Turn browsers into buyers with Pinterest and Instagram
Does your product or service make for great before-and-after photos? Do finished-project shots succeed where text descriptions fall short?
If so, and you're not already using an image-centric social platform to drive sales, it's high time to start. Your customers are already there.
Two of the most popular, user-friendly platforms built around visuals are Instagram and Pinterest. Think about it: anyone looking to remodel their home, refresh their wardrobe, upgrade their car, restock their pantry, or plan an over-the-top kids' birthday party is constantly digging through photos and how-tos online, taking notes and saving favorites for their own creation.
Setting Up a Pinterest Business Account to Drive Sales
Pinterest now has more than 500 million people every month searching its themed "boards," discovering ideas and products and "pinning" their favorites. By placing your products in the middle of those searches, your exposure can skyrocket, and that audience is unusually ready to buy: the large majority of weekly users say they've discovered new brands or products on Pinterest.
A Business account adds features beyond a personal one, including ads, analytics, and shopping tools. You build your own boards and pins, optimized with clear, vibrant images (and increasingly video pins, which Pinterest now favors) and captions with keywords that highlight what your products do and who they're for.
Here's a Pinterest Business account for a small tile contractor in Southern California. Notice how each board is titled with the keywords people use when thinking about remodeling their homes. When users click through, they see the company's logo and a short intro blurb.
You can set up a new Pinterest Business account for your company, or convert an existing personal one.
Setting Up an Instagram Business Account to Drive Sales
Instagram users are shoppers, even when they don't realize it yet. As a pioneer of the image-centric model, its audience is perpetually ready to be wowed, and many people follow businesses simply because they love their content, even when they're not currently in the market. The culture is casual and interactive, with users looking for something beautiful, interesting, funny, or surprising to share and talk about.
The biggest shift on Instagram is video. Reels, short vertical videos, are now the main way Instagram shows your content to people who don't follow you yet, which makes them your single best tool for reaching new customers. Lead with Reels that show your product in action, before-and-afters, quick how-tos, or behind-the-scenes moments. Hook viewers in the first second or two, keep it short, use trending audio when it fits, and post consistently.
Instagram Stories are still valuable for staying top-of-mind with the followers you already have. These short snippets at the top of the feed are perfect for content that's looser than your polished posts, demoing a launch, sharing a behind-the-scenes peek, running a poll, or testing an idea, without cluttering your main grid. And your feed posts and bio still matter: post your best work, write a concise, catchy bio with a link to your site, and use clear keywords so people find and share your content.
For a deeper playbook, see our guide to the 12 ways to stand out on Instagram.
Working with these platforms is genuinely fun, and it lets your brand's personality shine. Keep using them consistently to sustain engagement, and you can expect your sales to reflect the increase in activity.
Whether you dive into both Pinterest and Instagram at once or start with the one where more of your audience hangs out, the bottom line is the same: social media is one big conversation. Conversation builds relationships, and relationships drive sales. Since our brains are wired to respond to visuals, these two platforms are an ideal way to connect with your customers.
Want help building a visual social strategy that actually drives sales? Get in touch with our team.
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