterest?

Rich Pins provide additional information directly on the Pin itself, such as pricing, availability, or ingredients for recipes.

There are several types of Rich Pins, including product, recipe, and article Pins. These Pins automatically update as the content on your website changes, making them a dynamic tool for marketers.

What Are Promoted Pins?

Promoted Pins are paid advertisements that appear in users’ home feed or in the results of their search feed.

They look like regular Pins but are marked as sponsored content and often placed more prominently at the top of the feed page.

Promoted Pins can be an effective way to increase visibility and drive traffic to your website.

What Are Pinterest Analytics?

Pinterest provides a built-in analytics tool that allows you to track the performance of your Pins and Boards.

You can see metrics such as the number of impressions, saves, clicks, and engagement rates.

This data is invaluable for understanding what content resonates with your audience and optimizing your Pinterest strategy.

How to Get Started with Pinterest Marketing

Now that you understand the basics, let’s explore how to get started with Pinterest marketing!

1. Set Up a Pinterest Business Account

To take full advantage of Pinterest’s marketing tools, set up a Pinterest Business account.

This account gives you access to Pinterest Analytics, Rich Pins, and Promoted Pins, which are essential for effective marketing.

Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you have to have a registered business! Pinterest business account just means you get access to extra tools and features that personal accounts do not have.

Anyone can apply for a business account, providing you have a website you can link to your account.

2. Optimize Your Profile

Your Pinterest profile is the first impression users will have of your brand.

Make sure your profile picture is a high-quality image, preferably your logo or your own image, and write a clear and concise bio that describes your brand and what users can expect from your Pins.

Include a link to your website and ensure your profile is branded consistently with your other social media accounts.

Make sure your profile includes your main keywords and tells the audience what exactly they can discover on your account.

3. Create and Organize Boards

Start by creating Boards that align with your website or blog – these should be always based on keyword research you do on Pinterest.

The easiest way to do keyword research is using the search bar on Pinterest and typing in the main keywords for your site or blog.

See what suggestions come up and write them down, these will form your content planner and keyword planner.

Once you complete your research, choose which keywords would best fit to be your boards and start creating them.

Please check this article with keyword cheat sheet before you proceed.

Make sure each Board has a clear title and description, and that it’s populated with high-quality Pins.

3. Design Engaging Pins

The success of your Pinterest marketing efforts hinges on the quality of your Pins.

Use high-resolution images that are visually appealing and on-brand, and make sure they are in the correct format and size that Pinterest recommends.

Currently, the preferred size is 1000 x 1500 pixels vertical images.

Canva is a great and inexpensive tool, which I personally use daily to create beautiful-looking professional pins.

Canva also comes with a library of different designs which you can use to create your own, and speed up the design process.

You can save your previous designs using your brand colors and fonts, and just reuse them to create multiple beautiful graphics in a few seconds.

4. Engage with Your Audience

Engagement is key to growing your presence on Pinterest.

Follow relevant accounts, repin content that aligns with your brand (but not too much!), and respond to comments on your Pins.

Engaging with other users can increase your visibility and attract more followers.

5. Analyze and Optimize

Regularly check your Pinterest Analytics to see how your Pins and Boards are performing.

Look for patterns in the types of content that receive the most engagement and refine your strategy accordingly.

Experiment with different types of Pins, using a variety of different colors, text in your overlay and different titles to see which one works the best!

Conclusion

Pinterest marketing is a powerful tool for businesses and individuals looking to tap into a visually-driven, discovery-oriented audience.

By understanding the basics of Pinterest, optimizing your profile, creating engaging content, and utilizing Pinterest’s unique features, you can effectively promote your brand and drive traffic to your website.

Need to Learn More?

If you want to learn more about success on Pinterest, I created a free simple mini course that will teach you everything you need to know about the platform.

The course is available as a PDF guide divided into five sections covering all the essentials about Pinterest marketing, plus a bonus – my free tool for creating SEO optimized titles & descriptions.

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Save these pins to your Pinterest board so you can find them later! While you’re there, don’t be shy and follow my own profile too!

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Author
Lucia is a senior marketing professional with over a decade of experience in digital marketing. She is dedicated to helping bloggers and business owners grow their revenue through strategic and data based marketing strategies. Her areas of expertise include SEO, Pinterest marketing, branding, social media marketing, and e-commerce.

Best Marketing Resources

Here are some of my services and recommended tools & software I personally use in my business.
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My Services

Pinterest Manager Services

I help business owners and bloggers like you reach their fullest potential by scaling your reach, traffic, and income with Pinterest.

Pinterest Account Audit

Don’t waste your time trying to figure out what’s wrong, and get a step-by-step checklist on how to fix your Pinterest account!

Pinterest Keyword Research

Get a step-by-step roadmap for the best Pinterest keywords for your site so you can speed up your success on Pinterest without second-guessing yourself!

Pinterest Account Setup

Getting started with Pinterest? Let an expert handle everything for you! Complete account setup and optimization, done for you in just 3 days!

Best Pinterest Marketing Tools

Pin Inspector

Powerful software that directly uncovers top trending searches, top converting content, and best-performing ads on Pinterest!
PinClicks

PinClicks

PinClicks helps you optimize your pins to get more traffic. How? By showing you the hidden stats, and keywords of high-performing pins for any keyword.

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