In writing, Etsy and Pinterest are a match made in heaven. Both platforms are geared towards women, both are places where you can find inspiration, aspiration and crafty goods that you won’t find anywhere else. It’s pretty easy to get started on Pinterest with Etsy, your pins are already rich pins and you can claim your Etsy shop to get even better stats and info about your customers and pins. I think that Pinterest is probably one of the most important platforms for Etsy shops to utilize and we have seen a ton of success for our Etsy clients. The audience is just right. Pinterest users are generally women looking for products and inspiration, hello, that’s perfect for you! Pinterest works like crazy for product-based businesses, don’t believe me? Here’s some crazy stats: Pinterest Stats:
- 93% of Pinners use Pinterest to plan purchases
- Pinners spend 29% more than those who don’t use Pinterest
- Pinterest reaches 83% of ALL U.S. women aged 25-54
- 55% of Pinners are looking specifically for products
This post is a guide to help Etsy shops use Pinterest to increase sales and traffic. These are the tried and true strategies we use for our Etsy clients, so have a read and get started! Need help getting started on Pinterest? Check out this post, “How to Get Your E-Commerce Business Started on Pinterest”.
Have your own website (if you can).
I know you probably just rolled your eyes when you read that, but hear me out! Yes, Pinterest can still be very effective without your own website, but it would be MORE effective with a website. You own the traffic that comes to your website, you don’t own the traffic that comes from Etsy. By having your own website, you can retarget people who visit, collect emails, start a blog (which is a fabulous traffic source!) and optimize your website for sales, oh and you get to keep more of your profits! No more hoops to jump through, just plain sales in your pocket. Again, it’s not necessary, but it will boost your overall results.
Don’t pin images directly from Etsy.
One of the biggest issues with pinning from Etsy is that the images are not Pinterest-friendly, which means you shouldn’t just pin directly from your Etsy shop. Etsy images tend to be square or landscape, while portrait images perform better on Pinterest. This is no small thing, portrait images perform A LOT better. The workaround here is to make your own graphics for Pinterest using PhotoShop or Canva and then upload them into TailWind or Pinterest directly (connecting them with the relevant link). Here are some examples:
Get lifestyle shots of your product.
You probably have great product shots for your Etsy shop, but for Pinterest, you will want to get some pictures of your product in use. If you are an artist, show your art hung in a beautiful room. If you make hats, show them on people. If you make candles, show one burning, give people an idea of what it looks like to use your product. One thing to note, Pinterest is a highly visual platform, so be sure your photos are well lit and high quality! Get as many photos of your product in different settings as possible. For more, check out our post How to Make Irresistible E-Commerce Pinterest Graphics.
Find your keywords.
Pinterest is above all a search engine, so just like keywords are important on Etsy, they are important on Pinterest too. You can find your best search terms by using Pinterest itself. Search a common term and use the words across the top for direction. This will take some trial and error, but it’s worth the effort to do your research. You can also use hashtags to further your SEO strategy. Use these keywords in your pins, board names, and hashtags.
Check out our guide for How to Find the Keywords that Will Bring You the Most Traffic.
Pin to Etsy Categories
You’ve probably heard having a blog is a great thing for Pinterest, and it is. But maybe that’s not an option for you. This is where you can use Etsy Categories to create content. Do you make greeting cards? Have a category for “New Baby Cards”, then create a pin that goes to that link. This will give you more content to pin and as you add new cards it will show up for the visitor.
Keep it fresh and consistent.
The biggest reason Pinterest doesn’t work for businesses is because they don’t use it! If you stay consistent and keep your content fresh, you will see growth. The key is to pin every day and to make new graphics regularly, even if it’s the same product. Keep the visuals fresh and clean! The good news is that tools like TailWind make this much easier, you can easily schedule content out and maximize your efforts.
Or…just let us worry about it!
If this feels like a lot of work that you simply don’t have time to do, then let us help! We offer services for business Etsy seller just like you!
- Pinterest Management: where we take care of everything for you, from graphic creation and strategy to the daily pinning.
- Pinterest Account Set-Up & Strategy: We help you get everything set-up and then give you a personalized strategy for pinning!
Happy Pinning!
