Content Writer at SocialBee
If you want to grow your brand on Pinterest, knowing how to create a business account is the first step you have to take. It gives you access to analytics, ads, and other tools that help you reach more people and drive traffic to your website.
However, many brands miss out on these features by using a personal account, limiting their ability to measure performance or run promotions. The good news? Setting up a Pinterest business account is quick and easy. In this guide, we teach you how to create and use your account to its full potential.
Streamline your marketing with an efficient social media strategy template.
Short Summary
- A Pinterest business account gives you more tools to grow than a personal one. You’ll get better SEO, clickable links, and access to Pinterest ads. Plus, you can use Rich Pins, join the Verified Merchant Program, and track your performance with analytics.
- To create a Pinterest business account, go to business.pinterest.com and click Sign up. Enter your business email, password, and details like your business name and website. Choose your business category, decide if you want to run ads, and follow the rest of Pinterest’s setup prompts.
- To create a linked Pinterest business account, click the down arrow next to your name and select Add account. In the “Create a free business account” section, tap Create. Then, enter your business details like name, website, and category. Decide if you want to run ads now or later, and follow the rest of Pinterest’s setup prompts.
- To turn your personal Pinterest account into a business account, go to Settings and find Account Management. Click Convert to a business account, then enter your business details like name, website, and category. Follow the setup prompts or skip them to go straight to your profile.
- Claiming your website on Pinterest links your profile to Pins from your site, making it easier for users to find and follow you. To do this, you can upload an HTML file to your web server, add an HTML tag to your website’s source code, or change your domain’s DNS settings.
- You can add a Save button so users can pin images, a Follow button to grow your audience, or display Pin, Board, or Profile widgets to showcase your content, all directly on your website. Don’t forget to add Pinterest’s script to your site so everything works smoothly.
- Rich Pins automatically pull data from your website, making your Pins more informative. There are three types of Rich Pins: Recipe Pins, Article Pins, and Product Pins. To enable them, verify your site and use Pinterest’s Rich Pin Validator.
- Pinterest is great for driving sales, and running shopping ads helps you reach the right audience. You can upload a product catalog, link your e-commerce platform, or tag products in your Pins. Afterward, you can use catalog sales campaigns to automate targeting or conversion campaigns for more control.
- If certain organic Pins are already performing well, promote them as ads to reach more users. You can also partner with creators and promote their content through Idea Ads with Paid Partnerships, which include a “Paid Partnership” label for transparency.
- Organic Pins help build trust and engagement, while ads boost reach and conversions. A good mix is 80% organic posts and 20% paid content. For the best results, combine brand awareness and conversion-focused ads.
- Pinterest Business Partners can help you optimize your strategy, whether it’s advertising, content creation, or analytics. If you’re new, work with a creative expert to design eye-catching Pins. To expand your reach, work with an ad specialist who can help you improve your targeting and performance.
- If you use Shopify, WooCommerce, or another supported platform, you can connect it to Pinterest for automatic product updates. Otherwise, you can upload a product catalog or tag products manually.
- Joining the Verified Merchant Program (VMP) gives your profile a blue checkmark, making your brand look more trustworthy. You also get better visibility in shopping feeds and access to real-time stock updates, a Shop tab, and merchant details. However, this feature is only available in certain regions. If you’re not eligible yet, focus on optimizing your listings and website.
- The Pinterest Business Community is a space where you can learn from other brands, share best practices, and stay updated on platform changes. You can also give feedback directly to Pinterest, join virtual events, and get tips to improve your strategy.
Table of Contents
- What’s the Difference Between Personal and Business Pinterest Accounts?
- How to Create a New Business Account on Pinterest
- How to Create a Linked Pinterest Business Account
- How to Convert Your Existing Personal Account into a Pinterest Business Account
- How to Use Pinterest for Business
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Manage Your Pinterest Business Account with SocialBee!
What’s the Difference Between Personal and Business Pinterest Accounts?
A personal Pinterest account is great for saving ideas, but a business account gives you more tools to grow. You’ll get better SEO, clickable links, and access to Pinterest ads. Plus, you can use Rich Pins, join the Verified Merchant Program, and track your performance with analytics.
Here’s why you need a business Pinterest account:
- Better SEO: Business profiles have extra SEO advantages, allowing you to use keywords more effectively in your profile, boards, and Pin descriptions. This helps your content rank higher in Pinterest search and even on Google, making it easier for potential customers to find you.
- Website traffic: Unlike personal accounts, business profiles prioritize brand visibility and include advanced analytics to track performance. You can link product catalogs and optimize Rich Pins to drive high-intent shoppers straight to your website, boosting conversions.
- Pinterest ads: Want to reach people faster? A business account gives you access to Promoted Pins (Pinterest Ads), which target specific audiences based on interests, demographics, and keywords.
- Rich Pins: These Pins sync info from your website, automatically showing details like product prices, article headlines, or recipe ingredients.
- Verified Merchant Program: If you sell products, you can apply for the Verified Merchant Program, which gives you a verified badge, product pricing on Pins, a Shop tab, and better search rankings. To join, your account must be at least 3 months old and your business website must be >13 months old.
- Pinterest analytics: Business accounts give you access to detailed insights on Pin performance, audience demographics, and website traffic. These stats show you what works and what doesn’t so you can improve your marketing strategy on the go.
How to Create a New Business Account on Pinterest:
1. Head over to business.pinterest.com and click Sign up in the top right corner.
2. Fill in your business email, password, and age, then click Create account.
3. Add your business name, website, and country.
4. Select the category that best fits your business and add what you offer or sell. Click Next.
5. Pinterest will ask if you want to run ads. Select Yes if you plan to use Pinterest Ads or No to skip this for now.
6. Pinterest will also suggest a few starting points, like creating a few Pins or running an ad. Choose one or click the X to go straight to your profile.
How to Create a Linked Pinterest Business Account:
1. In the top-right corner, find and click the down arrow next to your username.
2. From the dropdown menu, click Add account.
3. Under “Create a free business account,” tap Create.
4. Enter your business name, website, and country, then click Next.
5. Pick a category that best fits your business and what you offer or sell. Click Next.
6. Select whether you want to run Pinterest ads now or later and click Next.
7. Choose an option to begin (“create Pin”) or click the X to go straight to your Pinterest profile.
NOTE: A Pinterest linked account lets you connect multiple Pinterest accounts, like your personal and business accounts, under one email and password. This makes it easy to switch between them without logging in and out. You can link up to four accounts and manage them all in one place.
How to Convert Your Existing Personal Account into a Pinterest Business Account:
1. Press the down arrow next to your username in the top-right corner.
2. In the Settings section, go to the Account Management tab.
3. Find the option that says “Convert to a business account” and click on it.
4. Enter your business name, website (if applicable), and country, then click Next.
5. Select your business type and what you offer, then click Next.
6. Get started by creating a Pin or click the X to go straight to your Pinterest profile.
How to Use Pinterest for Business:
- Claim your website
- Add Pinterest widgets
- Enable Rich Pins
- Run shopping ads
- Combine organic and paid content
- Partner with experts
- Set up a Pinterest Shop
- Stand out from other brands
- Join Pinterest’s Business community
1. Claim Your Website
Claiming your website on Pinterest helps improve your visibility and lets you track how often people share your content. After you go through with it, your profile picture will appear next to any Pins saved from your site, and those Pins will link back to your Pinterest profile. This helps users find and follow you more easily.
To claim your website, you need to own the domain and have access to edit the site’s code. First, you need to access Pinterest’s Business hub.
There, Pinterest gives you three ways to do this:
- Upload an HTML file: Download a file from Pinterest and upload it to your web server.
- Add an HTML tag: Copy a small code snippet from Pinterest and paste it into your website’s source code.
- Add a DNS TXT record: Copy a unique TXT record from Pinterest and add it to your domain’s DNS settings.
The process might look a little different depending on where your site is hosted (like Shopify, WordPress, or Wix), so check their instructions if needed.
After you add the verification method, go back to Pinterest and hit Submit. Once the platform reviews and approves your claim, your site will officially be linked to your profile. You can always check which websites you’ve claimed by going to Settings > Claimed Accounts.
2. Add Pinterest Widgets
Pinterest widgets let visitors save your content, follow your profile, or explore your Pins without leaving your site.
There are five Pinterest add-ons you can explore:
- The Save button allows people to pin images from your website directly to their Pinterest boards in one click. If you have multiple images on a page, a hover button works best. For mobile users, a fixed Save button is better.
- The Follow button lets visitors follow your Pinterest profile straight from your website. This helps you gain more followers without them needing to search for you manually.
- The Pin widget helps you showcase a specific Pin on your website, making it more interactive.
- If you want to display an entire collection, the Board widget lets you feature up to 50 Pins from one of your boards. This works well for highlighting product categories, recipes, or inspiration.
- The Profile widget gives visitors a quick look at your latest Pins, encouraging them to check out your Pinterest page.
PRO TIP: To get these widgets to work properly, add Pinterest’s pinit.js script to your website. You only need to add it once per page, since adding it multiple times can cause issues.
3. Enable Rich Pins
Rich Pins make your content more useful by automatically pulling key details from your website and displaying them on your Pins. This means that when you update things like product prices, article descriptions, or recipe ingredients on your site, your Pins will update too.
There are three types of Rich Pins:
- Recipe Pins (which show ingredients, cook time, and dietary info)
- Article Pins (which display the title, author, and summary of your blog post)
- Product Pins (which update pricing and availability)
To enable Rich Pins, first, verify your website with Pinterest. Then, go to Pinterest’s Rich Pin Validator to check if everything is set up correctly. Once approved, any content on your site with metadata will transform into a Rich Pin when someone saves it.
4. Run Shopping Ads
Pinterest users frequently browse with the intent to buy, so promoting your store here can lead to more clicks and conversions. Firstly, make your products available as Product Pins by uploading a catalog, linking your e-commerce platform, or tagging products directly on your Pins.
Once your products are on Pinterest, you can run ads to help them reach the right audience. Catalog sales campaigns automatically show your products to interested shoppers, while conversion campaigns let you promote specific items with more control over targeting.
PRO TIP: Make shopping easier by using direct links that take users straight to your product page. Mobile deep links can also guide them to the right product in your app.
Remember to add discounts, seasonal sales, or special offers to grab attention and encourage more clicks.
For optimal results, track your ad performance. You can use the Pinterest tag and Conversions API to monitor sales and engagement, and Pinterest Analytics to see what’s working so you can tweak your strategy.
For a deeper look at your campaign’s impact, Pinterest’s measurement tools can help analyze results across different marketing channels.
5. Combine Organic and Paid Content
If some of your organic Pins are doing well, you can promote them to reach a larger audience and drive more traffic to your website. Create a Pin just like you normally would, using high-quality images or videos. If you’re using the Pinterest app, you can select multiple images or videos to stitch them into a single video Pin.
PRO TIP:
If you don’t know which organic posts to boost, a social media management tool like SocialBee can help. With SocialBee, you can create your content in advance, organize your posts into categories, and schedule them based on your preferences.
Once your Pins go live, you get accurate analytics, which allow you to see your top-performing content in real time. This makes it easy to decide which Pins deserve the extra push.
Find your best-performing content directly from SocialBee.
SocialBee also lets you customize your posting schedule to match Pinterest’s best engagement times, helping your content reach more people.
Next, go to Ads Manager, click on Create Campaign, and choose Manual Campaign. Enter your campaign details, set up your ad group, and then select the Pin you want to promote. Add a name, destination URL, and any optional tracking links before previewing and publishing your ad.
Pinterest also offers Idea Ads with Paid Partnerships, which let businesses promote content created by influencers or creators. If a creator tags your brand in a paid partnership, you’ll get a notification and can then boost their Pin as an ad. These ads include a “Paid Partnership” label and will appear in relevant users’ feeds.
For a balanced strategy, aim for 80% organic content and 20% paid ads, adjusting based on performance. Post valuable Pins like tutorials, product highlights, or inspiration to grow your audience, and then use ads to drive targeted conversions.
When running ads, use a mix of content types. Some should focus on brand awareness, while others should drive conversions. Idea Ads (which let creators tag businesses for paid partnerships) can be great for storytelling and engagement, while Product Ads are perfect for directly driving sales.
Also, keep seasonality in mind. Use organic content to build awareness ahead of peak sales periods, then increase paid promotions when interest is the highest. For example, if you’re in the home decor space, post organic Pins about holiday decorating trends in early fall, then run paid ads promoting specific products as the holidays get closer.
6. Partner with Experts
Pinterest Business Partners are vetted professionals who understand how to make the most of the platform:
- To scale your advertising efforts, social media strategy experts can help you create high-performing campaigns that reach the right audience.
- If you want to improve your content strategy, design professionals and scheduling tools can ensure your Pins are optimized for engagement and discovery.
- For targeting and audience insights, data specialists can help you use first-party data to refine your approach.
- If measuring performance is a priority, analytics experts can track the performance of your own Pins and provide recommendations to maximize ROI.
However, instead of trying to master everything at once, focus on one or two areas with the biggest impact.
For example, if you’re just starting out, working with a creative expert to develop compelling Pins might be the best first step. If you already have strong content but need better reach, partnering with an advertising specialist can help you work with the Pinterest algorithm and amplify your visibility.
As your Pinterest presence grows, you can gradually bring in more experts to optimize different parts of your strategy. The key is to see partnerships as an investment, not just an expense.
7. Set Up a Pinterest Shop
Pinterest Shops make it easy to turn your Pins into a shopping experience and reach people actively searching for products like yours. If you have an online store on Shopify, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce, or Salesforce Commerce Cloud, you can connect it directly to Pinterest, and your products will automatically become shoppable Pins. If you use a different platform, you can upload a product catalog or manually tag products in your Pins.
If you’re a verified merchant, Pinterest adds a “Shop” tab to your profile, where all your Product Pins are displayed in one place, similar to a storefront.
However, instead of a fixed store layout like Facebook, Pinterest focuses on product discovery. Your items appear as individual Product Pins in search results, related Pins, and shopping feeds, helping you reach potential buyers even if they don’t visit your profile directly.
For businesses with large inventories, Pinterest’s Shopping API is a game-changer since it automatically updates your product listings. But if you have fewer products, you can still make them shoppable by tagging individual products in your Pins. Either way, this setup makes sure that when users find your Pins, they can buy directly from you.
For more chances at conversions, make the checkout seamless. When users click on your product Pins, they should land directly on the product page rather than a homepage or an unrelated page.
8. Stand Out from Other Brands
When you become a part of the Verified Merchant Program (VMP), you get a blue checkmark on your profile and product Pins, which can increase trust and encourage more clicks.
Beyond credibility, being a verified merchant boosts your visibility in Pinterest’s shopping features. Your products can show up in dedicated shopping feeds and related Pins, making it easier for shoppers to discover and buy from you.
You also get access to features like real-time price and stock updates, a Shop tab on your profile, and merchant details that highlight your brand’s values, like sustainability or inclusivity.
To qualify, you need to claim your website, upload a product catalog, and set up conversion tracking to measure key actions like product views and purchases. Pinterest will review your store, and once it approves it, you’ll unlock all the Verified Merchant benefits.
If you’re not eligible yet, focus on improving your product listings, streamlining the shopping experience, and ensuring your website meets Pinterest’s guidelines.
9. Join Pinterest’s Business Community
The Pinterest Business Community is a space where entrepreneurs, marketers, and content creators share insights, ask questions, and get advice on making the most of the platform.
Additionally, being in this community helps you stay ahead of platform updates and get early insights into new features. You can also join virtual events, give feedback directly to Pinterest, and find inspiration from how others are using Pinterest to drive traffic and sales. This can help you refine your approach, test new ideas, and improve your results faster.
To join, simply sign up with your Pinterest Business account and introduce yourself. It’s also a good idea to check out the new member onboarding guide to get started on the right foot.
Use this space strategically, not just to learn, but to connect, engage, and share what’s working for your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Manage Your Pinterest Business Account with SocialBee!
Creating a Pinterest business account is a simple step that can open up big opportunities for your brand. With access to analytics, ads, and tools like Rich Pins, you’ll be able to reach more people, drive traffic to your website, and grow your business on Pinterest.
Now that your account is set up, the next step is to stay consistent and make the most of Pinterest’s marketing features. If you want an easier way to plan, schedule, and manage your content, give SocialBee a try. It helps you stay organized and save time while growing your presence on Pinterest. Start your free 14-day SocialBee trial today!
