The Art and Science of Pinterest Visual Marketing

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Pinterest is the ultimate visual playground for inspiration, motivation, and, dare I say, marketing. Smart bloggers and social media marketers know that Pinterest is the place to be to build interest in their brand and draw relevant traffic back to their websites. One way to excel in the social media space is to master the art of Pinterest images.

80% of pins on Pinterest are repins, so creating your original content will help your Pins rock!

Mastering the art of Pinterest images may seem overwhelming but there are a few steps to take after you create your image to ensure that youโ€™ve optimized your masterpiece.  I hope this information helps you gain traction with your Pinterest account and brings traffic back to your blog or website.

Create Lasting Content

Pinterest images have the longest lifespan of any social media platform so itโ€™s worth your time to create something youโ€™re proud of. This is key to blog traffic that keeps coming. On Twitter, a tweet has a short lifespan of about twenty minutes, a Facebook post is lucky to survive the newsfeed for two hours.

A pin on Pinterest can have traffic for days, weeks, or even years after it was first pinned. Amazing, I know!

This pin (it's so ugly!) was created over a decade ago and gets a few repins daily, with the current total being over 3,400 repins! ย You can easily create a quick quote graphic that will far outshine this graphic made in 2013.

Size Matters

On Pinterest, long, tall images command the show taking up the most visual real estate in the Pinterest feed. To create pins that generate action, try creating images 1000 pixels x 1500 pixels. While this size might not be optimal for your blog, you can create a pin on Pinterest with your custom graphic and embed your pin into your blog post. This creates an engaging invitation to repin your pinned article.

Pinterest is the ultimate wish list. People pin and repin things they like and want. Think of your Pinterest boards as your visual portfolio, and make your pins as appealing as possible.”

Create a branded image for pins that work in tandem with your website or blog. That way, all of your images are recognizable and have your URL on them.

Tips for designing a gorgeous, Smart Feed ready Pinterest graphic:

  • Use high-resolution, professional-quality photos.
  • Donโ€™t overwhelm your image with text. Incorporate the text into the image.
  • Make sure your text is easy to read on mobile.
  • Tone down your logo. Rely on rich pins to brand your content and provide more information.

From wildly successful pinner Rebekah Radice. “Would you believe that statistics show articles including images receive 94 percent more total views? And yet, I visit blogs daily that still donโ€™t include an image.

Go back through your articles and create a captivating Pinterest image that represents your business and content. Begin to add those images to your articles and then pin them to Pinterest.

Not only will this create additional content for your Pinterest boards, but will also refresh an old post, driving new traffic and potential customers to your blog.

So, what does a shareable image look like? A Pinterest image that gets shared is captivating, straightforward, and high-value.”

Steps to Pin a Graphic

  1. Add your custom Pinterest image with your branding and website on it.
  2. Add 100 โ€“ 200 words of text to describe your pin using relevant keywords. Remember people tweet directly from Pinterest so keep it concise and interesting. Use natural language in your descriptions.
  3. Add a link to your blog article or home page in the description.
  4. Edit the pin to add the link in the source.

Google loves Pinterest Images!

Taking the time to create custom Pinterest images with proper titles can help build your website traffic. A recent guest on the Oh So Pinteresting Podcast with Cynthia Sanchez, Vernon Ross said that changing to larger graphics on Pinterest has increased his traffic by 15%. Individual pins and whole Pinterest boards can rank well in Google search. When you create your image in Canva, make sure you give it a great title that will help people find your content on Google.

Create a separate, pinnable image for your blog post

The number one mistake that blogs are making today is not having a pinnable image on each blog post! Size matters! Even if youโ€™re not a graphic designer or have Photoshop, you can make fantastic images that will help your blog posts be seen on Pinterest.  Long, tall images command Pinterest take up the most visual real estate in the Pinterest feed but experiment with sizes to see what you love the most. Create images that are 1000 pixels x 1500 pixels to mix it up and these also work great on Instagram!

A great tip from power pinner Melissa Taylor, update old posts without pinnable imagesCreate new images, add to the blog post then share them on Pinterest. You can even get fancy and add the embedded pin at the bottom of the post.

Rock the Pin It Button

Make sure your Pinterest images are ready for the Pin It Buttons.  Using Pinterestโ€™s Pin It Button Chrome Extension, a little white Pin It button will hover over each pinnable image. You want to make sure you add a description on each image that you load so people can easily pin with one click.

Include a Call to Action

A call to action (CTA) is a little bit of text asking people to take a specific next step, itโ€™s the action you hope will happen. From Quicksprout, โ€œthere is an 80% increase in engagement for pins that contain a call to action.โ€ You can use a call to action to ask people to share a post after they read it.

A few other calls to action:

  1. Pin it for later
  2. Click here for your free download
  3. Register today
  4. RSVP here
  5. Sign up here

Test different calls to action to see what works best with your content and that the tone of your words fit the rest of your message.

Build Your Brand

Include branding on each and every graphic that you make for Pinterest. Itโ€™s very easy to do in PhotoShop or Canva. Your visual brand is reinforced each time you repeat your brandโ€™s colors, logo, and style building trust over time and people become more familiar with your visual message. Great branding communicates your message and brand personality. It may take a little practice to get used to adding your branding but the efforts will pay off over time.

I hope this gives you some more ideas for creating your visual brand on Pinterest. As always, let me know if you have questions in the comments below. Happy pinning!

Pinterest Visual Marketing

Pin the infographic here.

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5 Comments

  1. HOLY Pinterest awesomeness Peg! Everything you need to know to get started crushing it on Pinterest in one spot – this is going to help a lot of solopreneurs! Oooh and I have to say it’s epic to see two of my pins on your DIY Design board….it gives a girl a wicked case of warm and fuzzies. ๐Ÿ˜‰

  2. Hi, Peg,

    I’ve been blogging for 3 years but just got into Pinterest several weeks ago. It’s addictive! I enjoy making the images and pinning other people’s content several times a day.

    I even got brave and started a group board for Blogging Pros and met some great bloggers.

    Thanks for the info. I have the rich pins and your advice on branding was so helpful.
    Sue

  3. Great article Peg. Thank you.
    I have been struggling to master Pinterest but it is now high on my priority list. I am going to design a little campaign to promote my newly published book.Wish me luck

  4. Great article, Peg! As an avid Pinner it was a joy to read. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Another key strategy in pinning the right way is figuring out when your audience is online. I started using a tool called Tailwind to schedule pins and I love that they recommend times for me. My repins on new pins are way up since I started using it. Yay!

    Do you use any tools to help with your pinning strategy?

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