How to Use Pinterest for Etsy Marketing and Sell More Stuff
If you’ve ever planned a wedding, had a baby or bought your dream home, then chances are you’ve used Pinterest. But do you know how to use Pinterest for Etsy marketing?
Pinterest is one of the biggest social media platforms today. In 2019, Pinterest reported 291 million monthly active users worldwide, 79.5% of which are female. These numbers are significant for Etsy sellers and other e-commerce marketing professionals showcasing products on Pinterest, because women ages 25 to 54 also make 80% of the buying decisions in U.S. households.
How to Use Pinterest for Etsy Marketing
Ok, by now you’re probably thinking, “That’s cool, Danielle, but how do I go about actually using Pinterest for Etsy and growing my Etsy shop?” I get it - it can feel really overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Keep reading for 10 simple tips to get you more Pinterest traffic, more views for your listings and more sales for your shop.
Using Pinterest for Etsy
Step 1: Set up a Pinterest business account.
This is a super basic step, but also super important. Don’t start marketing your Etsy shop alongside your “dream wedding,” and “home decor” boards. Using your personal Pinterest account for Etsy marketing is not going to serve you well.
Instead, either create a new business account or, if you don’t do much personal pinning, switch your personal account to a business one. You can do that easily by going to Edit Settings > Account Settings and then scroll all the way to the bottom of the page where you’ll see, “Account changes.” From there, you’ll be able to switch from personal to business, which is a key first step in learning how to use Pinterest for Etsy.
Step 2: Claim your Etsy shop on Pinterest.
Before getting started with Etsy marketing on Pinterest, be sure to claim your Etsy shop. Claiming your shop ensures that any pins that others make from within your shop are tracked in your analytics, and enables shopping rich pins so that it’s clear your Etsy product pins are ready to be purchased! To claim your shop, continue in your Pinterest settings to “Claim” and then select “Etsy.” From there it will walk you through a simple, step-by-step process to claim your shop. While you’re in there, claim your Instagram account, YouTube channel or any other business website you have, too!
Step 3: Treat Pinterest like a search engine.
This one is SO important to learning how to use Pinterest for Etsy and your overall Pinterest marketing success: treat Pinterest like a search engine. While Pinterest is technically considered social media, it’s MUCH closer to Google than it is to Instagram. In reality, it’s just a big, visual search engine. So treat it that way!
Before creating any boards or pins, do some Pinterest keyword research to know how people are searching for the topic or products you’ll be pinning about. You can use the search box within Pinterest to do some basic keyword research (its predictive search feature is based off actual Pinterest searches and can offer great keyword ideas), or you can use other keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest or SEMRush.
Step 4: Use those keywords wisely.
Now that you’ve done some keyword research and have a strong list of keywords for your Pinterest marketing, you want to make sure you’re using them wisely. Keywords should be used in your Pinterest profile bio, in your board titles, board descriptions and pin descriptions. Get creative to get as many keywords into each bit of content as possible.
Take, for example, this screenshot of one of my Pinterest boards. The board title is “Small Business Branding Tips.” This may seem like a simple title, but it’s full of great keywords! In those four words are: “small business branding tips,” “small business,” “business branding,” “business branding tips,” “branding” and “branding tips.”
Step 5: Focus on readability.
I’m all for getting as many keywords into your Pinterest content as possible, but if your goal is to learn how to use Pinterest for Etsy to grow your shop, then there is one big caveat: readability is key. Don’t just stuff a million keywords into your descriptions and titles in ways don’t make sense. Descriptions that are well-written in readable sentences made for humans are going to perform much better than keyword-stuffed descriptions made for bots.
Step 6: Get organized before you get pinning.
Figuring out how to use Pinterest for Etsy marketing can be a total time suck, especially if you’re trying to pin multiple times a day. Get organized before you start pinning and you’ll make your Pinterest work go so much faster.
I love using this spreadsheet (<<< click to get a free template just for you!) to organize my board titles, board descriptions, keywords and hashtags so that when I have the time to create pins, I’m not recreating the wheel each time.
Step 7: Save time with scheduled pins.
If you’re like most Etsy sellers, you barely have time to create your products, let alone figure out how to use Pinterest for Etsy marketing! Save yourself a ton of time using a Pinterest scheduling tool and learn how to schedule pins days, weeks and even months in advance!
I love (read: am obsessed with) Tailwind for Pinterest scheduling. Tailwind is an incredibly powerful tool that allows you to schedule pins straight from your website, your Etsy shop, Pinterest or literally any other website ever. You can schedule pins to multiple boards at once, set specific days and times to set pins live and even schedule your best content to go out automatically throughout the year.
This is just skimming the surface of Tailwind’s power, trust me! Click here to learn more about Tailwind.
Step 8: Make your Etsy product images ideal for pinning.
I said this earlier: Pinterest is a visual search engine. So, of course, your images are key. And while your Etsy listing images may be perfect for Etsy, they’re not necessarily ideal for Pinterest. As you may already know, the ideal image size for Pinterest has a vertical orientation. While it’s perfectly OK to pin images of other shapes and sizes, you risk your image appearing comparatively small and not standing out to potential shoppers.
So, what is a time-strapped Etsy seller to do? There are two simple ways you can leverage your Etsy listing images on Pinterest.
Option 1: Include one vertical image in your Etsy listings. Yes, vertical images are not the ideal or recommended shape for Etsy listings, but adding a Pinterest-sized vertical image as your last listing image is not going to negatively affect your shop. And it *will* make pinning from your product page easier for you and your customers because a vertical, perfectly Pinterest-sized image will already be available when you go to pin.
Option 2: Use Canva PRO (an online design tool you should absolutely have in your Etsy toolbox) to quickly and easily resize your listing images from an Etsy-optimized size to a Pinterest-optimized size. With Canva PRO’s magic resize tool, you can turn one design (like an Etsy listing image) into another sized design with the click of a button. Then, just adjust as needed and you’ve got a whole host of Pinterest images you can upload to Tailwind or Pinterest directly.
Step 9: Create custom Pinterest graphics.
Here’s another chance to use my favorite design tool - Canva! While pinning images straight from your Etsy listing works just fine, you can take your Pinterest game to a whole new level by creating custom Pinterest graphics that include image, text and a call to action.
Instead of simply pinning product images, create a collage with a variety of products that someone might purchase together, or to showcase a collection of items you sell. Add a headline, a call to action like “shop now,” and be sure to include your shop name and or logo and shop URL. Canva makes this easy with pre-made Pinterest templates that are the perfect size for pinning plus lots of drag-and-drop design tools to create your own custom designs.
One note: lifestyle photos are huge on Pinterest. Anything you can create that gives pinners an idea of how your product might fit into their lives or into their wardrobe is going to go a long way toward helping you get more saves, more clicks and more sales.
Step 10: Pin a mix of content (not just your own products!)
This may seem counterintuitive - after all, aren’t you on Pinterest to sell your products?! - but pinning only your products is going to lead to less engagement and fewer sales. The best strategies on how to use Pinterest for Etsy marketing incorporate a mix of content that includes your content (or products) and curated content from other websites and pinners that complements your products.
If you create custom wedding hair accessories, for example, create boards of wedding inspiration, wedding color palettes and wedding hairstyle ideas. Show your customers how your pieces fit into their overall wedding day vision! You can use this same strategy no matter what you create - just consider who your ideal customer is and what they care about.
How to use Pinterest for Etsy at the next level
Using the tips about how to use Pinterest for Etsy will ensure you start getting traffic from Pinterest to your Etsy shop and can go a long way toward getting more sales. But if you’re really looking to take your Pinterest game to the next level, creating more pinnable content is key.
Creating Content for Pinterest
To use this more advanced Pinterest marketing strategy, you’re going to need a website or blog outside of Etsy. I love Squarespace for this purpose because there are beautiful templates, it has a drag-and-drop design and it’s really affordable. I built this website you’re on right now with Squarespace :)
Once you have your blog set up, it’s time to start writing blog posts that relate to the products you sell but also provide value to your ideal customer. If you sell home decor, for example, list-style posts like, “10 Unique Christmas Decor Ideas,” “Master Bedroom Decor Inspiration,” or “Playroom Decor Inspiration” would work really well.
You want to think about the kinds of things your ideal customer might head to Pinterest or Google to find, and then create content around those ideas. For the decor examples I used above, you could write a blog post full of decor ideas and link to related products from your shop and other Etsy shops or companies you love.
Once your content is created, design some eye-catching Pinterest graphics within Canva to promote the blog post and schedule a bunch of pins. Create several designs for each blog post so you have a variety of ways to promote the post on Pinterest.
Using this strategy helps you create content that is not overly sales-y but still supports Etsy sales. This technique can work really, really well but does take a certain time commitment. I recommend posting at least one new blog post each week to build up a strong catalog of content and to grow traffic to your blog.
Don’t stress if this technique seems completely overwhelming or impossible now - just add it to your list of Etsy marketing strategies you could use in the future!
Etsy Marketing Made Easy
Do you have your own strategies for using Pinterest for Etsy or other Etsy marketing techniques? I’d love to hear about what you’re doing to grow your shop!
Feel fired up and ready to learn more? Check out the 21-Day Seller Success Challenge to dive deep into Etsy SEO and Etsy marketing. Or access one of my free Etsy training guides, like my PDF guide to the 20+ Essential Tools for Etsy Sellers and my video training on running better Etsy promotions.
