Pinterest Shopping 101: Set Up, Strategy, and Success Tips
- Dinah Newman
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Content from this post was gathered from the business Pinterest blog, Sprout Social, and Social Champ.
Pinterest Shopping 101
Often overlooked by small businesses, Pinterest is a powerful visual search engine and product discovery platform. With just over 450 million monthly active users, Pinterest is the go-to app for people to shop, not just scroll. Social Champ reported that 85% of pinners say they use Pinterest to plan out new projects, and 83% of users have made a purchase based on the content that they saw on the platform. Pinterest selling is a useful opportunity for any size of business and should not be underestimated. This blog post will walk through the essential steps for selling on Pinterest, including setup, strategy, and tools that will help you maximize your reach and revenue! Check out this post on The SMMU to read more about why you should be optimizing Pinterest in your content strategy!
Why Sell on Pinterest?
Unlike other social media platforms where users are looking to be entertained, Pinterest is used by planners. They are actively looking for products and solutions that ultimately make the platform a goldmine for e-commerce businesses. There are several reasons why businesses should use Pinterest for selling. Here are some of the top reasons that Social Champ and Sprout Social have found:
High purchase intent: Users are searching for things to try or buy.
Evergreen content: Pins are able to appear in searches for months or even years after posting. Creating content that sells products without time mentions has the potential to be successful for many years.
Visual-first format: Pins allow businesses to showcase product images. Most of the images are able to be context-specific or lifestyle shots.
Free organic reach: Compared to pay-to-play platforms (Instagram and Facebook), Pinterest offers real-time discoverability of its content.
Getting Set up for Success
Before diving into the actual selling on Pinterest, it is important to take the proper steps to set your business up for success on the platform.
Business account: By switching to a business account, you gain access to powerful tools like Pinterest Analytics, ads, and shopping features. You can convert a personal account or create a new account for your business specific.
Claim your website: Claiming your domain name on Pinterest, helps build trust and enables you to see what users are saving from your site.
Set up your profile: Ensure that your profile photo, bio, and branding are consistent with your business. Using keywords in your bio allows your profile to be easily searchable.
Optimize your Pinterest Presence
To fully optimize your Pinterest profile, your pins need to be searchable and organized to help users discover your products easier.
Create boards that reflect product categories: Organize your content into niche boards. Some examples include: “Minimalist home decor”, or “Eco-Friendly Backpacks.” This helps Pinterest understand your content and ensure it is being shown to the right audience.
Use SEO-Friendly descriptions: Pinterest is a visual search engine. Keywords are still important to integrate into your pin titles, descriptions, and file names of photos. You should put your customers first, and think through what they might be searching for.
Pin consistently: Pinterest often rewards fresh content. By creating a consistent schedule with aims to pin daily or at least a few times a week using tools like Tailwind or SocialChamp.
Pinterest Shopping Features
Pinterest has a robust set of tools that aim to help brands sell directly from the platform. The Pinterest Business blog has several resources to help support businesses through the process of setting up, running, and optimizing their business.
Product pins: Formerly known as Rich Pins, these pull metadata directly in front of your website (like price, availability, and product description) and automatically update.
Product catalogs: Upload your full product catalog and Pinterest will create shoppable Pins for each item, This is especially useful for stores with multiple SKUs.
Shop tab: Once your catalog is uploaded, you’ll get a shop tab on your profile, which turns it into a mini storefront.
Verified Merchant Program (VMP): Joining the VMP adds a blue checkmark to your profile, builds customer trust, and can easily improve distribution across Pinterest.
Best Practices for Selling on Pinterest
Now that the shop is ready to go, let’s review some of the top strategies and best practices!
Use High-Quality images: pins should be vertical (2:3 ratio) and visually striking. Avoid clutter and focus on showcasing the product in action.
Incorporate lifestyle imagery: Show your products in real-life settings, think “mug on a cozy kitchen table: rather than just a product on a white background.
Include Calls to Action (CTAs): Encourage users to take action. Phrases should aim to increase engagement from users.
Use keywords naturally: Avoid keyword stuffing, but make sure that your pin descriptions include relevant search terms and keywords.
Pin fresh content often: Pinterest prefers new content over repinning old stuff. Keep your feed active with seasonal collections, product launches, or user-generated content.
Leveraging Pinterest Ads
Want to take it up a notch? Pinterest Ads can help you get in front of a targeted audience fast.
Promoted Pins: These look just like regular Pins but reach a wider audience. You can promote product Pins to drive traffic or conversions.
Shopping Ads: These are automated ads pulled from your product catalog. Pinterest shows them to users actively searching for similar products.
Flexible Targeting: Target users based on interests, keywords, demographics, or even retarget site visitors.
Track Performance and Refine Strategy
As with any platform, you need to keep an eye on what’s working—and what’s not
.
Use Pinterest Analytics Track metrics like:
Pin impressions
Click-through rate (CTR)
Saves
Conversions (if you’ve installed the Pinterest Tag)
Test & Learn Experiment with different types of Pins—try carousel Pins, video Pins, or changing your visuals. Use A/B testing to see what drives the most clicks.
Conclusion
Pinterest isn’t just a mood board—it's a powerful selling tool. With the right setup and strategy, it can become a consistent source of traffic and revenue for your business. From optimizing your pins for SEO to leveraging Pinterest’s built-in shopping tools, there are endless opportunities to connect with motivated buyers.
So go ahead—claim your business account, pin with purpose, and start turning browsers into buyers.
Disclaimer: No AI was injured in the production of this content. AI (ChatGPT) was used as a tool to supplement, enhance, and make suggestions in writing this blog post.
Resources
ChatGPT (2025). Blog content and outline assistance provided by ChatGPT, an AI developed by OpenAI. Retrieved April 16, 2025, from https://chat.openai.com
Sprout Social. (2024). How to Sell on Pinterest. Retrieved from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/how-to-sell-on-pinterest/
Social Champ. (2024). How to Sell on Pinterest: A Step-by-Step Guide. Retrieved from https://www.socialchamp.com/blog/how-to-sell-on-pinterest/
Pinterest for Business. (2024). Shopping on Pinterest. Retrieved from https://business.pinterest.com/shopping/
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