How to Set Up Your Pinterest Account

Pinterest is a visual social media site. It used to be popular only in certain niches that have a strong visual element, such as fashion, design, or food. But now, every type of business can benefit by using the Pinterest. Its Business Accounts offer special features for businesses that use Pinterest.

If you've created a regular account for your business on Pinterest, you should change it to a business account. One incentive to do this is to take advantage of the Business Accounts’ special features. The other is that it's against the site's rules. The Terms of Service states that if you're using the site for any type of commercial gain, your account must be a business account.

Converting Your Account vs. Starting a New Account

You can either create a new business account or transfer your regular account profile to a business account. Converting your regular account is easy. Go to the 'Pinterest for Business' page, at http://www.business.pinterest.com and you'll see a large red button for ‘Join as Business’. Click on that and you’ll come to the Create Business Account page, where you’ll see a button on the top right that says “Already have an account? Convert”.

Even if you already have a regular account, you may choose to start a new one for your business rather than converting. When you convert, you cannot change your account's original username. If you've been using it in your own name or another name, you'll want to create a new account under your business's name so that it is recognizable and professional.

Basic Profile Information

Start by choosing your type of business. The categories include Public Figure, Professional, Media, Brand, Retailer, Online Marketplace, Local Business, and Institution/Non-Profit. If you're not sure which suits your business, don't worry. You can go back and change it at any time.

You'll need to enter the name of the person managing the account, their email address, and a password for them to use to access the account. Note that your username will be different from this person’s name: your username is your business's name and it appears at the end of your Pinterest account's URL.

At this point you'll need to upload a profile image. As with all of your social media business accounts, it should be a logo or something instantly recognizable as your business.

Finishing Your Profile

There is an About field on your profile where you can write a description of your business. It only allows you 500 characters (that's characters – not words!) so it must be short and concise. Use this precious space to describe your business, and infuse your description with a little creativity, not just the standard 'Company X is a manufacturer of widgets, etc.'

There is also a place to add your website URL, and Pinterest will verify that it's your website by giving you a piece of code to download and install on your site.

Finally, just agree to the Terms of Service and your profile is live. At this point it's a good idea to review the privacy settings. There's a slider that says 'Prevent search engines from including your profile' and you should move it to the OFF position. You want your profile to get as much exposure as possible.

Happy Pinning

Once your Pinterest Business Account is live, add the Pin It feature to your browser toolbar so you can pin with one easy click. Add the Pin It button to your website so that visitors can pin content easily from your site. To do both of these things, go to the About tab at the top of the page and it will teach you how to add the Pin It button. Focus on pinning content that is fun, relevant, and interesting to your customers.