Information in this blog post was obtained from the Neil Patel Blog, HubSpot Blog, and Sprout Social.
Why Market on Pinterest?
Lots of college students majoring in marketing, as well as marketing professionals, have most likely seen a vast amount of information on how to use social media to market on all the usual platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (also known as X). However, finding resources detailing how to market on social media platforms other than these five can be a bit more challenging. And busy college students and professionals like yourselves may not have enough time to do an in-depth Google search to find the specific information that you want. So this blog post is designed to provide you with helpful yet concise information on a sometimes forgotten platform; Pinterest. Pinterest is a big platform all on its own with over four hundred and 33 million users. Pinterest has many opportunities for marketers to create profitable businesses; from promoting your own small business to affiliate marketing, and dropshipping.
Content on Pinterest has a longer lifespan than content on other social media platforms. Many pins on Pinterest are reposted pins (repins) and have an average life of three months compared to Facebook at five to six hours and Twitter at fifteen to twenty minutes. Pinterest also is an ideal platform for making conversions in the form of sales since 83%of users have made a purchase as a result of the content that they have seen on Pinterest. So after hearing all this are you interested in learning how to market on Pinterest? There can be a lot of different factors involved but creating interesting content, driving traffic using keywords designed with search engine optimization in mind, and engaging with your community are three of the most important strategies to keep in mind when doing so.
Creating Content
Creating dynamic visual content on Pinterest is essential in order for Pinterest users to stop their scrolling when they see your content. Your content has to capture their attention and prove itself worthy of their time. Visual content in the form of both images and video primarily dominates Pinterest with 85% of pinners preferring this type of content over others. And you want to make sure that your content stands out among the rest as unique. To receive engagement from Pinterest users in the form of likes, comments, and pins. Visual trends and different aesthetic styles tend to fluctuate in popularity on the social media platform so keeping your content up to date and fresh helps in regards to maintaining relevance. HubSpot recommends limiting the use of white or blank space in your Pinterest posts as it has been found that images with thirty percent less blank space in the background are pinned more often than those with it. Blank space in pins can be seen as boring by the viewer so using visuals that keep the eye moving around are more ideal. When it comes to posting videos those in length between thirty to ninety seconds long tend to have the best performance rate. This length is long enough to give the viewer important information or entertain them. But it is also short enough that viewers don’t become disengaged and click off.
So balance is key when it comes to visual post design and video length. Using high-resolution videos and images is also important as explained by Neil Patel as high-resolution content is more visually appealing to look at and comes across as more professional. Lighter images in pins also tend to get repinned 20 times more than darker ones and images without faces get 23% more repins. This information should be taken into account when you are creating content for your Pinterest profile. Ensuring your images have good lighting or using a filter or photo editing software to lighten them up digitally could be a way to increase your engagement. If you are using Pinterest to promote a physical product you’re selling then the tip of excluding faces from pins provides you with the opportunity to instead showcase your product up close and in more detail.
SEO and Keywords
After you have finished creating quality content for Pinterest you will want that content to be seen on the platform or even be wondering how to make Pinterest pins go viral. For this to occur using quality keywords and the correct search engine optimization practices is essential. How often certain keywords are searched on Pinterest and how hard it is to rank for those keywords should also be taken into account.
Sprout Social recommends looking at the Pinterest trends page as looking at it is helpful when trying to determine which keywords are gaining momentum in popularity. Using popular keywords in the title and description of your pins when your content is relevant can help boost your placement in the Pinterest search and feed. However, using those keywords when your content is not relevant can hurt your placement and be seen as spammy by those in the Pinterest community so this practice of “keyword stuffing” is best to be avoided.
Pinterest itself can also be a good place to find related keywords as they are shown when you make a search on the platform. These related keywords are found at the top of the page directly under the search bar. Titles and descriptions of pins are not the only places that you can use keywords on Pinterest; you can also use them in titles and descriptions of your Pinterest boards to separate your pins by category. Your Pinterest name and bio are also a great place to include keywords to build your community and increase your follower count. Neil Patel mentions Google Ads Keywords Planner as an alternative platform for doing keyword research. As well as adding keywords to pin image file names. Keywords should be used in written content in the right context and placed strategically so that when read it all flows together naturally instead of like a robot wrote it. Pinterest ads can also be used to show up for specific searches with the platform’s keywords targeting tool.
Community Engagement
Community is an important aspect of using Pinterest with millions of users on the platform monthly. Following users who are interested in the type of content you post can pique their interest in your brand. And promoting your Pinterest account on other social media accounts you have can get your followers from other platforms to follow you on Pinterest as well. The same tactic can be used with your email subscribers when you are considering how to attract an audience on Pinterest. To get followers directly from Pinterest posting frequently increases your exposure and chances of getting followers. Posting around anywhere from five to thirty new pins every day is ideal for the algorithm.
But be sure not to make all of your daily posts at once and instead space them out ideally between 2 PM - 4 PM EST and 8 PM - 1 AM EST. With Saturday mornings being the absolute best time to post. Engaging with your followers is a great way to boost your engagement and potentially get more customers. You can do these by replying to their comments on your pins, commenting on their pins, liking their pins, and repinning their pins. Engaging with popular boards and influencers is also a way to get noticed on Pinterest. Creating group boards so others can contribute their own pins can be a fun way to let your Pinterest community interact with your account and brand in a personal way. Adding the users name and email gives them access to your group board while still giving you veto power over what ultimately gets posted. Collaborators’ powers can be limited in settings and they can also be removed for violating content policies.
Start Using Pinterest
All in all, when marketing your content on Pinterest remember to keep in mind user preference for visual content, to drive traffic using search engine optimization, research quality keywords, and create an engaged community around your brand. Keeping images high quality in terms of resolution, light, and minimum negative space is preferred by Pinterest users. Identifying trends and using Pinterest search can help you identify keywords. And interacting with your Pinterest audience can in turn result in them interacting with you and your content. These brand awareness and customer relations goals can be met using the platform.
This information about Pinterest should give you the foundation of knowledge that you need in order to start your new marketing journey creating Pinterest content and promoting your brand on the platform. Following these strategies discussed and utilizing the right tools, you can achieve success. An untapped audience that would thoroughly enjoy your content is waiting for you on Pinterest. And it’s not too late to get started marketing there. So what are you waiting for? Get started on your Pinterest marketing and content creation strategy today! To learn more about marketing on Pinterest be sure to check out Diana’s article here on The SMMU blog about three tips for optimizing your business on Pinterest next.
Resources
Baker, K. (2022, May 17). The Ultimate Guide to Pinterest Marketing. HubSpot. Retrieved April 8, 2024, from https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31147/the-ultimate-guide-to-mastering-pinterest-for-marketing.aspx#how-to-use-pinterest-for-marketing
Hill, C. (2024, March 27). The complete guide to Pinterest Marketing. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/pinterest-marketing/#engage-community
Patel, N. (2023, March 5). Pinterest Marketing: Your Ultimate Guide. Neil Patel. https://neilpatel.com/blog/ultimate-pinterest-marketing-guide/
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