What Is Pinterest And How Can You Use It?
Have you ever kept a collection of things in a scrapbook, personal diary, on a soft board or maybe even at the door of your refrigerator. Well, that’s what Pinterest.com brings to the online world! It’s the place where you can find inspiration, uncover cool ideas, and neatly arrange them using custom categories called ‘Boards.’ And the goodies you collect? They’re known as ‘Pins‘ — pictures, art, animations, even quick videos — anything that align with your interest.
According to Pinterest itself, people often struggle to articulate precisely what they’re looking for. However, they’ll know it when they see it! While they browse Pinterest’s feed containing content in the form of ‘Pins’, they gradually refine their preferences and find that perfect idea.
And again, these pins that they like can be saved and organized into groups called Boards.
A Quick Overview Of Pinterest
Pinterest employs specific terminology and features that might be unfamiliar to you. If this is your first time encounter with the platform, here’s a rapid rundown of a few key terms:
What are Pins on Pinterest?
When a user saves an item from either Pinterest or the Web, it transforms into a ‘Pin.’ Each pin remains linked to its original source through a provided link. Consequently, connecting your Pinterest content to your website can generate notable referral traffic.
Pins are commonly browsed through a user’s home feed or when someone searches for ideas using ‘keywords’. The more pins you accumulate, the more tailored your browsing experience becomes.
It’s important to note that pins aren’t restricted to a singular (e.g., Image) format. Fortunately, Pinterest also accommodates various formats such as videos and carousels.
What are Boards on Pinterest?
Boards serve as an organizational tool for pinners (Pinterest users). When a user saves a pin, he’s then prompted with a series of boards which he has created or can immediately create a new Board.
With your Pinterest account, you can create boards that showcase a variety of pinned images and graphics. Pinners have the option to follow your entire account or follow specific boards that pique their interest.
Is Pinterest an App or Not?
It offers both a website and an app so you can use Pinterest on your phone and also on your desktop. For desktop access, simply employ the site’s recommended browsers like Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge. Alternatively, you can opt for the Pinterest mobile app compatible with both iOS & Android.
Why Choose Pinterest?
Now let’s talk about what makes Pinterest worth your while? There’s a plethora of reasons why people use this app. You can showcase and save your personal preferences, unearth artistic inspiration, gather home décor ideas, create a mood board for your next design project, uncover tantalizing recipes, and even explore dreamy travel destinations. Heck many people use Pinterest for a hearty dose of laughter. Not to mention businesses all around the world spend approximately $3 Billion to reach their ideal customers on Pinterest.
How to start using Pinterest?
Below we’ll explain you in detail on how you can start using Pinterest from scratch.
Step 1
First of all you need to sign up for a new account. It’s fast and really easy plus free too. All you need is a valid email, a strong password and your Birth Date.
After that, Pinterest may ask additional details like your Gender, Language and some of the topics you are interested in.
And yippee 🥳 you are good to go to using Pinterest.
Step 2
Now the second step is to create your custom board for any category of pins you’d like to keep and organize. Say for example you could have a board of color palettes as your next design inspiration or one for food/recipes maybe even for your winter outfit collection.
You can create a new board by clicking on your profile at the top right of your Pinterest profile. And after that click on the saved tab and you’ll see a plus icon on the right which’ll allow you to create a new Board of any name you like as shown here:
If you’re a Business I’d suggest naming your Boards in a way that contains the primary keywords that are specific to your business. In case if it’s your personal account you can name it to anything you like.
If you want to keep your pins private. There’s a great feature on Pinterest called Secret Boards. What this means is, only you can see this board when someone visits your account but you can also allow collaborators/friends to view this board too.
Step 3
Now it’s time to add pins to the boards you’ve created. You can pin things that other users have already added to Pinterest or create new pins of your own using files from your computer.
Many websites also have this built in share feature that allows you to save things from their site to any of your Pinterest boards so you can save them for later.
Wrapping Up!
With that said, do let us know in the comments if you like this guide or if there’s anything missing you’d like us to add.
Also, keep an eye on my future posts on medium as we’ve a ton of content planned to share with you so you can nail in Pinterest as your next marketing platform.
Good Luck!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I get a Pinterest Business Account?
You’ll get extra features like analytics, ads and exclusive Pin formats. All designed to help you hit your marketing goals.
I don’t have my Own Business. Can I still use Pinterest?
Definitely! You don’t require a personal website to share content on Pinterest. All you need is a simple Pinterest account in order to get started. Whether you’re uploading assets or crafting Pins, the Pinterest app is your hub. Furthermore, you can streamline content sharing across various platforms by linking your social network accounts to Pinterest.