Creative Connecting: How to Use Pinterest Properly

Good news for jewelers—image searches are on the rise!

For an industry that prides itself on gorgeous images of even more beautiful products, jewelers can, and should, capitalize on the growing trend of image searching on the internet.

According to Social Media Today, 62 percent of millennials desire the ability to visually search over any other new technology.

One way for the jewelry industry to take advantage of this growing trend is by using Pinterest.

Pinterest can be used to drive traffic to a jeweler’s website and to create sales referrals.

Success on the platform requires a bit of understanding and diligence, but luckily the effort pays off, delivering increasing benefits over time.

What Is Pinterest?

Pinterest is like a search engine for images—a visual search engine that currently boasts more than 400 million users.

Similar to other social media platforms, it allows users to connect socially, follow each other and “pin” their favorite images to themed boards, allowing users to collect images and develop wish lists.

Images on Pinterest can also be downloaded and saved on one’s computer or mobile device.

Like other social networks, Pinterest rewards engagement.

The more active a brand is on Pinterest, and the more people pin their images, the more the brand will come up in searches.

Similar to Google, the content that gets the most attention shows up higher in the search ranking. In addition, beautiful images and evergreen content tend to perform better over time; the more an image is pinned, the more people will discover it in future searches.

This built-in search engine optimization mechanism makes Pinterest a business productivity tool.

If brands ensure that each pin is linked back to the brand’s website, it can create website traffic whenever viewers click through, thereby improving the brand’s standing with Google.

According to social media maven Shayne McCoy, founder of Straight Up Social: “Pinterest is a great social platform to boost traffic to your website. Take advantage of this opportunity by creating Pinterest optimized graphics that showcase your most popular products. I use Canva, an easy-to-use graphic design tool that has eye-catching Pinterest templates.”

Why Pinterest for Jewelers

Like Instagram, Pinterest is a visual medium that helps consumers filter images as they search.

This makes for a great tool for jewelry shoppers because they browse images online to refine their style preferences.

For retailers, it presents a captive audience of consumers who are already looking to buy.

According to Hootsuite, more than two-thirds of Pinterest users are female, and eight out of every 10 moms in the United States are on the platform.

Women use Pinterest to make wish lists and/or text links of images found on Pinterest to their spouses to “suggest” the types of jewelry they might like to receive as a gift.

According to the Pinterest 2019 Season Insights, 83 percent of weekly pinners have made a purchase based on content they have seen from brands on Pinterest.

Kris Purcell, owner of private jeweler Goldworks LLC in Fort Wayne, Indiana, says Pinterest is the digital version of a young man coming into the store with a ring photo torn out of a bridal magazine.

“Today, I have men and women alike come in with many Pinterest screenshots, and they know what shape, metal color and style that they want. Customers like to feel that they have a say in designing their ring and will bring in pictures of different shanks, halos and beading they want incorporated. I even suggest that women looking to redo their rings spend time on Pinterest looking at all the different style options.”

Kegan Fisher, co-founder and CEO of custom bridal brand Frank Darling, also notices more people referencing a Pinterest board of favored styles.

“Often a client will share their partner's Pinterest board as a way to articulate their style, and then we’ll use this as a jumping-off point for design inspiration,” says Fisher.

She also notes the efficacy of hashtags on Pinterest.

“Pinterest has been really helpful for finding customers who are searching for a specific design or design details. Hashtags on Pinterest are powerful and work well for even the most specific searches, so it can be easier to discover designs that are relevant than it might be on a Google search or Instagram. And since everything we make is custom, we love it when people are looking for something specific because it helps us do our job even better.”

Because visual imagery lasts for a long time on Pinterest, your images can constantly be seen by a new audience, making Pinterest a great referral tool for brand discovery, always driving new customers to your website.

As an example, high-end jewelry brand Assael receives 444,000 monthly views on its Pinterest account, resulting in more than 500 click-throughs to the Assael website each month.

Growth Tactics for Pinterest

Given the potential of visual search for converting browsers into shoppers, let’s explore some growth tactics that jewelry brands can use to make Pinterest work better for them.

Start by making sure your Pinterest account is a business account. Like most social media platforms, you can also make your account shoppable for easy, quick and direct sales conversions.

Link your account and each image you pin to your website. Claim your website, Instagram and YouTube accounts to let people know where to find more of your content and to get deeper insights and analytics into how your pins are performing.

According to Pinterest, “When someone creates a pin from one of your claimed accounts, the pin will be attributed to you and your profile picture will show on all the pins saved from these accounts.”

To learn how to set up claimed accounts and other business profile settings, visit Pinterest’s help center.

Regularly visit the Pinterest Business page to get up-to-date trends, best practices and metrics on the user activity within the platform.

Also, Pinterest recently released its 2021 Pinterest Predicts report, which highlights more than 150 trend predictions filtered by audience and category. It shares user engagement statistics, search terms, and ways businesses can use trending concepts and pins in their Pinterest marketing strategy.

For example, Pinterest predicts that “Rainbrows”—defiant eyebrows instead of defined eyebrows—will trend in beauty.

It suggests: “Help pinners create their statement brow. And no matter the category [of business], all brands can keep this look in mind when casting models and creating lookbooks for photoshoots in 2021.”

Next, use eye-catching, beautiful images and videos that captivate attention and showcase the possibilities of your merchandise with a range of pins such as lifestyle and product images, as well as trend styling. Visual and video tutorials are great ways to highlight how products can be worn and styled together.

Picup Media’s Gem Lightbox is a photography tool that easily and successfully captures product images for your website, which can also be used for Pinterest.

According to Pinterest, “The best pins are visually compelling, tell a good story and make people want to learn more.” The platform provides tips for making great pins.

Also, be sure to use keywords in the descriptions.

Similar to a Google search, Pinterest relies on keywords to help searchers find what they are looking for. Use descriptors of product specifics, like the type of metal or gemstone, as well as design specifics like heart motifs, chandelier earrings, halo, rainbow, wedding jewelry, etc.

Pinterest advises, “Clear titles and descriptions help your pin get discovered in search. You can use up to 100 characters for your title and up to 500 characters for your description.”

The platform has many detailed tips on how to “Make Pins That Perform” as well as free resource guides, education and webinars.

Persephone Maglaya, CEO of The Media Socialites, suggests adding videos to your Pinterest boards: “The power of Pinterest + video = organic virality. If you pin your videos, you will be blown away by the organic traffic you’ll receive. Videos are prioritized by their algorithm!”

In the jewelry industry, 360-degree-view videos are now fairly common, so put your videos to work for you on all your social media platforms.

Maglaya agrees with Fisher that hashtags can increase visibility on Pinterest: “Use hashtags on your pins to increase searchability!” she says. “It’s a little-known, but very effective, hack.”

McCoy, of Straight Up Social, advises brands to post weekly (at the minimum) and to spend advertising budget to boost the posts.

“Share pins to your profile at least one to two times per week. At the end of every month, view your Pinterest analytics to determine your audience demographic and which pin drove the most link clicks to your website.

“From there, you can boost that post targeted to people who are engaging with your content to drive more links/clicks to your website. You don’t need to spend a lot. Start with $50-$100 and run the ad for one week to see how it performs. You can adjust from there.”

Like all social media platforms, it is important to engage with followers and other pinners.

Replying to comments and commenting on other pins is a great way to grow your community on Pinterest, as well as brand loyalty.

Lastly, Hootsuite reports that Pinterest has a strong global footprint, with a 38 percent growth in international users between 2018 and 2019. 

Jewelry is a universal language. For any jeweler wishing to increase their brand visibility in other markets, Pinterest could be a more effective tool than language-based platforms, like websites and Facebook. 

As the old saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” 

The visual medium of Pinterest, when used frequently and accurately, can be an effective tool for jewelers, driving traffic to websites and converting browsers into buyers.