This week, we have the second installment of last week's post about Pinterest Promoted Pins. They're not available yet, but they will be very soon. Now is a great time to start strategizing so that when they're open for business, you are ready to hit the ground running!

Why do you care about Pinterest?

Bottom line? Pinterest shoppers generally spend more per checkout. The numbers average from between $140 and $180 per order compared to shoppers on Facebook and Twitter who spend $80 to $60. Pinteresters are generally people who are searching for ideas and inspiration or just dreaming about how lovely their homes/wardrobes/bodies/emotional lives can be after a little investment.

Given that tidbit, this move by Pinterest is good news for you. What's more is that you'll be able to see what people are pinning from your website and what pins are driving the most traffic over to you. With great analytics available, you'll know what pins to put your ad money behind in order to boost their reach. Basically, this is awesome if your business is well-suited to the Pinterest audience.

How to make the most of Promoted Pins

Before you can start promoting pins, you need to know what you're doing first, so let's spend some time thinking about how to use pins. Last week, we started talking about how to create your business account and how to thoroughly fill out your profile and get a great image to go with it. Go back and read about that if you missed it.

Once you've created your account and you log in for the first time, you'll be asked to choose five boards to follow. Choose boards and categories that are relevant to your business. These are fellow pinners and potential followers and customers for you so choose wisely.

The next thing to consider is pinning strategically to turn your followers into customers. Your boards can be anything you want them to be, so choose ones that you think represent your products the best and give them a cool (yet easy to understand) name. You can even create an inspiration board that combines many different products together in one pin. For example, if you are a clothing retailer, you can assemble outfits. If you own a gift shop, you can create gift set ideas for holidays, weddings, showers, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Make your pins fun and inspiring and you cannot go wrong!  But for the love of all that is Pinterest, make sure your photos are REALLY NICE and that they're in jpg, png or gif files only. Pinteresters love pretty pictures. If your picture is bad, they won't even look at it.

A few suggestions for what/how to pin

• Pin product images. If you offer a service, you can show pictures of people using your service.
• Pin and repin. Just like with all other social sites, this is a two way street. You cannot just pin all the livelong day and not pin anyone else's stuff. Give some, get some.
• Popular posts rule. Use the search feature at the upper left and click on "popular."  That's how you know what pins are trending at the moment. Get on it and pin something that relates to what's hot right now.
• D-I-Y. Pinterest is all about do-it-yourself type stuff. If you can pin a few photos and instructions into a tutorial, do that. It's a great way to get repinned.  

Repins, you want them.

A repin is just like a share on Facebook. The more your pins are shared, the more they will spread and be seen by Pinteresters. So, what to pin is important, but the goal is really going to be getting repins.

There is a ton more to say about Pinterest, but we're already running out of time. To learn more about how to use Pinterest for your business, go straight to the source, right here. And as always, if you need some help getting started, give us a ring. We love Pinterest!