How to Setup a Pinterest Business Account

If you offer online products or services, Pinterest can be a fantastic tool to promote, market, and drive traffic to your brand or business. For optimal performance (and to adhere to Pinterest’s terms of use) it’s super important to open a Pinterest business account.

It’s completely free and with the upgrade you will gain access to cool features specifically made to help you promote your business, as well as analytics and data that give you awesome insights to help you reach your target audience on the platform – 100% worth it.

If you’re new to using Pinterest for business, the process may seem a little daunting but fear not! This blog post will help stop the overwhelm and lead you through the process of setting up your business account step by step. I promise it’s easier than it looks – let’s get started! 

There’s actually a few different ways to sign up for a Pinterest Business account – 

1. Link a Pinterest business account to your personal account. This will allow you to login using the same info as your personal account and easily switch between the two. 
2. Open an entirely new, stand-alone, Pinterest business account. 
3. Convert your personal account to a Pinterest business account. As a general rule of thumb, if your followers are only following you for your personal boards and pins it would be a smart decision to go with options 1 or 2. 

Options 1 and 2 are typically the avenues I recommend most to my clients, as they are best for Pinterest SEO and optimization. When you open a new account that is purely related to your business right off the bat, It won’t take Pinterest too long to figure out what you’re all about. That being said, if you’ve been using your personal account for your business for some time and have at least 10 on-brand boards and 20 on-brand pins relating to your business, you’ve probably put in a fair amount of work and made a decent amount of traction on the platform already – in this circumstance, converting your personal account to a business account would be beneficial to you.

If you would like to learn how to convert your personal account to a business account check out this blog post: How to convert your personal Pinterest account to a Pinterest business account. If you want to open a new account, I’ve listed the step by step process for the two different ways to do this below. 

Option 1: Link a Pinterest Business Account to Your Personal Account

1. Login to your personal Pinterest account
2. In the top-right corner of your screen you’ll see a down arrow – click it to open the drop-down menu
3. Click: Add a free business account 
4. Click: Get started
5. Follow the prompts to create your business account. It will ask you to add a profile picture, enter your business name, claim your website, etc. You can go back and change any of these things at a later date if you need to. 
6. Once you’ve filled out all the prompts click next. Select the option the best suits your business focus from the drop down menu – click next. 
7. Select what type of business you are – click next. 
8. It will then ask you if you are interested in running ads. Even if you’re not, click yes. There have been mixed reports and speculation in the Pinterest community that Pinterest is giving a boost to accounts that say there are interest in ads. Click next. 
9. Lastly, it will prompt you to create a pin, grow your audience, or showcase your brand. You can choose whichever you would like to do or click the x to go straight to your new profile. 
10. Whala! You’ve successfully created a new Pinterest business account. To switch between your personal and business account, click on the down arrow in the upper right hand corner of the screen. The drop down menu will display your accounts. Click on the one you would like to access. 

Option 2: Create a Completely New, Stand-alone, Business Account

1. If you have a personal account, make sure you’re logged out. 
2. Use this link to create your business account 
3. Click sign up
4. Fill out your email, password, and age – click create account 
5. Follow the prompts to set up your profile. It will ask you to enter your business name, claim your website, the focus of your business, etc. You can go back and change any of these things at a later date if you need to. 
6. When asked if you are interested in running ads click yes – even if you’re not interested. There have been mixed reports and speculation in the Pinterest community that Pinterest is giving a boost to accounts that say they are interested in ads. 
7. Lastly, it will prompt you to create a pin, grow your audience, or showcase your brand. You can choose whichever you would like to do or click the x to go straight to your new profile. 
8. You’ve done it! You now have a brand new Pinterest business account ready for action. 

So now you have a new Pinterest account, but what’s next? If you want best results from the Pinterest platform, the next step you should take with your new Pinterest business account is to optimize your profile. I put together a short guide to walk you through what you need to do to optimize your profile, Pinterest best practices, and sprinkled in some pro tips for success! Grab your guide above!