Pinterest is the social network for shopping and planning. It’s less about socializing and more about finding exactly what you’re looking for. This makes it optimal for brands in fashion, home décor, health and wellness, and grocery. Naturally, it’s a great place to showcase how your product can be used or consumed – especially if you’re a food item!

Who is using Pinterest? (Source: eMarketer)

• 4m people in the U.S., up 7% from 2017
• Expected to be 88.2m by 2022
• 70/30 female to male

Why Pinterest for food brands? (Source: Omnicore)

• There are more than 1.7 billion recipe Pins
• Food & Drink + Technology are most popular categories for men
• 87% of Pinners have purchased a product because of Pinterest

If you’re already actively sharing content via Facebook or Instagram, much of this can easily be repurposed for Pinterest.

• Simply crop your content assets to Pinterest specs and share to multiple boards
• Craft copy specific to Pinterest and incorporate identified keywords, hashtags and CTAs
• Engage with and contribute to group boards to increase followers
• Manage and utilize Rich Pins (see note about Rich Pins below) for recipes and articles each month

What type of content should you share on Pinterest?

• Recipes
• Grocery lists
• Tips for how best to use the item

Additional opportunities exist for increased exposure. For example, you can apply to utilize Rich Pins. These show more information about a Pin and modifies in real-time with website updates, which is great for recipe ingredients. Rich Pins often perform as well as Promoted Pins (similar to Facebook Boosted Post) and include four types: product, recipe, article and app. For more details on Rich Pins, visit their page.

Plus, if you follow Pinterest closely, they’ll tell you what foods to align with for the upcoming season based upon anticipated trends.

Finally, if you need more proof that your food brand should be on Pinterest? Check out success stories on their website for more ideas.