Redefining Our Digital Presence: Embracing Pinterest Over Instagram
In a world where social media dynamics are constantly evolving, I recently made a strategic shift from Instagram to Pinterest to better align with my brand’s vision and client engagement goals. Here's how it's been going.
As we navigate through Q2, I’ve taken time to rebrand, reorganize, and reassess my strategies. One significant change? My relationship with Instagram. After 13 years, it felt more complicated than beneficial, leading me to explore other options like Pinterest.
Pinterest has been a part of my journey since the beginning, initially for curating beautiful imagery. Recently, I started using it more strategically, leading to impressive results that are driving the type of engagement I want and leading to aligned inquiries.
First off, let’s take a look at some of my numbers —
I've been fairly consistent with posting (I'll share my loose strategy below), though I know there's still room for improvement and more growth, but since we're here now, I'll share what I'm seeing at this point in time. This is for the last 30 days.
Impressions: 1.83 M
Engagements: 52.42k
Outbound Clicks: 3.37k
Saves: 11.19k
Total Audience: 883.27k
Engaged Audience: 35.21k
But here's the most important number —
In the last month, after a very slow first quarter, I refocused on Pinterest again, and I had THREE dream client inquiries come through Pinterest, and they ALL led to quick bookings of my core brand strategy and design offer.
And I consider that a huge win, especially because they're coming to Slow Dance because of our portfolio of work, our signature style, and an overall alignment and visual resonance.
So with that in mind, I wanted to share some initial thoughts on the power of Pinterest and how to start leveraging it for your own business.
01
Understanding Pinterest’s Unique Strengths
Pinterest stands out as a visual search engine ideal for deep, value-driven engagement and branding. Unlike Instagram, which emphasizes immediate social interaction and visual narratives, Pinterest allows users to discover and curate long-lasting content that can drive traffic back to websites for months or even years. This makes it especially effective for projects that benefit from detailed exploration and continued relevance. Pinterest's structure supports linking directly to external sites, enhancing its utility for driving meaningful web traffic, whereas Instagram is more about capturing the moment and less about direct site navigation.
ACTION ITEM
Audit Your Current Pinterest Use: Review how you currently use Pinterest and Instagram. If you haven't already, set up a Pinterest Business account to access detailed analytics and other business tools. This step will help you strategically use Pinterest to its fullest potential, particularly for driving long-term engagement and traffic to your site.
02
Engaging and Tracking Your Audience
Understanding where your audience comes from and how they interact with your Pinterest content is crucial for refining your marketing strategy.Using contact forms to track leads can be an effective method. For instance, including a simple question on your form like "How did you find us?" with options for different social platforms, including Pinterest, can provide direct insights into which channels are driving traffic.
ACTION ITEM
Additionally, during follow-up calls or communications, specifically ask what pin or content encouraged them to reach out. This direct feedback helps identify which aspects of your content resonate most with your audience, allowing for more targeted future posts. For example, if a pin related to a specific interior design trend consistently draws attention, you might focus more on that area in your upcoming content.
Implement a question on your contact form to determine how new leads find your business via Pinterest. In follow-up communications, inquire about specific pins that captured their interest.
03
Tailoring Your Content to Audience Needs
Understanding your audience's needs is essential for crafting content that resonates and engages. On Pinterest, where visual inspiration drives interaction, aligning your content creation with the needs and journey of your audience enhances connection and relevance. Consider utilizing strategies such as A/B testing to refine your visuals and message, ensuring that each pin is optimized for engagement and appeal.
Detailed Strategy
Audience Alignment: Start by researching your target market to understand their preferences, needs, and the types of content they gravitate towards on Pinterest. This knowledge allows you to create pins that are not only visually appealing but also deeply relevant to your audience's interests and needs.
A/B Testing: Implement A/B testing for your pins by designing multiple versions of the same content with slight variations in visuals, headlines, or calls to action. This method helps identify which elements perform best, providing insights that can be used to enhance future content.
Actionable Steps
Create Engaging Content: Focus on developing pins that reflect your brand's personality and align closely with your audience's interests. Ensure you're sharing high-quality images and designing brand-aligned graphics that stand out in the feed and showcase your signature style (need help with that? We can tackle branded templates in a new Pinterest-specific intensive we’ve been designing!)
Measure and Optimize: Regularly check your Pinterest analytics to track which pins are performing well in terms of engagement, such as saves and clicks. Use these insights to refine your content strategy and improve the effectiveness of your pins.
Here's a little example, below. I've been building out a branding portfolio project and decided to share the first handful of pins all at once, just last week (so they haven't been up for very long). But at a quick glance, this gives me a sense of what's performing best, and some ideas of what to create and test in the next batch.
Note that I'm not just sharing the logo on a solid background as a portfolio pin, I'm creating more of a visual narrative to along with the brand as a whole, and using aligned imagery — in this case, a mix of styled mockups to showcase the brand in use, and some of my own and AI-generated photography.
ACTION ITEM
Audit Your Current Pins: Review your existing Pinterest content and assess which pins are most successful. Use this analysis to understand what resonates with your audience and guide the creation of future content. This ongoing evaluation helps ensure that your content strategy remains aligned with audience preferences and industry trends.
04
Optimizing the User Journey
Understanding how users move from Pinterest to your website is crucial for creating a seamless brand experience. Ensure that the links on your Pinterest lead to specific, relevant pages that continue the story or offer details on your website.
Since Pinterest functions more like a search engine than a social media platform, keywords play a significant role in how discoverable your content is on Pinterest, and the right keywords and titles can increase the visibility of your pins. Incorporate relevant keywords not just in your pin descriptions but also in your titles and even the image file names to optimize your content for search.
Consistency in your branding across platforms also helps in enhancing user recognition and trust. Ensure your Pinterest profile is aligned with your website and other social media platforms in terms of visuals and messaging. This alignment helps in reinforcing your brand identity and makes your content more recognizable across different channels.
Here's a very simple user flow from the portfolio pin that someone might click on, to my desired outcome of them ending up on my contact form.
Action Item
Map out the user journey from Pinterest to your website, ensuring each pin links to a specific, relevant page that continues the narrative or details introduced in the pin, and leads to the desired CTA. Review this journey for any potential disruptions and optimize for a smooth, engaging experience that encourages further interaction with your brand.
05
Strategic Scheduling and Portfolio Integration
Though I do re-pin directly on the Pinterest site or apps, especially when I'm collecting imagery for a specific project or have just fallen into an inspiration rabbit hole, I use Tailwind for my more strategic pinning.
Tailwind allows for effortless pin scheduling, ensuring your content is posted during peak times for maximum engagement. I currently have it set up so that it schedules 15 pins/day, and then within that, I'm adding in 2-4 of my own pins to balance out the re-pins, allowing for a mix of curated and original content. For me, that's a good cadence and frequency.
I tend to view my Pinterest feed as not just a showcase of my work and projects but as an integral part of my portfolio that reflects my design style, aesthetic, overall taste and lifestyle aspect of my brand. This approach helps in creating a coherent brand identity that resonates with your target audience, which is crucial for attracting like-minded clients and partnerships.
Action Item
Take time to map out and visualize your Pinterest feed as part of your broader portfolio. Start using Tailwind to schedule posts, aiming for a mix of original and curated content that showcases not only your work but also your aesthetic and taste. This will help you maintain consistency and extend your brand's reach effectively.
Wrapping Up (—for now…)
There we have it, a little overview of my Pinterest journey thus far. If you're eager to start implementing these strategies but need some guidance on creating a Pinterest strategy or designing graphics that align with your brand and will resonate, we're here to help! Reach out about a Pinterest Intensive and we can spend a day building out a strategy and suite of templates specific for your brand.
One final note before I leave you — a gentle reminder that you don't need to be on every platform, nor should you be following a specific strategy just because it works for someone else. I think that's where I experience a lot of my own social media overwhelm, and why I've been on this journey of continual simplification and trying to embrace what feels right for my own business. Pinterest works for me because yes, I've put in the time and effort, but also because I truly love spending time on the platform and creating content for it.
And that, my friends, is worth paying attention to! ‘Til next time.