We’ve been talking a lot lately about optimizing for Pinterest search. Pinterest is, after all, the second leading driver of social media traffic referrals according to Shareaholic, and it has been significantly improving its search experience.
Pinterest is now giving businesses some advice on how to make “great pins and boards,” which should not only help you in search, but help you expand and improve your Pinterest presence altogether.
The company performed three studies, analyzing over 100,000 pins to see how differences in things like background and text affect clicks and repins. The main takeaways Pinterest highlights is that great pins are “helpful,” “beautiful,” and/or “tasteful”.
In this video, Kevin Knight from the partnerships department says pins should be beautiful, interesting, and actionable. He talks about how to make “beautiful” pins, create thoughtful descriptions, and help pinners take action.
Make pins tall rather than wide because they look better that way in Pinterest’s columned format. As he notes, this is especially true on phones, which is where most people use Pinterest. The more detail and keywords included in your description, the more likely they’ll resonate with people and show up in search results.
“Don’t be afraid to make your descriptions a couple of sentences long,” he says. “In your description, you’ll also want to tell people why your pin matters. If it’s an easy recipe or a beautiful skirt, let them know. Positive sentiment goes a long way in showing people how a pin from your business can help them in their lives.”
In the next video he talks about how to choose the content you should pin.
Informative pins are up to 30% more engaging than others, Pinterest says. It suggests that you try adding advice, instructions or how-tos.
“You should write detailed descriptions to give people a clear idea of what the Pin is about, and play around with using some simple text on top of the image to quickly describe the Pin,” says Pinterest’s Liz Xiao. “Use high-res, well-lit photographs and images, and take some time to think about the setting. For example, if you’re sharing a brownie recipe, the brownie could be shown on a kitchen table or with a simple white background. However, if you’re Pinning a sofa, you might want to show it in a living room to help Pinners better visualize how they could use that sofa.”
“Be mindful of your branding as you’re adding text and logos,” she adds. “In general, Pinners are wary of Pins that look too much like ads, so avoid talking too much about your brand in the description, and don’t make your logo so big that it covers the image.”
For boards, Xiao says to have them show off your brand’s personality and appeal to your audience’s interests. She also encourages businesses to pin content from a wide variety of sources (not just your own stuff).
Pinterest has a PDF guide on how to make great pins here.
If you haven’t read our interview with long-time Pinterest marketer Vincent Ng, you should check that out for a goldmine of tips on the subject.