Want some tips on how to create that elusive viral pin? Well if you’re here you probably fall into one of two camps. One, you are a newbie pinner, trying to get your head around how Pinterest works and keen to understand how to make your pins popular on the platform. Or two, you’re a more seasoned pinner and have experienced a couple of viral pins in the past but can’t seem to make it happen again. Don’t worry, whichever camp you come from, these tips will help you achieve that elusive viral pin.

Before we start, let’s get something straight. There are no guarantees. You can do all of these things and see incredible success on a few pins, or you can throw out any old pin with no real strategy and see it send you bucket loads of traffic in an instant. The latter is just luck though, and applying consistent, considered methods will see more consistent results.

So let’s dig in:

The Content:

Pinners are looking for answers to their problems, a solution and some help or advice, so you need to ensure that your pin, and the content it promotes does exactly that. Make sure you’re offering a fix. Don’t just tell them about a product you’re selling, or a trip you took or a craft you made. Tell them why they need it and how your knowledge will benefit them.

The Pin Image:

The next ingredient in the mix must be the actual image you use to represent your pin. It needs to be inspiring, great quality, high resolution and something that catches the eye. Use a lifestyle image rather than a product cut out and limit your use of a human face. Deeper, darker colours like reds and oranges work better than blues. Add text onto the image to help convey the message of the pin and the content behind it.

The Pin Description:

This is so much more important than people think. Getting the description right will help the pin get found in the search results, a key element of success on Pinterest. So make it long and natural. Right organic sentences packed with keywords that represent your brand, blog and pin content. Don’t just list off keywords but make them useful and inspiring. Engage with the pinner, encourage them to click through and view the content behind the pin.

Where to Pin:

So once you’ve made your beautiful pin and written your inspiring, relevant description what do you do with it? Well you need to pin it to all of the relevant boards on your profile. Firstly look at your own personal boards and add it to any of them where it’s a good fit. Then identify which of your group boards, those in which you are a guest editor will be relevant and add it there too. If you’re using a scheduler like Tailwind, spread out the pinning over a section of days or even weeks and prevent spamming your feed.

Be Patient:

Don’t worry if nothing happens immediately. Sometimes it takes weeks and even months before a pin takes off. Sometimes it can be seasonal, and you need just the right event to happen to help your pin along. So, don’t go deleting it just yet. Be patient and watch and wait. Great things can still happen.

What’s Next:

Well if you’ve done all the above and thrown your great looking pin out onto Pinterest, you might think that’s all you have to do. This is where most people get it wrong. You can’t just appear on Pinterest once every few weeks, pinning some of your amazing content and expecting it to do well. You have to show up and be present on the platform consistently. You have to pin regularly, every day. And you have to pin your content and pins from other people. You have to build great boards relevant to your brand, set up a great profile that Pinterest loves and you have to turn off the mentality that you need lots more followers. Now that sounds like a lot, but it’s really quite straight forward if you just give it a little time.

If you want to know more about building your audience and using Pinterest effectively for your blog or business, you can use my free 7 day course – 7 Days to a Killer Pinterest Strategy. Sign up is free, and you’ll get 7 days of emails direct to your inbox covering all the essential aspects of Pinterest for bloggers and businesses.

And don’t forget to Pin this so you can refer to it later:

Jen x