Does Pinterest Work for Local Businesses?
It’s no secret that social media marketing is essential for local businesses, but what about Pinterest? Operating as a blend between social media and a search engine, does Pinterest offer any value for locally targeting potential customers or clients as a business owner?
I believe the answer is yes. So here’s a quick breakdown of why you should be using Pinterest as a local business (and how to do it):
Benefits of Pinterest for Local Digital Marketing
If you’re considering expanding your social media marketing beyond Facebook and Instagram, now may be the time to incorporate Pinterest into your digital marketing plan! Here are three reasons why you should be using Pinterest for local marketing:
1. Pinterest is Strategically Low-Pressure
Batching content for Pinterest is much easier compared with other social platforms. When planning out social media content for my clients, I tend to follow a weekly cadence for Instagram and Facebook that includes being active on the platforms around the time of posting to engage with comments. But with Pinterest, I can plan a month (or more) of content well in advance and schedule it to post with minimal oversight. Pinterest technically does have comments and DMs, but they are rarely used for more than just spam, so they don’t require the same level of attentiveness as other social media platforms.
2. Pinterest is a Search Engine
Here’s Pinterest’s worst-kept secret: it’s not really social media. It’s a curated search engine where users are highly primed to shop! Because Pinterest feels so personalized to users, it has grown increasingly popular as a search engine, with 36% of consumers starting their searches on Pinterest instead of Google!
If you have a local storefront, you can even use Pinterest to share ads for local inventory, making it easier for customers to find you and browse your shop virtually.
3. Pinterest Has the Longest Social Media Post Lifespan
A single post (or “pin”) on Pinterest can continue showing up in search results and driving traffic to your website for three months or more beyond the original posting date! I even had a pin go viral on a client account two years after it had originally been posted, which tripled her reach for that month. If you stay consistent and patient with Pinterest over the long term, it will pay off much more than platforms like Instagram, where the half-life of a post is 20 hours at best.
Credit: Scott Graffius
Side Note: Did you notice that a blog post has the best half-life at two years? Further evidence that local businesses should be blogging!
Local Businesses That Should Use Pinterest
“Local business” covers a wide swath of industries, so how do you know whether it will actually benefit your business? Let me remind you that 36% of consumers are turning to Pinterest as a search engine, which could very well be 36% of your audience! To see specific demographics for Pinterest and compare them to your target audience, check out my 2026 digital marketing overview.
That aside, here are several examples of local businesses I have seen do well with Pinterest and what they should be pinning:
Photographers: If you are a photographer and you’re not on Pinterest, you need to start sharing your photos with all the clients looking for photo inspiration on there.
Landscapers and Other Home Services: Write blogs sharing insights and advice relating to questions your customers are asking, and share them on Pinterest.
Wedding Planners: Start a blog or pin to webpages on your website with guides to wedding planning and what to look for in a wedding planner.
Beauty Salons: Get permission from clients to share before and after photos on social media so you can show off your beautiful hairstyles, makeup looks, or nails (p.s. Nails are a HUGE trend on Pinterest).
Tattoo Artists: Consumers frequently turn to Pinterest for tattoo inspiration, so it’s a great place to share your work with a watermark or logo and location details. Keep in mind that your designs may get copied.
Restaurants: Invest in some high-quality images of your restaurant and some of your popular meals, then share them in a gallery on your website that you can link to pins on Pinterest. If you operate as an event space, start a blog with event planning tips for even more pin-worthy content.
How to Use Pinterest as a Local Business
Ready to start leveraging Pinterest for your local business? Here are four quick tips to being successful:
Include your location in your pin titles, descriptions, and even on the images or graphics themselves! The more ways you can tell Pinterest where you are located, the better.
SEO optimize your website with important local information, as this will help inform Pinterest as well as assure your audience that they’re in the right place.
Include your location in your Pinterest account name, if possible. If you’re a pest control company in Pensacola and want to show up first when someone searches for “Pensacola pest control,” you’ll want to make sure you’re showing up in the dropdown menu!
Hire a Pinterest manager! You’re an expert in the services you provide, but that doesn’t mean you have to also be an expert in marketing those services.
If you really want to be successful on Pinterest without learning how to DIY your digital marketing, contact me to find out how I can help you reach more customers with Pinterest!
