Pinterest Explained: What It Is, How It Works & Why It Matters
Pinterest is so much more than a great tool for saving beautiful images from the internet. It allows users to discover various ideas and resources for their project, start and grow their business on the platform. If you are just now becoming familiar with Pinterest or are simply curious as to how platform works, this guide will provide you with an overview of everything you need to know about the site.
What Is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a visual discovery and bookmarking website that allows people to search for pins based on their interests. Unlike many other social media websites, Pinterest allows individuals to discover inspiration and useful content based on their areas of interest.
Each pin on the platform contains an image or video, the title of the pin, the description of the pin, and a link to the related website. These pins can be saved to boards on Pinterest. These boards contain multiple pins that an individual has saved to the board according to their areas of interest.
Pinterest has topics ranging from décor to DIY projects, fashion, beauty, recipes, fitness, wedding planning, travel, photography, marketing, design, gardening, technology, and education.
Instead of endlessly scrolling on social media websites, individuals can use Pinterest to discover new ideas, learn new skills, and browse for valuable content according to their areas of interest.
How Does Pinterest Work?
Pinterest helps individuals discover, organize, and save ideas. Pinterest also allows the platform to recommend content to each individual user according to their searches on the site. Here's how Pinterest works:
Create a Pinterest Account
To begin using Pinterest, users must create an account with Pinterest by using their email address, Google account, or Facebook account. Upon creating an account with Pinterest, users will be prompted to select a few interests to personalize their Pinterest Home Feed.
Search for Ideas
Using the search bar on Pinterest, users can search for content based on keywords of their choosing, such as healthy recipes, living room ideas, travel destinations, or marketing tips. Pinterest will display thousands of Pins with relevant content based on the keywords that users enter.
Explore Pins
By clicking on any Pin on Pinterest, users can explore more details about the content of that Pin. Pins will typically feature an image or video of the content, a title for the Pin, a description of the Pin content, and a link to the original website that published the Pin.
Save Pins to Boards
If users find any content of interest while using Pinterest, they can click the “Save” button next to the Pin to save it to one of their Boards. Boards are used to save Pins of interest to specific categories of content, such as cooking recipes, fashion designs, home décor ideas, travel itineraries, or business ideas.
Get Personalized Recommendations
As users save Pins to their Boards, Pinterest keeps records of types of content that users like. Based on this data, Pinterest will recommend similar content to users in their Home Feed to enhance their experience with platform.
What Are Pinterest Pins?
Pinterest pins are the individual content that is shared on the platform. These pins help people to discover new ideas. The pins can contain images, videos, titles, descriptions, and links to original content.
Unlike other social media platforms, the pins can remain searchable for months, even years after they are posted. Thus, individuals can continue to find and save these pins even after they are originally shared on the social media platform.
What Is the Pinterest Home Feed?
The Pinterest Home Feed is the first screen you will see when you log into your account. This screen will show Pins based on your interests.
As you search for and save different pins to your Pinterest account, the Home Feed will automatically update with new Pins that are relevant to your interests.
What Are Pinterest Boards?
Pinterest boards allow users to save their pins and group them together by the topic or their interest in the specific pin. It will allow users to easily find their saved pins.
For instance, individuals can create Pinterest boards for specific categories of pins such as recipes, home décor, fashion, travel, fitness, or business ideas. Grouping their pins into boards based on their relevance to the pin will enhance the user’s experience on Pinterest for easier management of their pins.
How Pinterest Search Works?
Pinterest uses a powerful search engine that allows users to search for pins of interest. The search bar on the website allows users to enter a keyword or phrase for the pins they would like to discover.
Pinterest searches are based on keywords, pin titles, pin descriptions, board names, image relevance, and other engagement metrics for the pins. Using appropriate keywords for pins will allow creators to increase the chances of their pins being found in Pinterest search results.
What Is a Pinterest Business Account?
A Pinterest Business Account is a free account that can be established by individuals who operate a business, blog, or who create their own brands. This type of account offers additional features that will allow the user to gain a better understanding of their target audience as well as the success of their pins in engaging with their customers.
With a Pinterest Business Account, users can access Pinterest Analytics, website verification, Rich Pins, and Pinterest Ads that will help to increase the visibility of their brands and websites, and ultimately, grow their businesses.
What Are Rich Pins?
Rich Pins will automatically pull information from a website to display on Pinterest.
There are several types of Rich Pins, including:
- Article Pins
- Product Pins
- Recipe Pins
Rich Pins will display more useful information for the Pinterest user directly from the website without having to manually update the posts when the content on the website changes.
Benefits of Using Pinterest
Pinterest offers several benefits to the users and the businesses that utilize the platform.
- Discover fresh ideas on a variety of topics on the site to find inspiration for your projects or interests.
- Save your favorite Pinterest videos to Boards to keep them organized and to make them easy to find when you need them again.
- Use Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog or website by sharing Pins from your blog.
- The pins on your blog will remain clickable and visible for years, thus giving your content to your blog long-term visibility.
- Pinterest will allow you to reach individuals actively searching for ideas you offer on your blog.
Why Is Pinterest Different from Other Social Media Platforms?
Compared to other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X, Pinterest focuses on discovery of content rather than social interactions enabled on these platforms.
| Traditional Social Media | |
|---|---|
| Focuses on ideas and inspiration - People use Pinterest to discover recipes, home décor, fashion ideas, travel ideas, DIY projects and more. | Focuses on social updates - Facebook and Instagram are primarily used to share personal moments, photos, videos, and activities with others. |
| Search-driven platform - People use Pinterest to search for specific keywords to find the content they are looking for. | Feed-driven platform - The posts that are shown to users are based on their timelines, algorithms, and the profiles that they follow. |
| Long-lasting content - Pins on Pinterest can be in the search results for years after they are published. | Short-lived posts - The majority of the interactions with the posts occur within the first few hours or days after publication. |
| Drives website traffic - Pins on Pinterest can be linked to any website allowing individuals to receive website traffic from Pinterest. | Focuses on engagement - The measurement of success on these platforms is based on the number of likes, comments, and shares. |
| Visual search engine - Pinterest allows individuals to search for keywords and images to find the content they are searching for on the platform. | Social networking platform - The main purpose of these platforms is to connect and converse with others. |
Tips to Use Pinterest Effectively
If you are looking to use Pinterest for either personal or business use, there are a few best practices that you can follow in order to see better results from your efforts.
- Use appropriate names for your boards.
- Use low competition Pinterest SEO keywords in your Pin titles and description
- Only save pins to your board that are relevant to your interests.
- Pin to your board regularly to increase its chances of gaining exposure.
- Follow others who create great pins and explore the different trending topics on Pinterest.
Time to Wrap Up
Pinterest is not just about saving images on Pinterest. It is a platform that helps people discover new things based on their interests. Pinterest can be used for a variety of projects, whether they are personal or for starting a business. Knowing how Pinterest works will help people get the most out of the site.