Over the past year, Pinterest’s popularity has skyrocketed among consumers as well as businesses. In addition to launching customizable board covers and spam controls, the company also created a separate tier of accounts for businesses.

By converting to or creating a Pinterest Business Account you’re able to use your company’s name instead of your first and last. Additionally, an optimized new user flow will help you to verify your website and start building a community on Pinterest.

Many businesses have already converted, but if you’re new to Pinterest, here’s a look at some of the different ways you can use your business account.

Delve Into Case Studies

While Pinterest is generating a lot of buzz in the tech world, from a business perspective, there is still some uncertainty about how to best take advantage of the platform. However, many companies have excelled in creating a strong brand presence. If you’re new to Pinterest, it’s especially beneficial for you to learn from your peers.

We’ve covered some of the success stories on Pinterest already, such as Sevenly and Whole Foods. Pinterest also has several case studies highlighting companies that have built a community and improved traffic on the platform.

Access Useful Tools and Brand Guidelines

One of the service’s strengths is its ability to drive significant amounts of referral traffic to websites. With the launch of business accounts, Pinterest also introduced two new widgets that aim to drive traffic to your profile. Through your business account, you can access information and tutorials about the Follow and Pin It buttons as well as Board and Profile widgets.

If you plan on featuring Pinterest logos in any of your marketing or advertising materials, you’ll want to learn the proper way to insert these graphics. For example, Pinterest’s logo should never imply that the company is endorsing or sponsoring your promotion. You’ll also have access to additional image guidelines, like when to use the full logo, or how much space should separate it from other text and images.

Discover What’s Working

When it comes to social media, many marketers learn through trial and error. Use your business account to learn how to effectively launch promotions on Pinterest. While contests can be a creative and powerful way to engage people, they can also be a strategic nightmare if not planned properly. Pinterest provides businesses with simple Do’s and Don’ts for first-time or even veteran contest-holders.

The service also encourages you to check out your source page to find out what people have been pinning from your site. By doing this, you can learn which of your products or content is most popular and tailor future pins accordingly. To access your source page, visit pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com. This also works for subdomains, such as Tumblr.

Pinterest will continue updating its resources as it learns more about how businesses are using the service. In the meantime, we recommend checking out the Pinterest for Business board for important updates and case studies.

[Image credits: theilr, John Millar, KlaVY, jamesongravity]