Before we dive into today’s episode on how to market a product on Pinterest, I want to share a fun productivity tip. This is something I incorporated into my life a little over a year ago that has helped me to get more done in less time with no distractions. It’s the Kill News Feed on Facebook extension on Google Chrome.
This extension deletes your news feed so that you don’t get caught up scrolling. You can go straight to your groups and see what’s happening there. I also grab my phone and set a timer for 30 minutes or less and log out as soon as the time is up. If you tend to get caught in a rabbit hole on your social media sites, try setting the timer to help you out.
Now onto today’s topic.
How to Market a Product on Pinterest
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Today’s episode is all about how to market a product on Pinterest. In the last couple of episodes, we’ve set up some foundational practices on Pinterest, making it work for you, and creating a good Pinterest strategy. We want to take those episodes to another level and really dive into how to market a product on Pinterest. We have several past episodes in our podcast archive that address selling products, so I’m going to be highlighting those episodes, as well as giving you some additional tips.
Episode #28 – Simple Strategy for E-commerce Start-ups
In episode 28, we dove into e-commerce stores. Our creative director, Tina, has a ton of experience on this topic. In that episode, she walked us through how to set up the best images for Pinterest to showcase products, how to create your workflow, and the types of things you might want to promote.
We talked a little bit about A/B testing your images, as well. Things have changed in the Pinterest world since then, so even though we recommended a longer image length in that episode, remember that currently, Pinterest favors images designed in a 2:3 ratio.
Episode #32 – Selling Products through Pinterest Ads
I talked all about how to sell products through Pinterest ads with Beth Anne of Brilliant Business Moms back in episode 32. Beth Anne walked us through how she sells her planner through promoted pins. We talked about buyable pins, which Pinterest has removed in 2019. Now they have product pins which display the name and price of the product (but they no longer allow you to buy on the platform).
Even if you are not ready to use promoted pins just yet, Beth Anne talks a lot about her organic strategy and what she did to stoke the fire and get her audience ready to use the planner.
Episode #99 – Converting Traffic to Sales
You can spend a ton of time generating Pinterest traffic with amazing images, keywords, the names of your boards, etc… but if people want to leave your site immediately because it’s hard to navigate, you’re killing your sales by losing the conversion.
Nikki Rausch walks us through the subtle indicators on your site that will lead to more conversions and more sales. She’s a genius when it comes to sales language and has some genius tips on which words not to use and what stories to tell or not tell.
We’re not experts on conversions here at SPM. Instead, our job is to generate as much traffic as we can for our client by getting the user to their site. At that point, it’s our clients’ job to focus on getting that customer to convert by creating a very user-friendly website that encourages that conversion.
Donald Miller’s book Building a Storybrand is a great resource on this topic. I also would recommend a tool called HotJar. We used this on the SPM site to determine the “hot spots” on our site and the common paths people took while on the site.
Episode #119 – Marketing Your Shopify Store
Vanessa Kynes came on the podcast to talk about marketing your shopify store. We covered content strategies as well as how to be strategic with getting pictures of your physical products. I loved this episode just for the image tips alone!
We also talked about hiring a photographer for great images more in-depth with The Garter Girl in episode 121. We also explain to you why you need a blog to warm up your Pinterest audience. This episode is packed with strategic information. Grab a note pad and take notes.
Three Non-Negotiables for Marketing Your Product
These previous podcast episodes are packed with great information and tips. Let me share 3 additional tips right now that are non-negotiables when you market a product on Pinterest:
1. Product Pins
Know that product pins are key when you market on Pinterest. This type of rich pin allows you to update the name and price of your product. It helps Pinterest categorize your pins.
And if you’re just getting started, we have a complete guide to rich pins that will help you out even further. There’s also a great article on Tailwind about rich pins that you should check out.
2. Two Types of Images
There are two types of Pinterest images that product sellers must have: a single product image and then a lifestyle image of the product.
If I”m looking for tile for my bathroom or kitchen, I want to see the tile in an up-close shot to see the product as best I can. Then I want to see the product in context (used in a bathroom or kitchen).
These product shots can be taken by a photographer, your customers, or even staged yourself.
Both of these images should be on your website and your Pinterest account. These images are different from blog post images. You don’t need a text overlay. You want the image of your product to be clear and easily viewed (which also helps the product to be found using Pinterest’s visual search function).
3. Keywords On Pin Description
The last non-negotiable is using keywords on your pin description. If I’m looking for the tile, but someone forgot to change the image description from “img- 08315” to something more descriptive, then I won’t see your product. Pinterest won’t recognize it as subway tile.
That is a missed opportunity for a sale.
Make sure you always take the extra 5-10 minutes and complete your pin descriptions on both your website and on Pinterest.
Marketing Products on Pinterest – Change Your Mindset
We’ve had people come to us and say:
I’ve been on Pinterest for 30 days, haven’t made much money, and I’m frustrated and ready to give up.
That is not enough time to determine if the platform is right for you!
Continue to invest in the platform for at least six months. If you’re still not making sales, then you’ll need to look more closely at a few things. Maybe your website isn’t easy to navigate. Maybe you need to work on your product images.
If you are a product seller, digital or physical, don’t jump into Pinterest and pin like crazy without any strategy and then give up after 30 days.
If you are someone who is marketing a product successfully on Pinterest, I would love for you to comment on this post and share what is working for you. In our community, we have so many product sellers who are trying to harness the power of Pinterest and those people would love to hear your tips.
If you’re brand new to Pinterest marketing, sign up for my weekly email newsletter. You will find tons of tips that will really help you get your marketing off the ground.
For Further Reading:
- How Promoted Pins can Boost Your Organic Pinterest Strategy
- What to Do When Your Pinterest Marketing is Not Working
- Pinterest KPIs: How to Measure Your Success
Time Stamp:
- 00:52 – Tip of the Episode – Kill News Feed
- 5:26 – How to Market Your Products on Pinterest
- 7:20 – Episode 28 – Simple Strategy for E-commerce Start-ups
- 8:48 – Episode 32 – Selling Products through Pinterest Ads
- 10:27 – Episode 99 – Converting Traffic to Sales
- 12:58 – Episode 119 – Marketing Your Shopify Store
- 14:36 – Three Non-Negotiables for Marketing Products
- 14:55 – Product Pins
- 15:54 – Two Types of Images
- 19:40 – Keywords On Pin Description
- 21:04 – Changing Your Mindset
Thanks, Kate, for a great podcast! I am an Etsy seller, and I set up a Pinterest for Business account last year to market my products. From January 2018 to January 2019 my average monthly viewers grew from about 380 to 380,000. At the same time, I saw my revenue grow 23% from the previous year.
Last year was a big learning curve for me. I learned how to make Pinterest pins on Canva, subscribed to Tailwind to be able to schedule pins, figured out how to use Etsy’s social media menu to add my own Canva images and create rich pins that link back to my Etsy shop, and wrote a few posts on my blog to provide other Etsy sellers with instructions on how to use these features. I’m still always in in the process of tweaking to use good keywords and to make my Pinterest profile clean, with boards that are relevant to the party decorating products I sell for holidays and special events.
One thing that you mentioned in this podcast was to post a close up product image as well as a lifestyle image. I sometimes specifically ask my clients to send me pictures of the products I make being used at their party and ask permission to use them for Pinterest advertising. My glow party products are some of my biggest sellers, and using pictures that clients have sent me of my products fluorescing in black light at their party has been a great way for potential buyers to see what the garlands and banners really look like in action. Thanks for recommending this and that you request your clients’ help in providing you with pictures! I had one client say she felt famous after I used her picture in a Pinterest pin.
Love all of your great podcasts! They make my head swirl with all sorts of ideas and possibilities!
What a great idea about asking customers for pictures! Thank you! I enjoyed reading your reply.
Thanks. Yes, it is really kind when they are willing to share!
Hi Kate – Love all your tips and advice! Here is something that I’ve been doing for my products. I created a “shop now” board on my Pinterest page and to that board I only pin a graphic that has a “shop now” button and photos of the product that takes viewers to the product purchase page. So, it is sort of like my own version of a buyable pin. Maybe this might help some of your readers too! Here is the board – https://www.pinterest.ca/gartergirl/shop-now-the-garter-girls-wedding-garter-heirlooms/
That “shop now” board is a great idea. Thank you for sharing!
Hi! I am just now learning about this great podcast! In response to the “Shop Now” concept, I think it’s a great idea, however, I have learned that if it links to a specific item in Etsy instead of your shop, once that item is sold out, the link takes you nowhere, and you just lost a sale. For example, I just checked out their link above and clicked on their Shop Now, and that item no longer exists, so it was a dead link. I feel it is safer to have the Shop Now link to the Etsy Shop and not to a specific item. Just my two cents! 🙂