The number of total unique visitors to Pinterest has increased 2,702.2% since May 2011₁ and the site continues to grow in popularity. Even if you think your business may not fit exactly into the Pinterest user’s profile with so many unique visitors, how could adding a page for your business to the site be wrong? Below are a few tips on how to get started:

1. Register for a Pinterest Business account, NOT a personal account.

A Pinterest Business account allows you greater functionality and features for tracking your efforts while using this social network.

2. Add the “Pin It” button to your website.

Placing a “Pin It” button next to your content makes it extremely easy for visitors to share your content with the followers of their own boards and page. It also ensures that when someone Pins your content, it is linked directly back to your business as the source of the content.

3. Cross promote your Pinterest page on other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.

Occasional cross promotion of your Pinterest page on your other social networks can lead to new followers and engagement. For example, if you have started to cultivate a new board on your page, why not announce it to your followers on other networks so they can go check it out?

4. Verify your website to obtain access to Pinterest analytics.

If you do not verify the website that is associated with the Pinterest Business account, you will be unable to access this portion of the website and track your progress/fan engagement.

5. Monitor your account’s activity and adjust your strategy based on trends of repins, favorites, followers and numbers of how many are pinning from your website. Pinterest also enables businesses to track the analytics of their webpages.

When one of your strategies or concepts is working or not working, you need to know about it so you can step back and adjust your efforts.

6. Use #hashtags and keywords to describe your pin.

Like Twitter and Facebook, Pinterest uses hashtags to tag images. When tagging an image to one of your boards, try to incorporate a relevant hashtag that would allow another user to easily discover that image/video when searched. By including keywords and hashtags in your description, users searching for content like yours will be able to more likely to find you. Be smart with your descriptions though; sometimes too many hashtags and keywords attached to a pin can be mistaken for spam.

7. Know your audience.

In order to have effective engagement through Pinterest or any other social network, you need to understand your audience. Who is your target demographic that you are planning to reach on Pinterest? Ask yourself this question any time you are pinning. Pinterest has shown the immense power of a photograph as an online marketing tool. If you know your audience, you can leverage this to your advantage. Use your content to depict a story or lifestyle that your audience can identify with and enjoy.

8. Whenever possible, try to pin images that link back to your website.

Is there an image on your website or blog that you would like to share on Pinterest? Great! Just because it is on your website, does not mean you should not also pin it to your Pinterest page. But try to avoid pinning every image on your site to your boards. Pinterest advises that you should not use Pinterest purely as a tool for “self-promotion.” Instead, if you feel certain images truly encompass your brand’s lifestyle, and then make sure you share them on Pinterest for your followers.

9. Shoot for quality, not quantity.

Make sure all outreach and engagement is topical and relevant to your business’s brand when you are on Pinterest. This philosophy can be applied to all social networks when you are representing the business.

10. Don’t forget to be SOCIAL! This is after all a social network.

While you may get caught up with trying to obtain repins, favorites and followers, do not forget your responsibility to be engaging with others. Repin relevant content from another’s board, comment on pins you like, highlight a follower’s board that you find inspiring… ultimately, get creative and engage! Strategic engagement and outreach to fans will reinforce their brand loyalty to your business.

₁Source: http://theultralinx.com/2012/07/latest-pinterest-statistics-infographic.html