10 Tips on Effective Strategies for Using Pinterest

Pinterest’s main business model is geared toward sharing inspiration, ideas, and tips for everyday life needs in the form of images (pins). Its unique model is ideal for businesses looking to grow their brand, website traffic, sales, etc. It stands out from other social media platforms in that the people frequenting here aren’t looking to get entertained but are most likely to purchase.

However, much like any other platform, there are those trends that tend to work on this platform while others fall flat. This article gives an in-depth look at how to do and thrive on Pinterest.

1. How to create fresh pins

In the past, repining the same piece on content worked well for business owners. It saved time and even got the message out to various boards, however, as Pinterest is changing this is no longer the way to go. Currently, the new algorithms are keen to keep duplicate pins from circulating as one would wish. Continuing to pin them will hardly give you any results and may even cause your account to get flagged.

Since Pinterest’s new algorithms are prioritizing fresh pins, we did some research on what that means and how to ensure you have a consistent flow of these fresh pins without spending too much time in pin creation.

The following are a few guidelines that will help you create what is considered a fresh pin. The general image can be the same but implementing the following tips changes how your audience views it and the end result is a fresh pin

· Try adjusting the background of the image

· Use different angles of an image

· Change the text overlay

· Adjust your image borders

· Change the colors

· Crop your image to make a particular object on the image the center of attention

· After implementing the above tips on different pins, make sure that you use a different title for each pin without forgetting to change the title font and location of the title too.

2. Tips on Creating Effective Pins

Not only is a picture worth a thousand words, but on Pinterest, it is worth everything. To make effective pins, make sure that you are using high-quality images that are clear and eye-catching. Basically, your image needs to be beautiful and should also clearly tell a story of what you are trying to market. Make it easy for your audience to identify where your pins belong.

For example, if your pin is about outdoor lawn chairs, putting the picture of a pumpkin pie casserole completely throws off your audience, obviously. If your content is on well-defined niches, it is easy to create relevant pins. However, other niches are challenging and thus it is wise to spend some time doing your research on it, including looking at how other creators in the same niche create their pins in order to pass their message.

3. Video Pins

Pinterest is a visual platform and what is more engaging than video? Videos give more information about your message or product and are therefore more effective than a still image. However, be careful not to give too much away, the idea is to drive traffic to your website and so a video that only gives a taste of your content is key.

Video pins have been around since 2018 and if you haven’t been using them, it is time to get into this trend. If you have challenges when creating videos for content worry not for there are easy ways to create video pins. The best part about it is that you don’t have to create completely new content but you can instead choose to use the pins you already have in your gallery and add animation features to them creating gifs. Try the following apps and settle for whichever one works best for you.

Ø Adobe Shark App

Ø Wave.video

Ø Giphy.com

Ø Instagram Stories (save them off Instagram and use on Pinterest)

Ø iMovie

Ø Canva

Ø PowerPoint

Ø Video Speed App

Ø Keynote

Remember video pins on Pinterest shouldn’t be as long as those found on other platforms, make your video short and one that delivers the punch.

4. Get active with your pinning

There is a recommended number of pins that one should put out in a day. Both flooding your boards with pins or only sending out one a day will have a negative effect on your overall account’s performance. However, it is recommended that you get consistent in your pinning by ensuring that you send out several pins daily, around 15 pins. Consistency is the key to gaining both followers and ensuring that your pins reach far.

To enable you to maintain your presence on the platform, it is recommended that you use Pinterest approved scheduling tools like Tailwind and Buffer. Each of these platforms come with their own advantages and ease of use. Tailwind happens to be the most comprehensive tool to use while scheduling on Pinterest.

Having a reliable scheduling tool will enable you to create content days or even weeks in advance in order to free up your time for other things while still maintaining consistency on the platform.

5. Seasons Matter Too

If your product or content is only relevant during a particular season it is wise to be the early bird by first creating the content way early and starting distribution on the platform a few weeks before the season commences. If, for example, you are creating content with a Christmas theme then your pins can remain relevant through the year. Christmas is a happy season and one where people tend to over-spend making it an event that is planned for all year long. So, if you have a nice pin, you can pin it any time during the year and see other pinners saving it for a later date.

There are seasons e.g. Valentines and Halloween that are short-lived and therefore you need to time your pins well. Try pinning three weeks in advance because hardly after the season ends will the pins be relevant anymore. Basically, the idea here is to stay ahead of the seasons and arm yourself with content that will benefit your audience early in advance.

6. Utilize CTA’s

Call to action buttons on your other platforms have the potential of growing your traffic on Pinterest. The first step you need to do is to confirm your other social accounts on Pinterest. Content that is pinned from other platforms to Pinterest increases your accounts’ engagement. Using your other platforms e.g. Instagram, encourage your followers there to also follow your pins.

If your content is engaging and useful to them, they are more likely to follow your Pinterest account for the informative content. Truth be told, linking to other accounts where you may post personal stories may even earn you followers into Pinterest for the mare fact that they feel like they know you on a more personal level.

7. Engage with Your Audience

As mentioned above, one of the advantages of connecting your other social media accounts is that you get to connect with your audience on a personal level. They could like a video you posted on YouTube, they could end up purchasing your products on Etsy and even get to know you more on Instagram. Ensure that every time they reach out to you, you make a point of responding to them and answering questions, and guiding them as per their need.

8. Optimize for Mobile

Most Pinterest users are on mobile and therefore it is wise to ensure that your pins are optimized for mobile. Make them easy to view on the go so that you do not miss out on the chance of reaching your particular audience just because your pins cannot be viewed properly on other devices.

9. Utilize Hashtags

Hashtags on Pinterest enable the algorithm to easily identify what your pin is about in order to better place them in the relevant boards. Hashtags on Pinterest aren’t like on Instagram where you can have ten hashtags on one image. If you do that on Pinterest, your pin might get flagged and the consequences of that aren’t pretty. So, in order to get the most out of hashtags observe the following:

Ø Have very few hashtags, even two is enough

Ø Be very keyword specific in your hashtags

10. Pin to the Right Boards

As mentioned above, how your image looks and the kind of message being relayed is very important on this platform. This point further emphasizes the importance of targeting your audience. Making the right image and even having a title that aligns isn’t all there is because pinning them to the relevant boards is important too. For example, finding a pin on “How to Make Your Own Face Mask” during this Corvid-19 era on a board that is solely for “Best Beaches in Greece” will earn your pin nothing but frowns.

Conclusion

Pinterest is a platform that basically gives you free traffic to your website and as content creators, we all want the traffic. The above tools will keep you informed on how to make Pinterest work for you and once you follow them keenly, you are bound to see some good results with your traffic flow. Happy creating and pinning.