Pinterest is huge and can do wonders for your blog and business. Many people have built their blogs with a Pinterest strategy. But Pinterest is different in 2020. There are many updates that happened and have changed the way pins were pinned. I am listing the Pinterest strategies that can help you grow your account according to new strategies.
I can tell you from personal experience that some of the earlier ways of pining are not good for your account anymore. You need some new strategies for growing your account on Pinterest.
Pinterest strategies you should be using to grow your blog traffic
1. Less number of pins
Now pinning more is not the answer to your Pinterest game. Pinning less and fresh pins are the new norm on Pinterest. Just before the Pinterest algorithm, I pinned a lot of pins, and my account was suspended. I was clicking on the pins and was getting error. My heart sank, and I searched here, and there what to do.
I asked in a Facebook group and was advised to contact Pinterest. I reached Pinterest through a contact form and emailed them. Thankfully my account was reinstated after 2 days. Now I have changed my Pinterest strategy and never ever pin more than 10-15 pins ( fresh pins). And it is advised not to pin more than 25 pins.
2. Fresh pins are one of the new Pinterest strategies
Pinterest loves new pins. Earlier it was a norm for content creators to pin as many pins as possible. People use to pin 100 pins a day. It is not required now. You can do well on Pinterest with fewer pins, but the content should be fresh. Fresh content on Pinterest is considered
- Fresh posts which you have never pinned on Pinterest
- New pin for an old post
New pins mean you should use an original image for creating a pin. You can try to change the pixels of the image or adding a border to the picture. Up until now, they are not considered as aggregate pins. If you pin the same image to different boards, but with different descriptions, it will be considered as an aggregate pin.
3. Only using niche-specific group boards
Some time ago, it was a norm to get into as many as group boards possible and pin like crazy to get a lot of traffic. Not anymore. Group boards are not that lucrative as they use to be. Now, you can only get some traffic if you use niche-specific group boards for your pins.
Pay more attention to your own relevant niche specific boards.
4. No repinning your own pins
Repinning your own pins, again and again, can be considered as spam in Pinterest eyes. There are so many theories going on, but as the tailwind suggests, there should be a gap of 7 days in between pinning the same pin to group boards.
Don’t repin the same pin to more than 5 boards.
5. Pin to niche-specific boards only
Don’t pin your pins to just any board or any number of boards you have. Start pinning to boards that are niche-specific only. This helps in your SEO efforts. As you know, Pinterest is a visual search engine. Search engines have SEO elements to be taken care of.
5. Invest in high-quality images
Don’t use free stock photos. Either click your own pictures if you can or invest in some good stock photo membership. Using the same image again and again will not yield great results for you.
Remember, Pinterest can read your images ( or it thinks so). It is essential to use high quality and topic-related images. It is not a good idea to use the image of flowers with a text about making money.
6. Use hashtags
This is not new, we are already using hashtags on Pinterest, and they are still popular. Don’t go very broad and use niche-specific hashtags to the Pin descriptions.
Hashtags help your pins to come up in search when somebody searches for the particular keyword (hashtag).
How to use hashtags
- Find 3-4 specific keywords
- Add them at the end of the description.
7. Use keywords nicely
Keywords are as crucial for Pinterest as for Google. Pinterest algorithms are not as smart as Google, but they are improving at a breakneck pace. If you want to rank for specific keywords and grow your Pinterest account, you need to use keywords wisely.
The very first and vital point and that you should never stuff keywords. Instead, use them nicely in sentences.
Places, where you can use keywords, are:
- Profile name (Very niche-specific about your blog topic)
- Your Pinterest bio,
- Board descriptions
- Pin titles
- Pin descriptions
You can read more about Pinterest SEO and finding keywords here.
8. Pinning time
Pin at the time when your audience is online. You can get the idea of the time when your audience is online with the tailwind. Tailwind gives you the idea when your pins get the most interaction.
9. Optimize your pin graphics for mobile users
Most of the users access Pinterest from their mobile phones. The images you pin on Pinterest should be optimized to look good on mobile. Here are a few things you can do
- Using correct size: Pinterest recommends using a 2:3 ratio for pins.
- Using big fonts
- Enough white space for your text to stand up
For creating beautiful images, you can use Canva. The best part is that you can start with the free version, and it is enough for beginners. You will get a lot of free photos and fonts to use that is enough to get a fair amount of traffic. You can upgrade anytime you want.
I upgraded my Canva account almost after a year, and I am glad that I did it.
10. Create video pins
As of now, Pinterest is favoring video pins. You may have noticed when you check your home page, you see so many video pins. If your niche allows, you can create video pins to get more traction.
Viedo pins are great for a DIY type of niches. But remember, make it like a teaser. Don’t give all the information in your video pins. Tease the user to click it to go to your website.
Pinterest wants the user to be at the platform for longer times as it means the user will not leave the platform, which means there are more chances of Pinterest to make money.
More points to remember which are always crucial for Pinterest
- Create multiple pins for a post
- Pin at the time when your audience is online
- Create pins in the ratio of 2:3. ( 600×900, 1000×1500, 800×1200)
- Create new pins consistently.
These are some of the Pinterest strategies which are working in 2020. You can test what works for your account. Moreover, what is using today may not work tomorrow. So always keep updated for Pinterest strategies.
Leave a Reply