Zoe Waldron
As a social media manager, the questions I get asked about Pinterest strategy by brands and regular pinners alike are usually the same 10 questions. They cover getting more followers, best practices, how to easily improve your account, and optimization tips. To make things easier, I thought I’d answer 10 of the most-asked questions here. If there are any questions you have that we missed, comment below with your Pinterest questions!
Question 1: What’s the best way to get more Pinterest followers?
Number 1: Promotion. No one will seek out and follow your brand’s Pinterest account if they don’t know you have one. Post links and photos of your boards and pins to Facebook, Twitter, and emails regularly. To get a quick boost of followers, run a simple and rule-abiding Pinterest contest requiring a follow for entry. Number 2: Make it as easy as possible for them to follow you. Make sure your website has an easy to see ‘follow’ button. And add a Pinterest Facebook app ASAP. Number 3: Pin great content every day. Try to pin 10-20+ pins per day across the day. Only pin brand content 20 percent of the time. Make your account beautiful, brand consistent, and inspiring.
Question 2: What does the perfect pin look like?
The perfect pins is: Vertical and around 720 x 1200 pixels. It’s simple and bright with natural lighting. It has a real background and no faces are shown. A small logo in the corner can be added if desired.
Why no faces shown? It can take away from the pinner’s envisionment of them in that setting or with that product. Without a face shown it makes it more personal, and less promotional.
Question 3: When’s the best time to pin and how many a day?
Now that the Smart Feed buffers the release of pins, you can pin at anytime without overwhelming your followers. We still recommend to pin across the day to up your chances of reaching more people. Aim to pin a few pins an hour, every hour.
Question 4: What should my pin descriptions be like?
The best pin descriptions should be engaging and tell a story. Start with the basic ‘what’ and then go into explaining the ‘who, where, when, why, how.’
Shorter example from Nordstrom: “These sparkly pale pink flower stud earrings are perfect for spring! Wearing them with everything this season.”
Longer example from Target: “It’s all about a colorful pair of shorts this summer. Pair these Lilly Pulitzer for Target pom pom ones with a lightweight lace tank and fringe scarf for the ultimate happy-go-lucky summer vibe. Just the right amount of matchy-matchy. Collection launches April 19.”
Question 5: What’s the best way to share products in a non-spammy way?
When pinning products, try to stick to the 20/80 rule. The key is inspiring around products so add product pins to an appropriate board with 1 out of 5 pins being promotional. That’s one pin per row. This helps tell a story around the products with inspirational imagery!
Question 6: How many boards is the ideal number?
I usually recommend between 25 and 50 boards for brands. It keeps it inspiring across a variety of categories without being overwhelming.
Question 7: What are Rich Pins? Does our brand need to get them?
Rich Pins are pins with extra information added to them, like an item’s price, if it’s in stock, and where it’s sold. The extra coding gives each Rich Pin a bold title that grabs attention. If a Rich Pin ever goes on sale, all pinners that have pinned it will get an email. Also, once a brand adds Rich Pins, all existing pins will then be made Rich as well. It’s extremely important for all brands to have Rich Pins. Learn more here.
Question 8: What can I learn from Pinterest Analytics?
If your brand isn’t already utilizing Pinterest Analytics, make sure to check it out as soon as possible. You can learn about your top performing pins and boards by repins, clicks, and impressions, as well as more about your audience and your website’s traffic and more. Learn all about using and understanding Pinterest Analytics in this blog post.
Question 9: What boards do we need to have?
It’s very important to have boards that are trending, like seasonal or holiday boards. All brands should have a board around spring and summer right now! You can get as specific as you’d like (Cinco de Mayo for example). We recommend having a good variety of boards, no matter what your brand sells. It’s important to provide your audience with inspiration in several areas of their lives, with at least half tying back to your brand in some way.
Question 10: How can we optimize our images for Pinterest quickly?
A lot of brands are interested in how they can quickly optimize their images to look better and perform better on Pinterest. There are 4 things you can do very quickly. 1) Cropping: I recommend always cropping images to be at the proportions of 720 x 1200 pixels. 2) Brighten: Make sure to brighten each a little, as Pinterest will slightly darken images. 3) Stacking: Use 2 to 3 horizontal images that aren’t croppable and place them on a canvas of 720 x 1200-1500 high. 4) Adding text: Occasionally add text to recipes, home decor, curated outfits, and grouped gift ideas to promote clicks and repins. Each are simple and quick to do on Photoshop!
Any questions of yours we missed? Comment below and we’ll do our best to answer them! Read How To Make Quality Videos for YouTube and The HelloSociety Content Creation Guide for Pinterest for more social media tips and examples!
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