The big Pinterest marketing guide 2025: how Pinterest works for businesses

Instagram, TikTok, Facebook: digital marketing offers no shortage of platforms on which brands can raise awareness and reach their audience. One that is regularly underestimated, yet holds a great deal of potential, is Pinterest. Pinterest is far more than a pinboard for creative ideas and pretty pictures. It is a serious marketing platform, and with the right approach it is a significant opportunity for visually driven brands. In this article we show you how to use Pinterest successfully in 2025 and which quietly effective marketing strategies get the most out of the platform.

Why we are the experts? With our monthly rolling marketing subscription we look after a large number of small and medium sized businesses and startups across the German speaking market. Our best Pinterest learnings are collected here.

What this article covers

1. An introduction to Pinterest marketing
2. How Pinterest works
3. Should I use Pinterest Business?
4. Pinterest for businesses: setting up and optimising your profile
5. The audiences Pinterest was made for
6. Why rich pins matter for your Pinterest marketing
7. Content on Pinterest: how to reach your audience
8. SEO: using Pinterest as a search engine
9. Pinterest boards: the right structure and organisation
10. Winning followers and generating more traffic
11. Repins: the key to reach
12. Pinterest Analytics: measuring success and improving performance
13. Social media marketing: connecting Pinterest with other platforms
14. Pinterest marketing strategies for 2025 and beyond

1. An introduction to Pinterest marketing

Pinterest is a visual search engine and social platform on which people discover and save ideas, inspiration and interesting content in the form of images, or "pins". With over 400 million monthly active users, Pinterest offers brands considerable reach. It is the right network for you if you want to show your products and services visually to a broad audience in order to reach potential customers.

The word "search engine" is the important one there. Unlike a feed based platform, where a post lives for a day and then disappears, a good pin keeps being found for months after it was published. That changes how you should think about the effort you put in: on Pinterest, content is closer to an asset than to a broadcast.

2. How does Pinterest work?

Pinterest lets people collect pins on boards organised by theme. A pin can be an image, an infographic, a video or even a product. Users can also repin other people's pins, which is what drives reach across the platform. To succeed on Pinterest you need to create relevant, visually appealing content that speaks to your audience.

Two things behave differently here from every other social network, and both are worth internalising early. The first is timing. A pin does not peak in the first hour and then die; it is indexed, surfaced in search and in related pins, and often reaches its largest audience weeks after it went live. The second is intent. People arrive on Pinterest to plan something, whether that is a kitchen renovation, a holiday or a wedding, which means they are already further down the road towards a decision than someone idly scrolling elsewhere. Those two facts together are why Pinterest tends to be undervalued by marketers who judge it on day one numbers.

3. Should I use Pinterest Business?

Yes, we would recommend using Pinterest Business, particularly if you want to use the platform effectively for your company. Pinterest Business offers a range of features and tools built specifically for businesses. Here are the main reasons to use it:

Extended profile features: a business profile gives you access to functions that let you make far more of your presence. You can verify your website to build trust with users, and you can optimise your profile description with relevant information and keywords.

Pinterest Analytics: Pinterest Analytics gives you detailed insight into how your pins, your boards and your profile are performing. You can measure metrics such as impressions, repins, clicks and follower growth in order to monitor your Pinterest marketing strategy and improve it continuously.

Advertising options: with Pinterest Business you can run Pinterest Ads to promote your content deliberately and extend your reach further. Build appealing ads and define your audience precisely so you speak to potential customers and increase traffic to your website. Make sure your advertising sits comfortably alongside the organic content and does not stick out as an interruption.

Rich pins: rich pins are an effective way to improve the visibility of your pins. They also encourage people to click through to your website or buy your products.

If you want to use Pinterest strategically for your business, a business profile is definitely worth having.

4. Pinterest for businesses: setting up and optimising your profile

To get off to a good start on Pinterest you have to begin with the basics. Set up your business profile first and then optimise it. Choose a clear username, work relevant keywords into your profile description and add a link to your website. Make sure the profile looks good and genuinely represents your brand, because for a lot of people it will be the first impression they get of you.

Verifying your website is the step most often skipped, and it is the one that unlocks the most. It confirms to Pinterest that the domain is yours, it puts your logo on every pin that links to it, and it is a precondition for rich pins and for the analytics that show which of your pages people are actually saving. It usually takes a single meta tag or an uploaded file, and it is worth doing on day one rather than three months in.

5. A match made in heaven: the audiences and businesses Pinterest suits best

Pinterest offers a great deal to a wide range of brands and audiences, but the format is not right for every business. It is certainly interesting for brands whose customers are influenced by visual content and inspiring ideas. Here are some examples of businesses and audiences that, in our experience, do very well on Pinterest:

Creative service providers: designers, photographers, artists and makers can present their work on Pinterest and inspire potential clients. The platform lets them build visually appealing portfolios and make their creative services accessible to a broad audience.

Interiors and decoration brands: people interested in interior design, decoration and home improvement find an endless supply of ideas and inspiration on Pinterest. Companies selling furniture, home accessories or DIY products can present what they sell and reach potential customers with strong images.

Fashion and beauty brands: fashion and beauty labels can share their newest collections, trends and make up ideas on Pinterest. The platform is an ideal place to present visually inspiring content and encourage potential customers to discover and buy.

Travel and lifestyle brands: tour operators, hotels, restaurants and bloggers can share destinations, food and inspiring travel experiences. Pinterest is excellent at awakening wanderlust and moving people towards a booking.

Wedding and event planners: Pinterest is famous for its wealth of wedding and event ideas. Wedding planners, event organisers and the suppliers around them can present their services and their inspiration in order to reach potential clients.

These sectors are only examples. Ultimately any business offering visually appealing content and benefiting from inspiring ideas can succeed on Pinterest. The platform gives you many ways to increase visibility, generate traffic and speak to potential customers.

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6. More visibility: why rich pins matter for your Pinterest marketing

Rich pins are an extended form of pin that carries additional information, such as product descriptions, prices, recipes or article details. By using rich pins you can make your pins more attractive and encourage potential customers to click through to your website.

The information in a rich pin is pulled automatically from your site, which means it stays current without anyone having to maintain it. That is what makes them worth the setup: a price change on your website updates the pin, rather than leaving a two year old figure sitting on the platform.

7. Content on Pinterest: how to reach your audience

Successful Pinterest marketing depends on creating high quality, appealing content. Share inspiring images, well designed infographics or genuinely good video. Relevant keywords and hashtags make your pins visible in search. Always make sure your pins offer real value and speak to your audience rather than simply announcing that you exist.

Publishing often matters. The most successful growth accounts post between 20 and 40 pins per day. The more you publish, the higher the chance your content is found and the more likely you are to inspire the people you want to reach.

For most companies that number is unrealistic, and it does not need to be matched. What matters is that the pins are genuinely different from one another. Uploading the same image ten times with ten captions is not ten pins, and Pinterest treats it accordingly. A far better use of the same hour is to produce three or four distinct images for one piece of content, each showing a different angle or a different detail, and to publish them over the course of a week rather than all at once.

Format matters too. Pinterest is a vertical platform, and a 2:3 image will always occupy more of the screen than a square or a landscape one. Put a short line of text on the image itself so the pin still makes sense to somebody scrolling quickly, and keep the brand mark small and consistent so people begin to recognise your pins before they read them.

8. SEO: using Pinterest as a search engine for more reach

Pinterest works like a search engine, which is why SEO plays such an important role. Use relevant keywords in pin descriptions, board titles and profile information. Place your pins in relevant boards and use the availability of the article to improve how visible your content is.

Think about the words your customers would actually type. People do not search for your brand name on Pinterest unless they already know it; they search for "small kitchen storage ideas" or "autumn wedding table". Your pin titles and descriptions should read like the answer to one of those searches, in plain language, without keyword stuffing.

9. Pinterest boards: the right structure and organisation

Pinterest boards are collections of pins around a particular theme. Create boards that are relevant to your business and to the people you want to reach. Organise your pins sensibly across those boards and make sure each board offers something worth having. Give your followers a genuine variety of interesting content in order to win their attention and keep it.

Name boards the way people search rather than the way your company thinks. "Small bathroom ideas" will be found; "Collection 2024" will not. It is also better to run a handful of well filled, tightly themed boards than thirty half empty ones, because a board with a clear subject helps Pinterest understand what your pins are about and who should see them. Board descriptions count as well, and a couple of honest sentences with the relevant search terms in them is enough.

10. Winning followers and generating more traffic

To succeed on Pinterest you need to build a following and increase the traffic to your website. Build a community by sharing high quality content regularly and interacting with other users. Use Pinterest Analytics to measure how your pins are performing and adjust your marketing strategy accordingly at regular intervals.

It is worth being clear about what followers are for on this platform. They matter less than they do on Instagram, because most of your reach will come from search and from the home feed rather than from people who have subscribed to you. Traffic, not follower count, is the number to watch. If a pin sends people to a page that then loads slowly or does not deliver what the image promised, no amount of follower growth will fix the result.

11. Repins: the key to reach

Repins play an important role on Pinterest because they extend the reach and visibility of your pins. A repin happens when someone saves your pin to their own board and passes it on to their own audience. That is how your content gets discovered and spread by a far larger group of people than you could reach on your own. Repins are also an indicator of success and popularity: they show that your content is appealing and inspiring enough that other people want it on their boards. By creating high quality, interesting pins you increase the likelihood of being repinned, and with that your reach and visibility on Pinterest grow.

What earns a repin is usually usefulness rather than beauty alone. People save things they intend to come back to: a recipe they want to cook, a colour palette they want to copy, a checklist they will need in three weeks. If you can frame what you sell as something worth returning to, rather than as an announcement, the repins tend to follow on their own.

12. Pinterest Analytics: measuring success and improving performance

Pinterest Analytics offers detailed insight into how your pins, boards and profile are performing. Use that information to understand which content lands well with your audience and which lessons should feed into your content strategy next. Analyse metrics such as impressions, repins, clicks and follower growth in order to sharpen your approach.

Give every pin a fair amount of time before you judge it. Because pins keep being surfaced for months, a report covering the last seven days will always make new content look weak and old content look strong. A rolling ninety day window is far more useful, and it is usually the window in which the pattern becomes obvious: one particular image style, one particular topic or one particular board doing most of the work. Once you can see that pattern, you know what to make more of.

13. Social media marketing: connecting Pinterest with other platforms

Even when Pinterest is an important part of your social media marketing strategy, it is sensible to be active on other networks too. That is why we recommend cross posting. Connect Pinterest with other social channels such as Facebook and Instagram to spread your content further and increase your reach. Create content that can be shared across several platforms and encourage interaction between them. Do keep the crop in mind when you do it: a square Instagram post reposted straight to Pinterest wastes half the space a vertical pin would fill, so it is worth exporting a taller version at the same time you build the original. If you want a hand joining those channels into one plan, our social media team does this daily.

14. Pinterest marketing strategies for 2025 and beyond

1. Video in focus: video continues to play an important role in 2025. Use engaging, informative video to inspire your audience. Create short how to videos, product introductions or stories in order to increase engagement and interaction.
2. Use real time trends: keep up with the trends and events your audience cares about. Use them to create relevant content and tag your pins appropriately. That is how you become visible in search results and draw the attention of potential customers.
3. Bring in user generated content: use content created by your own customers to strengthen engagement and loyalty. Encourage customers and followers to create their own pins and share them with you. It strengthens your brand and adds credibility that no in house creative can buy.
4. Use influencer marketing: working with influencers can be an effective way to promote your brand on Pinterest. Look for people who genuinely reach your audience and work with them to promote your products or services. That extends the reach of your pins and opens up a new audience.
5. Create visually strong pins: invest in high quality, visually appealing pins to win attention. Use good images, clear and meaningful text and striking graphics. Remember that Pinterest is a visual platform, and make sure your pins stand out.
6. Do not neglect SEO: optimise your pins and your profile for search. Use relevant keywords in pin descriptions, board titles and profile information. That increases the likelihood of your pins being found in search and brings more people to your content.

Summary

• Set up a business profile and optimise your Pinterest presence for maximum visibility.
• Use rich pins to make your pins more attractive and appeal to potential customers.
• Create high quality content that speaks to your audience and offers real value.
• Use SEO so that your pins are found in search.
• Organise pins into boards grouped by theme to improve the experience for the people browsing them.
• Win followers and increase the traffic to your website.
• Use Pinterest Analytics to measure how your pins perform and improve your strategy.
• Connect Pinterest with other social platforms to extend your reach.
• Stay current with Pinterest marketing trends and adapt your strategy accordingly.

Quick answers

1. Can I use Pinterest as a business? Yes. Pinterest offers a dedicated business profile that lets companies use the platform for marketing. It is how you present products and services, generate traffic to your website and reach your audience in an authentic and creative way.
2. How do I optimise my pins for more reach? Use relevant keywords in your pin descriptions and board titles. Your pins should always be visually appealing and offer real value. Place them in boards that fit the theme and use Pinterest Analytics to measure and improve their performance.
3. How do I win followers on Pinterest? Share high quality content regularly that speaks to the people you want to reach. Interact with other users by repinning or commenting on their pins. Use your other social platforms to promote your Pinterest presence and win followers there too.
4. How do I measure the success of my Pinterest marketing? Pinterest Analytics offers detailed insight into how your pins, boards and profile are performing. Analyse metrics such as impressions, repins, clicks and follower growth in order to measure success and adjust your strategy.
5. What are the current trends in Pinterest marketing? Current trends include the use of high quality, appealing visual content, the integration of Pinterest with other social platforms, the use of rich pins and optimisation for SEO.

Frequently asked questions