Because Pinterest is image-based, it is appealing to the eyes. As soon as you enter the lovely world of Pinterest, you wonder how on earth people can create such beautiful collages and infographics. And you don’t realize when you pin/share them.

The world of pictures is endless. More you explore more you seem to slip away in the stream of colorful illustrations, representations, depictions and portraits. It’s fun and easy and offers everything that you like to see.

But don’t forget one thing; behind these lovely pictures, there are brands and businesses.

More you view and share, happier they are. After all, you’re making them visible to your friends and acquaintances.

Pinterest is a useful platform for businesses as it has been found that pinning pictures drove more referral traffic to the websites and blogs in January 2012 than YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ and Reddit did combined.

Let us take a quick look at why Pinterest should be included in your list of online marketing channels. We will then move on to how to get started on Pinterest.

Why you should be on Pinterest?

Pinterest has more than 48 million users (Feb 2013) who are interested in finding and sharing beautiful pictures. The number of users is rapidly growing and the social media site receives more than 1.5 million unique visits daily.

Another reason is that the site users at least spend 15 minutes daily on an average checking out pictures.

Various studies on Pinterest by different organizations have revealed that Pinterest pictures drove more traffic to the sites and blogs than any other tool including YouTube, Google Plus etc.

I think the data above provides you with sufficient reasons to get started on Pinterest.

Getting Started with Pinterest

The first condition for getting started with Pinterest is to have an account on the site. If you haven’t created an account, do it right now. Select an appropriate name for your account and move ahead.

Create Pin-worthy content.

Pins are images that you upload on the site and consider worth sharing. Make sure to have eye-catching images because it’s all about appeal and beauty. If you wish to use images from other sources, ensure to ask for permission beforehand.

You can also create pinboards.

Pinboards are online collages that you create by pinning more than one picture on a board. It is equivalent to pinning different pictures on a vision boards manually at your home, office or school, but it’s faster and easier.

Name your pins and pinboards.

That’s really interesting. Think of suitable names for your pins that you think will prompt the users to view and share. Although Pinterest suggest default titles but it’s not necessary to use. You may choose not to use them and give another name to your pinboards.

Download Pin It Button.

It’s handy to download and add this button to your toolbar on your web browser. Now you need to get into the habit of pinning interesting photographs to your boards.

Start pinning photos.

Browse other sites of interest where you think your audience is present. The best part is that you don’t have to add a link to the pinned picture. It is automatically added to it. To increase traffic to your website or blog, you can also pin pictures from there. Don’t forget to use descriptive titles to offer complete info to your audience.

Cross Promote.

Identify your audience on various social channels and cross-promote your presence by integrating your Facebook and Twitter accounts to share your pins automatically.

Don’t annoy your audience by pinning too often.

Engage them by following or commenting on their pictures or re-pinning the photos. This way the user may start returning the favor.

Don’t be salesy.

Pin content that offers value to your audience. They will automatically follow you and you don’t need to look or sound salesy for promoting your product. Just offer them what they want to view.

Remember Pinterest is not only about pinning pictures. You can also pin infographics, saying with beautiful backgrounds and videos. Additionally, ask your audience for sharing their pictures so that you can admire and pin them. This is a good way to make connections.

This post is part of a series on Pinterest Marketing.