Whether it is creative home décor or delectable recipes, when it comes to sharing your ideas in a visually appealing way, Pinterest is the way to go.

You may have heard people obsessing over Pinterest and wondered what is so special about this website. Or maybe you came across the stunning captures people post on Pinterest and that got you interested in the platform. Whatever it is, one thing is clear: people who use it seem to love this highly picturesque social space! And for good reason.

But Pinterest is not all beautiful pictures. It is a lot more than that.

It is a great resource to share your ideas and boards with your friends and family. Moreover, if you are looking to expand your business, it is a versatile tool to step up your social media marketing efforts and take them to the next level.

With over 450 million users worldwide, Pinterest can serve as the perfect place for you to showcase your ideas and thoughts and get more and more people engaged with them.

Read on to find out what Pinterest really is, how it works, and the platform’s true potential.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a highly visual website that provides you with a virtual pinboard to work on. It allows you to collect images by pinning them. You can then categorize your collection of images and add captions or descriptions to each category.

These images are backlinked and will lead you back to the original website that they are posted on, making it convenient once you come back to an idea and explore it in much more depth at any later time.

Why Use Pinterest?

While Pinterest is mostly popular as an aesthetically pleasing social networking site geared largely towards women, it is much more than that.

Thanks to Pinterest, not only can you find inspiration and creative ideas for your interests but also, expand your business in more ways than one.

Every idea on Pinterest is represented by a Pin. It is an image that has been searched and saved by other Pinterest users and links back to the original website. This aspect of Pinterest makes it useful in driving traffic to your page.

Pins also help people in finding information on certain products that you are looking to buy. Contrary to Instagram, Pinterest provides a much more convenient way of boosting your marketing strategy through the use of these links.

Research shows that about 93% of people who pin ideas on Pinterest plan on making a purchase. That’s a huge number of users that are willing and ready to buy a service you have to offer.

If you have a service to offer, joining Pinterest can be your best bet.

Let’s talk about the ins and outs of joining Pinterest and how to get started.

How to Join Pinterest

Joining Pinterest is pretty straightforward. All you have to do is visit the Pinterest website and click Join Pinterest. You will have the option to join either through Facebook, Twitter or by just using your email address.

The rest is pretty straightforward with you following the instructions given on the screen. And Viola! You are now a member of Pinterest.

How to Convert Your Personal Account to a Business Profile on Pinterest

If you already have a personal account but are looking to make the switch to a business account, follow the steps below.

• Log in to your personal profile.
• Click on the three dots on the top right corner of your screen.
• Select the “Upgrade your account” option.
• Fill out the required information about your business.
• Click “Done”.

You now have a Pinterest for Business profile!

How to Follow Pinterest Boards

The next step after joining Pinterest is to follow boards based on your interests to fill your feed with.

To get you started, Pinterest is going to suggest some common topics of interest to you that you can choose from. These range all the way from Science and Technology to Home Décor and Cooking.

But this is not all the website has to offer. Once you dive in and navigate the site, you will be able to find other boards that may fascinate you.

One thing to remember here is that most accounts on Pinterest have multiple boards. This means that if you follow an account, you will follow all of its boards automatically.

You also have the option to unfollow a board that no longer interests you.

Getting Your Account Verified

The next step is to get your account verified. This will be done through the use of email confirmation.

Once you have verified your account, you will be directed to your home feed. This space will feature images and pins from the boards or users you followed.

Let’s have a brief look at the different Feeds on Pinterest.

Pinterest Feeds

Feeds are where you are going to spend most of your time on Pinterest. This is where the magic happens on Pinterest and it is important that you know the different kinds of feed at your disposable.  

The Home Feed

The Home feed will contain all the boards and accounts you follow and their pins. The home feed will also include your own pins and boards along with your recent activity to help you find more boards of similar interests.

The home feed is personalized by Pinterest depending on your likes, dislikes, and overall taste. It is designed in a way to show you content that will most interest you and suit your preferences.

To access the home feed, click on the “Home” button in the navigation bar at the top of the Pinterest screen or on the P symbol on the bottom left.

The Explore Feed

If you have used Instagram’s Explore page, you will have no difficulty familiarizing yourself with Pinterest’s explore feed. Both are very similar in usage.

You can get inspiration and ideas on trending or popular topics on Pinterest on your explore feed on Pinterest.

To check your explore feed, click on the compass symbol at the bottom of your Pinterest app screen. For the desktop version, you can also access it by clicking at the top right-hand corner of your screen.

The explore page is not limited to your likes. It tends to show results based on what is trending at the moment to help you explore and dive into different aspects of Pinterest that lie outside your interests.

The Following Feed

On Pinterest, you can follow not just boards and topics but also accounts of your choice. In order to view the latest posts made by your favorite accounts, you can tap on the “Following” tab on the navigation bar. If you are using a mobile version, this icon is present at the bottom of your app.

The following feed helps you stay updated with what the accounts you follow are up to and what trends to look out for.

Adjusting Settings

Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the basic aspects of Pinterest, you can now go ahead and tinker with your account settings to make the experience much more customized to your needs.

To access your settings, click on your profile picture at the top right-hand corner of the screen. You will be presented with a drop-down menu. Here, you will select the Settings option.

Settings will allow you to make all sorts of big and small changes to your account, whether personal or business. This option is much more important when it comes to business accounts, as they allow you to make the necessary modifications in order to boost your business in all the right ways.

Search For Interesting Pinterest Boards

Pinterest acts just like a search engine dedicated solely to the search of images. For instance, if you type in “long white dress” in the Pinterest search bar, you will get all the Pins from all over the website that contain long white dresses.

To search for a certain Pinterest board, locate the search bar at the top of the screen. From there, you can enter your search and hit enter.

Once that is done, you will be provided all the boards that relate to your search. You can click on a board to see all the saved Pins.

How to Build Your Own Board

Pinterest Boards are the place where all your Pins are saved.

If you run a business account on Pinterest, it is good practice to have a collection of boards organized and categorized for your Pins. This will make it easy and less hectic for your followers to search, find, and follow the boards that are of interest to them.

For instance, if you are running a home decoration

Pin to Your Heart’s Desire!

The whole concept of Pinterest revolves around Pins aka high-quality and aesthetically pleasing images.

On Pinterest, you can create a pin without linking back to its original source website. However, it is generally recommended to link every pin back to its source as most users clicking on an image would want to get some more info related to it.

Every pin can link back to the website it was taken from. That website could be of anything – an online store, a blog, or a social media platform.

To create a strong Pinterest media library, you should also frequently collect and save Pins from other Pinterest users. Doing this will not only diversify your media library which could help in driving traffic to your profile, but it is also a way to establish yourself as a go-to source of inspiration on the platform.

Follow the steps mentioned below to know how to post Pins on Pinterest-

Save a Pin

To save a Pin you like on Pinterest, do the following steps:

• Take your mouse pointer over the Pin you’d like to save.
• Click the down arrow to open a drop-down menu. This drop-down menu will contain all your boards.
• Choose the board you wish to save the Pin to.

Create Your Own Pins

At Pinterest, the fun begins when you create and share your own Pins with the world.

There are two ways you can do that.

Create a Pin Using an Image from the Internet

Here is how you can save any image from the internet to your Pinterest board:

• Download the Pinterest browser button. This makes the job of creating Pins from images on the web a lot easier.
• If you come across an image you like, click the browser button (P) on your toolbar. You can also press the red “PIN” button that appears over the images when you hover over them.
• Once you select the “PIN” option, a list of images will appear.
• Select the image you would like to create a Pin.
• Click Save.

Create a Pin Using an Image from Your Computer

To create a Pin from the pictures saved on your personal device, do this:

• Click the “+” sign at the top right corner of Pinterest.
• Click “Upload a Pin”
• Select “Choose Image” and find the image on your computer.
• Once you’ve chosen the picture, pick a board to save that Pin on.
• Add a description.
• Click Save.

Become a Part of a Pinterest Community

Every good social media account depends on the community that engages with it and the people that follow it.

Pinterest is a great way to showcase your interests and passions. It allows you to share your unique ideas and build conversations with like-minded people.

Become a part of a Pinterest community, taking what it has to offer and giving back whenever you can. Creating a wholesome sense of community around you on social media is a great way to engage your senses into something positive and constructive.

The Bottom Line

Pinterest is a great tool for business owners and regular users alike to explore creative spaces and further their marketing strategies. It is the perfect place to showcase what you love and get people involved.

With this guide, you now know everything you need to start navigating the colorful world of Pinterest and grow your account around your interests.

So what are you waiting for?