How to Start Marketing Your Ecommerce Store on Pinterest in 2021 & Why You Should

By Rodney Laws | Business

Feb 01

Ecommerce businesses have larger potential audiences than ever before thanks to the far reach of the internet and the relative affordability of national and international shipping, but they’re also facing more competition than ever before. A small clothing business in Colorado can now reach customers in Germany… but that means businesses in Germany can reach customers near you, too.

To thrive in the ecommerce world today, it’s crucial to know how to leverage the right marketing platforms so that you can better connect with and sell to your audience.

Pinterest should be a go-to marketing platform for ecommerce businesses of all shapes and sizes in 2021, and in this post we’re going to go over why it’s so important and how to get started. 

Why Pinterest should be your go-to marketing platform

Pinterest is a high-value marketing platform that your audience will likely use to discover and research items before purchasing. There’s an abundance of proof that Pinterest frequently drives direct conversions, including the following:

  • 73% of users purchased something after seeing it on the platform 
  • High-income users are 2x more likely to use Pinterest than low-income homes, meaning the disposable income is more readily available
  • Pinners start the buying and planning process 2x earlier than other consumers on average
  • 39% of female users and 48% of male users will turn to Pinterest’s search engine for shopping decisions before “traditional” options like Google or Bing 

People are using Pinterest to find new products, and if you aren’t on the platform, there’s a solid chance that you’re missing out on those sales as a result. 

How to get started marketing your ecommerce store on Pinterest 

There are several essential factors to consider when you’re ready to start marketing on Pinterest. You’ll need to set up a profile, work on strong content development, create engaging images, and connect Pinterest to your overall marketing strategy.

You can get a comprehensive overview in this free Quickstart course here, but let’s take a look at the basics that you absolutely need to know now. 

Setting up your profile 

Start by setting up a business profile on Pinterest. This (as opposed to a personal profile) will give you access to analytics and the ability to run native ad campaigns. 

Credit: Pinterest

To create a strong profile, you should do the following:

  • Make sure your name is easily identifiable, using your brand name if possible 
  • Choosing the same profile picture that you’re using for other social media channels for increased visibility and brand recognition
  • Including keywords in your description, which should explain what your business does and what you can offer on Pinterest, to help users find your content and see that it’s relevant to them
  • Fill out all relevant fields, including your website address, so users can connect with you off-platform, too
  • Take time to claim your website through Pinterest, which will allow you to gain enhanced analytics and give you perks like having your profile picture show up in pins from your site

Focus on educational, valuable content when possible 

Pinterest is a place where people come to research, so while of course you’ll want to have product pins that link directly to product pages to promote sales, think outside the box, too. If you’re able to create valuable, educational content that your target audience would love, that’s a great way to steer them to your brand.

A great example of this is Fenty Beauty. Their “shop” tab is filled with product pins, but you can also find an enormous library of pinned tutorials showing people how to use the products. This can drive immediate sales, and it’s a fantastic strategy. 

Credit: Pinterest

Creating engaging, click-worthy images

Images are everything on Pinterest. Visuals are central to the platform, and the reality is that if they aren’t great, you’re unlikely to see a lot of traction here even if the content itself is solid.

Consider testing images that have two or three bright, dominant colours, and unlike Instagram, you don’t need to worry quite as much about lots of negative space; close-up images often perform well here.

In order to speed up visual creation, look into third-party tools like Tailwind that can help with image generation. You can have the tool automatically pull images from the site or upload them yourself, add text, and then choose different formatting and colour palettes to create a number of dynamic, visually-optimised pins in a matter of minutes. 

Credit: Pinterest

There’s no graphic design experience needed, and you’ll still end up with pins that look professionally-created. 

Credit: Pinterest

Connect Pinterest to your overall marketing strategy

While Pinterest is an exceptional platform on its own, you’ll really have the best results with it if you connect it to your overall marketing strategy instead of treating it like a truly standalone entity. 

See where Pinterest fits into your digital marketing funnel. If, for example, you’re able to send users from a pin to an educational blog post, you can use a CTA in that blog post to get them to sign up for your email newsletter. From there, you can use triggered autoresponders to follow up and nurture them into customers. 

Plenty of pinners, after all, will likely add items to their cart before abandoning them for some reason. The ability to email someone within 12 or 24 hours after they’ve abandoned a cart with a coupon code can earn you a sale and a new customer. You can also set up PPC campaigns to retarget to users who added items to their cart but didn’t purchase, making your Pinterest marketing more effective. 

Final thoughts

Pinterest is an ecommerce marketing powerhouse, and that will hold strong through 2021. If you aren’t already using and prioritising the platform, the time to change that is now. Even though it does create one more profile that needs to be managed, the potential payoff here is massive, and if you don’t get started, there’s a good chance that you’re just handing your competition sales that should have been yours. 

Keep in mind with all the resources and tools like Tailwind now available to brands and marketers, Pinterest marketing is easier than ever, making that payoff even sweeter. 

Ready to get started marketing your ecommerce business on Pinterest? Sign up with your free trial at Tailwind today. 

Author bio: Ana Gotter is a strategic content marketer specializing in business, finance, ecommerce, and marketing writing, though she’s worked across a range of industries. She works from her home in Orlando with her three dogs and can be contacted at www.anagotter.com.