Of all the social media platforms, this one is designed for users who love to daydream, plan and shop

BY JULIE A. PALM

As one of the first social media apps designed to help people collect, organize and share images of the things they covet—from fabulous wedding dresses to delicious-looking recipes to stunning room designs—it’s no surprise Pinterest is used heavily by consumers as they plan and make purchases.

In fact, about 55% of Pinterest’s 175 million monthly visitors use the platform to shop, according to Pinterest’s own statistics. What’s more, 87% of users have bought an item because of Pinterest content, and 67% have looked at their saved Pinterest content while in a store.

Here are some tips for using Pinterest to your store’s advantage:

• No boring boards. Through Pinterest, you organize images on boards, kind of like digital bulletin boards. Most experts recommend you have at least 10 boards populated with at least five items when you launch your Pinterest business account and then build from there. “Use meaningful names that pinners are likely to search for. Have a mix of both boards with specific names (e.g. “Salvador Dali Prints”) and more broad ones (e.g. “Fine Art Prints”). Don’t forget to write compelling and targeted descriptions of your boards, too,” writes Rebekah Radice, founder of Rebekah Radice Media, in a blog post for Post Planner, an online lab for content marketing ideas. Use boards to create gift guides, celebrate holidays, mark the seasons, showcase beautiful room designs, offer sleep tips, etc.
• Pinning and repining: Pin new content daily to at least a few of your boards, making sure to pin that fresh content from your store’s website, blog or other store social media accounts. You want a clear link back to your store when Pinterest users click on your pins. Also repin from other people. You don’t want your boards to just be ads for your store, tempting as that may be. Make your boards useful, fun places for pinners to visit.
• Keep it simple for pinners. Make it easy for consumers visiting your store’s website to pin product images, articles and other information directly from your website to their Pinterest boards by adding the Pinterest plug-in or widget to your site. (This used to be called a “Pin” button but Pinterest recently changed its nomenclature and it’s now the “Save” button.)
• Promote, promote! The Promoted Pins feature allows you to highlight specific pins. “In doing so, you can target specific audiences, choose to pay for either pin engagement or visits to your website, and track how your ads are performing,” says staff writer Brittney Helmrich in a January 2016 article for Business News Daily.
• Take advantage of Rich Pins. Business accounts can use Rich Pins to add information to their pins and make shopping via the platform easier for consumers. There are several types of Rich Pins but the one most useful for mattress retailers is product pins. “Unlike a regular pin, these Rich Pins show where the product you’re pinning can be purchased, the current price and a direct link to the product page. … Since many Pinterest users create boards that serve as wish lists for things they want, product pins are a great way to convert pins into purchases,” Helmrich writes. Note that to use Rich Pins, you need to request access from Pinterest and add some coding to your website. The approval process can take a few weeks.