With its clean boards and emphasis on displaying ideas rather than sharing opinions, Pinterest can be a powerful driver for brands—especially if they create content that falls in the travel, fashion, lifestyle, or artistic niches. A Pinterest marketing strategy could be a gold mine for many brands.

And yet, in the permanent battle between Facebook posts, TikTok videos, and Twitter mentions, Pinterest often seems underutilized. 

You’re missing out by ignoring your Pinterest presence

Pinterest has a slightly different set of rules than other social media networks. Many experienced influencers often find their Pinterest boards don’t get followers, and their re-pins don’t get much traffic. As a result, the platform often gets shoved to the back of the priority list.

Does this mean that nobody’s using Pinterest? On the contrary. With over 400 million active users, Pinterest still has a silent but loyal audience. The design offered by Pinterest boards helps users find your posts more easily than on Twitter or Facebook.

We’ve prepared simple rules to guide your Pinterest strategy to avoid losing this tempting share of the social network pie.

Before we get going, though, let us help you out. If all of this sounds like nonsense, we have a list of terms used by Pinners. It all makes sense, we promise.

“Must Dos” to help you build a Pinterest following

1.  Space out your posts

Pinterest offers a quieter atmosphere to organize what we like rather than quickly scrolling through a crowded square. While Facebook or Twitter accounts thrive with constant content and interactions, Pinterest boards work better if you keep your appearances brief but relevant.

This means you won’t have to worry about missing specific “peak hours” or queuing ten daily posts to ensure you show up on people’s feeds. On Pinterest, people are less likely to scroll aimlessly—they’ll be checking specifically every time their favorite boards get updated.

If you want to keep people interested, you’ll do better by offering small doses of new content at regular intervals. Instead of publishing during rush hour, schedule new images ahead of time and spread them throughout the day.

2.  Optimize the images

Where other platforms will automatically adjust their image sizes to be “glanced at” as a hook for links or written copy, Pinterest assumes the images are the star. 

The first step is to make sure that you have the detail. If you reuse the same picture you used for Twitter or Instagram, you can end up with a clunky or incomplete infographic. Add a quote and some context, and make the image a complete graphic.

Then, make sure you adapt and resize your images, so they’re correctly displayed on the app:

• Keep your pins vertical
• Use an aspect ratio of 2:3 or 1:3.5
• Ensure the minimum width is 600 pixels

3.  Take advantage of “Rich Pins”

Personal accounts on Pinterest keep their functions basic: big, beautiful, and detailed images, with a link or few hashtags to find them later. However, corporate accounts can take this a step further with “Rich Pins,” which will add new ways for users to interact with their pins.

Currently, Rich Pins come in five different types:

• Article pins, which embed information on the story’s author, headline, and description
• Product pins that add real-time pricing and purchasing locations
• Recipe pins that store ingredient lists and cooking times
• Movie pins add meta information on cats members and ratings
• Place pins add a phone number and a map location (which can then take the user to a navigation app)

4.  Work on your Boards

The Pinterest aesthetic is meant to evoke the ideal living room: neat, organized, intuitive, and beautiful. Your past posts will not get lost in a bottomless time-sensitive feed.

If they come and see a single “General” board or an endless amount of small inactive boards, it will immediately look cluttered and confusing. Instead, aim to have anywhere between 5 and 10 boards. These should have an attractive name and an accurate description—and, if possible, their color palette, giving them a unique “feel.”

Each board should have at least four posts and a cover photo. Otherwise, it will look empty from the outside.

“Don’ts”: Pinterest no-nos that you need to avoid

1.  Talking money

Although this may seem more like an etiquette issue, Pinterest users are generally less comfortable with overt marketing strategies than on other platforms. Here, people seek to imagine perfect spaces or looks. While this may inspire a purchase later, a call to action or direct promotion will break the illusion.

In addition, Pinterest offers limited copy space: technically, your posts can have descriptions of up to 500 characters, but only the first 70 to 100 will be visible from the grid view, so you’ll need to make the most of it. In addition to CTAs and salesy discount promises, avoid adding prices or lengthy usage instructions—you can add these using Rich Pins instead.

Your Pinterest marketing strategy should involve inspiring purchases instead of hooking them with gimmicks and sales.

 2.  Sticking to your own content

Pinterest makes your boards searchable for everyone, not just your followers. Each board should contain enough variety—a mix of articles, images, infographics, and quotes, both by you and others.

If your Pinterest board only displays links to your content, you will lose the opportunity to position yourself as a style expert or showcase the value behind your curation.

3.  Overusing hashtags or affiliate links

Pinterest descriptions are short and minimal—if you fill them with hashtags they will quickly look cluttered. Keep them to a maximum of three hashtags per post.

Likewise, avoid using affiliate links or shortened URLs if you need to expand on an idea or lead visitors down your sales funnel. Instead, link your website directly or send them to a YouTube video.

It’s worth it, we promise

Most people overlook Pinterest when developing their social strategy, and we’d argue that it’s a missed opportunity. Take some time to automate the easy stuff with us, then dive into an exciting new space.