How to Post on Pinterest (and then sell on Pinterest too)

11 min read

How do I post on Pinterest? A question many aspiring users of the platform fear. Pinterest allows its users the opportunity to save and share pins related to their interests, personal lifestyle, and more. It has become a visual discovery engine where billions of people go for inspiration to save for later or share with their followers.

According to marketing site Social Champ, about “89% percent of people use Pinterest for purchase inspiration,” and about “88% of the pinners end up purchasing the products they pin.” This once again proves the authority of this platform when it comes to ecommerce.

Many online business owners consider the platform a great place to share their products and interact with their audience. It is relatively easy to post and sell on Pinterest if you are knowledgeable about your audience’s interests and dislikes, and can provide them with quality content.

Unfortunately, the platform can be incredibly daunting for aspiring users who are unfamiliar with the platform, as they might not have a clue where to start. The good news is, once you understand the basics and start playing around with the platform, it becomes a go-to friend in the ecommerce world!

In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through the process of learning how to post on Pinterest and how to start selling your products while interacting with your followers and growing your business.

How to Post on Pinterest: Step-by-step

Download The Pinterest App and Create a Pinterest Account
Click create your first pin
Upload your image
Add pin description and destination link if any
Save to your board

Download the Pinterest app and create a Pinterest account

Pinterest users can choose between visiting the Pinterest website or downloading the app to create an account. Once there, you’ll be asked to sign up. You can choose to sign up with your email address or through a Facebook or Google account. Create your password of choice and you should be ready to start pinning.

Click “Create Your First Pin”

After you’ve created your account, you’ll be able to find an add button at the bottom-right of your profile or home feed. Once you’ve found it, click “Create a pin” to post your first one.

Upload your image

This part is fairly easy and can be achieved within seconds. Users should really take into consideration their image of choice given Pinterest is a highly visual platform. The more engaging and related to your audience your image is, the more interaction you’ll get from it adding value to your content.

Make sure to keep in mind the dimensions of your image. Rely on taller images so these can appropriately fit into the layout. 800 pixels tall is typically recommended.

Also, don’t forget to add relevant text labels to describe the content you link to. This is all while keeping in mind the page you link to can highly impact how users interact with your pin. A low-quality blog or website can be a huge no for many.

Add description and destination link

Once you have uploaded your image and are pleased with the results, it is time for a pin description. Don’t simply rely on a beautiful image! Make sure to add valuable information for your followers to feel inspired to learn more about your product, or whatever you are pinning. Try writing a description with a maximum of 300 characters for optimal results.

Save to your board

Once you’ve added a title and description to your pin, click “Select” above the title and pick the board you wish to save your pin to. In case you don’t have any boards yet, you can create a new one by clicking the “Create Board” option.

If you happen to run across any other issues or need further help you can always contact Pinterest directly and they’ll guide you through the whole process.

Why Sell on Pinterest?

If you want to sell a product or good online and are considering Pinterest to promote your business, you’re on the right path. Keep reading for our top tips.

Before anything else, we should highlight the power of social selling. Most marketers understand there is a long-winded process that happens before a potential buyer makes the formal decision to buy from a business. This process can be referred to as the “sales funnel.” In your sales funnel, social media can play a significant role.

Through the use of social media selling, a store owner is able to create:

Awareness and interaction with the customer for the first time.
educate or influence the customer while building loyalty.
Collect data for future analysis and evaluate sales.

This is why a social media platform like Pinterest can do wonders for your small business.

Pinterest in particular, out of all of the social media platforms out there, has one specific interest to provide its sellers with. Pinterest users are the ones paying the most per order, this translates to the fact Pinterest users are willing to pay more when making an order than buyers from any other social media channel.

This undeniably establishes the platform’s exceptional selling power when it comes to ecommerce.

We must remember Pinterest doesn’t work the same for every business. Pinterest is a highly visual platform, and its vast majority of users identify as female, therefore anyone seeking to promote their online store on it should be fully aware of their audience’s preferences and habits, and try to create a Pinterest strategy around it.

How to Sell on Pinterest

After you’ve figured out how to post on Pinterest and decided this is the right platform for your business, here is a quick guide to help you get all set and ready to promote your products.

Create an online store

This is without a doubt the first step to selling online, and the one where many aspiring sellers mess up. No matter the platform and how great of a demand it can provide for your store, a strong online presence and quality website are the key to online selling. If you haven’t already, check out our How to Build an Ecommerce Website guide to get you started on the right path.

You may want to consider an ecommerce platform like Ecwid to take care of the web design and customer transaction process for you.

Unlike many others, when you sign up with Ecwid, you do not have to worry about a subscription fee getting in the way of getting started as we provide our users with an always-free plan. There is no coding needed, all you basically need is to add your products and you’re ready to go.

In order to sell on Pinterest, you’ll need to have your store and inventory ready as this is where your users will be directed to find your products. Once you have created your online store and added all of your products you’ll be able to add your store’s URL and link to it through your pins.

Pinterest Business Account

Before you get started, you must create a business account or switch your regular account to a business one. Having a Pinterest business account will allow you access to features such as analytics, ads, and other tools that will help you through the selling process.

You can either do it from your personal account and convert it or simply check out Get a business account from Pinterest Help Center to create one.

Link and verify your website

To finalize the setup process all that is left for you to do is to link and verify your business profile. You’ll need to first add your website through your settings and then claim it. You can learn how to do this right here Claim your website.

Start selling with Pinterest

Now that you are all set up and ready to start, here are a few tips to help you make the most of this platform and triple your sales this 2021. You can also check out one of our most recent blog posts about Boosting your sales with Pinterest where we teach you how to succeed and get the most sales from this platform.

In order to boost your sales and get the most exposure out of your content, make sure to:

Create visually appealing pins. As briefly mentioned above, it is hard to make it on Pinterest without visuals that caught your audience’s attention.
Invest time in Pinterest SEO. Pinterest is a visual search engine, and like any other search engine, it has its own algorithm. Make sure you follow the recommendations and incorporate the appropriate keywords.
Engage with other Pinterest users in your niche. High engagement signals the algorithm that users are interested in your content, providing you more and more exposure.

The bottom line is to make sure to enjoy the process and keep learning. It is hard to get everything right on the first try but thankfully there are various resources available through our Ecwid website to help you succeed.

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Apr 17, 2021

About the author

Max has been working in the ecommerce industry for the last six years helping brands to establish and level-up content marketing and SEO. Despite that, he has experience with entrepreneurship. He is a fiction writer in his free time.