GO VIRAL ON PINTEREST

What is the Benefit of Going Viral on Pinterest?

You are probably wondering what is the point of going viral on Pinterest right? It’s not as popular as Instagram, Facebook or TikTok and it’s not going to help you get collaborations or press trips so why should you bother using it? The truth is – if you are a small business owner or a blogger, Pinterest can be a game changer. It can drive a lot of traffic to your website FAST. And in the long run that is way more valuable than gaining followers on any social media platform.

Google is a better Search Engine than Pinterest??

So Pinterest is a Search Engine. But surely people just use Google when they want to search for something? Yes of course, but a lot of people like to search for things on Pinterest because Pinterest is visual. Having pictures instantly makes it easier for people to gain inspiration – whether that is for future travels, interior design or what to cook for tonight’s dinner.

HOW TO GO VIRAL ON PINTEREST

So now we’ve got all that out the way (phew) we can move on with what you really came here for – how to go viral on Pinterest!

There are some boring admin bits you need to ensure you have done correctly first before you create your pins. Setting up your account correctly will help you later on down the line.

Setting Up Your Pinterest Account Correctly

• Business Account: First you need to make sure your Pinterest account is set up correctly. Make sure you have a Business Account and not a personal account. This way you can get access to all of the analytics for your pins and account.
• Use Your Brand Name: Make sure your Pinterest account is the same name as your website or your Instagram handle and not your personal name (unless that is the name of your brand!) so it is in line with your brand and people can find you quicker.

• Set up your Pinterest profile:?Write a bit about yourself, what your website is about, and include a profile picture. Make sure your face is clearly visible in the profile picture and it isn’t just a picture of scenery with a tiny you somewhere in the middle. If people see a face they are more likely to want to follow you, plus your followers will instantly recognise you. It just makes it more personal.
• Claim your website: By claiming your website you can access the analytics for the pins from your website. You can see how many impressions, saves and website clicks each pin creates (whether it was pinned by you or someone else). You will see when your website has been claimed as a little globe with a tick will appear next to your website URL on your Pinterest account.

And a little time needs to be taken to set up your boards. This was my least favourite part but trust me it needs to be done well to help your pins rank later:

• Create relevant boards: Create boards that will reflect the kind of things you pin about. For example if you are a travel blogger you may want to have a different board for each country or city you have written about. Creating boards helps you stay organised and helps other people who visit your page as you are both able to access specific pins quickly.
• Make sure you create enough boards: Definitely do not just pin everything into one folder as people won’t want to look at that and it doesn’t look professional. Be sure to create enough boards – I have over 100 so don’t be shy!
• Give the boards a title and cover photo:?Make sure you name your boards clearly so it is obvious what people can find inside each board.?Make sure to give each board a cover photo that has a nice picture on too so it entices people to click on it. I create my board covers with Canva so I can write the board name over the photo. There is also a space for you to write a board description – more about this below.
• Create a ‘Best Of …’ Board: And also make sure to create a ‘Best Of…’ board and keep this board at the top so people can see all your pins together if they wish.

Now that is done you can start pinning! There are several things you can do to increase your chances of making a pin go viral:

• create eye-catching pins
• optimise your pin with keywords
• optimise your boards with keywords
• pin images from your blog posts as well as your pins
• pin at the correct frequency and time
• pin to your most relevant board first
• promote your pins ($$)
• participate in group threads
• pin to group boards

Of course you don’t need to do them all, and most people (myself included) never promote their pins. I’m just telling you all the available options. The first two bulletpoints however are the most crucial ones so we must learn how to do these if we want to increase our chances of going viral on Pinterest.

1. Create Eye-Catching Pins

YOU NEED TO CREATE AN IMAGE THAT PEOPLE WILL WANT TO CLICK ON!

The number one thing you need to do to increase your chances of going viral is to create eye-catching, scroll-stopping pins. As I mentioned earlier – Pinterest is a visual platform. When you type something into the search bar in Pinterest you can get thousands of relevant images popping up. But how does the viewer know what pin to click that will give them the most information? They don’t. All they can do is scroll down until they see a pin that entices them enough to click on it and learn more. Just like on Google where somebody clicks on the title of an article that they like – only Pinterest uses an image.

2. Optimise Your Pin With Keywords

YOU WANT TO GET YOUR IMAGE TO THE TOP OF THE SEARCH FOR THAT KEYWORD

Not only do you need to create eye-catching pins but you want your pins to appear at the top of the search. There’s no point spending ages creating a beautiful image if it is stuck right at the end of the search (or not even visible on the search!) and people have already clicked out of Pinterest before they have even seen your pin! This is why you must spend the time to optimise your pin with keywords once you have created it!

Just like in Google – the higher up your pin is, the more likely people will click on it. Did you know that roughly 90% of all Google clicks are made on the first page of Google? That’s right – most people don’t even click onto the second page of Google before they have clicked on a title that appeals to them. And whilst Pinterest doesn’t have pages like Google does, the lower down your pin is in the Pinterest search, the less likely people are to even see your pin, not to mind click on it! So trying to get to the top of the search results in Pinterest is important too.

3. Optimise Your Boards With Keywords

This is another important factor that definitely shouldn’t be overlooked. When you pin an image or pin, Pinterest will always ask you to save it to one of your boards. This way pins on similar topics can be grouped together and so they can be easily accessed when needed. Just like pins, the boards that you pin your images or pins to have space for you to write a description (known as a board description) as they are keyword sensitive. Fill this board description with keywords that are relevant to the board (again, make the sentences flow naturally and don’t keyword stuff the description just listing things).

4. PIN TO GROUP BOARDS

Group boards are a great way to share your pins and have them re-pinned. Find a group board related to your niche and ask to join. Instructions for joining the group board can usually be found in the boards description.

5. WRITE ALT TEXT

Using descriptive text in your images alt text is important. When people pin an image from your blog using the “pin it” button from Pinterest, Pinterest will pull the image’s alt text for the pin description. Since most people won’t bother to edit the description, you want to make sure you are controlling what text goes in the pin’s description box.

7. Vertical Pins

On Pinterest, it’s super important to create vertical images over horizontal images. Horizontal pins can sometimes get lost in the Pinterest smart feed and overlooked and from my experience, vertical pins perform better on Pinterest.

Not only do vertical pin perform better on Pinterest but they also stand out more in the Pinterest smart feed and are more likely to get clicked on and/or repinned.?I normally create two different pin sizes for my Pinterest images and I make sure they are all vertical sizes. The main size I normally use is 1000px X 1800px for my Pinterest pins.?Below are examples of my vertical pins on Pinterest

How Many Views Do You Need To Go Viral On Pinterest?

There is no specific number. Rather it is deemed as a number that is significantly higher than what you normally receive. If you normally get 100 click to your website per day from Pinterest but then all of a sudden you are getting a few thousand from one particular pin – then this pin has gone viral!

What Should You Do When You Go Viral On Pinterest?

If you do go viral on Pinterest in the early stages of your blogging career make sure you take advantage of this achievement! If you currently do not display ads on your website this could be a great time to get accepted onto an ad network and make money passively from your website!

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Toufik | Digital Marketer