Pinterest is a social networking site in which users post and share – or pin – pictures. The site’s visual format and user base have unique value for retailers. Though Pinterest has historically been dominated by women, that’s slowly changing as a third of new signups come from men. Twice as many pinners have household incomes over $75K, as opposed to those who make less than $30K. Understanding your Pinterest followers and using that information to grow your business is a huge opportunity with an estimated reach this year of over 47 million users.

Like any social networking site, though, success depends on speaking to your customers and posting things they are interested in sharing. That’s where Pinterest analytics come in. By understanding the analytics on your Pinterest business account you can maximize your website visits and sales. To help you do that, we’ve created a simple list of Pinterest metrics to monitor.

Top Pins in the Last 30 Days

Many Pinterest users come to the site seeking inspiration. The simplest way to understand what those users are interested in at a certain time is to look at the Top Pins in the Last 30 Days. Use these topics to inspire pins which will reach more people. These pins may highlight your products, or they may be general interest pins – some of which should link to your website – which encourage more people to follow you and drives more visits to your website.

Interests  

You can also examine your followers’ most popular interests. By learning what your followers like – be it home décor or travel – you can pin more images which fit in those categories. Again, these pins can be general interest pins, repins and images of your products. By connecting your brand with your audience’s interests, you can drive increases in engagement as well as website visits and sales.

West Elm does an excellent job of curating boards to reflect user interests. Take a look at this example.

West Elm includes a variety of images and interests on their boards and many link directly back to the West Elm website which aids in helping their pins surface higher in the Pinterest smart feed which is based on the quality of the pin’s source and relevance of pins.

Within your Pinterest Analytics you can see your audience’s interests. Here is a screen shot of some of VerticalResponse’s followers interests:

Having this information is very useful to help you decide what type of boards to create to keep and draw your audience’s attention.

Top Boards

In addition to strategies based on your audience’s general preferences, Pinterest Analytics can help you understand your own impact. Analytics can help you determine which pins and boards people interact with most, and what appears most in search results. These insights can help you refine your pinning strategy, helping you pin more of what people want and use keywords people are searching for.

Top Boards shows you which of your boards have had the highest interaction – or pin impressions – in the last 30 days. Here are examples from our VerticalResponse account:

To maximize the insight you get from this, you’ll need to organize your boards in a meaningful way. Don’t just have one board for all your products, and other boards for general interest pins. Instead, create different boards for different product lines and interests. That way, when you see which boards people are interacting with you can understand which products are resonating most with pinners. This tells you where your approach might benefit from improvement, and which boards you should pin to more for maximum impact. General interest board impressions can give you more information on what your followers are looking for.

Best in Search

Best in Search shows you which of your pins rank highest in search results. Use this information to hone your descriptions and emphasize keywords which help people find your pins and products.

Power Pins

Power Pins are your most effective pins. They’ve been repinned, liked and clicked frequently. They probably do well in search results. They speak to and engage your audience. Look for patterns in these pins and pin more interesting content that fits with those patterns.

If you notice pins of a certain subject becoming power pins, consider creating a board about that subject. Post both product and lifestyle content which reflects your brand and links back to your website.

Heather Cleveland is an independent residential designer with almost 6,000 followers. On folders of her designs, her most popular pins deal with kitchens. Because of this, a board of only kitchens has become one of her most pinned boards.

Pinterest can help you understand how your brand resonates with people, but the key to this intelligence lives in your Pinterest Analytics. Get started using Pinterest Analytics here.

Sarah Tanksalvala is a freelance writer specializing in marketing, energy, technology and lifestyle. Published in Forbes, the Denver Post, and more. You can learn more about here at SarahTanksalvala.com.

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