Pinterest is the most exciting social media network out there today, making celebrities of its power users and putting photography (and graphic design) front and center more than ever before.
But most bloggers and small business owners have lots questions when it comes to using Pinterest strategically.
So, how do you transform Pinterest from a place to find pretty things to a tool for growing your blog, business or passion project?
One of the most important pieces is making sure that the images you use are set up to be Pinterest friendly. Here are a bevy of tips for making sure your images are ready to take center stage the next time they're pinned.
Image: Pinnable Business via Mashable
That's a lot to take in, right? Let's boil it down to the essentials.
Three Key (Actionable!) Take Aways:
- Pin vertical images whenever you can. Vertical, or portrait style images look better inside of Pinterest's interface, and have much a stronger chance of catching someone's eye than a horizontally framed image does.
- Pin what you love – and what you create. You don't need a separate board for your work. Don't limit the chance that people have to engage with your work by putting it all on one board. If you're a fashion blogger, pin your posts alongside other outfits you love. Your board will grow faster that way, which will help your creations be presented to a larger audience.
- Images aren't search engine friendly, your descriptions are. When you add an image to your website, make the file name descriptive. 9823462.jpg contains no useful information, but girl-in-yellow-shirt-womens-fashion.jpg gives search engines something to grab onto. Likewise, when you're re-pinning images, a description of what the pin is about makes it more likely to appear in searches for that thing, which makes your pin more likely to be re-pinned.
Have fun, pin every day and experiment with what works for you! There's no one formula for success online, and Pinterest is exactly the same. That gives you lots of freedom to find a way to use it that works perfectly for you.
LAST UPDATED ON: April 7th, 2014
CATEGORY: Content Marketing Strategy
Thank you so much for these tips. I’m VERY new to Pinterest {like only 4 weeks!}. It drives quite a bit of traffic to my site. I had heard somewhere that pinning between the hours of 3 and 7 would bring about the most repins. Would you agree?
There’s lots of information out there about the best times to use social media sites, and it’s a tricky thing because it largely depends on when your followers are online. And timezones, which most of the data on this doesn’t include, so I’m not sure how much I trust that it’s based on research rather than personal experience.
That said, if you’re pinning between late morning and early evening in North America, you’re going to catch people when they’re grabbing a moment away from work, or when they have free time in the evening, which is when Pinterest’s traffic is the heaviest. More than anything, just stay active and be consistent! It will build in time, and staying with it is the most important factor. Have fun!
Great tips! I’m bad for always taking horizontal photos. So happy to have found your blog after seeing Amy’s post on your watercolour envelopes. Newest follower right here :)
Thanks for following along, Colleen! That’s so cool to hear. Apparently most of us “default” to taking horizontal photos when we’re handed a camera or a phone, so it’s not just you! Even more reason to remember to turn that camera, at least to have the option for a more pinnable image. Good luck with trying out the new habit. I might need to get a tattly on my hand to help me remember ;)