How to use Pinterest for your B2B Marketing Strategy

B2B companies tend to overlook the third most popular reason why users gravitate towards Pinterest's visual content:

Users love to follow brands on social media, and Pinterest is no exception. And when brands provide them with exclusive visual content, things tend to get a little easier, conversion-wise.

As we all know, visual content has many benefits, as tends to be be easier to digest. Not to mention that, if done correctly, visual content can drive traffic, boost your social shares and overall engagement, helping you stay on top of people's minds and create brand awareness.

But how is a B2B company going to adapt to Pinterest? And is there a way to make it work for you?

Let's get started.

Pinterest users use "pins" to create inspiration boards and share visual content, such as videos, infographics, or images. The great thing about this is the fact that these images are not uploaded directly from users - although it can happen as well. Usually, the visuals are a part of the brand's content strategy and can be found anywhere on the internet.

Now, as with all things social, Pinterest has a search bar at the top of the page. This search bar can turn the social media platform into a mini-search engine, where Pinterest users can search for anything, from a brand's name to the latest hashtag that's taken over the digital world.

Users can create boards simply by pinning their favorite content, making them either private or public. The latter means that other users can follow them, re-pin their pins, and then get suggestions related to the pins on their feed.

All of this visual content is a perfect way for a B2B company to build a brand and become memorable, especially if marketers consider that users have full control over their preferred content. This control, after all, allows Pinterest users to share their favorite pins with others, turning themselves into something closer to brand ambassadors than users on any of the other social media platforms.

However, there is another reason why you should use Pinterest as a part of your social media marketing and content marketing efforts:

Since the percentage of people who have discovered something new on Pinterest is that high, and visual content converts better than other forms of content, you can penetrate your target market further without breaking any sweat. Just use your Pinterest account to utilize individual forms of marketing and content, like various video types, to attract your target audience.

Email marketing is one of the mediums all brands love to use, and B2B companies are no exception. However, combining email marketing, marketing automation, and your B2B Pinterest marketing strategy may seem a little strange and unusual.

It's not, though.

Pinterest users are a fantastic source of referral traffic and leads. So, why not promote your Pinterest account through your email marketing efforts?

Generally speaking, promoting your social media through your email marketing and vice versa is a fantastic way to gain exposure, brand visibility, and, obviously, more followers.

So, let's assume that you create your social media content and your brand new Pinterest board. You can share it on your Facebook page and urge others to do the same as you, correct?

You can also promote your brand new content through your email marketing campaigns and boost your follower count and interaction. Just segment your audience, see what each person would love to see, when it comes to your social media content, and pick out an email template builder that will help you create email templates that will make your social media content look natural - almost like a natural continuation of your brand overall.

If social media content - and that includes Pinterest - can open a dialogue, email marketing can continue it. So, urge your followers to subscribe to your email, if they haven't done so already, give them some exclusive, spot-on content, and nudge them in the right direction by asking them to share your email with their social circle.

That way, you'll be able to continue the dialogue with your subscribers - old and new -, turn old subscribers into ambassadors and promote your product and services more effectively.

Like I mentioned before, the bar at the top of Pinterest's page is nothing more or less than a tiny search engine that can boost your SEO efforts, among other things.

But all search engines work through algorithms, whether they're on social media or not. Which means that you will need to understand how this algorithm can boost your content and help you build your personal brand through visibility.

First of all, you'll need to create relevant content that will belong to the Pinterest board you've saved it on. That way, it'll be that much easier for Pinterest users to bump into your content.

Secondly, don't think that Pinterest is a place where you can just dump content. You will need to invest in quality rather than quantity, as with every other social media platform.

Let's assume that you start a blog, and you want to promote it through Pinterest. You wouldn't create blog posts that have zero value, and you wouldn't use your Rich Pins to update your Pinterest profile in real-time without engaging and relevant content.

Relevant content generates more engagement, and more engagement tells search engines - yes, even the tiny ones on social media platforms - that they've done an excellent job. So, engaging, timely, and valuable content with proper keyword targeting will consistently rank higher.

Are all of the above valuable for your B2B Pinterest marketing efforts? Yes. Are they going to work without consistent efforts, like posting content, pinning, and engagement? The answer to that would be no. So, to promote your business through Pinterest, make sure to show that you're not a "dead" page that uploads great content from time to time, nor that you're an overly active marketer that values quantity over quality. Pinterest's algorithm won't reward you either way.

Of course, this is just one part of SEO for Pinterest's search engine. And I mentioned keyword targeting, didn't I?

Whenever a user searches for something, they use a keyword that seems relevant to their case. B2B marketers need to tweak that to their advantage. Like in every social media marketing campaign, marketers will need to find the keyword they'd like to target and use it on their post's title or description.

Of course, this alone won't do. So, another Pinterest marketing tip would be to create a holistic B2B Pinterest marketing approach that will include keyword targeting. After all, the algorithm is there to rank pins and boards based on relevancy, first and foremost.

But SEO doesn't stop there, so here are some more Pinterest marketing tips that will help you boost your content:

• Don't forget your hashtags.
• Use Google Analytics to determine the keywords that lead users to your B2B website, brand, content, or even your LinkedIn page and social network.
• Use keywords and keyword variations on your Pinterest bio and alt-texts of images.

Look how we, at Moosend leveraged Pinterest's power:

We're an email marketing and marketing automation platform, and this needs to be evident in our bio and our pins. If it weren't, we wouldn't be able to provide valuable content to our prospects, which means that they would ultimately go for something of greater value to them.

Your B2B Pinterest strategy is, for the better part, dependent on the engagement of Pinterest users, but also your own engagement with fellow brands and similar content.

Engaging with others and building connections with Pinterest users, influencers, other B2B brands, and SMBs will make you seem human and relatable. After all, only by showing your human face will you attract humans and create brand loyalty.

Let's see what strategies would turn your Pinterest page into a powerful part of your B2B marketing strategy.

Implementing content marketing tactics into your marketing strategy as a whole may not sound tricky, but it is. Especially for a B2B that is a small business and has no idea where to start.

A general rule of thumb is that relevant and well-curated content that is released in regular intervals always wins the race. Even as a B2B, you're still talking to a human behind the business, and this human would love to see something they could use to solve an actual problem in their business.

Create interactive content, videos with customer testimonials, and pins that are engaging, albeit business-oriented. But don't be too original.

As you can see, when it comes to Pinterest's content, repins cover 80% of the posts. So, it would be best to run your analytics and satisfy even the most underused customer segments with the content you post. Not to mention that this will be well-received by your user base. Showing that you care about the same things as them and that your content is valuable and not promotional is what will win them over.

But how are you going to find that content?

The truth is that your target audience and key demographic will already be following some similar accounts - or even competitors of yours - and that you want your B2B marketing approach to be a little more on the inbound marketing side of things.

In other words, it's best if you let your user base come to you.

To do so, check what brands target the keywords you want to target. The same goes for influencers in your niche. If you're in the travel business and you'd like to promote the services you approach hotel owners, for example, you could start by following those owners and influencers.

Follow some accounts with a high follower count, make sure your niche is similar - if not the same - and, after that, plan an outreach strategy to team up with them and get the best results. Your repins alone will get the Pinterest users' attention and will help them find you.

Even high-end brands respond to users who engage with their content, and your B2B marketing strategy should promote that, Pinterest marketing aside.

Now, on Pinterest specifically, users who pin your content should have something to work with. And I'm not talking content-wise alone. As a B2B brand, a business account will allow you to DM users who have interacted with your pins.

Now, here's where the thing gets tricky, as you want interaction, but you want to reduce the creep factor of this interaction to zero, while also you want your message to mean something and drive more engagement.

To achieve that and create a content matrix that will drive more conversion, consult your user persona templates first and see what they have in common with the followers who have interacted with your content. Then, craft a "Thank You" message that will feel personal and personalized. And of course, keep in contact with them, with links, eBooks, and lead magnets that will lead to your website.

That way, you'll be able to nudge them gently towards your email list, have them subscribe for some valuable insights - or even exclusive benefits - and keep a loyal following of Pinterest users and, perhaps, influencers and thought leaders as well.

Another form of engagement - a great one at that - is a group board. Pinterest allows B2B marketers to create a board that's meant to be shared around. You can team up with those who engage most with your content and share ideas on this board, have them add their pins, and turn them into brand ambassadors in no time.

Content might be king, influencers might be the way to go, but what happens when you want to know what works and what doesn't?

B2B marketing campaigns for Pinterest are still marketing campaigns at the end of the day. And without some powerful tracking and analytics, you won't know whether your tactics are working or not.

What you need to do is to track your performance, as this will help you reach your goals and KPIs. So, what are the KPIs you've set before building your first board? If you can't answer this question, you need a better approach to your marketing strategy as a whole. On the other hand, if you're not sure what your KPIs should be, maybe you should ask the key demographic that frequents your niche.

Consider creating a survey and asking them what they would like to see from your brand, content-wise, and utilize the information to adjust - or even create - your goals and determine where your main interest is.

After doing so, track your results, from the first pin to the very last board you create.

Of course, your Pinterest analytics will give you a better idea of the content that converts best for your audience as well. Which is a fantastic starting point, as you'll know what works best. Is it a GIF? Is it an infographic? Your analytics will give you the answer.

Pinterest is a visual-first social platform. This means that photography is above blog posts but below infographics, sometimes. Depending on your niche, there is a visual medium that will fit your B2B marketing plan.

So, what visual element would boost your conversion marketing tactics? Consider creating an infographic out of a blog post. Or a video out of an infographic. Or, perhaps, a GIF out of a video. If you're all out of ideas or want to constantly have a new approach when it comes to old content, Pinterest is the platform to do it.

Just create a content calendar and see the content types that would best meet your needs. If you're creating a content upgrade for your latest blog post, for example, consider adding its cover image on a Pinterest board. Top it off with the link to your blog post, and you're sure to catch two birds with one stone: an engaged reader and a lead for your email list, all into one.

We're all done with SEO and with content for Pinterest - both repurposed content that can get you more value, and new content that will attract more attention. Now, it's time to discuss the most popular - and valuable - Pinterest tactics.

In brief, you will need to optimize, experiment, be consistent, and never forget what a good quality visual can do for your brand. Now, let's get into more detail.

As I said in the beginning, Pinterest - much like all social media platforms - is its own tiny search engine, complete with an algorithm and a drive for content users.

The first thing you need to optimize for Pinterest's search engine should be your username. You see, most of the time, Pinterest users - like me - have a general idea of what they're looking for. Therefore, we'll use a variety of terms. So, why not look for the most prominent of those terms and use it in your username? This will give you better chances of appearing on a person's Pinterest search.

The same effort would have to go to your Pinterest boards and your pins. Finding long-tail keywords and leveraging them in a way that will make your content visible is a great way to gain popularity and, ultimately, boost your conversion rate and ROI. Because, as they say, "When a tree falls to the ground, and there's no one there to see it, did it really fall?". Or something similar.

So, optimizing your boards and pins and using the right keywords will boost your visibility and your chances of getting noticed. Serpstat has all the necessary long-tail keyword research tools to raise your marketing game:

Experimenting with content is a fun way to boost your content team's morale and your image as a brand. But not all experimentation is the same when it comes to business.

Timing is tricky, and experimenting with different pins and time zones is not as creative. Still, it could be just as rewarding, depending on your target market, time zones, locality, and so on.

Let's assume that you had a B2B product that works beautifully with eCommerce and retail, but your customer is unsure of how to kickstart their business with your product. If you're going to use a guide to give them the specifics, you will need to make sure to post it during a time of day that works for them.

Experiment with timing to find the perfect timezone and come up with the results that best meet your needs. Also, take a look at that here:

"Spread" your content throughout the day using different time zones to make sure that your audience will always have some valuable content to fall back to, and find what pins work for different time intervals and timezones.

Pinterest may seem like a different kind of social media platform, and in many ways, it is, but there's one main principle all marketers need to keep in mind: Consistency is crucial, and it can boost all brands. And your B2B brand is no exception.

First of all, why would the algorithm show your content - no matter how good you were at keyword targeting, no matter how smart your hashtag game was - if you don't post content regularly? This doesn't show value.

Secondly, being inconsistent with your posts and brand won't have any followers engaging with your content anyway. Users don't remember brands that don't make an effort to produce content. It's kind of like doing SEO every now and then. Is it enough to get noticed enough and clicked on enough to get ranked on Google's top 10? The answer to that would be no.

Pinterest is the platform of inspiration and ideas - for example, my personal pins are all about content marketing ideas and new makeup ideas I'd love to try.

Would I be able to find just the right shade of red or the perfect infographic to get me inspired without the perfect quality images with the ideal dimensions that don't look too pixel-y or broken down? No.

And I wouldn't bother with those pins, either. Generally speaking, poor-quality visuals equals poor UX design. As our Head of Design at Moosend put it:

This is why knowing the exact Pinterest image specs is so essential. You can't entice and engage users without them. Make sure to use the exact sizes and check for old pins that didn't have a lot of engagement. Perhaps the images didn't show properly.

If you've got an image that didn't convert as well as you would have wanted it to, just check its size, make sure it's up-to-date with Pinterest's specs and your current content calendar, and go ahead and repost it.

Doing so would give you an advantage, as you'll get to test your content one more time and see what didn't work the last time. Did it fail because it simply didn't look right? Was it the product that wasn't as enticing? Or did your audience simply not notice due to non-optimal keywords and bad timing?

The last thing to remember when engaging in B2B marketing for Pinterest would be the following: Always sell your brand. Always. Not your product as it is.

You see, consumers - whether they're B2B or B2C customers - are ultimately all humans. And the point is not the product itself, but what the product can do for them. So, by showcasing the brand's personality and unique tone of voice, you can show the experience they can have with your brand.

After all, as we said in the very beginning, a big chunk of Pinterest users turn to the platform to discover a new brand. Your unique tone and content are the elements they want to bump into.

Expert software, like a robust email marketing platform, free video editing software and image editing tools - if you're just starting -, or a powerful content creation tool and management system are the elements you want to invest into.

Providing value, a characteristic tone of voice, and positive brand culture and experience will make you memorable and keep you on top of your target audience's minds.

And with a little engagement, perfect imagery, and keyword targeting, you'll definitely make the most out of your B2B brand's Pinterest profile in no time.