Now with over 300 million users, and growing, Pinterest has become a bigger consideration for many businesses looking to maximize their social presence, and reach engaged shoppers online. Indeed, Pinterest users come to the platform with high purchase intent – according to research, some 90% of weekly Pinners use the platform to make purchase decisionswhich ishigher than any other social platform.

Couple that with evolving visual search and discovery tools, and improving brand options, and there’s a lot to like about Pinterest. But it does require a different approach, marketers need to make a specific, concerted effort to create and curate an effective Pinterest presence.

To help with this, Pinterest has this week launched a new set of platform education course for marketers, under the umbrella of the ‘Pinterest Academy’.

Pinterest Academy home screen

As you can see here, the new Pinterest Academy offers a range of education courses, and links to various other tools and reference studies, in order to help you get a better handle on how to utilize Pins for your business.   

Select any course and you’ll get a basic rundown of the elements included:

Pinterest Academy

You’ll then be taken through a scrollable rundown of the various elements.

Pinterest Academy

As you move down the screen, you’re taken through a range of lessons and key tips on your chosen topic – and as you can see from these shots, you can access the courses on either mobile or desktop (the below screenshot is from the ‘Targeting and Buying’ course). 

Pinterest Academy

You can also map out your course approach with a planner, while your employer will be informed of your progress in the various elements, if you so choose.

Pinterest Academy

At launch, Pinterest is offering five courses, with four more coming later this month.

The courses currently available are:

  • Pinterest Narrative
  • Creative Inspiration
  • Creative Strategy
  • Campaign Objectives
  • Targeting and Buying

While the next four on the way will be:

  • Setting up a Pinterest Business account
  • Planning and strategizing a campaign
  • Building and launching a campaign
  • Managing and measuring a campaign

These cover the essential elements of building your brand presence, and utilizing Pinterest for marketing and selling. And while some of the courses do feel quite entry-level, Pinterest does need to cater to all kinds of users, and regardless, there are valuable tips in each one, even if you do have to go over a few things you already know.

As per Pinterest:

“[Pinterest Academy is] a free e-learning tool we designed for businesses new to Pinterest. It can help you get started on our unique visual discovery platform, discover the benefits of all our ad products, take advantage of our advanced targeting and other features – and lots more.”

The courses are well-presented, though they are targeted more towards mobile usage, so there’s quite a lot of blank space when viewing on desktop. But, of course, the information is just as relevant, and it can help you to build a more effective Pin presence, or to get a better understanding of each element. 

You can check out the new Pinterest Academy at this link.

The first Pinterest Academy courses are now available to businesses in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, France and Germany. As noted, Pinterest will add more courses later this month.

This article was originally published at Socialmediatoday.com, by author Andrew Hutchinson.

Original article >>

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