This week I attended a talk about Pinterest in Manchester, hosted by the lovely & super knowledgable Lizzie Sibley from Pinterest UK. I’ve used Pinterest for a while, but I’ve always been a little lazy with it, only recently have I really started putting any proper effort and strategy in my pinning. I learned so much stuff I didn’t know about Pinterest, so I thought I’d share it with you!
1 | Follower count doesn’t mean as much as you think it does. The majority of traffic on Pinterest is engaged with the search function rather than what’s on their home feed. Instead of concentrating on how many followers you have, concentrate on how accessible and search-friendly your pins and boards are. Pinterest is not a social media platform, it’s a “visual discovery tool”.
1/3 of Millennials now use Pinterest, many using it as their primary search tool before Google! Click To Tweet2 | Pinterest uses your board names, pin names and pin descriptions in its search. Be thorough and useful when writing your pin descriptions. Don’t be spammy with a multitude of hashtags, instead, write something meaningful and descriptive. You’re not restricted to 140 characters, so write away! Take care when writing your board descriptions, use plain English but be specific: “Casual Chic Style” would be more searchable than “Keeping it casual” and more specific than “My Style”. Always consider what people would be searching for when writing your board names.
3 | 80% of Pinterest users are using the app on their mobile or iPad, so if you’re trying to generate traffic to your website via Pinterest, then you’d better be damn sure your site’s mobile optimised (but we’ve already talked about why your website should be mobile optimised, haven’t we?).
4 | Don’t delete boards, just move them to the bottom of your profile. Some people might only follow one of your boards, so you don’t want to lose their engagement. Similarly, don’t delete pins — rearrange them, rename them, change their descriptions, and even their links.
5 | If you want to track your analytics on Pinterest (and why wouldn’t you?) then you need to register for a Business account. Don’t worry, you don’t technically need to be a business to use that service, and it’s totally free (just like Pinterest is and always will be!).
6 | Instead of just re-pinning content, be more active in pinning new things and creating new content to be shared on Pinterest. This is something I definitely need to get better at! It’s sooo easy to repin things, and even to change the description to fit with that you want to pin the image as, but it’s harder and therefore more valuable to pin brand new things.
7 | Start your “holiday boards” early — start pinning for Halloween in July and Christmas in August. Move these boards to the top of your profile during their active seasons, and to the bottom of your profile when it’s not their time to shine (remember, don’t delete them!).
8 | Make use of services such as Buffer to spread out your pins. This way you can avoid annoying your followers when you go on pinning splurges! You can also use services like this to un-annoyingly pin the same thing more than once, to different boards.
9 | Make sure that your site is Pinterest ready by using the variety of Pinterest tools available (such as the pin it button) and enabling Rich Pins on your site. If you’re using WordPress, so long as you have a decent theme and the Yoast SEO plugin installed then you should be good to go. If you’re on Shopify you’re also good to go. You simply need to follow the instructions on Pinterest to validate your site for Rich Pins.
10 | Vertical images perform much better than horizontal images, so make sure you’re creating your pinnable content with high impacting images. Using text on your images does deliver a higher pin-rate, but make sure it doesn’t look like a banner ad. List style posts & how-tos work really well when pinned on Pinterest!
Vertical images work SO MUCH better than horizontal images on Pinterest Click To Tweet11 | Don’t just pin your own content, that’s rubbish and boring, and totally not what Pinterest is about. I kinda like the Gary Veynerchuck way of marketing on social media (jab jab jab, right hook) and I think that works really well on something like Pinterest (maybe more like 9 jabs to every hook, though!).
And to help us all even further, I’ve started a brand new Pinterest board where I’m gathering useful articles related to Pinterest use. Click here to go straight to it if you can’t see it under this post… I’ll be adding content to this board regularly, so do let me know if you have a Pinterest article you’d like me to add there!
Let me know your Pinterest links in the comments so that I can follow you!!
Thanks for this, Kim! I’m gearing up for a relaunch of my business in the autumn, and, being an illustrator and designer (and blogging about other illustrators and designers), I think Pinterest is going to be a key platform for me. So, like you, I really need to refocus my use of the platform!
“Refocus” is a great way of putting it! I think there’s a huge potential with Pinterest that remains untapped from many of us, just a case of starting to use it more intentionally!
Brilliant and extremely useful tips, thank you! I have had Pinterest for years since its early days where you have to apply via email and wait for your account to be available to use. But it is only recently I started using the platform properly and knowing it can be useful towards my business I am kicking myself for not paying attention to it at the start!
Katrina Sophia
Really glad you found this useful, Katrina. I think there’s a lot of us that haven’t really explored Pinterest to its fullest potential!
Hoorah! Glad you got so much from the session. Looks like the mini UK tour was a success. :-)
Yay! It was really good, and I think everyone else enjoyed the talk too!
I’ve had my Pinterest account for a few years now & it’s invaluable for finding inspiration. I’ve had a board of my own work on there for a few months, but have been struggling to engage much interest/repins. I haven’t got a website for my business yet but I’ve just set up an Etsy shop & your article is just what I needed to help me understand how to generate a bit more interaction on Pinterest. Thanks so much! This is the link to my Pinterest a/c https://www.pinterest.com/carole57/
Really hope you can use some of these tips. I’m going to be trying my hardest to use Pinterest in a more strategic way :)
Useful article for me (well, as always)! Also I like your Pinterest boards, especially web design and creative stuff related. Keep it up! My Pinterest needs to be sorted out, here it is for now: https://www.pinterest.com/zamogilnykh/
Thanks Alina! Really glad you found it useful :)
I’ve just started using Pinterest so any help I can get is really valuable. The analytics in the business account has some really good stuff about what other pins people are pinning and boards they’re following, so that’s worth looking at, and then creating new boards to appeal to those interests. Vx
Yes! That’s a really great way of finding what your audience like, and then creating new boards for them :)
This is such a great post! Pinterest has become a social media platform I have been focusing on more and more and I have been able to grow my following and engagement greatly by repining content that my target niche is looking for, being engaging and also doing what you said with revamping your pins and boards moving them around and doing what makes sense! I would also like to get better at pinning my own images and content! Thanks for sharing!
xo Caroline
http://www.calijaedesigns.com
Thanks Caroline!!
One of the best Pinterest tips articles I’ve found! Thanks for adding “new content” for small business owners who are still learning how to utilize Pinterest to grow an online customer base.
Tamera
https://pinterest.com/lemarchemidland
http://le-marche.shoptiques.com
http://www.lemarchemidland.com
Thanks Tamera, really glad you found it useful :)
Very helpful. I didn’t know that a business account was free….have to look into if there are advantages for mine. AlexHallatt.com
Helpful stuff! Will be following. My business is called The Coventina Soapery & I make luxury, palm oil free, vegan soaps. I offer retail & wholesale & custom orders.
Pinterest – CoventinaSoapery
Online shops https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CoventinaSoapery
http://coventinasoapery.tictail.com/
Great tip thanks, really interesting to know about tracking via a business account (so I’m now doing that) and also about using portrait pics not landscape, fab tip! My board titles could probably do with some polishing but when I joined I used it mainly to make visual lists for myself so it didn’t really matter then what they were called. Worth a rethink though. I’m here https://www.pinterest.com/tinkeringtimes/
Glad to have helped!
Thanks for that blog. Its good to get concise info sometimes I find too much to read means you feel paralysed to act. Here are my boards would love to know what you think…..https://www.pinterest.com/RetroDeliUK/
Thanks Babs! And I know what you mean, so much information overload sometimes!
Some great ideas, I’ve read a few blog posts discussing ‘rich pins’ now. I’m on Blogger, so I’m not sure how to set it up. I need to do more research into this. I have been pretty lazy with Pinterest too, but I’m trying to polish my profile & make my pins more searchable. http://www.pinterest.com/pouchvintage
Great tips, Kim!
Zoe x | http://www.zoelinda.co.uk
Thanks, Kim! I never thought about moving my boards around. I’ll have to spend some time looking at my pins and boards. https://www.pinterest.com/naturegal101/
This is so helpful. I’ve got 4 accounts with Pinterest and despite being on Pinterest from the very beginning, I’m only now looking at it from a business perspective. Thank you so much for you insight :)
https://uk.pinterest.com/jocauldrick/
I love “visual discovery tool” – such a better way to describe it! Great tips Kim! pinterest.com/solosidekick
Pinterest is my jam and I love discovering new things!
Great tips!