Pinterest offers more than recipes and craft ideas. Used strategically, it can be an effective (and budget friendly) way to market your small business. Keep these six tips in mind as you pin.

Pin What Interests Your Target Audience Or Retail Customer

Some businesses make the mistake of only pinning business related materials. In the same way nobody wants to watch commercials all the time, nobody wants to only be bombarded with sales talk on Pinterest. Create a variety of boards to display all kinds of pins that would be of interest to your target audience.

For example, if you’re a restaurant that serves Mexican food, create boards about Mexican culture or recipes to go along with pins about your best entrees.

Use Infographics To Market Your Small Business On Pinterest

If you think of infographics as a business-related comic strip that presents vital statistics, you’ll understand why people are more likely to look at an infographic than they are to read a research article. Infographics are one of the most repinned items on Pinterest. Make the most of that opportunity. Keep it simply by using one of the templates floating around the web waiting for your data.

Create A Quote Board

Regardless of your target audience, chances are you can find some inspirational, funny or motivational quotes they would appreciate. If you sell used books, do a quick search on Pinterest using the words “books” or “reading” and repin until your heart’s content. A target audience who loves reading will love the pins.

A Group Board Provides Interaction With Your Customers

Create a group board where your customers can post pictures of how they’re using your product or videos of your product in action. Pet store owners might get pictures of pets with their favorite chew toy, in costume, or sleeping on their doggie bed. One of the best marketing strategies any retailer can have is a good relationship with their customers. It promotes retention and word-of-mouth advertising.

Name Images Strategically

When you’re saving images on your computer or iPad, don’t settle for the file name your camera or the stock photo site generates. Use a file name that somebody might search for online.

For example, if you captured a great shot of your nephew playing baseball for your sporting goods store, don’t save it as DSC_29874. Instead, save it as boy-playing-baseball. Pro tip: Use hyphens rather than underscores in your file names. When you upload the image to Pinterest, the file name will go with it.

Optimize For Search Engines

Ultimately all social media marketing works best if it is optimized for search engines. Keep SEO in mind as you market your small business on Pinterest by:

• Using keywords in the “about” section of your business profile
• Using keywords, long tails and hashtags in the pin description
• Using keywords in board titles
• Providing a link to your website from your Pinterest profile

Now that you know what you need to do, start pinning. Beware: it can be addictive. You might want to set a time limit for yourself.