To hashtag or not to hashtag on Pinterest, that used to be the question. Now the answer on Pinterest and almost every social platform is yes, hashtag. In this article, I’m going to give you a quick and dirty look at how to create a smart strategy for hashtags on Pinterest. This will help you get more impressions and repins on your Pinterest Pins.

What are hashtags?

Hashtags are a word or phrase preceded by a hash (#) and used to identify Pins on a specific topic. Hashtags on Pinterest work just like they do anywhere else. When you add hashtags to the description for a new Pin, other Pinners can visit a feed of all the Pins that share that hashtag. Whether those Pins are promoted or not, the freshest Pins will be right up top.

Do you have a hashtag strategy?

Having a solid strategy behind your hashtag can bring real results for you and your brand.

Clicking on a hashtag can provide a wealth of information and a sea of potential connections. Here are a few ways that hashtags can be used:

• Real-time interaction with friends, fans, and influencers
• Reinforce your area of expertise
• Connect with other people interested in the same topic
• Create a social media campaign
• Brand awareness
• Catch the trends – daily, weekly, or holiday
• Find valuable UGC (user-generated content)
• Rock out live events such as conferences
• Build out a social contest

Pinterest says, “When inserting a hashtag, we recommend you be specific and descriptive. Use words or phrases that describe the content in the Pin – we suggest you add no more than 20 hashtags per Pin. It’s best to be objective and use hashtags that make sense and are relevant to the Pin. Hashtags are a new way to reach users interested in your content. When a user searches a hashtag the freshest pins with that hashtag will appear at the top of the feed. When a user searches the same phrase without the hashtag, it will pull up the original search results page.

Use hashtags to improve search results 
Add a few relevant hashtags to help people find your content. Hashtags function as search terms and people use them to find trending topics. Unlike hashtags elsewhere, Pinterest hashtags aren’t used for jokes, memes or commentary. So for a fashion brand, something like #fallboots would work well—but #ilookterribleinhats wouldn’t. If you’re not sure which hashtags to use, try searching for your topic on Pinterest and use the autocomplete suggestions as guidance.”

Hashtags help Pinners discover the freshest content on Pinterest. 

Find Pins with hashtags

You can discover related content by clicking on a hashtag in the Pin description. You can also search for a Hashtag in the top bar, like “#rainbowcakes” or “#weddingdress.”

How to use Hashtags on Pinterest

Hashtags for Pins go into the description. To add a hashtag to your Pin description, type “#” and add a keyword or phrase. If you want to change your hashtag later, edit the Pin description.

I recommend adding the hashtags at the end of your description so it looks cleaner.

What if you have Pins that don’t have hashtags? Should you go back and add hashtags to older Pins? You can, but it won’t help your content show up at the top of hashtag search feeds. Newer Pins with that hashtag will appear first.

Different types of hashtags:

Location-based hashtags: #mydayinla #bigapple #NYC

Industry hashtags: #fashionista #fashionblogger

Holiday hashtags: #fourthofjuly #christmaseve

Calls to action: #pinitforlater #clicktoread #pintowin

Branded hashtags: #thanksalatte is my Facebook Live hashtag, but I use it for all social media posts on the topic. #MyBookClub is the first hashtag I created for my Twitter chat. I have a great Pinterest board for it.

McDonald’s used #alldaybreakfast when they switched from breakfast ending at 10:30 to all-day breakfast.

Branded hashtags can create community and build awareness. Create a hashtag that will resonate positively with your audience.

To get started, successful hashtags are often:

• On the shorter side
• Easy to remember
• Consistent with your brand
• Exclusive to your brand
• Focused on one message
• Unique and not generic

Where to Find Good Hashtags

It’s important to create Pinterest hashtag groups that are relevant to your content. You could share hashtag research with your Instagram posts with the difference being the quantity. Twenty hashtags are recommended by the Pinterest team, and you can use up to thirty on Instagram. Using a super tight twenty could be good enough for Pinterest and Instagram.

Tools for finding hashtags

Display Purposes: Desktop tool for finding hashtags. I like the color-coding, and it’s easy to use.

TagDef – You can see the definitions and popular hashtags here.
Tags for Likes – A smartphone app for grabbing groups of hashtags.
Hashtagif.me – Lots of great information here on people using the hashtag as well as related hashtags.

How to Store your Hashtag Stash

I just found a new iPhone app I’m testing called Mono – Hashtag Library.  Mono is a hashtag organizer to assist in managing your hashtags. Quickly add, sort, compile, move and delete hashtags. Compile hashtags of a similar category in folders.

I’ve also created hashtag groups in my favorite Instagram tool, Planoly. I can cut and paste the hashtag on a desktop or on my phone. I know, it’s an Instagram tool, but yeah, I love this hashtag functionality.

Should you Edit Old Pins?

If they’re essential to your website or you have very popular Pins or boards, then, by all means, edit your old Pins and get more traction with them. I’ve done it for my top Pins, and I think they’ve shown more growth.

As I mentioned above, Pinterest said that it won’t help them appear at the top of hashtag streams but it will still help with search. This also means that adding hashtags to your fresh Pinterest content will help them appear at the top of searches!

I hope this article inspires you to take some time and create your own Pinterest hashtag strategy. Put in the work once and then you can paste them over and over again. It’s worth the time and effort.

I’d love to hear about your Pinterest hashtag successes in the comments. Please Pin this to your favorite boards so you can reference it later. #pinitforlater