How to Leverage Pinterest to Market your Digital Products
Pinterest is the most underrated platform and I truly believe if you aren’t utilizing this platform to grow your online business, you are leaving so much money on the table.
Pinterest is a SEARCH ENGINE 🔍 not a social media platform. This means that people are actively searching for a solution to their problem right now on Pinterest that your digital product can solve!
And here’s the best part ➡️ followers do NOT matter on Pinterest! You can have zero followers and still make thousands of dollars a month Pinterest!
📌 Did you know that 85% of Pinterest users go to Pinterest to start a new project?
Wether that be learning how to crochet, how to organize their home, how to homeschool their kids or how to make money online, thousands of people are on Pinterest right now looking for YOUR digital product!
When you’re reaching your audience at the very beginning of their search, you’re establishing yourself as the trusted go-to from the get-go!
📌AND did you know that 97% of all Pinterest searches are unbranded?
This means Pinterest users aren’t specifically looking to engage with particular brands or businesses and they’re open to discovering whatever content best suits their needs. So even if you’ve never sold anything online before Pinterest users don’t care about that. They just want the solution you are providing for them!
Step 1: Create Your Pinterest Business Account
First things first, you NEED a business account. Decide if you’re going to convert your current profile to a business account or start fresh.
To start fresh head to pinterest.com and click the “sign up” red button and click “Create a business account.”
To convert, follow the steps here: https://business.pinterest.com
Next clean up your account ⤵️
1. Rearrange your current boards to bring the most important ones to the top
2. Relook at your current boards through the lens of your ideal client and consider archiving or making “secret” any that don’t fit (see the next 2 pages for how and when to archive or make a board secret)
3. Bring the relevant pins that drive traffic to your content to the top of your top 5 boards
4. Move or delete any pins that don’t belong
Claim your website: (if you have one!) Claiming your website allows Pinterest to connect any pins that were created from your site by you or by followers to your account which will give you additional data for your analytics by attributing all of your pins to your account.
Step 2: Do Your Keyword Research
Keywords are how Pinterest understands and distributes your content, which is why you want to be sure to use keywords everywhere on your profile and pins to help users find your content.
First, think of 3-5 broad topics that relate to your digital product business (Digital Products, Marketing Tips, Social Media Marketing, etc.)
Then, type those topics one at a time into the Pinterest search bar. See what pops up as predicted searches. Those are the keywords that you want to use. You can get more
detailed by searching for more specific phrases. Make sure to write down and organize your keywords somewhere you can go back to them later. I like to use the notes section on my phone.
To learn more about how to effectively research keywords for optimal performance on Pinterest be sure to check out my blog post on: How to Find and use Keywords on Pinterest.
Step 3: Optimize Your Profile and Boards
Using the keywords we found in previous step, it's time to optimize your profile! Optimizing your profile and boards on Pinterest with keywords is ESSENTIAL for selling any product or service on the Pinterest platform!
Your title needs to be less than 65 characters and should include your business or your name and identifying keywords. Your bio should explain more about who you help, how you help them, and what content users can expect to find, including relevant keywords. Add a call to action to follow you or check out your website/services/products. Your profile picture should match your other social media platforms for brand recognition. Your header image is an instant visual representation of your brand/business. This could be a collage of client work, a logo or promoting your latest opt-in, digital product, or course!
There are 7 places on Pinterest you should be inputting your keywords to make sure your content researches your ideal customer ⤵️
1) Pin Titles
2) Pin Descriptions
3) Hashtags (yes they’re still relevant) I reccomend using 2-3 relevant hashtags at the end of your Pin Descriptions
4) File Titles (most people miss this one)
5) Image Overlays
6) Board Titles
7) Board Descriptions
Step 4: Create Visually Appealing Pins
Pinterest is a visual platform so this step is important. You want to choose images that are aesthetically pleasing. I highly recommend utilizing Canva! You can type in “Pinterest pin” into the search and there are a ton of premade templates you can use!
Here are some best practices to keep in mind when you design your pins ⤵️
1. Make sure your pin is vertical so it takes up more space in people's feed. The perfect ratio is 1080x1920 pixels so you are taking up the most room on the Pinterest search page without your image being cut off.
2. Keep the words large and simple to read. Remember, a lot of users will be viewing your pins from their mobile device so try to not use small, hard-to-read fonts or pins that are too busy.
3. Use a high quality, on-brand images. Lifestyle images of real life settings typically perform better than product shots but test both for your audience. Remember, Pinterest is a visual platform so eye-catching images that stand out will perform best.
4. Repurpose you pin graphics and just change out the photo and titles to save time. The title on the pin graphic you create is also searchable so you can get really specific with keywords here as well. Remember on Pinterest anytime you type or pin anything make sure you’re entering those key words!
5. Include a call to action inviting people off the app and to your site to read more. Using words like "click here, shop, learn more, read more, and buy" encourage the pinner to click through on the pin. Try adding buttons as an illusion since it's not a real button, but if they click anywhere on the image it will take them to your website which is what we want. Call to actions on pins work really well!
I have a FREE bundle of Pinterest Canva Templates for you to use! Just click HERE to access them!
Step 5: Set Yourself Up For Success
An optimized Pinterest profile isn't going to do much if you aren't pinning to it consistently.
Sit down and block out 1-2 hours in your week to create and schedule new pins. Start by creating a list of all the content that you want to pin on Pinterest — There are many ways you can pin your digital products to Pinterest ➡️ Blog Posts, Landing Pages, Opt-In-Forms, Websites, Social Media Posts, Freebies, etc...
During that time block, pull up that list, your keyword bank, and your pin templates in Canva. Pull a few pieces of content to publish that week and create 3-5 pin graphics for each one. Next, write a keyword-rich pin title and description for each pin. Finally, schedule your pins out over the next week (or more).
How often should you post on Pinterest for optimal performance? The general rule of thumb is to post 10-15 pins per day. Pinterest recently combined standard pins and idea pins which makes it so much easier.
It's important to note that Pinterest rewards pinners that are consistent. I would rather you pin 1-2x a day every single day than to bring in 50 pins all at once and then ignore the platform for a week. Figure out a pinning schedule that works best for you and stick to it!
👉🏼 If you want to learn more about turning your pins into profit and how to make money with Pinterest be sure to checkout my Pin to Profit Pinterest Playbook!