Interior designers, beware! Pinterest can either drive tons of traffic to your site or become a blackhole of pretty pictures and vanity metrics that do nothing to grow your business.
Here’s what most people miss about Pinterest: It’s a search engine, not a social media platform.
If you treat Pinterest like a brand discovery platform, then you’ll see how effectively it can help you gain visibility and get discovered. And the real magic happens when you understand how to utilize Pinterest as a long-term tactic within a comprehensive content strategy.
Here are 6 steps to using Pinterest to grow your design business by gaining visibility.
Pinterest is a visual search engine, not a moodboard generator
If Pinterest is a search engine like Google, it means that content compounds. In other words, one piece of content can continue to gain traction over time and serve your brand’s visibility on the web.
- On Pinterest, your pins will keep sending traffic to your page for months after your initial post.
- On Google, a valuable blog post will earn more credibility over time to push your website to the top of the SERP.
- For both, freshness matters for SEO so you’ll need to keep producing content to succeed.
Seriously, the shelf life of a pin can be months compared to just hours or days on Instagram or Facebook. Your initial investment can yield an outsized return — and you can surface existing content to strategically (and drastically) boost traffic.
For consumers and casual browsers, Pinterest is a tool for curating visual design ideas. But for business owners, Pinterest is a long-term investment in developing your brand’s online presence.
Treat Pinterest like a business (checklist)
If you stop reading here, this is the checklist that will get Pinterest working for your design business:
Claim a business account
Claim your website
Optimize your bio
Enable Rich Pins
Create branded vertical templates to re-use
Schedule 6 pins per month
Align keywords with target client
Organize boards by niche/style
Title boards with SEO-rich names
Participate actively in group boards
Promote pins and run experiments quarterly
Review analytics monthly
Make sure your Pinterest profile is “discoverable”
Here’s the shortcut to create a “discoverable” profile on Pinterest:
- Switch to a Business account for analytics, Rich Pins, and ads.
- Optimize the name & bio fields in your bio to include niche and location keywords (like “Minimalist Interiors NYC”).
- Include your website for credibility and analytics integration.
- Enable Rich Pins to view live metadata and make your pins more click-friendly.
Publish attractive Pins that will drive clicks, not just pins
It’s nice to have many people collecting your images and saving them to boards, but it won’t grow your business. Pinterest users have high purchase intent, so they might be ready to book a consultation or buy a product if you can impress them.
Pins need to drive clicks, not just saves, to keep your inspire-to-convert ratio on track.
Follow these criteria to create attractive pins that will generate clicks:
- Use high-resolution vertical images (2:3 aspect ratio).
- Try elegant text overlays to grab attention.
- Write keyword-rich descriptions and titles, fitting them in organically.
- Include a CTA (“Download design guide” or “View full project”).
- Link pins to the relevant website pages (portfolio, guide, blog post).
This process doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does work better if you have an existing content pipeline. You can easily repurpose blog posts or existing portfolio content into fresh, Pinterest-ready pins that adhere to the rules above.
Be smart with your boards
A savvy designer understands the power of collections. On Pinterest, this means treating your own boards like carefully curated mini portfolios.
- Create niche boards with exciting, keyword-rich names and descriptions (“Mini Modern Kitchens” or “Sleek Restaurant Booths”)
- Name one board “Client Project Round-Ups” to earn credibility by showcasing your real-world work.
- Prioritize your best boards by placing them at the top for better discoverability.
- Use Idea pins (multi-page/video) to share behind-the-scenes content and step-by-step reveals.
- Boost your top-performing content to targeted audiences with Promoted Pins.
Be open to collaborations and engage with others
Just like in the real world, collaboration and conversation can be a powerful way to grow your reach and build community on Pinterest.
Start by joining a few group boards or seek out a collaboration with an influencer or fellow designer to extend your content’s visibility.
Pro Tip: Be genuine. Repin, comment, and follow your peers. Pinterest rewards interaction, and people can smell false interest.
Stay alert to trends
Tap into design trends that make sense for your business.
To find out what’s hot, check out Pinterest’s Trend reports. These are updated monthly and you can search by category. “Pinterest Predicts” is another foresight option on the platform, but it’s more like a prediction than an actual trend report.
Your job is to look for trending keywords and concepts and then find a way to engage with that content or post your own relevant pins. Understand audience patterns and preferences, and use this data to inform your content strategy.
Stay consistent and track your traffic
Finally, consistency is essential. This means steady posting and regular analysis.
Work with an agency if you have the budget. If you’re doing it yourself, use a scheduling tool like Tailwind. Make sure you set aside some time to engage with other accounts, too.
To analyze your success, use Pinterest Analytics. Keep an eye on saves, trending keywords, and click-throughs so you know what’s actually driving traffic to your page vs. earning attention.
Review and next steps
It’s time to go full speed ahead with Pinterest to drive traffic to your business.
Get smart with optimizing your profile, create valuable content, and engage. If you have a website design that’s built for conversion, then driving people to your page from Pinterest is a powerful way to capture leads.
Consult on your digital presence today and build the lead generation machine that your business deserves.