If you want to go viral on Pinterest in 2021, you need to create idea pins as part of your Pinterest strategy. There is no way around it. There is nothing the Pinterest algorithm is pushing more right now organically than idea pins. Luckily for you, they’re pretty easy to create. Today, I’m going to break down for you everything that I did in order to get one of my clients 1 million impressions on one of her idea pins. Before we dive in, and don’t forget to hit the big, red subscribe button and the bell as well as the like button, because it really does help me in the Pinterest algorithm.
Come Up with a Concept
Step number one, was coming up with the concept. We wanted to come up with an idea that was unique. I was looking on her website for something fun to use to create an idea pin with, and I came across an edible tablescape. The deal with idea pins is that they’re not like stories on Instagram. They are there to provide an idea. They are tutorial based informative tips and tricks for you and your Pinterest audience to utilize. That’s why coming up with a concept of an edible tablescape was so unique and a really fun idea to run with that I found on her website.
Popular Niches
Step number two, and the second reason why this idea pin went viral so fast is because it touched upon two of the most popular niches on the platform. An edible tablescape touches upon food and home decor. Normally, when you create content for only one of the most popular niches on Pinterest, it tends to get quite a bit of impression, but the fact that we were able to touch upon two of the really most popular niches, made this idea pin absolutely explode.
Number of Slides
Step number three, that contributed to helping this idea pin go viral on Pinterest was the fact that we utilized more than five slides. Pinterest wants you to create idea pins that really retains the Pinterest user on the platform. The more slides you add to your idea pin, the better it is for you. You definitely don’t want to create less than three.
A sweet spot would be between five and 10. Her idea pin had about five slides and on every single slide we had a different tip. This is really important to remember because it kept the Pinterest user more and more engaged and interested in reading how she came up with her concept and her edible tablescape.
Text Overlay
That brings me to step number four on how to go viral on Pinterest, is really the text overlay that we utilized. What you want to do is have the very first slide of your idea pin, have an engaging title. Not only should your idea pin convey some sort of tutorial based idea, but it should also be an engaging title and it should also be Pinterest SEO friendly. The fact that we utilize the keyword tablescape or edible tablescape was a keyword that’s already looked up on Pinterest.
The word tablescape is definitely looked up on Pinterest. Then we simply wrote out something like, how to create an edible tablescape. The fact that it was a how to was clear indication that it was going to be a tutorial based idea pin. The fact that it was a tablescape had the appropriate keyword for the pin and the fact that we wrote edible tablescape made the pin and very engaging and intriguing to Pinterest users who haven’t come across edible tablescapes before. The majority of the tablescapes we see on Pinterest are really beautifully designed, but never really with edible foods and things like that.
Following Slides
The following slides, each following slide has then an engaging tip as well. Then your very last slide, you want to add a call to action. Something like follow me for more tips. The reason why you want to ask your Pinterest audience to follow you, is because Pinterest presents a follow the creator account at the end of their idea pin. You want to reinforce the fact that people can follow you. You add an extra call to action that way, as opposed to adding a second other type of call to action.
Now, I’m going to explain to you in a minute why you don’t want to promote other pieces of content through idea pins. If you need a complete video tutorial on how to create idea pins from scratch, as well as how to learn what the Pinterest best practices are regarding idea pins, make sure to check out my video.
Pin Description Box
Step number five, was utilizing the pin description box in a really specific way. With idea pins, Pinterest doesn’t want you to go the SEO route. They want you to write the details of your idea pin. If somebody were to recreate your idea pin, they would be able to see the exact details in your description, copy it and paste it to their own notes to look back on later, so when they’re ready to create, recreate your idea, they already have the details needed. For example, for the edible tablescape, not only did we write the ingredients needed, but we also wrote down the decorations needed in order to recreate this idea pin.
Other Content
Another thing to note about how to go viral on Pinterest and idea pin descriptions is that you do not want to tease another piece of content. Idea pins were created by Pinterest to retain the Pinterest user on the platform longer. They don’t want to push out idea pins that are promoting something else that would cause the user to log off of Pinterest and go and see something else.
For example, if you have a blog post that is exactly like your idea pin, you shouldn’t consider, well, you really shouldn’t promote your blog post in the description of that idea pin. For example, you want to avoid writing something like, check out my blog post for more, or check on my Instagram for more tips. Don’t utilize idea pins to tease another piece of content. You want to utilize idea pins to provide better ideas and more tutorials to your Pinterest audience that are already on Pinterest.
Moral of the Story When It Comes to How to Go Viral on Pinterest
If you want to go viral on Pinterest in 2021, you need to be creating idea pins and you need to be creating idea pins that have a unique perspective that not only contains beautiful, inspiring images, but that’s informative, that does not tease another piece of content, and that utilizes multiple slides to retain a Pinterest user on the platform for longer. Not to mention that you have an added bonus, if you or you really do get pushed extra on the algorithm if you touch upon multiple popular Pinterest niches on the platform, and if you have a completely unique take on your idea.
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