If you’re an online service business owner on Pinterest and haven’t converted to a Pinterest business account yet, this is your cue.

It’s a simple switch that takes a minute but rewards you with features and information about your account that help you uplevel your Pinterest marketing.

So without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the benefits of a Pinterest business account that you can’t get without converting.

Why You Need a Pinterest Business Account

This post was first published in January 2019. It was last updated in August 2021.

1. Commercial use

As an online service business, you’re earning money and making a profit by driving traffic to your services, qualifying you as a commercial Pinterest user.

Pinterest’s Terms of Service state that if you’re using Pinterest for work or for commercial reasons, it’s required that you sign up for a business account and agree to Business Terms of Services.

Here’s the exact quote from Pinterest Terms of Service (effective as of writing this in August 2021), Section 2(c):

“If you want to use Pinterest for commercial purposes you must create a business account and agree to our Business Terms of Service.”

In layman’s terms, if you’re using Pinterest for work purposes, you need to create or convert to a Pinterest business account.

That means if you’re promoting your business from a personal account, that account could get shut down for violating the TOS. Pinterest has been shutting down accounts for all sorts of reasons lately, so do not put it past them.

Get started: How to Convert Your Personal Account Into a Pinterest Business Account

2. Access to Rich Pins

Rich Pins are enhanced Pins that display more information about the page or blog post you’re linking to – and they’re only available for business accounts.

Rich Pins work by pulling metadata from the page you’re linking to, displaying it next to your Pin, and automatically syncing changes you make to the linked page.

Article Rich Pins show the headline, description, and author name of your blog post. Product Rich Pins can feature availability, pricing, and product information from your website. Either way, Rich Pins provide more relevant context for your target audience and make pins more enticing and actionable.

For more guidance on Rich Pins & how to install them: The Complete Guide to Pinterest Rich Pins

3. Access to Promoted Pins

If you’re looking to supplement your free, organic Pinterest marketing strategy with paid ads now or sometime in the future, heads up!

Paid ads you run on Pinterest are called Promoted Pins. You can promote any pin of yours as long as it meets the requirements.

According to Pinterest, ads “are regular Pins that you pay to be placed where people are most likely to see them. These Pins will surface in your desired audience’s home feed, category feeds, and relevant search results.”

It’s a lot like Facebook or Instagram ads but less interruptive. Your audience can save your Promoted Pin and make it rank even higher.

Promoted Pins are only available to business accounts.

4. Access to analytics

It’s one thing to pin your content and hope for the best, and another to take a look at your stats and have a clear insight into which content is performing the best (so you can create more of it).

Numbers, charts, and graphs can seem daunting but if you already have your website hooked up to Google Analytics, you know that having an understanding of your analytics helps you understand what your audience wants and responds to.

Pinterest analytics – as confusing as it may seem at first – is one of the cornerstones of your Pinterest strategy and in my opinion the best part of owning a Pinterest business account.

Analytics help you keep track of important metrics and tweak your strategy accordingly to get better performance. Pinterest gives you an overview of the people you reach, activity from your website (so you can see what content people like the most), and how Pins on your account are doing (impressions, clicks, saves).

5. Improved brand awareness and brand authority

Pinterest is an endless ocean of content and service providers. It’s easy to go unnoticed unless you take steps to brand yourself and establish your authority.

Another reason to switch is that your Pinterest business account comes with useful features that make you look more trustworthy and credible.

First and foremost, as a business account owner, you can link your website with Pinterest to verify you’re the real deal. After verifying a special icon will show up next to the URL on your profile to signify you’ve claimed your website, and all pins that are pinned from your domain will have your profile image next to them. Verifying also gives you access to analytics for the Pins you or other people pin from your site.

I’ve explained website verifying in-depth in an earlier post which you can find here.

If you create content on Instagram and YouTube, you can claim those too to make sure content pinned from those accounts is linked back to you so people know where to find more of what you do.

A business account gives you access to a wider variety of Pins. While standard Pins are available for everyone, you can expand your Pinterest content strategy with Idea Pins and Video Pins.

And lastly, you can brand your business profile with a cover image or video.

Ready to switch? It takes less than a minute!

Converting to a business account is free.

To convert a personal Pinterest account into a business account, follow the guidance in this blog post: How to Convert Your Personal Account Into a Pinterest Business Account.

If you’re not sure whether to create a new business account or convert an old personal account, these tips will help you decide what’s best for you!

Before you go, pin this for later!