There’s no doubt that Pinterest is generating considerable amounts of referral traffic for businesses. Many people were using Pinterest for business by finding ways around the settings meant for personal users, but now Pinterest is officially opened up to the business world. This is a great opportunity for brands that have been waiting to join to get involved with Pinterest.
Already have a Pinterest account that you’ve been using for business? Here’s how to convert yours: Log on to the network’s business page, where you will be prompted to convert your personal account to business by following the steps outlined below:
- Choose your business type. Here you can choose from Professional, Public Figure, Media, Brand, Retailer, Online Marketplace, Local Business, Institution/Non‐Profit and Other. Since you will be in the section with all of your profile settings, this is a good opportunity for you to take a look at your profile description to make sure that it accurately states what you do and includes great keywords surrounding your business.
- Agree to the business terms. Pinterest created two sets of terms of use — one for users and one for businesses. Pinterest said on its blog, “The business terms help guide businesses on how to use Pinterest. They also enable us to separate the provisions meant for businesses from those meant for regular people.”
- Verify your website. After you agree to the new terms, you will be prompted to verify your website. This will allow your website address to show up in your profile as a clickable link rather than just the world icon that was there previously. This will make it easier for users to go to your website directly. To verify your website, you will need to download the HTML file that Pinterest has provided for your account and upload it to your website server. Once you have done that, go back into Pinterest and verify it under settings, and once the file is detected, you are all set! If you happen to skip this step or exit out of it, you can always find where to verify your website by going into settings, and under your website address, you will see a prompt that says “verify website.”
- Use the Pinterest tools on your website. Now that you’re converted to a business account, Pinterest gives you access to a Follow button, Pin It button, Profile widget and Board widget to embed into your site to make it easier for your website visitors to pin your content and build your traffic. Pinterest will also give you access to case studies of brands that are finding success with using Pinterest. You will also find best practices for what works for businesses on Pinterest. A few of these ideas include sharing your values, celebrating seasons and by showing how your company is different. For a complete look at what works well on Pinterest, check out this handy guide from the network.
Amber Wallor is the president and co-founder of Left Hand Marketing in the Chicago area. She specializes in social media training, social media management and video marketing.