7 Critical Tips for Getting the Best Results on Pinterest in 2021

Of the 450 million+ monthly active Pinterest users, around 70% are females with a college degree and perceivably have disposable income.

In fact, 77% of “weekly Pinners” say they have discovered a new product or brand on Pinterest.

Want a slice of the action?

Who wouldn’t…

The cool thing about Pinterest is that it’s largely untapped compared to other social media platforms. While a lot of brands are reaping the rewards of this buy-ready audience, many have prioritized Facebook and Instagram, or even TikTok.

So if you get Pinterest marketing right, things can happen pretty quickly. You can get an edge over your competitors in a crowded digital ecosystem.

Not sure how to make the most of Pinterest? Here are 7 tips to get the best results.

#1. Create your own content

When it comes to sharing content on your Pinterest boards, you have two options – re-pin other people’s content or create your own.

Tailwind conducted a study of over 160,000 pins in November 2020 and discovered that original pins – those you create yourself – had a significantly higher engagement rate than re-pins. In fact, original pins saw a whopping 3.6x more saves and re-pins than rehashed content.

The mandate is simple, create your own content!

For many, “success” on Pinterest means website traffic. So, you’ll want to create Pins that link back to your own site.

With tools like Canva and Tailwind Create, you don’t need to be a professional designer to generate high-quality Pinterest content.

#2. Give video Pins a go

It’s estimated that 30% of the best-performing content on the platform, with over 5,000 re-pins, are video Pins. But videos are under-used by Pinterest marketers.

Many of the most successful video Pins are repurposed TikTok videos – which are sized perfectly to perform well on Pinterest. So if you’re already creating TikTok videos, be sure to upload them to Pinterest, too (just make sure to remove the watermark). Videos from TikTok are regularly repurposed on Pinterest with great success, like this one:

You’ll find that videos with the most engagement are typically how-tos or instructional videos that educate your audience.

#3. Cross-promote to increase your followers

Presumably, you’re distributing marketing content on other platforms as well – your website, other social channels, email, and in-person events. Be proactive about promoting your Pinterest profile on these platforms to cross-pollinate the audience and boost your followers.

One way of doing this effectively is by using Pinterest sharing widgets on your website, so it’s super easy for people to re-pin images from your blog. If you use WordPress, Social Warfare is a great option. Not only does this tool add social sharing buttons to your pages, but you can also control which images people share when they use one of your URLs. It enables you to select a unique Pinterest image and description for each page that automatically populates when a user shares it.

#4. Claim your website

Claiming your website on Pinterest is a crucial piece of the trust-building process.

If you don’t claim your website, you run the risk of unique Pins registering as “Saves,” which can dramatically decrease your engagement. You also get better analytics and brand recognition by claiming your website and featuring it on your profile. Not to mention that all of your created Pins will prominently feature your brand name and a “Follow” button.

It may seem like a simple thing to do, but Tailwind’s research shows that over 80% of the best-performing Pinterest accounts have claimed their domains.

#5. Stay consistent with scheduling

As with any social media platform, consistency is key to success. It’s no use publishing five Pins a day for a week and then going silent!

To stay consistent, you need to plan, and Pinterest scheduling software allows you to do this with precision. Scheduling your Pins in advance helps you space them out and publish content when your audience is most active.

By analyzing the times and days that your audience is actively “Pinning,” you can optimize your schedule and get better results. Scheduling also ensures you won’t go MIA because you can upload content at a time that suits you. When life or work takes over, you won’t get caught missing that Pinterest deadline.

#6. Don’t underestimate SEO opportunities

Seeing Pinterest is a visual platform, made up predominantly of images and videos, many people underestimate how powerful it can be from an SEO perspective. When searching for recommendations on Google, Pinterest often shows up on the first page of results. For example, when I search for “wedding dress ideas,” Pinterest has two pages in the first three results!

This kind of visibility can be hugely valuable for your brand. Instead of attempting to rank on the first page of results for this extremely competitive keyword, you could have a Pin featured on Pinterest that drives traffic to your website.

Of course, this doesn’t happen by chance. You need to optimize your Pins for search engines with appropriate descriptions and headlines and obtain good engagement on your account. But it’s worth the effort!

#7. Track and optimize

There’s no point posting content to Pinterest if you don’t track how it performs and improve over time. By not monitoring analytics and optimizing your performance you could waste a whole lot of time and effort.

Some key Pinterest analytics to track include:

• Followers and engagement levels
• Referral traffic to your website
• Performance over time for comparison
• Trends in content and behavior

Tracking these metrics will help you adapt your Pinterest strategy and adjust to your customers’ preferences – so you get better business results.

Wrapping up

Pinterest provides enormous opportunities for brands of all shapes and sizes. But it’s a totally different beast to other social networks. The way you create content, interact, and optimize your profile is unique and nuanced.

Pinterest marketing success all starts with beautifully designed content that epitomizes your brand. Then, it becomes a monitoring and optimizing process – profile tweaks, SEO, trend-tracking, and consistent publishing.

Be fluid and adapt to the opportunities as they appear along the way.

Want more insights on increasing Pinterest engagement? Check out Tailwind’s comprehensive 2021 study here.