Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 216 - Top Pinterest Marketing Trends for 2024
850 Plays9 months ago
We're chatting with Pinterest expert, Kate of KH Social, about all things Pinterest 2024. We talk about current best practices, how to use Pinterest to drive traffic to your site for years to come, how many pins you actually need to share in a day to be successful using trends and how to get started if Pinterest is new or if the extent of Pinterest use includes recipes, outfits, and wedding inspiration from that time you were engaged in 2014.
As always, links and resources can be found in the show notes. Check ’em out at https://daveyandkrista.com/top-pinterest-marketing-trends-2024-btb-216/. And if you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review over at Apple Podcasts.
Recommended
Transcript
Pinterest vs Instagram: Marketing Approaches
00:00:00
Speaker
Pinterest is actually much more similar to Google than it is to Instagram. The people are on there searching for things. So when you're marketing yourself on Pinterest, you want to think from an SEO and keyword standpoint more so than the way you would market yourself on Instagram.
Introduction to The Brands That Book Show
00:00:18
Speaker
You're listening to The Brands That Book Show, a podcast for creative entrepreneurs who want practical tips and strategies to build engaging brands and craft high converting websites. We're your hosts, Davey and Krista, co-founders of a brand and website design agency specializing in visual brand design and show it websites. You're listening to The Brands That Book Show.
00:00:40
Speaker
In today's episode, I'm chatting with Pinterest expert K of KH Social about all things Pinterest 2024.
Pinterest Strategies for 2024 with Kate
00:00:47
Speaker
We're chatting current best practices, how to use Pinterest to drive traffic to your site for years to come, how many pins you actually need to share a day to be successful, using trends, and how to get started if Pinterest is new or if the extent of your Pinterest use includes recipes, outfits, and wedding inspo from that time you were engaged in 2014.
00:01:05
Speaker
But first, let's introduce Kate. Kate is a Pinterest strategist, passionate about helping bloggers, creatives, and lifestyle brands grow their businesses and thrive online through impactful Pinterest marketing. She's based in Halifax, Canada, but serves clients worldwide.
Kate's Journey into Pinterest Marketing
00:01:20
Speaker
As always, links and resources can be found in the show notes. Check them out at davianchrista.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review of our Apple podcasts. And now, on to the episode.
00:01:33
Speaker
Hi Kate, I'm so excited to chat with you. I'm so excited to be here. Yeah. And we are chatting all things Pinterest today, which really makes me excited because my team has one of our focuses or this year is Pinterest. So selfishly, like this is a conversation that I'm as excited about as I think that everybody else will be as excited about.
00:01:53
Speaker
Perfect. Well, I can't wait to share all my thoughts on 2024 Pinterest. Yeah. So before we really dive in, I'd love for you to just kind of introduce yourself and tell people how you got into Pinterest in the first place.
00:02:05
Speaker
Sure. So my name is Kate and I own Kate Socials, a Pinterest marketing agency. And I actually started on Pinterest probably like eight years ago because I was running my own blog and just started pinning kind of randomly on Pinterest and noticed that these pins were driving a lot of traffic.
00:02:24
Speaker
I got really interested in it. And then I was doing a lot of social media work for different clients and I kept trying to get them to do Pinterest, but it was still a newer platform and people wanted more like Instagram and Facebook. So I just kind of put it to the side. And then when COVID hit, it just gave me a chance to reevaluate my business. And I decided it was time to pivot to Pinterest and switch fully to that.
00:02:50
Speaker
Okay, that's awesome. And so what kind of a blogger were you before really diving into Pinterest? I was doing like wellness, recipes, health, that sort of thing.
Pinterest's Relevance in 2024
00:02:59
Speaker
Yeah. Awesome. I feel like Pinterest is such a great like visual search for that specific niche.
00:03:05
Speaker
Yes, yeah, that's huge. A lot of kind of like lifestyle niches do really well on Pinterest. Yeah. So one thing that I've noticed in just the business world is that a lot of people I feel like are hesitant to get on Pinterest. I launch a lot of websites and when I ask people for their social links, I feel like the number of people that I see putting a Pinterest social link has gone down or they'll send me a link and they haven't pinned anything in a while.
00:03:31
Speaker
And so can you talk about like why it's still relevant this year in 2024? Sure. So like I said, I feel like Pinterest has gotten more popular in the last couple of years and I saw like a big push on Instagram or like different marketing blogs saying like, okay, you got to get on Pinterest. So I feel like a lot of people hopped on it because they kept seeing that they needed to be on it, but they didn't know how to use it.
00:03:58
Speaker
So it works a lot different than Instagram. And I think people are just comfortable using Instagram because they know how to use it in their personal life. So it translates a little more easily to using it as a marketing platform. Whereas Pinterest, the way you use it personally is very different than how you use it from a marketing standpoint.
Pinterest vs Instagram: Traffic and Engagement
00:04:17
Speaker
So yeah, I think people hopped on it because they kept hearing about it, but didn't have the skill set or the knowledge on how to use it, right? So it's dropped off a little, but the platform itself hasn't changed in terms of being an amazing marketing platform. And I think when people have the understanding both of what the purpose of Pinterest is for your marketing and how to use it, they see really awesome results from it.
00:04:42
Speaker
Yeah, we definitely see a lot of traffic still from Pinterest to our site, into our blog posts. And we've noticed that unlike something like Instagram, the traffic keeps coming for not just like days, but months and even years later.
Effective Pinterest Marketing Strategies
00:04:57
Speaker
We've done a few Pinterest episodes before that we'll make sure that we link to in the show notes.
00:05:01
Speaker
But if somebody has no idea how to start marketing themselves on Pinterest, what would you say is the biggest difference? Because you mentioned that it's different from Instagram and other social media. So do you have a great strategy that they could get started with? Sure, yeah. So the first thing I would say is understanding how to think about Pinterest. So Pinterest is actually much more similar to Google than it is to Instagram.
00:05:26
Speaker
The people are on there searching for things. So when you're marketing yourself on Pinterest, you want to think from an SEO and keyword standpoint more so than the way you would market yourself on Instagram. So I can talk about.
00:05:41
Speaker
2024 best practices because things have changed a little bit. But the main thing would be you want to be creating content that your user is looking for on Pinterest. And if you think for yourself how you use Pinterest, you're going there typically for three things. You're looking for ideas, you're looking for inspiration, and you're looking for information.
00:06:01
Speaker
So in the sense of a web designer, people are probably going on searching for things like neutral web design inspiration, modern web design ideas. So you want to be creating content that meets people where they are, which is searching for these three things and using great visuals and strong SEO and keywords to make sure that your content reaches them in the search results.
Content Strategy on Pinterest
00:06:25
Speaker
And would you say that this is true? Like any business could find success on Pinterest or would you say that it works best for certain types of businesses? I mean, there are certain businesses that are going to thrive on Pinterest, like big topics like weddings, travel, design, home interiors, recipes. These are super popular, which is awesome. But you know, it also means that it's a lot more competitive.
00:06:46
Speaker
So sometimes a niche down business that might not be in the top 10 most popular things on Pinterest can see a lot of success quickly because there's simply less competition. So there are such a wide variety of topics on Pinterest. So chances are it's going to be a good spot for you.
00:07:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think that a lot of people are going to be excited to hear that. What if we start talking about some of the things that have changed in Pinterest? Cause I know that several years ago, like looping pins used to be really popular and I don't think that's as relevant anymore, right? Like that's a no-no on Pinterest from what I've heard. So can you talk about some of the things that we should be sharing on Pinterest? Like what is Pinterest looking for and what is it going to like help you perform better?
00:07:30
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. So the two main differences I would say from when I first started on Pinterest and even like pre 2020, our previously you're supposed to curate a lot of content. So pinning a lot of other people's content. Now I recommend almost exclusively pinning your own content.
00:07:45
Speaker
And second is like you mentioned that looping. So looping is when you would have the same pin going out over and over and over for like months on end. And now Pinterest wants to see less content, but what they call fresh content, so new to Pinterest. So like when I first started, I was probably pinning about 100 pins a day because it was a mix of those loops along with other people's pins. And now like five to 10 pins a day is great. So emphasizing your content and new content.
00:08:15
Speaker
I feel like a lot of people are going to be excited for that because it feels much more manageable than 100 pins a day. Is there like an emphasis on idea pins versus like the more traditional pins? Like where should people be putting their Pinterest focus? So I recommend putting your focus on static pins. So just that regular traditional pin. Pinterest really tried to push idea pins a couple of years ago and they've kind of phased them out. And from a Pinterest like marketers perspective, they weren't that great because
00:08:45
Speaker
For the most part, they didn't link out to your website. And one of the main purposes of Pinterest is to get that website traffic. Video pins are something else that are worth experimenting with. They do link out to a website, but it's not as easy for the user to click out. So I still don't put a big emphasis on them, but they're always worth testing. And for certain niches, they tend to do well. Like I see it a lot for hair tutorials, crafting tutorials,
00:09:13
Speaker
like recipes sometimes. But if that sounds too complicated, I say stick to standard pens and you'll do just fine. That's what I do 99% of the time for my clients.
Repurposing Instagram Content for Pinterest
00:09:23
Speaker
Okay. That's good to know. Cause I do feel like a couple of years ago, I was hearing that you should really be pushing idea pens, which kind of felt frustrating. Like you said, because you can't link anywhere else. And so it's like, I'm sharing this and it doesn't actually link to my website. And like, maybe I could go on my phone and tag products, but that's a lot of work.
00:09:40
Speaker
So I think that that's good to hear that those are being phased out and that the more traditional pins are still working and that you don't have to put such an emphasis on video pins. Would you say that people like it's worth repurposing your Instagram content? Like if you post a reel and let's say it does really well on Instagram, is it worth also taking that reel and posting it on Pinterest?
00:10:01
Speaker
So that totally depends. Something works really well on Instagram. It's going to work well on Pinterest, but the type of content that does well on Pinterest is often very different than what does well on Instagram because again, Instagram is that like social platform. Like people want to know the business owner. They want to know the blogger. They want to see behind the scenes of your daily life on Pinterest. It's more about the user. Like they don't care about you. They care about
00:10:27
Speaker
the product that you're talking about or the recipe you're sharing. So I have a photography client who creates reels with just kind of like a slideshow of like her best photos from each wedding. And those do well because it's still giving people that visual inspiration, like wedding pose ideas. But if you have a reel that's performing really well on Instagram, say like you talking to the camera about your morning routine, it probably won't do as well because no one cares about you on Pinterest. They care about themselves.
00:10:57
Speaker
So sometimes if it works, it's great to try repurposing it, but make sure it's about the user and not about you.
Optimizing Pinterest Boards and Pins
00:11:06
Speaker
Okay. And what about like different boards that people should be creating? Like, is it good? I know you mentioned just like your content. So if you're just sharing your content, is it good to spread it out throughout several different boards and try to optimize the names of those boards? Or do you recommend just having like one big board that you drive all of your traffic to?
00:11:25
Speaker
So I recommend if you're just starting out like seven to 10 boards is great and you can go from there. And yeah, previously I know best practice was to have like one board where everything you pinned went to like along with other boards. But now I really like to just have them spread out by category. So say if you are a web and brand designer, you'd have a few different boards that are optimized for website design, a few for branding.
00:11:52
Speaker
maybe some for marketing tips so yeah like a nice kind of variety of boards. I recommend when you're starting off go pretty broad and then if you find like certain types of pins like maybe neutral web designs do really well maybe creating a board specifically for that.
00:12:09
Speaker
And if somebody were like a photographer, for example, do you think it's good to just straight pin their images or do you think it's also good to mix in pins that maybe have text over them that link back to a blog post? Like do you have tips for like the way that your pins should look?
Managing Pinterest Marketing Efficiently
00:12:24
Speaker
Yeah. The visual aspect is super important, not just because like pretty images do well, but also Pinterest uses visual search. So like if there's top ranking photos or blog posts images and you can get yours to look similar, like not copying, but similar, it helps Pinterest to recognize yours as like a high quality top performing pin and helps you rank higher. But so in the case of a photographer,
00:12:50
Speaker
I do recommend a mix because I find just like straight images are great, but you're more likely going to get a lot of impressions and a lot of saves on these. There's less of like a call to action for someone to click through. So what I recommend photographers do, and this would apply to like
00:13:12
Speaker
any kind of designer, home decor, interiors, anything where you have a lot of like really good visual photography, wedding planners, you share your straight images and then also mix in some blog post graphics. So, you know, the top five wedding venues in New York City or even like creating collage style pins with a few different images and then even just text saying like,
00:13:37
Speaker
a New York City wedding. Just so it kind of like triggers to people like, oh, there's going to be more if I click through. Like I want to see more of this. So a nice mix is what I recommend. Okay. Awesome. So if somebody only had like 30 minutes a week to put into Pinterest, where would you say that they focus their time?
00:13:54
Speaker
So if you only have 30 minutes a week, I would say get on a schedule or like tailwind and schedule out your pins in advance so you can like set it and forget it. And yeah, like you want to make sure that you have pins going out daily. I said five to 10, but like if you only have time for one to two, do that and prioritize consistency over like sporadic pinning. So yeah, sit down for 30 minutes and get some pins out or lump it together, sit down for two hours and schedule out for the whole month.
00:14:24
Speaker
And can somebody make like one Pinterest graphic that looks like several different versions of a Pinterest graphic that links to the same content? Like, is that still a good practice to do?
00:14:35
Speaker
Yeah. So even though we're pinning a lot less, we're not like putting one pin out per blog post. So if you're like listening to this and thinking, okay, I still need five to 10 pins per day. Like that doesn't mean five to 10 blog posts are going out. So say you have one blog post or one portfolio piece, I would create, you know, anywhere from five to even 10 graphics or images for that one post and then schedule that out to maybe five boards.
00:15:04
Speaker
So you end up getting around 30 or more
00:15:09
Speaker
actual pins per URL or per piece of content. That's also a great way probably to bring old content back to life that like maybe was popular a year ago or even a few years ago and then you can create a fresh batch of pins for it and then resave those and schedule them to your Tailwind account. Does somebody need Tailwind? Is that like to also best practice or do you think that they could get away with just like the regular like pin it browser button that you can add?
00:15:37
Speaker
Tailwind is just a huge asset because it lets you schedule out so far in advance. I think in the native Pinterest scheduler you can do 30 days, but Tailwind really is just a lot easier. I know their rates have gone up because they've added a lot of features that
00:15:52
Speaker
aren't necessarily relevant to Pinterest, so that is a little bit of a deterrent, but it just makes things so much easier. I know there are other Pinterest schedulers out there, but I think a lot of them like started with Instagram and Facebook and added Pinterest on, whereas Tailwind started with Pinterest, so it's like super geared towards that, but you could use the Pinterest Native Scheduler or a different scheduling tool too.
Pinterest Trends and Strategic Planning
00:16:16
Speaker
Yeah, our team has tried later because I know that they've added in scheduling Pinterest pins. And like you said, it's just kind of clunky. I think it's hard to schedule a lot at once. And there were a few others that we tried this past year just to like see if we could combine all of the different things that we're paying for into one piece of software, but we still use Tailwind because like it really does seem to be the best Pinterest scheduler.
00:16:42
Speaker
Yeah, that might change, but for now, Tailwind is my recommendation. So one of the reasons that we wanted to have you on the show is because we saw you share on your Instagram account a post about using Pinterest trends. Can you talk a little bit more about what the report is that Pinterest releases? Maybe how often they release it? And then how can businesses leverage the trends to drive more traffic to their sites this year?
00:17:07
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. So every year, Pinterest puts out a predicted trend report for the upcoming year. So these are things that aren't actually trending up, but they predict will become really big on the platform and they break it down into different niches and different demographics. So yeah, it's super cool. It's fun to look at. And then from a marketing perspective, it's awesome because you can kind of get a jump on different content trends.
00:17:34
Speaker
So if you're say a food blogger and you go in and look at what's supposed to be big in food this year, you can start creating recipes or pins about this and kind of get a jump on these trends so that you're ready for them or even ahead of the curve. What are some of the things that you saw are going to be trending this year?
00:17:51
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I looked at it like a month ago and can't remember. My mind's blank on the trends. But if you search Pinterest predicts 2024, you can see like travel, fashion, food, wellness. Okay. And are you using some of these in your own business too?
00:18:06
Speaker
Not so much because marketing is a little different, but I use them for my clients a lot. So there wasn't many in terms of like the trends report that I'm using, but an extension of the trends report is Pinterest trends tool. And I use that a lot for my business and all of my clients. And that's a super effective and I think underused tool that Pinterest offers for free that anyone can use if you have a business account.
Benefits of Pinterest Business Accounts
00:18:33
Speaker
So this tells you what's trending in
00:18:36
Speaker
every different niche throughout the months. So it's like a lot more granule than the report. And it's not predictions, it's telling you it's actually trending right now. So I'll look at that, like for marketing right now, there's a lot around different Canva fonts, there's a lot around creating like business vision boards. And so pretty much anytime I'm creating content for my clients, I'm going into the trends tool. I'm looking at what's trending right now.
00:19:02
Speaker
and I'm grabbing relevant terms that people are searching for. And I use it to recommend blog post topics to my clients. Okay, that's really helpful. And so somebody needs to be a business account in order to see that, right? Is it hard to change over to a business account? Is there a long process in that? No, that's super easy to do. And if you're marketing on Pinterest, the business account is like absolutely essential.
00:19:25
Speaker
So you just switch, it takes like two seconds and then you'll just fill in some information, put your URL in. There's a little bit on the backend you need to, it's called claim your website. So you just put like a little piece of code onto your website and then you get access to all of Pinterest business features, which includes analytics, which is like really the only way you're going to know what is and isn't working.
00:19:45
Speaker
And then you get the trends report and then it also claims all of your content. So anytime someone pins something from your website, even if it's not on Pinterest, like we don't see it on Pinterest, they want to pin it from your website, then all of that data is pulled for you to look at too.
Organic vs Paid Pinterest Strategies
00:20:01
Speaker
So that's an essential.
00:20:02
Speaker
So we have a business account. If you see something that is performing well, do you think it's worthwhile putting money behind it to promote it as a paid pin? Or do you think it's better to stick to organic pins? I'd love to know just from like a personal perspective. Sure. Yes.
00:20:17
Speaker
So I only do organic marketing and I kind of hear mixed things about ads. What I would recommend against is like say a pin is doing well and you're like, oh, I'll just throw a little bit of money behind this. Ads on Pinterest like tend to need to be more consistent. So if you're deciding to get into paid marketing, you want to stick with it. It's like a long-term thing. And I know like if you kind of just throw a bit of money behind a pin now and then,
00:20:43
Speaker
can kind of hurt your organic traffic. So I would say you either do organic or you decide you're in on the paid. Yeah, and paid can work really well. And I also recommend paid for local businesses. So because there's no location targeting for organic marketing. So if say you're a local photographer in a small area, that could be a great option for you.
00:21:06
Speaker
Do you know if somebody needs like a big budget to get started with that or can they start smaller and then scale? I think the typical recommendation is around like $50 a day. But again, I don't really do ads, so I'm not too sure on that. But you know, it doesn't need to be crazy.
00:21:25
Speaker
I've heard people get great returns, but yeah, I can't really speak to that too much. Yeah, that's helpful to know that it might be worthwhile for local businesses because I know that we have a lot of photographers who listen to this podcast and so maybe that's something that they explore. I know I've seen a lot of like Pinterest ads resources out there and there are also people who like that's their niche. They just work on Pinterest ads.
00:21:48
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I would say if you want to get into ads, I would work with someone outside of Pinterest because I know that you can get ad support from Pinterest, but from what I've heard, they kind of like push you to spend more than you might need to. So I would look for someone who's third party that offers Pinterest ads. I can offer recommendations of people
00:22:08
Speaker
want to email me because there's a few people I know that do ads. But yeah, it can be great for local business. Like say, you know, weddings are huge on the platform. So if someone's going to be on Pinterest planning their wedding and you're in their local area offering wedding photography, wedding florals, whatever it is, you know, you can have your ads targeted to people in your area searching for weddings.
Understanding User Intent on Pinterest
00:22:30
Speaker
So it can be great, especially for local business. Yeah, that's really good to know. Is there anything else that you want people to know about Pinterest marketing for 2024?
00:22:38
Speaker
I think the main thing I always come back to is just understanding the Pinterest user. So understanding why they're on the platform helps you to know what kind of content they are going to want.
00:22:53
Speaker
So the Pinterest audience is known as a hot cold audience. They're a hot audience because they're actively looking for something. Like they're not passively scrolling on Instagram and then your business pops up and it's almost like disruptive to their scroll. Like they want to see what you're putting out there. So getting like really strong visuals and really good SEO and keywords is going to get your
00:23:17
Speaker
content in front of that audience that wants your content. But they're cold because chances are they've never met you before, unlike someone who's already followed you on Instagram and is seeing your post there. So they might need a bit of warming up before they're ready to purchase something or sign up with you. So creating free quality content that's going to get people into your sales funnel is the best way to be using Pinterest.
00:23:40
Speaker
Right. And I think that that's probably true for like any platform out
Pinterest Management Services by Kate
00:23:44
Speaker
there. Like the goal is always to get them to the funnel because that's going to warm them up and then lead to the sale. So such great advice. And it all kind of like flows in with what we often talk about on the show. If somebody is interested in working with you, where can they learn more? And do you have any like great resources that they could use to get started?
00:24:03
Speaker
Yeah, so I have a free Beginner's Guide to Pinterest. So if you want to go to my website, you'll probably link it. Yeah, we can link it in the channel socials.com. And then you can sign up for the free guide there. And then I also have like tons of blog posts on my blog, talking about everything from
00:24:20
Speaker
Well, pretty much a lot of what we talked about today. The Trends tool, understanding the Pinterest user, how to set up a business account, how to do your keyword research. So there's tons on the blog. And I also share additional tips on Instagram. And yes, my services page is linked there if anyone's interested in how we can work together.
00:24:39
Speaker
Yeah. So if anybody like listen to this and like, yes, I want to do a Pinterest, but I don't have the time for this or I don't want to put all this research in, they can hire you correct to do their monthly Pinterest management, which is like so big and such a huge service.
00:24:52
Speaker
It's nice to just take it off your plate, especially like I said, because it's so different from social media that some people want to dive in and learn it for themselves. And other people are like, that's just a whole platform. I don't have the time or interest in learning.
Closing Remarks and Resources
00:25:05
Speaker
Yeah, totally. Well, thank you so much for joining me. And yeah, thank you for sharing your Pinterest insights this year. Thank you so much. It was so fun chatting with you.
00:25:13
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to the Brands of Bookshelf. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, and sharing this episode with others. For show notes and other resources, head on over to davianchrista.com.