Pinterest 101: How I Gained 2 Million Views in One Month
To be very honest, sometimes the stifling Instagram algorithm gets super frustrating and forces you to realize that it’s time to try something new. While most sponsored collaborations are still heavily focused on Instagram content, I’ve recently found that it’s been amazing for my creative juices to produce content for new platforms where the algorithms are more encouraging. While I’ve been dabbling lightly in TikTok, I feel as if I’ve made my second home on the Pinterest platform. Over the space of one month, I managed to grow by over 500 followers and increase my impressions from 221 monthly views to over TWO MILLION. (Currently, the highest monthly impressions I have reached is 3.8 million.) I Since I am now more confident about what does and doesn’t work on Pinterest, I feel ready to share my learnings with my community!
Why Invest Time in Pinterest? (Or Any Non-Instagram Social Media Platform?)
As the saying goes: “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.” In this case, it’s not encouraged to solely focus on Instagram as a content creator as: 1) you never know if Instagram will be the leading social media platform forever and 2) you don’t actually own anything on your Instagram page.
To address the first point, Instagram is facing stiff competition from platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest due to its suffocating algorithm. While I put hours and hours into my Instagram account content creation and engagement (I spend at least FIVE hours on my Instagram account alone every day), I often feel as my content is not being seen by most of my followers. In fact, I find that I have to invest an increasing amount of time on Instagram in order to get a few hundred more likes or comments on my posts. I’m sure I am not alone when I feel like a prisoner to Instagram’s fickle algorithm— with very little reward for my efforts. In the end, Instagram is a monetization machine and just wants to make more money off its users; therefore, it is in their best interests to keep your content’s organic reach down so that you are forced to fork out money in order to promote your posts.
In contrast, other platforms such as Pinterest require very little investment after you create the content and post. Specifically, if you’re posting high-quality and engaging content that suits the platform, it’s very likely you can “post and ghost” AND still have your content do incredibly well. When I post for Pinterest, I just have to invest the time to make my posts attractive, eye-catching, and appealing to my audience. After posting, I just hop onto the platform occasionally to check on how the post is doing. It’s SO NICE not being forced to invest hours into engaging with others’ content and still see my content blow up to over 300K impressions!
As a result, I’ve been feeling more encouraged to create content when I know I will be getting lots of encouraging engagement and new follows! Furthermore, I feel less upset when my content on Instagram doesn’t get the engagement I feel that it deserves.
Concerning the second point, it’s a scary thought to think that you don’t actually own any of the content that you post on Instagram. For instance, if Instagram deemed that your account was not adhering to some unknown rule, it could shut down your account forever without any notice or ability to retrieve it. I have known numerous Instagram users who have lost accounts with sizeable followings for reasons beyond our comprehension. Just like that— YEARS of work and community building have gone down the drain. Not to mention the lost opportunities for sponsorships (or sales if you have a small business account)!
Unless you own your own website and domain (like this blog), it is not guaranteed that you will own your page completely. Therefore, it is a good idea to diversify and build up your influence over several platforms. It doesn’t hurt that you could gain more sponsorship or sales opportunities from doing this as well!
How It Began: The New Idea Pin
When I first revamped my Pinterest and turned it into a Creator account, it didn’t seem like anything was happening. I tried all of the advice I could find on how to optimize my pins (writing titles and descriptions, using hashtags, etc.) with no results. At most, I would maybe get under a hundred impressions— just dismal! After feeling frustrated by my lack of progress, I decided to give Pinterest a break.
Some time later, I saw someone posting on Instagram that they were getting around 10,000 views on a reel that they had reposted on Pinterest. Intrigued by this announcement, I decided to open the Pinterest app and see what this was all about. This time, I tried using the new “Idea Pin” and reposted a few random stories and reels. While these pins didn’t “blow up,” I was immediately motivated when I saw that they started gaining some traction— a few hundred to a few thousand impressions, some saves, and likes. As well, I started gaining a decent amount of new followers every day! (Currently, I’m at about 830+ followers and I started with 224 followers.)
CONSCIOUS STYLE IS IN
A pin about Canadian ethical and sustainable brand Frank and Oak that did surprisingly well!
Following that, I started putting more effort into my pins and used old footage from last summer to create pins of Vancouver shooting locations. That’s when the magic happened. One afternoon, I noticed that the official Pinterest Canada account had liked a few of my pins. It’s my theory that they are trying to encourage creators to produce more idea pins by engaging with them. After that happened, six of my pins started gaining impressions like crazy. Eventually, I received about 125-130+ k impressions on each them, which boosted my monthly views to about 600,000 views in just a few days. If memory serves me correctly, I believe I managed to reach 1 million views in about a week!
Now, after a two and a half months of creating idea pins about 3-5 times a week, I have reached 3.8 million monthly impressions on my Pinterest page! I definitely feel very motivated and encouraged to continue creating new content (which is very different from what I post on Instagram) when I receive such consistent rewards for my efforts (unlike Instagram). (UPDATE: I did take a break from Pinterest during my vacation and when shooting for Instagram campaigns; as a result, I wasn’t able to post for almost a week and my impressions have dwindled down to 1.5 million views.)
To give you the official backstory of idea pins (taken from Pinterest’s own “Newsroom”), this new form of content was created when Pinterest surveyed their 475 million users and found that they wanted “engage with video and explore content directly on Pinterest.” In other words, Pinterest wanted to start using video (which is fast becoming the most popular content form since TikTok blew up) and have creators make content directly for Pinterest (rather than merely reposting images or videos from their other social media accounts or websites).
HIKING HEAVEN
As someone who loves hiking, I was happy to finally find a platform that appreciates my hikes as much as I do!
In September 2020, “Story Pins” were launched in beta to see how this new video format would work on Pinterest. Over the next eight months, Pinterest worked with creators and Pinners to hone the features and capabilities of this new content form. Then, in late May 2021, Pinterest officially renamed “Story Pins” as “Idea Pins” and announced that all users with a business account would be able to create this multi-page video format content. In doing so, Pinterest hoped to encourage creators to “create inspiring content,” “better interact with their audiences,” and build “engaged communities directly on Pinterest.” It seems that their efforts are successful so far as the number of Idea Pins created daily has increased fourfold since January!
Why I Am Loving Idea Pins
When I first started creating Idea Pins, I had no idea what to expect. However, as I started create more content, I discovered that it was the best blend of TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Instagram Stories. Little by little, I started using more of its features and, consequently, my pins started to become increasingly popular.
HOME DECOR IS ALWAYS PINWORTHY
Not surprisingly, home decor or home improvement pins usually do very well on Pinterest!
Pinterest shares that “Idea Pin creation now includes:
Video recording and editing for up to 20 pages of content
I’ve personally found that publishing more pages tends to do better than less. While I’ve yet to utilize 20 pages, I’ve managed up to 7 slides with great success.
Voiceover recording so creators can add their own personal voice
While I am not a fan of hearing my own voice, I have found that people enjoy hearing my personal description of my pin— especially when it comes to sharing my experiences with a brand, a place, or an adventure.
Music selection by Epidemic Sound (royalty-free music)
I personally like to add some easy listening tunes into my pins since it can cover random noises in the videos and make my voice sound slightly less cringeworthy.
Ghost mode transition tools (perfect for those before-and-afters!)
While I haven’t used this feature yet, I can see how it would be useful if I needed to record myself while discussing something I have recorded in video.
Detail pages for instructions or ingredients
While the title description only allows for 100 characters, you can add a ton of information into the “Details” section of your pin. If I want to share details about a place, brand, or experience, I can write to my heart’s content in this area of the pin.
Interactive elements like people tagging and stickers
As Pinterest wants to encourage creators to work with brands, it looks favourably upon pins tagging brands. As well, they have a limited but cute selection of stickers.
Multi-draft save so Creators can publish more ideas
I personally am quite impressed with this feature. When I’m posting on Instagram, I have to save a back up copy of every image, video, and caption to be published. If something goes wrong while publishing that post, the contents will be lost forever— which is incredibly frustrating! However, on Pinterest, I was very happy when it saved my drafts on multiple occasions even though an error repeatedly occurred. The app even told me the specific page on which the error was occurring so that I could resolve the issue!
Export options to share content beyond Pinterest
While it’s great this feature exists, I do believe that Pinterest will eventually need to upgrade it. Currently, it only lets you export the Idea Pin content if you “export” it before you post. You do not get the option to download the pin after publishing the pin.
Topic tagging, a publishing feature that helps connect content to relevant interests
Currently, Pinterest allows you to choose up to ten “topics” per pin. While it is a nice break from researching 30 hashtags every time I post, I do find that these topics can be a bit limited in scope.
The Creator Code - our content policy designed to keep Pinterest a positive and inspiring place
Now The Creator Code is something that I truly appreciate about Pinterest. While Instagram, FB, YouTube, and TikTok do little to regulate cyberbullying or other harmful behaviours, Pinterest is setting itself apart by encouraging Creators and Pinners to be kinder, more inclusive, and more positive. I will discuss this feature in more detail in a section to follow!
Other than the features mentioned above, I find myself drawn to Pinterest for the following reasons: 1) long-form content seems to be favoured over short-form content, 2) you don’t need to invest much time engaging on Pinterest in order for a pin to do well, and 3) you can post on almost any topic (as long as it’s somewhat interesting or valuable to your audience).
WATERFALL CLICKBAIT
I’ve found that Pinners are deeply fond of waterfalls. Anytime I’ve posted about them, I’ve usually gotten responses like this!
How to Make Idea Pins Blow Up
Over the past 2.5 months, I have managed to reached almost 4 million monthly impressions and have grown to about 830+ followers (starting from 224 followers). During that time, I have experimented with Idea Pins enough to be fairly confident about what works for me. Below is a brief overview of the features I like to utilize for a successful post:
Video vs. Pictures
Similar to the other dominant social media platforms, video is quickly becoming the most popular form of content to post. While I still enjoy looking at photography, I have learned through both personal experience and research that video will gain you more engagement than static photos alone.
Therefore, whenever I am doing something interesting nowadays, I ensure that I take both videos and photos! It can quite a chore at first but it should quickly become a habit.
I usually use videos over photos in order to draw viewers into my Idea Pins right away.
Multiple Slides
As mentioned above, Pinterest seems to encourage long-form content over short-form. In my limited experience of TikTok and Instagram Reels, brevity and concise content are best in order to quickly gain the attention of your desired audience. However, I was never one for “short and sweet” (which is why my Instagram captions and blog posts are so long) and enjoy putting a bit more effort into my posts.
When I have posted multiple pages in my Idea Pins, I have noticed that they tend to do much better than pins with less pages. For instance, my best pins usually have 4-7 pages; on the other hand, the pins that have gained the least engagement are usually anywhere between 1-3 pages.
This particular pin has six pages (and you can see that waterfall content is very popular with my Pinterest viewers).
Although these pins are longer, people don’t seem to mind engaging with them as they can quickly skip through the pin to see what it is about. As well, I try to lure in potential viewers with an attractive cover image and bold fonts.
Voiceovers
Although I hate hearing the sound of my recorded voice, I’ve noticed that my Idea Pins tend to do better when I add the personal touch of a voiceover to my pins. As a result, I now add both text copy and a voiceover commentary to all of my pins. I find that the more descriptive I am, the more engagement I can expect! (Plus it makes the pin more accessible for any visually-impaired Pinners.)
Engaging Fonts
As mentioned previously, I try to choose font colours and types that will capture the attention of casual browsers on their Pinterest feed. For instance, I will use colours that match the pin’s content (green for hiking pins, feminine colours for style posts, etc.) and be creative with the sizing of the titles.
As well, I like that these Idea Pins allow you to make animated transitions for your text and alter the duration of the text on the screen (I’ve found that both of these features are really easy to use and are actually more advanced than TikTok or Instagram Reels).
LURE THEM IN
I try to use engaging titles and colourful fonts to lure viewers into clicking my pin and hopefully visiting my profile.
Tag Brands
As Pinterest is trying to expand its creator and brand base for monetized content, the platform loves when creators tag brands in their content. If I am creating content and I know the brand has a Pinterest account, I always make sure I tag the brand in my post. As a result, Pinterest Canada has often liked and saved my Idea Pins, which in turn has boosted the overall engagement on my pins by a LOT!
Furthermore, Pinterest recently launched its “Paid Partnership” feature which allows Creators to tag brands that are sponsoring their content. As you can see from the image above, I recently worked with IKEA Canada and was able to tag them in this Idea Pin as being a paid partner.
Music
While it isn’t entirely necessary to add music, I feel like adding some ambiance to my videos is always a welcome touch! Since Pinterest Canada uses copyright free music from Epidemic Sound, you can rest assured that you are not violating any terms by using their music files.
On a different note, I have noticed that the music can cut out if you are not careful. I have found that I have to check every page to make sure that the music is working before I post— otherwise, the page might post without any music! Hopefully, this glitch will be resolved in the near future by Pinterest.
Details
Under the “Details” section, I indulge my longwinded tendencies by adding in as much (or as little) detail as I want. Usually, this will include information on a hike (ex. trail stats, notes on the trail conditions, etc.), a brand (ex. their brand story, locations, etc.), or place (ex. relevant tips for when you visit the spot).
IT’S ALL IN THE DETAILS
As you can see here, I provided a lot more information for this hike in the “Details” section that might prove to be useful for anyone interested in hiking it someday.
At the end of the “Details” section, I usually add in a call-to-action promoting my other social media platforms to Pinners. If they like my content, they are then free to follow my various accounts if they wish— my Pinterest account (as many viewers are not following me), Instagram, and blog.
Topics
As Pinterest doesn’t really use hashtags as much as other platforms, they instead encourage their Creators to tag relevant topics for their Idea Pins. At the moment, we are only given the capacity to choose 10 “Topics” and those topics are quite limited as Pinterest alone seems to create them (not Creators). As a result, you might search up Topics relevant to your Idea Pin’s content and feel a bit frustrated when you don’t find everything you want to tag.
For instance, when I was tagging a post about thrifting or secondhand shopping, the range of topics I was able to choose from was very limited. For instance, I could pick “Sustainability” but not “sustainable shopping” or “sustainable style.”Also, certain related hashtags, such as “conscious fashion,” which are commonplace on Instagram are nowhere to be found under Pinterest’s range of Topics (yet).
While “Topics” are somewhat limited in scope, they are still important to use!
Nevertheless, my advice is to use what you are given despite the limitations— tagging Topics for your Idea Pins will ensure that audiences will view your pin if it contains content that they wish to see!
The Pinterest Creator Code: A Kinder, More Inclusive Environment
In comparison to other social media platforms, I’m quite impressed with Pinterest’s commitment towards creating a kinder environment for both Creators and Pinners. Most tellingly, their new Creator Code showcases their dedication towards ensuring that Pinterest is a safe space for people of all ages, genders, sexuality, class, race, body type, etc.
According to this Pinterest article, the idea for the Creator Code emerged in the middle of 2020— a tumultuous year marked by a global pandemic and the rise of numerous societal and political movements across the world. As social media became rampant with “health misinformation to political rhetoric to call-out culture,” Pinterest wished to keep the platform inspiring and safe. In fact, Pinterest often heard from its community of over 450 million users that it was “the last positive corner of the internet.”
Most recently, Pinterest made waves in the world of social media by being the first major social media platform to ban weight loss ads. This action was taken to protect the mental health of users who might be especially vulnerable as we slowly emerge from pandemic lockdown. According to this NPR article, “Pinterest has a history of closely monitoring content displaying harmful messaging. Users searching for keywords related to eating disorders, suicide or other mental health concerns are redirected to recovery or mental health resources.” As well, “weight loss imagery isn't the only content restricted from the platform's ad services. Pinterest also prohibits ads for drugs, endangered species, tobacco and illegal services, and content containing excessively offensive language or adult content.”
Before creators can create idea pins, they must first agree to a set of guidelines focused on educating and building “community around making inclusive and compassionate content.” These mandatory rules are as follows:
Be kind: Ensure content doesn’t insult or put others down
Check my facts: Make sure information is accurate and factual
Be aware of triggers: Practice discretion when it comes to visually sensitive content
Practice inclusion: Never intentionally exclude certain groups or communities
Do no harm: Make sure any call-to-action or challenge is safe
In addition to the code above, Pinterest has introduced the following comment moderation tools in order to ensure a safer experience for both Creators and Pinners:
Positivity Reminders for Pinners to adhere to their guidelines and reconsider potentially offensive comments before posting
Moderation Tools for Creators including comment removal and keyword filtering
Creators can feature up to three comments within the comment feed to highlight positive feedback (which is the same as Instagram)
New Spam Prevention Signals using machine learning to detect and remove bad comments
What are your thoughts about the new Creator Code and comment moderation tools? Personally, I despise the cyberbullying and mean comments that are so rampant on larger social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Therefore, if there is a way to keep users safer (without censoring important thoughts related to social justice), I am all for it!
Creators Events and Potential Campaigns
Currently, Pinterest is 11 years old and the 14th most used social media platform in the world. Therefore, in order to keep it relevant, it would make sense that Pinterest would need to step up its game in terms of attracting Creators to use the platform more frequently. Recently, as a Pinterest Creator, I was invited to two Pinterest virtual events where we would be given tips and inspiration on becoming successful Creators on the platform.
Due to my schedule, I was only able to attend the event called “Pinterest Creators Connect”— which I happily found to be quite interesting! During the event, several successful Creators were given the space to share what they loved about the Pinterest platform and how they were using the new Idea Pins to build and engage with their community. Other than listening to their helpful insights, I found it fun to connect with the other Pinterest Creators who had joined the event on the live chat. By the end of the event, I had gained quite a few new followers on Pinterest and even a few more for Instagram.
In addition, I was recently contacted by the Pinterest Creator team in Toronto that they would be sending me some “Pin Swag” as a sign of gratitude for the “incredible content” I have brought to the platform. While I am excited to see what this swag looks like, I’ll be even more interested to see if Pinterest will eventually provide a Creators fund for Canadian users (currently, this fund is only available for American users).
As well, someone on Instagram recently informed me that she had been offered a paid campaign with Pinterest for a set of idea pins. While she was actually wondering what I would charge (as she thought that I might have been offered the same collaboration), I quickly informed her that Canadian Creators did not seem to have the same opportunities as American users just yet. Dear Pinterest: if you are reading this, may I kindly request that this issue be resolved as soon as possible?
Next Steps
Now that I’ve established a presence on the Pinterest platform over the last couple of months, my initial goal is to keep posting quality Pinterest posts 4-5 times a week. Following that, I wish to surpass 1000 followers, obtain over 4 million monthly views, and obtain a paid campaign on the platform within the next year or so. Eventually, I would also like to figure out more viable ways to convert my Pinterest following into traffic for my blog and Instagram account.
In addition, I want to begin using Pinterest for my friend’s planner and stationery business, Hemlock and Oak. Currently, we are getting a large number of sales organically from Instagram. However, since Pinterest is making concerted efforts to optimize the platform for online shopping, it would be great to use Idea Pins to gain a community and potential sales for the business as well!
Now that you’ve reached the end of this long post, what are your thoughts regarding using Pinterest and the new Idea Pins? Will you be making the effort to see if this new platform suits your content style? Or will you be using other social media platforms that suit you better? Feel free to let me know in the comments (or let me know if you have any further questions about Pinterest)!
As always, I deeply appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my blog posts and leave me feedback. Also, if you ever have any further suggestions for future blog topics, I am always looking for more ideas!
Cheers,
Debbie (a.k.a. The Stylish Wordsmith)