Imagine Facebook and Instagram are the rich, popular, cool kids at High School. They are loud, everywhere, slightly dodgy, often downright rude with parents that bail them out whenever they get in trouble. No one really likes them that much, but they keep hanging out with them because, well everyone else does. Then imagine that Pinterest is the slighly quirky kid that has a sense of style, is smart, diligent, doesn't buy in to all the noise, and quietly makes people like and respect them. At the end of year 12, they are prom king and/or queen with spectacualr results and a legion of fans, and Facebook and Instagram are fighting in the corner in expensive outfits that are trashed. Or alternately just watch The Breakfast Club and Pinterest is John Bender walking across the oval, fist raised to the sky.

Ok, you get the picture. If you haven't gotten into Pinterest as a tool to promote your business, now is the time. Here are some stats to convince you if that stirring analogy above hasn't gotten you over the line. Pinterest has over 300 million monthly global users and boasts over 200 billion Pins. And it gets better. Research by ecommerce platform Shopify found that it was the #2 source of all referral traffic to their site, that 93 percent of users were using it to plan their purchases, and that the average resulting order value was $50 US (higher than any other social media source). For what amounts to a digital vision board, this is a POWERFUL tool, and its secret lies in the capacity to directly connect from your pin to your website page so the purchase can be made while the passion is ignited.

Assuming you have some knowledge about Pinterest (if not, check out our Intro to Pinterest factsheet below) here are some tips to help you maximise your reach, connection and conversion.

1 - Get the Pinterest button on your website. Straight up, let people know you are using Pinterest so they can pin your images to their board and others can share and share alike.

2 - While you're there, make sure there is a Pinterest follow button on your site too, it pays to remind people you are there and active.

3 - Pinterest is driven by images. Get compelling images and video that stand out, invest in a photographer to create some great content for you so you have plenty to use.

4 - Use those images to tell stories. Give your brand a consistent look and feel, tell stories with your images and use the description space beneath to continue to engage and capture people's imaginations.

5 - Pinterest is a powerful SEO tool because of all those backlinks. Use longtail keywords in your board and pin headings, hash tags, include the price, all of these double down for Google and inside the Pinterest app itself.

6 - Like all social media, its social. When people connect, comment, share, ask questions, make sure you respond in time and on brand.

7 - Utilise the advertising features. 60% of users buy using promoted and advertised pins, this is one social network where the ROI is direct and measurable and relatively good value at pay per click.

8 - Curate your feed. Pinterest is not for all images or products, it is for a visually curated collection, this is where you need to make sure you are pinning images that speak to your prime products and services and make people want to add them to their boards.

The psychology behind Pinterest makes sense. Its primary purpose as a digital pin board is to make collections of things that interest you. In the main, these things are a product or service, and one that you have a focus on, plan for, think about, share with friends, and by the time you've done all that, you have a neural pathway that is primed at the pump to purchase. 93% of people on Pinterest are looking to make a purchase, not just mindlessly scrolling to make them selves feel better, then worse. Pinterest is suitable for a lots of businesses, and maybe yours is one of them. If you can tell visual stories about what you do, educate customers and remove barriers to purchase, have products or services that have a long tail of purchasing like big events - weddings, houses, holidays, renovations, cars, boats, caravans, then you are likely to be able to use Pinterest to your advantage. Time for the pin to drop!