By: Brittany Wagner | @brittanywagner

Pinterest has recently provided new ways to make shopping easier for users. Although this is an obvious win for those users that have had their eye on a dress or pair of shoes, this is an even bigger win for the retail businesses looking to build an online presence. We have compiled a list of features that you should be using to take your Pinterest business to the next level:

*While most users have a general user account, a business will need to sign up for a business account through Pinterest in order to use the below features.* - You can convert here.

Product Pins:

There are multiple kinds of pins (posts) that you can make on Pinterest. By selecting to make a pin a “Product Pin,” you will be able to make whatever is in the pin easily purchasable by the user. These pins will specifically show the user where they can locate the product, how much it costs, and the ability to add it to their “Shopping Bag” on Pinterest. On top of this, “Product Pins” use real-time price updating, so if the price of the product ever changes, it will alert the user of the new price. Retailers such as FlyAway BlueJay have had great success from being able to sell directly off of Pinterest. In fact, 100% of Buyable Pins sales came from brand new customers. Learn more about FlyAway BlueJay here.

Photo: Pinterest

The Visual Search Tool:

This tool is new to Pinterest, and it is making shopping easier for those that see something they want but don’t know where to buy it. With this feature, users can point their camera at an object they are interested in purchasing, and Pinterest will show them where they can buy the item or something similar. Being able to post Product Pins will pay off in the long run with this new feature.

Promoted Pins:

Pinterest is a rather smart outlet for business. You can set your Maximum CPE (Cost per Engagement) and your Maximum CPC (Cost per Click), and Pinterest will make an estimate of what you will be paying for when promoting a pin on their website. Users are also 5x more likely to purchase an item from a Promoted Product Pin than other forms of online advertising, making this the perfect addition to your marketing strategy.

Targeting:

Let’s take our Promoted Pin to the next level with user Targeting. By being able to target a specific audience on Pinterest, you will be able to make sure that your Promoted Pins are being seen by an audience that will be more receptive to your products. Choose to target an audience through a choice of 2 million search queries, gender, age, location, etc. For example, if you are selling prom dresses you will want to target females aged 16-18, and add in a search query target for things such as “prom,” “prom dresses,” etc.

After promoting and targeting specific pins, Pinterest will then record insights from what has been promoted and posted. Popular brands such as Etsy have benefited greatly from these features. Read more on Etsy’s success here.

If you are looking for help promoting your business on Pinterest, we would love to help! Contact us at (469) 248-0616.