5 Things Every Pinterest Pin Needs

5 Things Every Pinterest Pin Needs

Pinterest

5 Things Every Pinterest Pin Needs

If you are using Pinterest to drive traffic to your website, YouTube channel, Lead Magnet or Podcast, then you want to make sure you include the 5 things every Pinterest Pin needs so your Pin can perform well on Pinterest.

People use Pinterest to search for new ideas and inspiration.  Unlike what most people think, Pinterest is more a search engine than a social media platform.

As of July 2021, Pinterest had 478 million monthly active users worldwide. Over 85% of pinners have said they go to Pinterest first before starting a project. 89 percent of Pinterest revenue is generated in the US, despite only 23 percent of users being located in the country.  Over 70 percent of Pinterest users are female

Every business owner should be on Pinterest as the opportunity for a small amount of work can lead to a ton of traffic!

You have to start with optimizing your Pinterest account.  Then ensure that you have a good list of keywords that will help you to write titles and descriptions.  

Pinterest actually reads the pins so you want to ensure you use keywords that help Pinterest know who to serve up your pins to.   

But first, you want to create quality content and pins. These 5 tips will help you to make pins irresistible to click thus driving them to your content.  Keep this list handy so you use these tips each time you create a pin.

Want to Watch? Scroll to the bottom!

What Does a Pin Need?

At this point in time, these 5 things help to ensure your ideal client sees these pins.

Here is a screenshot of a pin from the desk top view that I created about how to get more clicks on Pinterest. I clearly identify where the 5 areas are that every pin needs.

A Pin layout may look different across different browsers and devices. Sometimes Pinterest only shows the Pin Title and sometimes they might show part of the description.

Regardless of what is shown, you want to make sure you Pin has the 5 things every Pin needs. Pinterest will be working behind the screens to read every aspect of your Pin so it can show it to the right people.

5 things every pinterest pin needs by Jen Vazquez Marketing and Pinterest Strategist

ONE | Image

Use FRESH images.  Fresh images are images that have never hit your Pinterest account ever.  So don’t reuse images you’ve used on Pinterest before.  Avoid free stock images if you can.  Use cell phone images that you take in good light if you don’t belong to a stock image membership (like my favorite Social Squares). 

Create a 1500×1000 image by including an image, text overlay and colors that match the image (not your brand colors).

Think about images that invoke the spirit of what you wrote about.  If you write about wedding makeup, use images of makeup or images of brides you’ve created a makeup look for.  

That way you create pins that stand out and catch the eye of your ideal client.  

Don’t forget the goal, to have Pinterest serve up your pins to your ideal client.  

TWO | Use color

Use color that matches your image.  You can use color on background, box, lines, decoration, text, CTR, and website link.  

Using colors that match your image helps to ensure you have an eye pleasing look that encourages people to click.

THREE | Include Your Website

You want include your website address (example: jenvazquezcoach.com) for each pin

This way, your website (aka your brand) is everywhere on Pinterest and it’s another way people can find you.

FOUR | Text Overlay Title

Think of your content that you are linking to this pin, what is the detail? What will people learn? How will it help them?  

Create a title that uses keywords that are about your content and will entice potential clients to click.

Adding text overlay helps to ensure that your Pin stands out from the crowd of pins. Be conscious of the style font and font size. 

Don’t use small fonts as most people go to Pinterest on their cell phone.  

Also refrain from using cursive writing as it’s hard to read and because Pinterest can read regular fonts, cursive won’t help you to get found.  If you want to use cursive, use it for non-keyword words so it doesn’t matter if it can be read or not.

You can typically use 3-6 words and make sure that they are the largest font on the pin

FIVE | Calls to Action (CTR)

You want a Call to Action or CTR on every single pin along with an arrow or with a box around it to look like a button (which insinuates a click).  

For the CTR, don’t use click here. Be creative I have a free list of 80 CTRs you can download.

Bottom Line

You need 5 things to ensure your pin is optimized to get noticed!

This is the most effective way to drive traffic to all your content whether it’s a blog, podcast, YouTube video or lead magnet.  Create content that resonates with your ideal client, create an amazing pin with these 5 tips and share on Pinterest.  

Pinterest knows good content and will share it with your ideal client. 

If you need help with Pinterest, shoot me an email HERE.

Want help with Pinterest?

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Feel free to share this information with the pins below:

5 things every pinterest pin needs by Jen Vazquez Marketing and Pinterest Strategist
5 things every pinterest pin needs by Jen Vazquez Marketing and Pinterest Strategist
5 things every pinterest pin needs by Jen Vazquez Marketing and Pinterest Strategist

Here is more information that may be helpful!

7 Tips to effective Idea Pins

7 Tips to effective Idea Pins

Pinterest

7 tips to effective idea pins for Pinterest

Tips to effective Idea Pins

Today we are gonna chat about what Idea Pins are, why you should use them and what you should include to ensure they are effective on Pinterest.

My clients incorporate one idea pin a week which has improved their analytics from followers to clicks to saves.  Engagement is amazing with them — IF you do them right.

The other things my clients do is repurpose them to use them on all social media platforms.  

First a quick intro to anyone that doesn’t know me, I’m Jen Vazquez – a marketing strategist specializing in Pinterest. 

I help clients go from overwhelmed with trying to do all the things TO a streamlined system that is tailored to them and how they prefer to work to unleash the power of marketing and grow their business. 

Services I offer vary from DIY like my group coaching membership and my NEW VIP Day.  I also have my done for you Pinterest management where I actually do all the Pinterest work for them. 

Having experience with a multitude of companies selling many things from services to products, enables me to see it all!

7 tips to effective idea pins for Pinterest by Jen Vazquez Pinterest Strategist

What are Idea Pins?

Idea pins have been around for a couple years in beta known as story pins. On May 18, 2021, Pinterest told us they were taking them out of beta and changing the name to idea Pins. 

Pinterest told us “This new access and capability will empower anyone with a business account to create inspiring content and better interact with their audiences, building more engaged communities directly on Pinterest..”  You can read that here.

Consider Idea Pins as mini stories but unlike stories on Instagram, they have longevity.  If you have a Pinterest business account, you can use Idea Pins to record multiple videos, add images, lists and custom text in a single Pin. 

Like other Pins, Idea Pins will stay on your boards once you’ve published them.  Once you’ve published at least one Idea Pin, the Pin will be displayed on your business profile at the top of your Created tab along with all of your Idea Pins.

Why use them?

They’re easy to consume and people tend to take action. In fact, Pinterest’s intent is for people to take action and inspire them with the Ideas presented. Pinterest designed it to have no link on the Idea Pin. Hence, people can click and go to your profile and follow you and see more info about your ideas and pins.

Most people don’t use Idea Pins because they don’t have a link but when people click on them, they automatically go to your Pinterest profile.  Then they can follow you or see more information about you.  

These types of pins help in three ways:

  • Brand Awareness
  • Increased followers
  • And most importantly, higher engagement on your Pinterest profile which signals to Pinterest your information is valuable.  

BONUS:  The boost in all those above means that all analytics on Pinterest get a boost. 

7 tips to effective idea pins for Pinterest by Jen Vazquez Pinterest Strategist

Things to make sure you include so they are effective:

 

#1 Text on Cover

Even if you create the idea pins in Canva, please don’t put any words on the front page so you can use the native text on Pinterest.  

Just like Instagram, Pinterest loves when you use the bells and whistles.

#2 Use 10 pages including cover and last page

A sweet spot I’ve found is to use 8-10 pages (you can use up to 20) this way people click on each page and that’s engagement!

#3 Repurpose them for a lot of things

  • Repurpose as a Reel on Instagram
  • Repurpose as a video for Pinterest
  • Repurpose as a carousel on Instagram
  • Repurpose as a video on Facebook
  • Repurpose as a video on Tik-Tok
  • Repurpose as a collage on Facebook
  • Repurpose on a blog post

#4 Create Idea Pins as tips, how to’s, or actionable content

You can create idea pins as inspiration but the best way to get clients is if they are teachable and educational and things your ideal client would find valuable.

#5 Include keywords EVERYWHERE

Include location bases or searchable terms your ideal client would type in that search bar.  Research the best keywords like you would a blog or your website.

#6 Use a Video on the first page

Most of my clients who use a video on the first page, find the analytics are hirer.  Just like all other social media sites, video is king!

#7  Fill out all the spots

Title, Description, tags, and use keywords in all of it.  Don’t share the point in the description so they have to click through.  You can give an overview of what the idea pin solves and how that will help your ideal client.

If you need help with Pinterest, shoot me an email HERE.

Sign up for my FREE Pinterest Challenge

I dive deep into how to optimize your Pinterest and create a strategy for marketing your business using Pinterest.

Click Here

Feel free to save or share this information with the pins below:

tips to effective idea pins for pinterest
tips to effective idea pins for pinterest
tips to effective idea pins for pinterest
tips to effective idea pins for pinterest
tips to effective idea pins for pinterest

Here is more information that may be helpful!

10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information

10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information

Pinterest

10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information. There is a lot of advice out there about Pinterest than can a few years old, but people keep repeating it – not knowing any better.  Today I’m gonna share the 10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice:

 

10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice by Jen Vazquez marketing and pinterest strategist

Repining OPP

What is OPP? Not the song from Naughty by Nature, but what I call Other People’s Pins. In 2018, it was something that you heard about.  They called it the 80/20 rule.  Pin 80% OPP and 20% your own.  You’d get a lot of engagement that way with spending a little amount of time. 

Engagement isn’t what you should be focusing on with Pinterest Marketing.  You should be getting the clicks!  And with 2 billion searches on Pinterest every month (2021 hoot suite.), It’s important that you spend your time putting out YOUR content. 

My advice is to pin your content and if there is a blog or information from Tailwind Communities or that you come across while doing research that would be good for your ideal clients, pin it.  The focus though is on YOU and your content! 

10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice by Jen Vazquez marketing and pinterest strategist

Using your website text or logo on Story Pins

Pinterest wants to keep people on the platform, which is why they created Story Pins.  Story pins don’t have links to keep you on the platform.  Seeing things pinned that have a logo or your website address (or the TikTok logo on videos) defeats the purpose and thus they may be limiting the amount of reach on story pins. 

You may or may not see an issue, but more of my clients are starting to.  So, I’m now advising clients to keep true to the spirit of what Pinterest wants which is to keep people on Pinterest and stop using logos and website information.

10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice by Jen Vazquez marketing and pinterest strategist

Ignoring Cell phones

85% of pinners use the mobile app (2021 sprout social)  If that is true for your followers (Look under Analytics / Audience Insights to see which devices are accessing your Pinterest), then you should absolutely ensure that what you are creating looks good on cell phones. 

This means to NOT use small text or script fonts because they can be hard to read on smaller devices not fun at all.  

10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice by Jen Vazquez marketing and pinterest strategist

Not Pinning Consistently

Pinning like crazy and then ghosting is the worst thing you can do for your account when it comes to using it for marketing purposes.  Pinterest wants you to pin consistently and Tailwind is the easiest way to be consistent. 

Pinterest also has the ability to “publish at a later date”.  In the help section of interest, it says “You can schedule Pins up to two weeks in advance in your current time zone. Though you can only schedule one Pin at a time, you can have up to 100 Pins scheduled for the future.

Note: Once your Pins are scheduled, you’re still able to make updates, like choosing to publish the Pin immediately or deleting it.”  Keep in mind things change often on Pinterest, so refer to that section if you have any issues.

10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice by Jen Vazquez marketing and pinterest strategist

Using hashtags over keywords 

Up until around 2020, hashtags + keywords were used by the Pinterest Algorithm to understand and rank your pins in the search engine.  In 2021 they won’t work as they did.  

Here’s what my research shows from working on my client’s Pinterest accounts.  Hashtags get a big boost at first and then the analytics tend to go down considerably.  When not using hashtags, the pin tends to take longer to get analytics, but over time the analytics go up considerably.  

My advice is if you are a new account, maybe add 1-2 hashtags to one pin out of 4 or 5 that you use for one URL, and then don’t use hashtags on the rest.  See for yourself which works better.  

The FOCUS should be on keywords EVERYWHERE rather than hashtags in any case.

10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice by Jen Vazquez marketing and pinterest strategist

Creating boards that aren’t around your content

It’s a fact that boards have an effect on your results in the Pinterest algorithm.  It looks at your boards as a whole and having boards that aren’t specific to your business (in and around your business), then you could be hurting your results on Pinterest.  

Here’s an example: If you are a wedding photographer and you have a board called quick recipes, that doesn’t help you and could hurt you.  You could change the board title to healthy recipes to make while wedding planning.  Why? Because it’s around your business.  

If you have boards that are not around or directly pertaining to your business, then you should secret or archive them.  Secret means you can still pin to them and archiving them means you can’t pin to them.

10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice by Jen Vazquez marketing and pinterest strategist

Using unreadable fonts or low-quality images

Fonts:  Font that is hard to read like handwriting or script fonts are so pretty and I love them, but they may be hurting your analytics.  Pinterest reads the text on your pins, so aim for an easy-to-read font. 

If you have your heart set on pretty fonts, I recommend to my clients to use those fonts on unimportant words like and, the, then, so, etc.  Keywords should absolutely NOT be scripty if you want to effectively use Pinterest to market your business.

Quality of Images: Most phones have retina display and won’t forgive pixelated or blurry images.  Pinterest wants the best user experience, so ensure that you are clear images that show what you will be sharing on that blog post.  

10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice by Jen Vazquez marketing and pinterest strategist

Giving most of your attention to group boards

It’s not the secret weapon it used to be.  They used to work to get more eyeballs on your content, but group boards don’t work like they used to.  Pinterest intended them to be for collaborative projects so they used to go out to all the friends and followers of everyone on the group board. 

And now, Pinterest has appeared to limit the reach of group boards now.  If you have one that still works for you, go ahead and pin but keep an eye on the analytics to ensure it’s worth your time.

10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice by Jen Vazquez marketing and pinterest strategist

Mixing your personal and business account

As mentioned earlier, the Pinterest algorithm wants to see that your profile, boards, and pins all match the content you’re sharing.  If you have boards that are personal, it can hurt your analytics.  So, I always recommend to my clients to have separate boards – one for personal and one for work. 

At a minimum, secret or archive your personal boards to ensure that your business account doesn’t have personal content.

10 mistakes that pinners are making in 2021 from old advice by Jen Vazquez marketing and pinterest strategist

Not Pinning Pinterest sized pins 1000×1500

Pinterest recommends this size “We recommend using a 2:3 aspect ratio, or 1000 x 1500 pixels”.  This size gives you the most space to get your point across and encourages people to click.  Using square or landscape images takes up less space and thus gets ignored or seen less. 

Pinterest changes these specs from time to time, check the most up-to-date info on help at Pinterest.

I hope that you found this information valuable!

Want more help with Pinterest?

If you’d like more tips, check out how to work with me here.

Sign up for the FREE 3-Day Challenge

I’m so excited to teach you all about Pinterest now that there have been some changes. 

You may have heard about “Fresh Pins” and a different percentage of other people’s content vs. your content.  I’ll share all of that and much more!

Click Here

Here is more information that may be helpful!

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10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information
10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information
10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information
10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information
10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information
10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information
10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information
10 Pinterest mistakes you may be making in 2021 because of outdated information
What to pin when

What to pin when

Pinterest

What to Pin When?

My students in my membership (Pinterest Strategy Academy) were confused about what to pin when.  Pinterest has trends of when things are really popular via search. 

I put those things together into one document to be able to help you at a glance know what to work on when.  I decided to provide it as a FREE download for everyone.  Enjoy!

 

[convertkit form=2157968]

Want more tips and ideas? Look below:

what to pin when by jen vazquez marketing strategist
what to pin when by jen vazquez marketing strategist
what to pin when by jen vazquez marketing strategist
what to pin when by jen vazquez marketing strategist
what to pin when by jen vazquez marketing strategist
5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest

5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest

How To, Marketing, Pinterest

First and foremost, you want to ensure that you have your Pinterest Set up with keywords!  Keywords are words that your potential client will type into a search bar on Google or Pinterest to find your content.  So ensure you have keywords in these areas:

  • Your Name (the name that is under your image on your Pinterest profile)  – Make sure that you have keyword | your name.
  • All throughout your Profile description.  Utilize all the keywords you can in a paragraph describing who you are and what you do.
  • In every Board title and description
  • In every Pin title and description
pin on a consistent basis

Just like the algorithm for other social media sites, Pinterest wants you to be consistent.  You don’t want to pin 30 pins at one time and come back in two weeks and do the same.  

It’s far better to pin 5-20 pins a day (or even 3-5) than to pin 50 now and not pin again for a few weeks.  The more consistent you are the better.  But since I don’t like to pin morning, noon, and night, I use Tailwind to help me.  It not only pins regularly, but it also knows from your audience, when is the best time to pin.

Of course, it does far more than pin consistently and regularly, but that is a key feature of using Tailwind.  If you want more information about Tailwind, check out the information HERE.

create quality content

Using Youtube, Instagram, your blog, podcast, etc, all those things are content.  You can pin any of those and more to Pinterest.  But make sure that it’s quality content.  In order to know that, think of these questions:

  • Does it teach people something
  • Does it inspire them
  • Does it motivate them
  • Is it interesting
  • Is it easy to read, listen to, watch (not confusing)
use templates to create multiple pins for the same content

I’ve always advised my clients to create multiple pins that go to the same content.  This helps to double or triple the traffic to your content. This is especially important because you work so hard to create it in the first place.  

Creating a different look and feel to your Pinterest pins helps you to capture the attention of different people.  Everyone has opinions on what is the most “click-worthy” so creating multiple pins will help get more people.  

It’s also helpful to change the title and/or description a bit so that it appeals to different people.  (i.e. Wedding at Lake Tahoe with snow vs. Elegant white and black wedding in Lake Tahoe in Winter).

Canva is great to create templates.  Creating templates will save you a ton of time.  Canva helps you to utilize your brand colors.  The best part? Canva is free

Time-Saving Tip: To save time, start on new blogs you write, and on a monthly basis, check your google analytics and create pins for old blog posts that are highly trafficked that month.

don't forget the details

The biggest mistake that people make with Pinterest is they don’t fill in all the areas that matter.  They forget to choose a category for boards, or they name your boards something ironic or funny or cute instead of describing what they will find on the board, or they leave the description blank.  

When it comes to Pinterest, keywords are the same as SEO.  In simple terms, you want to include words and are what people would type in a search bar.  Here’s a quick checklist to ensure that you do the minimum:

  • Choose a category for your board and Pinterest profile (if there isn’t an appropriate one, choose other)
  • Name your pins or images for what they will find when they click 
  • Write the title of a board or pin with what they will find clicking on it
  • Write a description for a pin/board for what they will find clicking on it
  • Add your website and any freebie or pdf you are giving away in the description to your profile
Claim your sites in your profile

Make sure that you claim your sites like Instagram, YouTube, and Etsy account on Pinterest. That way when people pin your content from those platforms to Pinterest, you’ll see the engagement in Pinterest, which means your impressions, visibility, and engagement will go up.  This tells the Pinterest Algorithm that people are engaged and it will serve up your stuff to more people.

It also helps people who like your Pinterest know where else you are at and they can follow you there.

If you need help with Pinterest, shoot me an email HERE.

Feel free to share this information with the pins below:

5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest
5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest
5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest
5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest
5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest
5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest
5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest
5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest
5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest
5 simple tips to get more clients with Pinterest