You already know how powerful and helpful Pinterest is in your own life and we won’t bore you with a bunch of statistics here, but we do want you to succeed, and we want you to get started on the right foot. So, there are two KEY things in mind:
- Pinterest is a Visual Search Engine. That might sound obvious, but here is the number one key to success on Pinterest: be the perfect result of their search. Wherever possible, create page URLs on your website, that match the keywords in your boards, account profile, and pins. Just like Google, Pinterest wants the destination of the search to be relevant and valuable to the person searching. So, if you have a Pin that is promoting “summer dresses” then be sure that term is in your: Pin Title, Pin Description, Pin Graphic, Pin Hashtags, and most important — the URL. Like: “samplesite.com/summer-dresses” and of course have that term on the page.
- Pinterest is Social. So BE SOCIAL. Interact, create boards, join group boards, say thank you, and hello, and leave compliments. It’s a party. Make friends. Don’t be spammy by always pointing people to your stuff. Just be friendly, and they will FIND your stuff on their own — and share it.
Types of Pins
When creating content for Pinterest there are currently 3 different types of pins you can create: pin, video pin, & idea pin. Normal pins can have external links while Idea pins cannot. (With the latest update if you have your store linked with products, you can now tag your products in the idea pin.) However, this makes Idea pins great for viral content or repurposing TikTok videos. Video pins can be over 60 seconds, while Idea pins are required to be under 60 seconds. Idea pins are a carousel much like on Instagram.
Tip: To help get peoples’ attention, gifs that have small movements to emphasize your pin will help gain more impressions. The same goes with the word ‘new,’ Pinterest stated that users are 25% more likely to click on a pin containing the word ‘new’.
Here is the hard truth. People will say “I have 50k impressions a month!” In all honesty, impressions mean nothing, it tells you how many times your pin appeared in someone’s feed, and where they potentially saw it. This does not mean they specifically viewed it. The true measure of a pin being successful is based on Engagement, meaning they clicked on your pin to view it, commented on it, followed the link through, shared it, liked it, or saved it. You can see the results of this in your Analytics Overview within your business account. Your end goal when creating a pin is to get engagement to drive traffic to your site to purchase your product. It is that simple. By that definition it makes it sound like Idea pins are not a great idea for your business, because there is no direct link. However, like all social media platforms, the Pinterest algorithm favors those who are using their newest features. If you create content someone enjoys, then they could use that specific Idea pins to go to your board to find more content like it. Thus, it is helpful regardless and the beginning of the viral pin journey.
Types of Content
There are four types of content when it comes to creating pins for Pinterest. By creating a mix of these different types of pins, you will be successful.
Viral
The first we say is viral, this can directly pertain to idea pins. That is because this type of content people enjoy is mostly visually, it gets their attention and holds it. Not only that but people use it for inspiration. Think of how users create mood boards within Pinterest that they’re looking for something to aspire to. Thus, creating content that matches the aspirations of your target audience is a great way to engage with them.
Storytelling
Another great way to create content is through storytelling, if you have a hook to get their attention and then continue telling a story you can hold their attention for a longer period. This is great for the carousel aspect of idea pins because you get their attention, you then inspire them, you then give them more bits of information to feed their desire before calling them to action. With that same formula, the AIDA method, can be used on any pin theory, however, it is best used for video pins or idea pins.
Educational
With Pinterest being a visual search engine, people are looking up things they want answers to. If they are wanting to find something about gardening, then they might look up something like “garden bed layout”. So by showing imagery of a pretty garden bed, with a short descriptive text on the pin itself showing information about how to achieve those results you are helping solve someone’s problems while giving them an idealized image. Thus, you are playing not only to their emotions, but you are giving someone the direct information they are looking for without going to your link. However, they will be more inclined to follow your link to get the rest of the information.
Sales Related
It is great to have a mix of all different types of pins when creating content for Pinterest, so you want to create pins that are sales related. Pins that show off your product, and how your product is going to help your target audience solve their problems. You need to relate to them on an emotional level. But you also want to get their attention. So by having a mix of all these different pins and when someone goes to see your overall board they will then see your sales pins of your products themselves. This is also great because if you have a Shopify account, Pinterest now can pull those products for sale from your website and create pins to populate a board just of your products. This is awesome because people are now looking on Pinterest to purchase items as well, which is back to a visual search engine.
Group Boards
Another great way to gain more traction on Pinterest is to be a part of group boards. Think of it like a class project or multiple people working together to help each other out. You can post on these group boards, but you should also comment, like, and repin other people’s pins within the group. When you are helping others out they will then help you out in return, most people use Tailwind to help find other people within group boards that have the same target audience. This is a great way to be a part of your Pinterest community socially because in truth it is a party on Pinterest. So, by being a part of your community, and actively showing up on Pinterest you are more likely for your pins to be seen than others by just uploading pins. This sounds like a lot of work, but it is worth it for how much traffic you will gain from this social media platform.
How to get started
When starting your Pinterest business account, you want to set up your boards and make sure those boards have keywords within the board title and description. You can start by pinning other people’s content to your boards, as this will help the Pinterest algorithm know what your boards are about to help show your boards to other people when they are looking up those specific niche ideas. As you continue to grow and create your content, you don’t have to keep pinning other people’s pins as often – though it is encouraged for sake of the algorithm. Just remember to have fun because it’s a Pinterest party.
