Have a Pinterest business account but feel lost when trying to utilize it? Check out these four ways to effectively increase your Pinterest following:

1. Know who your audience is.

Pinterest is a unique social network that has carved out a lucrative niche audience. Look at these stats:

  • Pinterest has 100 million daily active users, with over 500 billion Pinterest pins.Pin it!
  • 80% of Pinterest’s users are female and 90% of all pins are created or shared by women.
  • 13% of adult men who are online use Pinterest, with a 120% growth in male users in 2015.
  • Millennials are using Pinterest as much as Instagram.
  • 67% of Pinterest users are under the age of 40.
  • 60% of Pinterest users are from the U.S.

These metrics reveal that Pinterest is a site driven largely by young American women. This makes it different from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and any other social media site because its environment is fairly homogeneous.  To see your specific audience, go to the analytics tab, scroll down to “audience.” This information will allow you to pinpoint exactly who is looking at your boards—what country they come from, what language they speak, etc.

2. Appeal to user preferences.

By going to the Analytics tab in Pinterest and looking at the “profile” section, you can see the top pins from your account in the past month. You can also look at your audience’s interests. This information does not exist just for vanity. Put it to use by taking your audience’s interests and incorporating them into your content.

3. Write search friendly descriptions.

Make it easier for Pinterest users to find your content by putting common search words into your board names. For example, putting the common search phrase “social media” into the title of a board that pertains to social media increases the likelihood that it will be found. Furthermore, adding hashtags to your posts increases the possibility of circulation. While hashtags are not clickable on Pinterest, they are searchable.

Your followers are always looking for new material. Remember, 80% of pins are repins, so creating new posts gives your audience fresh material in a sea of reuse.

4. Install plugins on your website.

Adding avenues back to Pinterest from your website or other forms of social media is a great way to increase your Pinterest following. Plugins like the “pin it” button and the “follow” button encourage your readers to spread your content on Pinterest with virtually no effort from you. Another plugin, the pinboard widget button, allows visitors to your website see your most recent pins. This button does not directly grow your Pinterest following, but it entices people to visit your page.

While these practices will increase your Pinterest following, the only way to maintain a presence is by constantly using your account. Do this and you will see greater Pinterest success.

See Social Media Examiner for more.