You’re investing a lot of time in your site’s SEO, your SEM cost per acquisition is steadily going down, and your email marketing efforts are providing substantial ROI. It might feel like you’ve conquered the e-commerce marketing world, but untapped revenue always exists.

One high-potential, less-talked-about medium for driving long-term traffic and improving your conversion rate, believe it or not, is Pinterest. But before we talk about how to use Pinterest to drive more e-commerce traffic and conversions, it’s helpful to understand the platform.

How Pinterest Works and Why It’s Important for E-Commerce Companies

Pinterest is a visual discovery site where users can post (“pin”) images or videos to collections, called “boards.” Boards usually contain a theme, which makes it easier for users to browse pin collections with themes that interest them.

While many people would categorize Pinterest as a social media platform, the company thinks of itself as a search platform. Why? One way to think of it is, when somebody searches for something online, it’s highly unlikely if not impossible for a Facebook post or Tweet to appear in the SERPs.

However, this is a regular occurrence with pins, which show up both in organic web results and image results. Showing up in both results gives businesses the potential to add to their organic SEO presence in addition to any boon that comes from users on the platform.

Then there’s the fact that Pinterest has over 200 million monthly users, giving e-brands who can gain a dedicated following a long-term wellspring of referral traffic. You might be thinking, more traffic is great, but it doesn’t mean conversions. Pinterest is a unique platform in that its users aren’t using it to kill time.

Instead of mindlessly browsing a news feed, Pinterest users are searching with intent, maybe to gain inspiration for an upcoming project, or to organize ideas in categories of their interest, possibly just to collaborate with other design-minded friends.

Pinterest users can create mood-board-style image collections on the app

According to Pinterest research, 61 percent of survey respondents say Pinterest is where they find ideas to be their best selves. By comparison, Google was their next highest choice, at 40 percent.

Getting Started Using Pinterest To Promote Your E-Commerce Store

Now that you understand the platform, how to promote Pinterest activity on your site and how to make your pins appear the best they can be, you’re ready to set up your business’ page. The process is straightforward but be sure to verify your page by confirming your website address; otherwise, your page might not appear credible.

Make Sure Your Logo/Image Looks Good

Adding a profile image is simple, but that doesn’t mean any ole image will do. As an e-commerce store, it makes sense to use your brand logo, but make sure it renders properly! Pinterest profile images are 165x165 pixels, but as long as your image is square, it’ll resize to fit.

Vet Your Store’s Images Improve as Necessary

While you’re setting up your account, it’s worthwhile to analyze the quality of your store’s existing images. It’s well-known that high-quality images can increase consumer trust and boost conversion rates in general. However, your Pinterest efforts won’t even get off the ground if your pictures aren’t of a good enough resolution. Who wants to pin a grainy photo? Your images should be at least 600 pixels wide to ensure optimal appearance. Pinterest is a platform that works off engagement and emotions. If your store doesn’t have engaging images that incite action, nobody will be pinning your stuff.

Create Boards That Align with Your Brand’s Personality & Customer’s Needs

Now comes the exciting stuff; creating your boards and outlining how you’ll portray your brand to the Pinterest masses. You’ll want to create a variety of boards that speak to each specific segment of customer you have or are looking to develop a rapport with in the future.

Like your account image, you want each board to have a picture that quickly communicates the collection’s intent. Take advantage of the secret boards feature to have new collections ready to go, and optimize which boards display at the top of your profile (e.g., the ones with the most saves or something timely).

Understand What Makes for a Compelling Pin

Of course, getting people to pin stuff on your store is only one part of the equation. Like any social platform, you need to post your own content to attract users to your page, and ideally, store. And like other platforms, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t through trial and error. In general, though, best practices dictate pins be vertical and contain minimal text to make viewing more accessible for mobile users.

While text should be minimal, it doesn’t mean you should breeze over it. Make your copy engaging, provide an image beyond the image for a user. For example, if you’re selling makeup on your store, you could have your pin illustrate that a specific eyeliner sets the mood for a night on the city.

Avoid timely copy and promotional messaging. Pins have a much longer half-life than other social platforms (50 percent of visits happen 3.5 months after first pinning). So, messaging that says, “buy midnight mascara at 30 percent off when you take advantage of our Labor Day Sale” will probably only garner minimal engagement when first pinned and make your account look spammy when it’s found after Labor Day.

Rich Pinning

Like Facebook OG tags and Twitter cards, Rich Pins are Pinterest’s way for users to control how their pins look and provide more information than a standard pin display.

There are four types of rich pins: recipes, products, apps, and articles. For your e-commerce store, product rich pins can include helpful information like real-time pricing, product availability and where to buy your product. It might go without saying, but your product page should be the click-through destination of the pin.

Get Familiar with Pinterest Analytics

Like any marketing initiative, you’re not going to succeed right off the bat. Pinterest Analytics will be your breeding ground to track past performance, tweak ineffective strategies and ideate new methods to improve your account’s engagement. Since an entire article could be devoted to getting started with Pinterest Analytics, I’ll direct you to a helpful guide on key Pinterest metrics you should be analyzing.

Pinterest is a unique platform. It requires a unique strategy tailored to your store’s brand, industry, and target customers. If you’re in doubt, leverage a team of creatives that know how to use Pinterest to drive more e-commerce traffic and conversions. A dedicated group can plan a content strategy that’ll resonate with customers with which you’re looking to develop trust.

It will also ensure your brand stays in a compelling spotlight.