Pinterest Best Practices for Idea Pins

How to grow your Pinterest Following with Idea Pins

Have you tried Pinterest’s newest feature yet? Idea Pins (formally known as Story Pins) are exploding on Pinterest right now, and they are easy and fun way to grow your following on the platform, and get new eyes on your brand. But what are they, and what kind of content works best for them? I’ve got you covered in this quick get started guide to Idea Pins.

What are Idea Pins?

Idea Pins are multi-page posts on Pinterest, and they give content creators an opportunity to share more value, inspiration and detail with their audience. You can create Idea Pins directly in the Pinterest app, and the pin builder allows you to create multiple pages, upload videos and photos, and even add text, music, stickers and tag other creators. Unlike standard and video pins, Idea Pins don’t include an outbound link, so you can’t link to your website, but they do include an auto-populated call to action page which encourages users to follow the creators that inspire them. Users can also save Idea Pins to their boards in the same way they could save standard pins, and Idea Pins are also evergreen and searchable.

So, with these different elements in mind, what’s the best way to incorporate Idea Pins into your Pinterest strategy? I’ve been experimenting with Idea Pins for a while, and also have researched the best practices from Pinterest themselves, and have collected together my best tips for Idea Pins that convert:

Use Multiple Pin Pages

One of the key differences between Idea Pins and the other pin types, is the ability to include multiple pages. Because the option is there, we’e safe to assume that Pinterest want us to take advantage of it, so make sure when you create your Idea Pins, you make use of those multiple pages. You can include a maximum of 20 pages, but the optimum amount is between 5-10. You can create your individual pages directly in the Idea Pin builder on the Pinterest mobile app, or you could use another app like Canva to design the pages and then upload them.

Make Your Idea Pins Inspiring

People come to Pinterest to find inspiration for their ideal life, so the best content is inspiring. This advice is no different for Idea Pins, so when you’re thinking of content ideas, ask yourself, how can this inspire my audience, and attract new eyes to my brand? There are plenty of ways to be inspiring with your content. If you’re a product seller, that could be through aspirational lifestyle imagery and video, styling suggestions, or sharing your story as a creative. If you’re a service based business, you could inspire your audience through sharing your best advice, answering their biggest questions, or showing them what’s possible if they were to work with you.

Create Actionable Content

Another important thing about Pinterest content is that it’s actionable. On Pinterest, people are looking for ways to improve their life and become more of the person they want to be, so the content that gets the most traction will help people take action in their lives. Taking action can mean a lot of things, it could be making a decision to buy a new outfit, or something for the home, or it could be taking action in their business life by implementing tips you’ve passed on to them. A great way to make your Idea Pins more actionable is to utilise the multi-page format to take the audience through a process with a beginning, middle and end. You don’t have to share all of your trade secrets, there are so many ways to add value to your audience that will help take them through the journey from not knowing about your brand at all, to becoming a loyal customer.

Use Video and Static Images

Just like on other platforms like Instagram and TikTok, video is fast becoming the highest performing content on Pinterest. Video content is brilliant for helping the viewer take action, get inspired or learn about your product or service in much less time than images alone. You can include both static images and video in your Idea Pins, so experiment with both! Pinterest suggest using video on the cover page of your Idea Pins if possible, because it creates more scroll-stopping content and captures more impressions and engagement.

Remember Your Pinterest SEO

If you’re already working on your Pinterest strategy in your small business, you’ll hopefully know that Pinterest is a powerful search engine. Harnessing that power is all about SEO (or search engine optimisation), which basically means using the right keywords to help more people find your pins in search. Idea Pins are no different, and there are a few places to remember to use keywords to help increase views:

• The Idea Pin title - use long tail keywords and think about what your potential customers might be typing into the search bar when looking for brands like yours.

• The “notes” section - don’t leave this blank! Pinterest will check this section for keywords to help work out the relevancy of your pin, so make sure you describe what your Idea Pin is about, and include words that your ideal customer might use.

• The text on the pin pages - Pinterest can read the text on the pages of your Idea Pins, so think carefully about the keywords you include there too! When it comes to adding text to Idea Pins, using the text function in the app is preferable, because that carries more SEO weight than text added from another app.

• The topic tags - Pinterest gives you the opportunity to add up to 10 topic tags on your Idea Pin, so make sure you use all 10 to really maximise the keywords you have available.

For more tips on Pinterest SEO, check out this Pinterest Best Practices blog post here.

Use Calls to Action Wisely

Let’s address the elephant in the room shall we? If Idea Pins have no access to an outbound link, how are we meant to use them to promote our businesses? I like to think of Idea Pins as the “presence builders” in a Pinterest strategy, so their focus isn’t on growing website traffic, but growing your Pinterest following instead. There are so many benefits to growing your following on Pinterest, it helps to increase brand awareness, and means more people are likely to see your content regularly. Using Idea Pins regularly also helps get more eyes on your standard pins too, so it helps your account as a whole, while being a fun format that helps potential customers get to know you in a new way.

How do we make the most of them strategically though? By using calls to action cleverly within the Idea Pin. As well as the auto-populated “follow” page, you can include your own call to action - such as “view the collection on the website”, or the time old favourite “link in bio”. Remembering to use a call to action at the end of your Idea Pins will help the viewer know how to continue the journey with you next.

Want more free Pinterest tips?

If you enjoyed this blog post and want more help getting Pinterest off your to-do list, sign up for my free Get Started on Pinterest Guide here. You’ll get instant access to my simple step by step guide, to help you get more out of your Pinterest strategy.