With over 300 million users and climbing, Pinterest is a bustling center for businesses seeking to maximize their reach amongst online shoppers. Ninety percent of weekly Pinners claim they use the platform to inform their purchase decisions. Numbers aside, there is a large audience with substantial purchase intent. However, in the midset of evolving search and discovery tools and improving brand options, identifying a single concentrated approach to carving out an effective presence is another story.
The new Pinterest Academy
Fortunately, the platform made overcoming this hurdle a little easier for marketers with the introduction of Pinterest Academy. For those businesses new to the platform, this free e-learning tool will help you discover all of the hidden features in the visual discovery platform, benefits of the company’s ad products, how to utilize advanced targeting to improve your efforts, and more.
“Go through them at your own pace, learning how to connect with your audience on Pinterest. You’ll get information on how to design Pins, inspire visual discovery and incorporate Pinterest best practices,” the company shared in the official announcement.
What is the program comprised of?
The Academy is built around a series of nine education courses helping you explore how to Pinterest Business to meet your goals and deliver actionable results to your clients. Each specific course should take approximately 2 to 5 minutes to complete and the full curriculum start to finish runs at about an hour. A key benefit is that you can take only the courses that are useful to you and relevant for your business goals. Skip around, take only one course, take half of the program — you’re in the driver seat.
The first five courses available now emphasize a basic overview of the platform and include the following:
- Pinterest Narrative
- Creative Inspiration
- Creative Strategy
- Campaign Objectives
- Targeting and Buying
Four additional courses are slated to go live later this month. These aim to get more granular with courses dedicated to walking aspiring Pinners through the steps of setting up their business account and, subsequently, how to launch, optimize and measure the success of their campaigns:
- Setting up a Pinterest Business account
- Planning and strategizing a campaign
- Building and launching a campaign
- Managing and measuring a campaign
How do I navigate the courses?
Primarily, you’ll be shown a rundown of the elements included in the specific course you selected. Taking ‘A Peek into Pinterest’ as an example, at the onset you’re provided a clear, high-level overview of what you’ll learn and what you should be able to immediately with your new knowledge.
As you proceed down the screen, you’ll then be taken through each of the lessons and key tips on the given topic.
How can I access them and track my progress?
Courses can be accessed on either mobile or desktop and will integrate links to other tools and reference studies to help you get the healthiest balance of insight you need.
If you’re a stickler for organization and planning, you also have the option to map out your course approach and the timeline so that a colleague or employer can be tuned into your progress in the various elements.
Whether you’re looking for the essentials of building your brand presence and how to use Pinterest to market and sell, or if you’re simply looking to refresh best practices that will always be applicable no matter how the industry evolves, the new Academy has tips and ideas to cater to a wide variety of Pinners.
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