How to drive e-commerce sales using Pinterest

Are you tired of running costly Facebook and Instagram ads for your e-commerce store? Do you want to drive traffic to your store organically?

Pinterest might be the perfect platform for your business.

Pinterest is much more than a social media site. In fact, it’s not really a social media site at all. It’s actually a visual discovery platform and search engine. 50% of Pinterest users have purchased a product after seeing it on the site, and 93% are on the platform with an intent to buy a product.

Pinterest currently has over 250 million active users per month, and most of these users are from the United States.

Here are some Pinterest strategies that will help you drive traffic and increase e-commerce sales.

1) Use rich pins

Rich pins are pins that include product information and pricing. Rich pins increase your click-through rate because they also display your branding.

There are different types of rich pins, including article pins, recipe pins, and product pins. Product rich pins work best for e-commerce and will display real-time pricing and product availability.

2) Add the “Pin It” button

Make sure you add a “Pin It” button to product images on your website to encourage visitors to pin and share your products to their Pinterest boards and followers.

Adding “Pin It” button allows users on your website to pin the image directly into the Pinterest account. Your e-commerce store will get more exposure due to repins.

An average pin receives 11 repins. As more people share your pins, your products will have more exposure and opportunities for more sales.

3) Use attractive images

Pin images should be at a 2:3 ratio. According to Pinterest, the perfect size is 600 x 900 px ( you can work with different sizes but the ratio should remain 2:3).

Make sure your product photos are attractive and engaging and show the lifestyle of your product. You can also add text and other graphics to make your product pins really stand out.

4) Verify your website

When you claim your website, your logo or image will appear next to pins that come from your website, which is a powerful way to build a brand on Pinterest. You’ll also get access to analytics so you can see what’s working and use that to drive your pinning strategy moving forward.

It only takes a few minutes to claim your website. Make sure your Pinterest profile URL includes the name of your e-commerce store.

5) Get more engagement

We all have seen the rising trend of videos on Instagram and Facebook over the last two years. And now, video is hitting very hard in the Pinterest algorithm. A video posted on Pinterest is getting more reach and shares. Now, it is the perfect time to engage with more audience on Pinterest by posting videos.

Here, you can use various tools to create a perfect valuable video about any product that you want to sell.

Rather than videos, you can use images, memes to connect with your audience effectively. You are going to get a fantastic engagement if you post the combination of videos, graphics, and images on Pinterest.

And if you want to take this strategy to the next level then, always post the content that you own. There are various software tools in the market that you can use to create stunning square videos that get more views and shares.

6) Create product boards

Pinterest boards can drive a lot of traffic to your e-commerce store. When you create boards that are indexed by Pinterest for specific keywords and then pin your products to those boards, people will be able to find your products when they search for them on Pinterest.

Make sure the boards you create are relevant to your products and include keywords in both the board description and the board titles.

Personal boards are more important than ever (more important than group boards), so you want to make sure Pinterest knows your boards are about.

For every product category, you should create one broad board and several specific boards.

7) Join group boards

Group boards are a powerful way to drive traffic to your website.

Group boards are similar to Facebook groups. They are owned by one account and open to multiple contributors. Because group boards usually have a lot of pins, they tend to gain followers quickly.

Only join the group boards that are related to your niche. If you join a group board with thousands of followers, your traffic can skyrocket within a few weeks.

Make sure you follow the group rules and don’t spam them or risk getting banned.

8) Post consistently

The Pinterest algorithm is quite different than Facebook or Instagram. Pinterest loves users who post consistently and regularly. You can use TailWind to automate the bulk of your pinning.

TailWind is a Pinterest-approved schedule with loads of features that make sharing your pins a breeze: the SmartLoop, Scheduler, Board Lists, Tribes, Content Discovery, and more.

You will get access to analytics so you can measure the performance of your pins and boards.

9) Use Keywords

Pinterest is a search engine, much like Google. Keywords are non-negotiable. A winning Pinterest SEO strategy will include keywords in your profile, pin descriptions, blog post titles, board titles, and board descriptions.

You can use Pinterest guided search to find relevant keywords. It’s a good idea to use a keyword spreadsheet to keep track of common keywords for your niche.

9) Pinterest Ads

If you have the budget to run Pinterest ads, go for it. Pinterest ads are similar to Facebook ads. You can target your audience based on interest, keywords, and engagement.

Pinterest ads allow you to quickly reach a broad audience. Once your ad is running for about a month, you’ll also be able to tell what keywords your pins are showing for. Then you can use those keywords in your organic pins.

Pinterest favors pins with high engagement and will display them higher in the feed. Many expert pinners use ads to rapidly increase the number of repins and click so that their organic pins get high engagement too.

Wrapping it up

Pinterest is a powerful platform for e-commerce marketers because Pinterest users are shoppers. They come to the website looking for inspiration and love to discover products from new brands. If you follow the steps listed above, you should quickly see an increase in traffic and sales.