Content on Pinterest

Don't have enough content on Pinterest?

On the journey to learning more about Pinterest for business you might stumble upon this feeling that you don’t have enough content to post on Pinterest.

These thoughts might come up because

you’re at the beginning of your business journey,
you’ve focused on other areas of your business like product creation before focusing on content creation or
you don’t yet have a presence on any social media platform or
you’re not a blogger and never plan to be or
you started a blog but haven’t been consistent in posting.

In this blog I break down this common thought that you don’t have enough content to share to Pinterest.

The opportunities to post on Pinterest are truly limitless. This blog helps explore those ideas so that you can take action right away to posting your own business related content to your Pinterest account.

Interested in grabbing 50 Pinterest Video Ideas? Access the list for more ideas for content on Pinterest.

Pinterest Content Origins

To simplify this discussion, let’s put your content into two buckets:

content that lives on rental land and
content that lives on real estate you own.

Content that lives on rented land includes any content that’s posted on a platform that you don’t own.

Examples of rented land are:

Instagram
Facebook
TikTok
YouTube
Snapchat
Lemon8
Pinterest
Shuffles
Etsy

Unless you own these platforms, you are posting content on rented real estate.

Content that lives on real estate you own is

your website in the form of landing pages and blog posts and
your email subscriber list.

When you post content on real estate you own, you control the message and the algorithm. However when you post on rented land you don’t control the algorithm and the message you’re sharing might not ever reach the end consumer.

That’s the risk with posting on rented land.

But there is value to including content on social media platforms that you don’t own. You stand to get discovered and reach audiences you wouldn’t have connected with otherwise. This is the exact reason why a combined approach of posting content in both places is ideal for a well rounded marketing plan.

Specifically using Pinterest as a traffic driver to the content you own on your website helps to open more doors of discoverability to your brand. It also helps with ranking on Google. This is a must if you want to be found in search results on search engines.

Content Posted on Rented Land

The main benefit of already having a working strategy on social media platforms outside of Pinterest is that you can easily repurpose your content that originated elsewhere and bring it to audiences on Pinterest.

Repurposing content saves time, energy and puts your business and brand in front of new audiences to increase discoverability.

You can draw on this content to repurpose to Pinterest as pins. Here’s a list of content to repurpose:

TikTok Video – Pinterest idea or video pin (Pinterest is moving towards one singular pin type, but this is currently being rolled out and isn’t globally released yet)
Instagram live – edited and purposed to Pinterest idea or video pins

Instagram image posts – Pinterest image pin
Instagram stories – Pinterest image pin
Instagram video stories – Pinterest idea or video pin
Facebook post – Pinterest image pin
Podcast interviews – Pinterest image or video pin

Draw upon the list above for ideas on content for Pinterest. The list highlights the many different ways that you can repurpose content from other social platforms and bring them over to Pinterest as repurposed content.

Content Posted on Real Estate You Own

For content that lives on real estate you own, I’m centering the conversation on your website in the form of landing pages and blog posts and your email subscriber list.

These are assets that you own in your business. Whether you just started a new website or have a robust one that gets hit daily with thousands of visitors, each and every page and post of your website can be used as content for Pinterest pins.

These content pages include:

the home page
your about page
product pages
landing pages
blog pages and posts
resources pages

Note that this isn’t an exhaustive list, but here to give you an idea of what types of pages you can share as content on Pinterest.

As a business owner you might have an email subscriber list. If you don’t because you’re just starting out as a new business, I highly recommend that you make this a priority in your business. An engaged email list is a direct line to those who have invited you into their lives via their inbox.

Any email newsletters that you send are the basis of content that you can share on Pinterest. The ideas in your newsletters can be reconstructed as pins for Pinterest. This stretches the longevity of your ideas by sharing them on Pinterest to new audiences.

Another option is to link directly to the URL of your email newsletter. Most email service providers include the option of viewing the newsletter as a stand alone webpage. More on linking coming up with Pinterest’s competitive advantage.

Pinterest's Competitive Advantage

Whether your content mostly lives on rented land or real estate that you own, Pinterest is a powerful addition to your marketing suite because it offers something that you can’t get anywhere else.

Offering something that no one else has is called a competitive advantage. That’s what Pinterest has because of the ability to link on all pins.

[Note: If you don’t see this functionality on your account it might not have rolled out to your country. Hang tight as this is a new change and the release may not have been implemented globally. Other options to try are consider updating the Pinterest app on your phone and deleting the app and reinstalling the app on your mobile device.]

Didn’t know this?

Let me tell you more.

For each and every pin that you create on Pinterest you have the option to add a destination URL link. This means that you’re able to post visuals that attract your audience and then send those viewers to a place that you want them to go.

Pinterest Call to Action (CTA)

It’s like a built in call to action (CTA).

New to marketing lingo? A call to action is some action you want your audience to take. When it comes to Pinterest pins the call to action can vary greatly ranging from a small ask, such as click to learn more, or a larger ask like buy this product.

Pinterest pins present a unique opportunity for business owners who use it. It’s a way to organically market your content in a way that highly resembles a paid ad.

Pinterest Pins as Organic Ads

Think about the components to an advertisement.

An ad pairs visuals with copywriting and a strong call to action. A Pinterest pin is no different. You’re pairing compelling visuals whether by an image or a video, combining it with copy and leading the viewer to take a specific action.

Looks exactly like an ad to me, but the beauty is that the pin is organic marketing and you aren’t paying for it.

Now, you can pay for Pinterest ads which looks exactly the same. The main difference is you will need to pay and the benefit of paying is that you are buying guaranteed views on Pinterest.

Pins you create and fully optimize by adding the optional link is exactly like creating a zero cost ad. You can’t do this on Instagram or TikTok. This is a competitive edge to take advantage of with Pinterest for business.

Content on Pinterest Links

The link that you add to your pinterest pins can come from content that is posted to social platforms and content on real estate that you own.

Which link you choose to add to your Pinterest pin depends on your business objective.

Ask yourself, where do you want to send the viewer?

Do you want to build up your social media accounts? If yes, you might want to link to content on your Instagram account.

Do you want to sell a product? If yes, consider adding a link to your product page on your website.

Think about your business objective as you create your Pinterest pins. This will help guide you on which links to use so that it’s purposeful and makes sense for your business.

No Link Content

Do you have to include a link to each pin? This is a common question that gets asked.

Yes! Some of my content isn’t associated to any URLs.

No link content is content that you create on Pinterest that isn’t going to link out to anything off of the platform.

Remember that linking on pins are optional, so it’s not a requirement.

But choosing not to add a link is a missed opportunity because the viewer may want to learn more about you and your business.

Reasons to Use No Link Content

There are reasons why you might want to create no link content.

It’s frictionless.

If you already have content that you created on another platform an option is to repurpose that same content to Pinterest as a pin.

The ability to add a link to Pinterest pins is a new feature. Prior to May 2023 this functionality existed on certain types of pins only, like static pins and video pins. Today, it’s an option on Idea Pins as well.

On my Pinterest account prior to the linking capability change, I also created no link content. There is value in doing this because no link content can still help you to get discovered by your ideal audiences.

I will always recommend posting imperfect content before not taking action at all. If creating perfect content, that’s fully optimized with all the links is standing in your way of posting to Pinterest, know that perfection has no place on Pinterest.

There is no such thing and I would even say that perfection is an illusion we create as a barrier to taking action.

Conclusion

At first glance you might have thought that you don’t have enough content to post on Pinterest. But the truth is that the flexibility of Pinterest pins makes it so easy to build up a Pinterest presence on the platform.

No matter the stage of business you are in, this post highlights the vast opportunities available with creating content for Pinterest.

The key is to get started and to get out of your own way.

When you’re in a state of confusion, more thinking isn’t going to lead to more clarity. Action is the path to clarity.

If you’re willing to take that action, here’s some homework to get you going.

Write down a list of all your website pages and a list of your highest ranking or viewed content pieces from social media. This is where you start to build out your content for Pinterest. You likely have more content than you realize.

Now it’s time to put pen to paper and take real steps towards establishing a Pinterest presence for your business.

Frequently Asked Questions For Content on Pinterest

Let me help you remove the mystery around content for Pinterest by answering these common questions that come up for content on Pinterest.

How many times do you have to post on Pinterest?

For years those who teach on Pinterest marketing gave an exact number of pins you need to post in order to get success on Pinterest. Even in 2023 I’ve heard numbers as high as 50 or even 11 pins a day. Speaking from personal experience, I have never posted 11 or 50 pins a day and my Pinterest account is very successful by generating traffic and leads to my business every single day. With over 270,000 Pinterest followers I can confidently share that quality rather than quantity in your content drives success to your Pinterest account. Plus, Pinterest learns your pinning cadence and adapts to it. So there is no “standard” number of pins to post. Simply define what is sustainable and works for you and your business and stay consistent with that number over time.

Can I post the same pins to my Pinterest account, repinning my own content?

Yes, there is nothing preventing you from repinning your own content from a technical perspective or limitation on Pinterest. However, this is not a practice I recommend to my students because these practices can flag the spam filters on Pinterest, sending your account directly to Pinterest jail. Yes, Pinterest jail is a thing and you could jeopardize your good standing on Pinterest by engaging in spammy practices like reposting your own content many times on Pinterest.

Is it okay to post only image pins on Pinterest? I don't like to create video content because I'm shy in front of the camera.

While it’s acceptable to post only images to your Pinterest account, this content strategy will likely take a long time to reach your ideal audiences. Pinterest likes to see a mix of pin formats and this variety is what will help your content to be discoverable on the platform. Pinterest is no longer an image only platform. It’s evolved in recent years to be a video viewing platform. With over 1 billion videos being viewed on Pinterest in one single day, there is no escaping the important of using video in your Pinterest marketing strategy.

What is the best time of day to post on Pinterest?

Pinterest is a visual discovery search engine. That means that your content can be shown to those looking for it at any time of the day and get discovered, but only if you are sharing content on Pinterest. The best time to post on Pinterest will depend on several factors one of which is when are your audiences on Pinterest. To find out this information refer to your Pinterest pin analytics.

Personally, on my Pinterest accounts at Tidy with SPARK and Pin with SPARK I do not post based on times zones as my content is evergreen in nature and my audience is based world wide.

What are the benefits or drawbacks if any on using third party app schedulers for posting pins to Pinterest?

There are several options when choosing a third party scheduling app for posting pins to Pinterest. The list of approved partners of Pinterest can be found in this link. The benefits of using a scheduling app outside of Pinterest is that you stand to have additional capabilities beyond what is offered by Pinterest. Pinterest does offer the ability to schedule up to 30 days of Pinterest pins directly through Pinterest. If you want more flexibility and a longer runway of content, other schedulers such as Tailwind and Metricool offers these runways. These are paid products with free versions that are limited in content planning scope. Many wonder if there is any penalty to using the third party app in terms of pin distribution. I have used Pinterest’s scheduler, and Tailwind and Metricool and I have yet to see any different in pin distribution. The best way to measure this is to test this on your own account and evaluate the results.

Interested in learning more from me about Pinterest marketing? Grab this free Pinterest course to get started today.