Pinterest for Creatives: How to Make the Most of It
It’s not always easy to find inspiration for your creative projects. That’s why a lot of us turn to browse Pinterest for it. With never-ending content flow, it helps to find, collect, and organize ideas: from graphic design to product packaging.
Yet, Pinterest is more than beautiful mood boards and fancy pictures. Although it doesn’t have a reputation as a platform for promoting your work, with more than 400 million monthly active users, it can also be a powerful marketing tool for designers.
No worries! If you’ve overlooked all the benefits of Pinterest, we prepared a few tips to help you. Learn what Pinterest is good for and how to make the most of it!
Why is Pinterest unique?
Pinterest is an online platform for searching, collecting, and sharing pictures. Unlike other social media networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, it doesn’t emphasize its social media component.
User engagement within the platform is very limited. That’s why Pinterest is mainly filled with creativity and inspiring content rather than selfies, toxic comments, or fake news. To prove that ideas value more than likes, Pinterest creators even killed off the “Like” button several years ago. The company said it’s easier for users to engage with content without it. All in all, Pinterest made sure to eliminate any distractions and let you calmly submerge into your visual discovery.
Additionally, Pinterest doesn’t work with feed algorithms, so your pins are there forever! They show up over and over again when someone is typing a related keyword. This means they have more staying power than posts on other popular social networks.
How can you use Pinterest?
1. Search for inspiration.
Pinterest is all about visuals, making it the perfect place to search for fresh ideas. Although there is a lot of content, you can quickly organize it and save it for later. You can also create private boards if you don’t want anyone to see your saved pins.
Thousands of talented photographers, designers, illustrators, and all other types of content creators share their work on Pinterest. Try to follow some of them for a start. You can do a keyword search to see what pops up. Both concrete and abstract search queries can return tons of compelling results.
2. Sharing your work.
If you want your work to get more exposure, showcase it on Pinterest. You can either use one general board for all works or create different boards for every project. Both ways, your pins will get noticed and shared by other users. But don’t get too promotional; you don’t want to scare away anyone interested in your creations.
The best thing about sharing your work on Pinterest is that its algorithms offer users related images based on their personal preferences. This means your works will reach a wider audience that may not be familiar with you. This way, Pinterest constantly circles your work, exposing it to new users.
3. Networking.
All sorts of creatives have active Pinterest accounts, making it relatively easy for a professional to connect with the community. Following and interacting with other talented creators is a great way to get noticed. This can help you find new opportunities and collaborations outside your network.
Search for thematic group boards to showcase your work alongside other talented creators. Getting involved in collaborations is a good way of sharing your work with a broader audience.
Here are several essential tips:
1. Add descriptions.
Pinterest works like a search engine for visuals. Therefore, each of your pins should have a short description for better evaluation of search results. Explain your pin in 100-500 characters using several keywords, and try to make your captions more specific.
2. Use the right dimensions.
Usually, vertical pins perform better than horizontal ones. This is due to the way they are displayed on the platform. To get better interaction with your pins, it’s essential to stick with a 2:3 aspect ratio. You can also use the standard pin size of 1000×1500 pixels, but 600×900, 1200×1800, or 2000×3000 pixels will also work.
3. Polish your account.
Don’t forget to add a brief introduction to the “about” section, upload a profile picture, and add your website or portfolio link. This establishes you as a professional, makes your account more reliable, and helps people contact you if they like your work.
4. Keep pinning.
Coming with new content on the regular is essential, so that people see you are active and have something to share. The most popular boards are updated regularly, so new visuals constantly show up to users. Pinterest recommends making a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 25 pins per day.
To wrap up
Pinterest is a great platform for searching and organizing visuals, but it also has many other opportunities that are often overlooked. It can help you showcase and promote your work, reach new audiences, and network with the professional community. Take some time to explore Pinterest and its features to make most of it.
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