This is one chapter in our “How to Use Pinterest for Business” guide. For others (including how to build your profile and using Keywords for Pinterest), click here. Otherwise, here are our best ways to make pins that drive engagement.
The Perfect Pin
You may have noticed that the best Pinterest profiles have a “look” to them. This is not an accident. These businesses design their pins to get noticed, to get clicks, to get email signups, or to get sales (or all of the above!). And while it does take a little bit of design skill, it is something that you can do as well. You just need to make pins that drive engagement.
I have called this section “The Perfect Pin,” but you can relax. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You just need to follow a few guidelines to make your pins more pinnable. And more pinnable = more engagement and better results.
If you’re not a designer, don’t worry. Follow a few pretty straightforward guidelines, and I think you’ll be surprised at how well your pins do. And, if your pins are terrible today (I am embarrassed to even look at my earliest pins), they will get better. Or, you can get some help making them.
How to make pins that drives engagement:
1. Your Pin must Add Value.
I talk about this a lot. I truly believe that there is no reason to create any content at all unless you are adding value. The definition of add value is broad. Value can be anything informational, inspirational, helpful, humorous, or story-telling.
Whatever you decide to pin, just make sure that it adds something to your readers’ or audiences’ life, in some way. If it doesn’t, your audience will not want to engage with it.
2. Your Pin must be vertical.
You’ve probably noticed that most Pins are vertical. Vertical pins perform better and look much better, especially on mobile.
Pinterest itself prefers a 2:3 ratio. Canva (which is one of my favorite tools) has a template that is 735 x 1102. Whatever size you use, the dimension that will best increase your engagement (pins, saves, clicks, etc.) is 2:3.
Why? Because vertical pins stands out more. Horizontal pins look small (and silly) among their vertical counterparts. And vertical pins look much better on mobile. They allow your text to stand out better, and they stack much more nicely on Pinterest.
For some blogs and shops, this isn’t the best size. I know. It sometimes looks a little funny. But, it is worth creating an image that isn’t necessarily the perfect fit for your site in order to have a more engaging pin. There are ways to hide images on your site or to use images that aren’t on the page itself.
But, be aware that if you hide your vertical pin, you aren’t giving your audience the opportunity to re-pin a vertical, more Pinterest-friendly pin.
3. Your pin should start with a great image.
Pinterest is a visual search engine. So, obviously, the visual side is important. Start building your pins with great images, and you will see more engagement. Pinners prefer contrast against the white background. So, make sure your image is clear and bright.
For more on your images, take a look at this post, which dives deeper into individual images.
4. Your pins should follow your style guide.
You want your Pinterest profile to accurately reflect your brand. There should be clues that your profile and website are the same brand. You want your pins to also reflect your brand. Use your website and social media style guide to create your pins.
If you don’t have a visual style guide, now might be a great time to create one.
What is a style guide? These are the colors, fonts, and styles that you use across your brand. You want your pins to match your website, your emails, your other social media, any product packaging, and anything with your brand name on it. Create guidelines, keep track of your fonts and colors, and be consistent.
Once you’ve developed your style guide, create a few pin templates. I have a handful of templates that are already branded so that when I need to make new pins (at least 2 per post so you can A/B test) I can quickly put an image in, update the text and publish.
5. Your pin should have a text overlay.
Pins should have easy-to-read text describing what you are going to see when you click on the link. The text should be large. You want people to be able to see it even if they are using mobile.
The text should include a call to action and a description of the content you are pinning. Pinners go to Pinterest to solve a problem. You want the text on your pin to accurately and easily answer that problem.
All of this should be in an easy to read, simple font.
Some lifestyle brands and image-centric companies don’t necessarily need a text overlay. Their imagery is so beautiful, it speaks for itself (or any text would just take away from the image). If this is you, recognize this and use the best images that you have available to define your brand.
6. Your pin should be branded.
Not only should your pin follow your style guide, it should also include a logo or a website address. The text description and call to action should be larger than the logo and link. You want it to be branded, but not to scream your brand’s name (remember, most Pinterest searches are unbranded so you are answering a question, not telling them about you).
7. Your pin must be accurate.
Have you ever clicked on a pin and been excited about seeing five great couples Halloween costumes and found yourself at a site that sells vitamins? Yeah? Me too. I hate this. It actually is my number one professional pet peeve. Yes, this is an extreme example. But, you want to give your audience what they are looking for.
Be honest with your text overlay. Give them what they want so that when they get to your site they aren’t disappointed.
If you create a click-bate-style pin, and don’t give your audience what they clicked on, you will get the click but that is about all. Your audience will immediately leave and will likely not click on any of your future pins. You certainly aren’t building trust, an audience, or generating any sales.
8. Your pins should usually be evergreen content.
This isn’t always possible, and isn’t always necessary. But pins last a long time, so if you create evergreen content, your pins will be clickable all year long. Obviously, you will want some seasonal content as your site warrants, but you’ll want to make most of it evergreen.
9. Your images should be named properly.
When you save an image, it is usually automatically saved something like “img_562.jpg” or something else nondescript. This doesn’t help Pinterest understand what your image is and when another user re-pins it, the title will be “img_562.jpg.” Not useful. I titled this post, “Creating Pins that Drive Engagement,” so I have named all of my images “creating pins that drive engagement.jpg.”
This is a super easy step to overlook. I see it regularly. But, It is one of the most important steps. Not just for Pinterest but for your overall SEO strategy. The more often you can tell Pinterest (and Google) what your site and content is about, the better.
Also, most users will not change the title of a pin when they share it, so “img_562.jpg” will follow that pin for its whole pin life.
That’s it. It is pretty straightforward. As I’ve mentioned before there are not tricks to Pinterest, just following best practices to put your content out there in the best way possible. And if you are able to follow these 9 tips to make pins that drive engagement, your engagement will go up!
Now that you know how to create a perfect pin, take some time to go back through your old content and create more pins (remember, at least two for every post, and more for any pillar content or best-sellers). This is the best way to create more Pinterest content without spending tons of extra time.
And, take a look at our Tailwind scheduling guide to learn a little more about the best ways to schedule and promote your awesome pins.
Or head back to the “How to Use Pinterest for Business” guide. And, if you want this guide in a printable PDF, click here.
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