📈 Zero to Hero : Pinterest Edition 📌

Are you struggling to get your content seen on Pinterest? Are you ready to take your Pinterest game to the next level? Today, Tori Tait takes over the episode to discuss how to use Pinterest to grow brand awareness, traffic, and revenue. Tori touches on creating Pin descriptions that drive traffic and sales, how Pinterest descriptions work to support your image, and why your Pin image needs an optimized description. She introduces 3 mindset shifts that can make your Pinterest effective and your brand elevated. Tori also shares an exclusive free guide to creating great descriptions in 6 must-do steps! Pinterest isn't just a social media platform, it's a powerful marketing tool that can drive significant traffic, revenue, and growth for your business. Tori shares that with the right strategy, anyone can go from zero to hero on Pinterest. Tune in now and transform your Pinterest strategy!

#impactfulentrepreneurshow #guestinterview #PinterestForBusiness

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Did you know that out of all the social platforms out there, Pinterest almost always gets forgotten, but it’s one of the most powerful platforms you can be using? The content you put there is evergreen and it lives a lot longer in the algorithm. It’s searchable forever. Pinterest is extremely powerful. In this episode, we’re going to have an episode take-over from the one and only Tori Tait, who worked as a consultant at Pinterest for a handful of years before teaching entrepreneurs like you how to leverage it properly. There’s no one better to learn from. She’s going to give you the inside scoop on how to become a Pinterest unicorn, and have your Pins get more clicks and drive more traffic and ultimately, more sales for your brand. Let’s do this.

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I'm Tori Tait, and I'm here to talk about the power of a Pin. I'm sure you've heard or experienced at some level that Pinterest can be a powerful channel in terms of sending traffic to your website or blog. That's because there are 450 million monthly users on Pinterest. That means 450 million people are logging onto Pinterest and looking for new ideas, inspiration, things to buy, and solutions to their problems. No doubt Pinterest can move the bar for your blog brand and business.

That's because Pinners are not mindlessly scrolling. They're actively looking for new ideas. They're watching one billion videos a day. 2 out of 3 Pinners are actively seeking out new ideas or services they need. That means they're searching in that search bar right on Pinterest. Ninety-five percent of all searches are unbranded, meaning Pinners aren't looking for specific well-known brands. The playing field is leveled for small and new businesses like yours. Pinners are indeed discovering people and brands that they've never heard of before.

Eighty-five percent of all Pinners are doing this on their phones. That means Pinterest is with them at soccer practice, in line at the grocery store, and even in bed with them late at night. That's pretty powerful. Pinterest content becomes personal and intimate when it's the last thing a person sees before they go to bed at night.

Is it your content that they're discovering, saving, and clicking on? Don't worry. That's what I'm here to talk to you about, how to get your content seen and attract new readers and businesses from Pinterest. I'm going to break it down for you with some simple concepts that you can start now. First, a little about me. I'm Tori. I've spent many years leading content and social strategy for eCommerce startups with an emphasis on using Pinterest to grow brand awareness, traffic, and revenue.

This led to me spending three years working directly as a consultant at Pinterest. I strategized and created ads for hundreds of their top brands and advertisers over the years from food to clothing to insurance companies, to music apps, you name it. For the last couple of years, I've been teaching entrepreneurs, bloggers, and small businesses how to use the same pro-Pinterest tactics that big brands use to drive more traffic and sales.

I want to point out that because Pinterest is such a visual platform, I like to teach by using a lot of examples. Every Pin I share now is a Pin that I have designed and have permission to share with you, the strategies we're going to talk about work regardless of what type of business you have. They work to drive traffic, acquire subscribers, book clients, sell memberships, sell physical and digital products, and build your brand awareness. Whether you're a service-based business or a membership course like some of these guys or you sell products, the lessons we're about to go over are extremely applicable. Let's get started.

Mind Shift 1: Stop Thinking About Yourself

To be successful on Pinterest, I ask that you make three mind shifts. Rethinking how to approach Pinterest is a crucial step to upping your game and fueling results. The first mind shift is to stop thinking about you. I don't mean that rudely, but it doesn't matter how many followers you have, how many group boards you agree to join, or how much you're pinning other people's content versus your content. No. Good news, you can let all of that go. It doesn't matter because Pinterest is all about your content and your content only. What matters is that you're giving all of your attention to the actual content you own and that you are sharing a Pinterest.

That's what makes Pinterest work when you think about it. The platform needs you to be creating and sharing original content and publish that regularly. You need to make sure your content is easily shareable. Meaning when you spend all of that time publishing a killer blog post, a gorgeous gallery of photos, or a smoke and sales page on your website, people need to be encouraged and shown they can easily pin those images. You want your content to be pinned by as many people as possible.

You have to invest time in creating quality images that are primed for Pinterest and make sure they're vertical. The proper format always has been a 2x3 ratio. This has never changed. There are a lot of articles out there on which Pin is the best size. Always go with what Pinterest says and they've always said a 2x3 ratio. To make that simple, it's 1,000x1,500 pixels.

You want to make sure your pins are pointing people back to quality content. It should be helpful and inspiring. It should be exactly where they thought they were going when they clicked your Pin. Stay honest. Have you ever clicked a Pin that said something like, “Twenty low-carb breakfast recipes,” and then when you landed on the blog post, it had zero recipes on it? It linked off to other blogs. That's not honest and it's not helpful. It’s not quality content.

For you, that would be meaningless traffic anyway because those people would bounce or click off your site right away. You also want to focus on content that taps into a Pinner's planning mindset. Pinners plan early. They go to Pinterest and look for ideas around seasons, holidays, and gifting opportunities. They're doing this about 3 to 5 months ahead of the typical Google search. If you have content that has seasonal relevance, make sure you're focusing on that content and publishing it to Pinterest 3 to 4 months ahead of time.

We've agreed you're going to make sure you're investing time in creating content that is helpful, beautiful, and shareable, but you also need to make sure that the actual Pins you're creating to promote that content are going to stop someone in their scroll. You could have the best, most original content around say a chocolate chip cookie recipe, yet your Pin could look like all the others. How are you going to stand out in a sea of chocolate chip cookies? Think about it. You have to have a killer Pin image.

Mind Shift 2: Become A Unicorn

That's where the second mind shift comes in. You need to become a unicorn. If you design Pins that look like everyone else's, you will not stop a Pinner in their scroll and get that click. You need to think about your creative style and recipe. I get into this unicorn mindset every time I have a new client to design Pins for. Regardless if it's Ralph Lauren or Facebook, that thinking is the same. You never want to try to appeal to everyone. Your content isn't for everyone.

Think about your ideal reader, customer or subscriber. You need to design for them. This means avoiding using overused templates or creating pins like everyone else in your niche. Don't be vague or misleading with your images or graphics. Don't just create 1 Pin designed for 1 piece of content. Let's talk about that a little more. To be a unicorn, you have to speak to the Pinner. Speak to the ideal person on Pinterest you want to get in front of. When someone is scrolling, you want them to immediately know that your content is not for them or it is for them.

Show them how your service or product will fit into their life. When a Pinner thinks, “This is what I need,” that's when they stop scrolling. Make sure your images are supported with text overlay. The image can't do the job itself so you need to add text overlay to your images. You're not including a story. You want to make sure that your text is compelling. It speaks to the Pinner but it's short. Text overlay should be short and large because, remember, most Pinners are scrolling on their phone screens. You need to be big, bold, clear, compelling, and stand out as they're scrolling through their phones. It's crucial that you deliver on that landing experience.

Back to that core content that you spend all that time on. If you've stopped someone in your scroll and enticed them enough to click off of Pinterest, make sure where they land is exactly where they expected to land and you deliver that valuable content to them. If you miss this step, all that previous effort is for nothing. Don't forget about being cookie-cutter. You do not want to be another chocolate chip cookie Pin.

Keep testing different designs and text overlays. You'll start to discover a so-called creative recipe that you can use, but it shouldn't be the same template over and over. Develop your own style based on what you see people are engaging with and clicking on so you'll make several iterations of each piece of content.

Pinterest rewards you when you're adding new fresh Pins. A new fresh Pin doesn't necessarily mean a Pin leading to a new piece of content on your website. It means a new Pin design and a new description uploaded to Pinterest so you can have many unique Pins that point back to the same piece of content. Instead of pinning the same 1 Pin to 5 different boards, why not create five slightly unique Pins to represent that piece of content? It's worth the effort.

Here are some examples of Pins that proved to stop a Pinner in their scroll. They knew it was exactly the content they needed. These Pins speak directly to the ideal Pinner for each of the brands. Use imagery and text overlay to pack what I like to call the 1-2 punch, the killer quality image with the text overlay. The first Pin proved to send me a significant amount of new traffic and leads. If you're struggling to grow your email list and this Pin pops up in your feed, you're likely to be interested. I quickly point out that I gained 4,000 new subscribers with just 2 old blog posts. I'm implying here that it didn't take a lot of effort, which leads to content delivering on that promise, outlining exactly what I did.

I stopped the Pin in their scroll. I got the click and then delivered quality content. The second Pin used several images so differently. Not just one large image but multiple images to demonstrate what a product does. At a glance, you get it but if you only got 70% from the pictures alone, the text overlay seals the deal for you. You either say to yourself, “I don't need sippy cups at my house,” and you keep scrolling or, “I need these from my kids now,” and you click.

The third Pin is for a service-based business called Talkspace. You're scrolling on your phone and you see, “Don't text your ex. Text your therapist instead.” If this is something that speaks to you or something you're struggling with, you're likely going to click it to learn more. You're already scrolling on your phone anyway. Texting is tempting.

The last Pin is product-based but demonstrates how text overlay can be impactful. There were a lot of choices and testing to promote this product on Pinterest. The text overlay could have said, “This is a plug that prevents your drain from getting clogged,” but instead, it says, “No more clogged drains,” to which a Pinner with this problem says, “Give me,” and clicks.

Mind Shift 3: Up Your Game

The third mind shift is where I encourage you to realize you can up your game. You might be a seasoned blogger, a brand-new course creator, or a cash-strapped entrepreneur. Now, you're going to start thinking like an advertiser like Walmart with their big marketing budgets or GoDaddy who pumps out online ads with their ten-person team. You can get the trafficking clicks from Pinterest without a big team or big budgets and without hiring a graphic designer.

You do not need to invest a ton of time or spend money. You do not have to do all the things that will lead you to be stressed out, feel defeated, and probably hate Pinterest. Instead, I want you to design Pins purposefully. Be that unicorn that stands out. Pin those new Pins ahead of seasonal opportunities, promotion cycles, and trends.

Here are some insight I have into working with these big brands for years at Pinterest. They have big budgets to pay for ads or promoted Pins, as they're called so they wait until the eleventh hour to launch their seasonal or promotional campaigns. That's because they'll pay to push that content out into people's feeds. They'll buy the eyeballs. You can have been pinning the same seasonal content for 3 to 4 months ahead of time, getting in front of all of these people when they're searching and starting to plan.

Not only will you be getting in front of Pinners first when they're beginning their planning, but also you'll be getting in front of them for free. If you think about it, your scrappy small business skills paired with your Pinterest knowledge is going to put you at an advantage over these big brands who are going to be scrambling at the last minute and paying for all of these impressions and clicks.

Also, tap into your analytics. No advertiser or marketer works off of what they think they should focus on. If you have a business Pinterest account, which if you don't, you will certainly go switch right after this, you have access to the same type of data that they do. You can begin to create more intentionally and not just throw spaghetti at the wall. It's about working smarter, not harder.

No advertiser or marketer works off of what they think they should focus on. Always tap into your analytics.

Here's what you're going to do. You're going to poke around your analytics dashboard. Look at what Pins are the most saved from your domain. Make sure that you're pinning more iterations of those pins in similar content. What Pins are driving the most traffic? That's called outbound clicks in your Pinterest dashboard. You 100% need to be pinning more of that. Pinterest is telling you, “This type of content, these Pins, people are clicking on them.” Why wouldn't you create more of that? Look at what Pins are getting the most engagement.

Can you use that information and optimize your blog post or page on your website? If you can see on Pinterest that these images are engaging to people, you want to make sure that they're front and center on your blog and website. If you know what content is resonating with Pinners, you know where to focus your effort. You can work smarter, not harder.

Here's an example. I worked as a Director of Content for a company called The Grommet for almost nine years. By paying attention to our analytics in the early days of Pinterest, I began to see that this one little old product we sold amongst tens of thousands was gaining so much traction on Pinterest. People were saving it, clicking on the Pin, coming to the site, and purchasing. I began making iterations of the Pin like the layout of a couple of images. We had different orders zoomed in, zoomed out, and different text overlays. After testing a few designs, it became clear that using the text overlay hair tie bracelet was the winner.

It was short, simple, and clear. I was able to make the case to shoot more photos, even one themed red and green because Christmas was a few months out. I made more Pins using the same text overlay and the new images. This product became a runaway for us on Pinterest. In creating 28 Pins over the course of 6 months or so, which wasn't time-consuming, we sold tens of thousands of units from Pinterest alone. It's not science, and it didn't take a huge team or budget.

However, I wouldn't be a good marketer if I had stopped there. We closed the loop by making sure anyone who came back to our website and wanted to pin this product was forced to pin the image that we chose. Of course, we chose the one that was performing the best on Pinterest at the time. It was our best-performing pin, meaning it got the most clicks when people saw it on Pinterest. You can do this too with plugins on most website platforms or plugins for your blog. If you have a Pin that you know is the best prime to share on Pinterest, make sure it's the one people are saving.

The Power of Pinterest

The power of Pinterest to move the bar for your brand, blog, or business isn't in some over-hyped formula of spending 80% of your time on this and 20% of that or pinning X amount of images a day. It's about your mindset. Realizing your content is the most important and what the most important is where we should be investing our time and resources. Realizing it's not about being like everyone else. You need to test and find your creative recipe using the pro tips I shared with you. You can leapfrog your competition and even some big brands and stand out in the feed when you begin to think like an advertiser. Who doesn't like a good review? Let's bring it home with a few last tips.

Tips for creating standout Pins. We're going to speak to the Pinner. I want you to internalize that concept. It's one I lead with every time I open Photoshop or Canva to make a Pin. You want to stop their scroll and you're going to always be designing for mobile. Remember, big and beautiful. Use compelling imagery. Layer on text overlays that support your image. Give it that 1-2 punch.

Test some calls to action. You can design little buttons that say, “Learn more. Shop now,” on the Pin itself. People like to be told exactly what to do. That's thinking like an advertiser, for sure. Find your creative style. Don't be like everybody else. Deliver on your landing page. Remember, you're staying honest. You're giving them exactly what you told them you were going to give them. You're going to deliver that quality content and start pinning a variety of pin images for each piece of content and even different pin formats. There are a few different types of Pin formats, but I want you to focus on the top three. Let's talk about them.

Static Pins. You're familiar with these. It’s the bread and butter of Pinterest. You are probably very familiar with creating these types of Pins. They're a fixed size, that 2x3 aspect ratio, a single large image, or a combo of a couple. They link back to a URL of your choice. You should create several iterations for each piece of content as we've talked about. These are examples. These four unique Pins lead to the same page but each Pin speaks to a different Pinner. It's not one-size-fits-all. These static Pins should be the main type of Pins you create because they will drive traffic.

Static pins are the bread and butter of Pinterest.

We also have the option to make video Pins. It's recommended that they be between 4 to 15 seconds but they can be up to 15. I would stick with that 4 to 15-second sweet spot if you have video footage. Your video should start with a hook, a compelling reason for someone to keep watching. Remember, you want to stop them in their scroll. It still should include text overlay on video pins. Don't rely on audio. Most people are watching with their sounds off.

Your text overlay should help tell the story of your Pin and you can also link these to a URL of your choice. I recommend testing these if you have access to video for your content. The new kid on the block is idea pins. They're multiple Pins connected to share an idea that the user scrolls through. The best practice is to include 3 to 7 Pins in your idea. Have a hook. You still need to stand out in the feet. Use text overlay. It's a must.

Pinterest: The best practice is to include 3 to 7 pins in your idea and have a hook. You still need to stand out in the feet.

The good news is when you're creating idea Pins with Pinterest built-in tools, adding text is easy because it's built right into the experience of publishing this. The bad news is you cannot link to a URL with idea Pins but you can tag products if you have a product catalog connected. These types of Pins encourage followers to follow your account because the last card is always of your profile, which people can easily click and they get to your Pinterest profile.

Since idea Pins can include both static and video Pins, if you have a video, I suggest adding it as the first card in your idea Pin, which will help you stand out in the feed. Be sure to create these on your mobile app because there are many more features available if you create them on mobile versus if you create them on a desktop.

Once you've added all of your Pins in your idea Pin, you'll click next and add details like title, notes, and steps. You'll tag related topics. Don't skip any of these. Fill in every single detail so that Pinterest has more information on what your content is about. This is how they will determine to push it out to the home feed and the Today tab.

Pinterest: Fill in every single detail so that Pinterest has more information on what your content is about. This is how they will determine to push it out to the home feed and the Today tab.

That went by fast. I hope you reread this if you need to and feel empowered to start focusing on what matters for Pinterest. Now that you've got all the tools and tips for creating killer content and Pin designs, it might be a good time to point out that your Pin's description is the other crucial piece to Pinterest’s success.

We don't have enough time to dig into crafting powerful descriptions, but no worries. I put together a freebie for you. I created a simple guide to creating Pinterest descriptions that drive traffic in sales. It's the perfect complement to the lessons. With the creative tools you've got, paired with the guide for Pin descriptions, you'll be able to rock Pinterest. I can't wait to hear what you think. Please feel free to find me on social. I'm @HostessTori and shoot me a DM on Instagram to say hi. Thanks, everyone. Happy pinning.

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About Tori Tait

After spending 11 years leading content and social strategy for e-commerce companies, Tori found herself working as a contractor at Pinterest–helping some of the world's biggest brands succeed on the platform. Now she's sharing all the inside secrets