Managing an active Pinterest presence can be very time consuming and at times frustrating (especially if you’re off to a slow start). Fortunately, there are a lot of great tools meant to make your life easier and increase your chances of driving relevant traffic to your online business.

I’ve previously talked about Pinterest’s incredible potential to drive sales and compiled this collection of 100+ Pinterest eCommerce Stats, so I’m only going to say this once during this article: you’re missing out on a lot of potential revenue if you’re going to ignore Pinterest as a marketing channel. How much?

Pinterest users tend to spend more than other platforms, with average order values of $123.50 versus Facebook users’ $54.64. Source: WGSN

[2014 data] – Tweet This

With that in mind, let’s go through all the tools you might need to get started / optimize or increase your Pinterest activity.

The Pinterest Tools

Piqora – Visual Marketing Suite

Originally started as a Pinterest analytics solution, Piqora has grown into a full-fledged visual marketing suite for both Pinterest and Instagram, now with roots in eCommerce with its TapShop solution for Instagram.

The differentiating feature(s): a strong focus on collaboration & user generated content combined with powerful, actionable analytics.

Platform: SaaS | Price: custom / on request | Website: piqora.com

Curalate – Pinterest Marketing Suite

On many aspects, Curalate & Piqora are very similar. In addition to Pinterest & Instagram, its analytics platform supports Facebook & Tumblr as well, giving it an edge in the visually focused social media analytics (that really sounds cool) arena.

The differentiating feature(s): very robust collaboration & community management features couple with easy integration with almost any website / online store make it one of the best choices for small eCommerce marketing teams that rely heavily on visual social media.

Platform: SaaS | Price: custom / on request | Website: curalate.com

ViralWoot – SME Pinterest Suite

Formerly PinWoot, ViralWoot is a good choice for SMEs with small teams, as it packs scheduling, multiple profile management, promoted pins management and (soon) analytics. And it’s free.

The differentiating feature(s): its price tag (free) and the website pin alerts.

Platform: SaaS | Price: Free | Website: viralwoot.com

ViralTag – Visual Content Marketing Platform

ViralTag is mainly a visual content marketing focused manager, focused on content discovery and publishing (with scheduling, of course). While it doesn’t sport the advanced features of the above tools, it’s a good choice if you’re already using something like TailWind for analytics.

The differentiating feature(s): simplicity & streamlined interface.

Platform: SaaS | Price: Free + Pro Plans | Website: viraltag.com

Loop88 – Influencer Marketing Platform

The only influencer marketing platform (I’ve come across) that covers Pinterest. If you’re planning big when it comes to Pinterest campaigns, Loop88 can go a long way towards making it a success.

The differentiating feature(s): the only Pinterest influencer marketing platform.

Platform: SaaS | Price: custom / on demand | Website: loop88.com

Ahalogy – Advanced Content Solution

Ahalogy get a really big thumbs up for addressing a huge pain point of brands trying to win over an audience: effectively sourcing, optimizing and scaling content production. While it’s content sourcing is the main feature, Ahalogy aims to make Pinterest marketing as painless as possible and it sure looks like a promising company to follow at least if it’s not the right solution for you at the moment.

Platform: SaaS | Price: custom / on demand | Website: ahalogy.com

GoPixel – Pinterest Marketing Management

Advanced scheduling, analytics (audience analytics included), website pin activity monitoring plus the Pinterest contests module make GoPixel an attractive choice as well. Launched in 2012 and formerly named Pinster, I’m eager to see how this startup evolves.

The differentiating feature(s): it sports a Pinterest contests module.

Platform: SaaS | Price: starting from XX$ / month | Website: gopixel.me

Octopin – Enterprise Content Marketing Platform

As you might expect from an enterprise oriented solution, it packs some unique features like brand image identification without mentions,

The differentiating feature(s): its advanced image analysis feature.

Platform: SaaS | Price: custom / on demand | Website: octopin.com

Advice: stay away from Reachli.com if you bump into it researching more Pinterest tools. I’ve wasted enough time trying to figure out what it does – other than trick you intro giving them your email address (for purposes I’m yet to discover).

Also, feel free to check out Pinstamatic. I wanted to try it myself as I’ve heard many good things about it, but the website doesn’t seem to load lately.

TailWind – Pinterest Analytics

TailWind another great Pinterest management tool, with capable analytics & monitoring features at its core. With over 25.000 customers and an active team that keeps the product updated, it’s a product worth considering.

The differentiating feature(s): starting out as a dedicated Pinterest analytics solution, it has developed very powerful monitoring tools & analytics that offer actionable insights over time.

Platform: SaaS | Price: starting from 9.99$ / month | Website: tailwindapp.com

Official Pinterest Analytics

For the budget conscious marketer, Pinterest Analytics might do just fine. For small brands just starting out on Pinterest, its analytics solution is enough.

Platform: SaaS | Price: free | Website: pinterest.com

PinAlerts – Pinterest Alerts

Last but not least, we have an alerts tool that can be a very useful if used right. I’m rather disappointed by the lack of a stable Pinterest alerts solution (since PinAlerts is in beta since 2013) other than TailWind’s monitoring features, but it seems to do the job and others have told me they’re satisfied by the functionality. I’ve reached out to PinAlerts to find out what their plans are and I’ll update if they reply to me.

Platform: SaaS | Price: Free! | Website: pinalerts.com

WooBox – Pin-To-Win

WooBox is by far the most popular and rightfully so: it covers all popular social networks, their contests look great, are easy to create and manage and it has very accessible pricing plans. No wonder 3 million brands have jumped on board.

Although it has a Free plan, it does not include the Pinterest Pin-To-Win app.

Platform: SaaS | Price: starting from 29$ / month | Website: woobox.com

ShortStack – Embedable Campaigns

Yes, it’s mostly used as a social contests tool – including for Pinterest, but the coolest feature ShortStack has developed is its embedable campaigns. “Put your Campaigns on your website, blog, and anywhere else you have a presence so that your branding across the web is uniform.” Yes, thank you. Finally, someone who gets it.

It may take you a couple of minutes to figure out how to put everything together with ShortStack, but it’s a really flexible tool.

Platform: SaaS | Price: Free + Pro Plans | Website: shortstack.com

WishPond – Pinterest Contests

Wishpond has a whole set of features for marketers, Pinterest contests being just one tool in their arsenal. The bottom line: it’s quite powerful, it integrates well with websites and networks and it allows you to use many different tactics you might have needed development/design support to pull off otherwise. If you’re not the technical type and don’t mind spending 45$/month (minimum) and the usual lock-in tactics, Wishpond is a good choice.

Heads up: Free Account = Trial. I really, really hate these tactics.

Platform: SaaS | Price: starting from 45$ / month | Website: wishpond.com

Pinterest Auto Pin – Automatic Pinning

This plugin is extremely valuable if you post often and tend to embed attractive images in your posts because it automatically takes care of pinning them to Pinterest the moment you publish your posts. It’s actually fairly advanced, taking into account descriptions, links, scheduled posts, taxonomies and many more.

JQuery Pin It – Sharing Enhancement

JQuery Pin It highlights post images and adds Pinterest pin buttons over them in order to enhance pin rates. Best of all, it’s free.

Power Pinner – Sharing Enhancement

Power Pinner is a great WordPress plugin that enahnces pinning by adding a subtle overlay on images when you hover over them.

Update: I don’t know why Power Pinner is not for sale at the moment – it’s a popular plugin that does a great job. I’ve reached out to the author and will update when I get a reply.

Official Pinterest Widget Builder

If you’re not satisfied with the options from majoring sharing tools providers like AddThis or ShareThis, you can always go with the official tools/widgets provided by the network. The Pinterest widget builder is easy to use and you can integrate Pinterest features into your site fast.

Canva – Easy Visual Content Creation

Canva is one of the best design tools for non-designer who blog and want to use visual content on social media as well. The whole service is built around the idea of creating aesthetic content without design skills and from what I’ve tested so far, it does the job really well. Free plan available.

Piktochart – Infographics creation

Piktochart is my favorite infographics creation tool and with its slick interfce and over 400 customizable themes available it will save you lots of money and/or time compared to outsourcing infographics design. Free plan available.

Venngage – Infographics Creation

Venngage is the corporate brother of Piktochart, offering an enterprise version with enhanced collaboration features. A strong selection of themes and icons and the always useful drag’n’drop feature make it an option worth considering. Free plan available.

Infogr.am – Premium Infographics Creation

Infogr.am is an incredibly powerful creation tool, as it focuses on advanced features like responsive / interactive infographics, supporting real-time data and emdedding. While most advanced features won’t be of any use if you’re looking to use it only for Pinterest, it can surely add much value if you’re going to integrate it with your website’s content marketing strategy.

QuotesCover – Quote image creator

As much as I hate quotes, I have to admit that they work quite well for many audiences and using QuotesCover is a fast way to pin relevant quotes for your audience in a visual format. When out of inspiration, pin a quote.

ShareAsImage – Micro-content creation

ShareAsImage.com is a quick’n’easy micro-content creation tool – meaning you can easily turn text into visually appealing pins. It’s fast and you can use it for other social networks, not only Pinterest.

Pinvolve – Facebook & Pinterest Sync

If you’re seeing a significant overlap between your Facebook & Pinterest content, Pinvolve can save you some time by syncing content between the two.

Pin Search – Google Image Search on Pinterest

This nifty Chrome extension integrates Google Image Search on Pinterest, which can save you a whole lot of time if you want to do reverse searches and other pin-related research.

Url2Pin – Pin Websites Fast

If you want a quick way to collect websites on your boards, Url2Pin is pretty much the fastest way. Way faster than manual screenshots and uploading.

PicSlice – Slice Pictures

PicSlice can be a useful tool if you want to do various visual experiments on Pinterest, like sliced image boards and whatnot.

Pin4Ever – Pinterest Backup

Pin4Ever is a nice to have tool if you’re keen on backing up your Pinterest data. It’s not like Pinterest is going anywhere anytime soon, but backups are never a bad thing.

PinGroupie – Find Group Boards

Contributing to group boards is never a bad idea to get some extra exposure for your brand on Pinterest and this website is great for finding popular groups you can contribute to. Needless to say, don’t push your luck or be overly promotional.

Me: I’m currently working on some other useful resources to help you grow your business with Pinterest & other social media networks (hint: lots of case studies coming up). Subscribe to our newsletter to make sure you receive them.

You: Feel to contribute to the article in the comments section – what are YOUR favorite Pinterest tools? Also, sharing this article would be much appreciated!