5 Tips for Better Pinterest Pins

If you are considering adding Pinterest to your social media marketing mix - or if you’re looking to level up your pins, there are several things you can do to get more out of Pinterest. As with any social network you are using or looking to adopt, the place to start is to think about your business goals, the audience you’re trying to reach, and what you’re trying to get Pinterest users to do.

Nearly 80% of Pinterest users are female and over half are under 35 years of age. If this is the right audience for your business, then look at how people use Pinterest. The company behind Pinterest calls the site a "visual discovery engine" that sparks inspiration. But how can Pinterest help your business?

Use Pinterest to:

• Build brand awareness.
• Showcase products or services.
• Drive traffic to your website.
• Organize an archive of visual content.
• Sell products or services.

In order to make an impact on Pinterest, you need to produce content that catches attention - or spend advertising dollars to increase exposure. You also need to understand what makes a pin stand out and get shares. Here’s a breakdown of some features of popular pins that you can apply to the pins you create.

1. Make it tall.

The dimensions for social media images vary. While a square 1080x1080 image is standard on most social network feeds, the standout Pinterest images tend to be taller. Pinterest recommends a 2:3 ratio or 1000x1500 pixels as their standard dimension for pin ads, only the width is fixed at that ratio. This means you can use taller images.

Many people use these long vertical images to display a series of steps in a how-to post such as "How to tie a scarf" or "How to decorate Halloween cookies." What does your business do and where do you have an expertise? An account could publish "How to prepare for tax time." A fitness instructor could publish "How to work out while travelling."

If you create tall images that take up space in the Pinterest feed, make sure you use all the space to provide interesting or valuable information.

2. Use the Best Colors

According to a review of over 500,000 Pinterest images by a company called Curalate, using multiple dominant colors in a pin can make it three times more likely to get repinned. While there is a certain aesthetic to monochromatic pins, to stand out in the feed, you pin should have more than a single dominant color. Also, red, orange, or brown get pinned more often than ones with blue as the dominant color.

In terms of color saturation, pins with images that are too dark or too light are more often passed over. Keep the lighting and saturation of your pin colors somewhere in the middle, around 50% saturation.

3. Show Less Faces, More Things

Pins with people’s faces don’t tend to fare well - unless, of course, it is the face of a celebrity or other popular personality. Because people who use Pinterest tend to be looking for inspiration or shopping for something, a person’s face may not attract attention.

There are exceptions to this tip. For example, if the pin is about a makeup product or makeup technique, a face with the makeup clearly visible makes sense. But chances are, images of the makeup itself will be pinned more often.

4. Pin Popular Pins

There are several benefits to pinning popular pins to help boost your Pinterest engagement. The first is obvious: If it is popular, chances are it will help you attract attention and get repinned.

The other benefit is that you can begin to examine what makes a pin popular. Notice the layout, the use of color, even the visual textures as well as the content including the choice of words and fonts.

Visit the Trends page on Pinterest (trends.pinterest.com) to get inspiration and identify what is popular with Pinterest users. Learn from what is popular and what is trending to up your Pinterest game.

5. Peruse Pinterest for Business

Pinterest has a site (business.pinterest.com) specifically to provide businesses with guidance on leveraging all the platform has to offer. Learn from case studies called Success Stories of how other businesses are using Pinterest. Found out how to advertise and how to gain insights on how well your Pinterest account is doing.

Check out the Small Business Hub or watch webinars including trend predictions and tips for holiday pins. You can also get the details on setting up your own Pinterest shop to sell products from your account.

As you can see, there are many ways you can enhance how you’re pinning and resources you can use to improve your pins. Keep in mind your target audience and business goals as well to stay on brand.