By now, you have probably learned about the virtual pinboard website Pinterest. Though the site is great for pinning recipes you want to try or funny memes you’d like to save, it is also a powerful visual marketing tool. Joining Pinterest can put your products in front of a huge audience.

Nielsen’s 2012 Social Media Report stated that Pinterest had a nationwide audience of 27 million by year’s end. Not only that, Pinterest drives traffic to your website. Last September, Tech Crunch reported that Pinterest was the 4th largest traffic driver in the world. Let’s take a look at the top three items you should keep in mind when creating and monitoring your business’s Pinterest account.

1. Your Page Should be Set Up as a Business Page

   When using Pinterest for your business, you must make sure that your page is set up as a business page, not as a regular user. This feature allows businesses to have more control over their accounts, gives them the chance to connect the page with their websites, and allows them to categorize their business type.

   Initially, Pinterest did not have a business page option. Many companies, small businesses and big brands alike, still tried to capitalize on this visual social media platform by joining as regular users. Don’t worry if you fall into this category; Pinterest lets you convert your established account to a business page. We’ve seen tremendous growth in followers (an average of 33.5%), re-pins and referral traffic with our Pinterest clients since converting them to business pages. See our video below to learn how to set up your Pinterest business page.

2. Your Pinterest Content Should Be Highly Sharable

   80% of the pins on Pinterest are actually re-pins, meaning that users pinned that content via someone else’s Pinterest page or feed rather than manually pinning it from a website. Pinning valuable, visually appealing, original content to your page will increase the chances of your content being re-pinned or shared by other users. Professional images of your products, infographics, pictures of customers at your brick and mortar location, and bold graphics all catch users’ attention.

3. You Must Continue to Create Visual Content

   It’s not enough for you to fill a few boards and call it a day. For Pinterest to be a truly successful social media marketing platform for your company you must continue to create visual content and drip it out on Pinterest on a regular basis, as you would with posts on any other social media site. Not only does this keep your followers Pinterested, it is a social media and SEO best practice as you continue to use your keywords and build links back to your website.

   Not sure where you’ll get this additional visual content each month? Take pictures of any new products you introduce, bring your camera to events your company attends or hosts, create infographics to share with your followers. Our designer crafts eye catching visuals for our blog, which makes them extremely shareable on our Pinterest page.

Follow these three tips and you’ll be pinning like a pro! Not sure if Pinterest is the right social media platform for your business? Contact us for a free consultation.