How to Go Viral on Pinterest in 2023
Want to know how to go viral on Pinterest in 2023? If you do, you might remember how easy it was to go viral back in the day. You remember? There was a time when you could pin like crazy on Pinterest and get tons of traffic to your website in a major and viral way. It was freaking awesome!
Pinterest used to be effortless.
Those were the days…before Pinterest realized people were abusing the algorithm, spamming people, and misleading their audience. People can suck sometimes and they just had to ruin it *insert eye roll emoji*
Then, Pinterest started changing things to improve their platform which was great – but unfortunately left us Pinterest Marketing Experts feeling a little lost. What used to work no longer worked. What was easy peasy was a little more challenging. And frankly, it’s 2023 and some people still don’t know how to grow on Pinterest anymore. Enter…me 😉
I am going to share with you what you should be doing and not doing in order to go viral on Pinterest. By the end of this post, you can take a deep breath and know you know a little more about what you’re doing on this amazing platform. So, let’s learn some steps to go viral on Pinterest.
#1 Fresh Content to Go Viral on Pinterest
You might remember from my post earlier this year about 10 Pinterest mistakes to avoid in 2023 that I mentioned stale content. That is content that isn’t fresh. This was pretty solid advice. Pinterest does NOT like stale content. Since changing their algorithm, Pinterest has made it more and more clear that they don’t want people pinning to the same URL over and over – meaning, they want you pinning to a brand new link more and more.
Pinterest doesn’t want you spamming their platform with the same information. Instead, they want fresh, new, and trending information on their platform.
This means, you’ll want to be creating new content (blog posts, videos, podcasts, products, etc.) in order to go viral on Pinterest.
#2 Idea Pins...PIN IDEA PINS!!!
Idea pins will help you go viral on Pinterest #facts
Listen, if you’re butthurt because you can’t link idea pins directly to your website like you can regular pins…you’re going to have to let it go. Pinterest LOVES idea pins. And the more you create and pin, the happier Pinterest will be with you. And you CAN pin product and affiliate links to idea pins – so, I mean…that counts for something. But even if you can’t link anything to them, you should still be adding idea pins to your marketing strategy.
Just pin them! I promise you that you will see more traffic, sales, and growth.
#3 Pinterest SEO
I’ve talked about using Pinterest SEO plenty before. Pinterest is a visual search engine and so you need to treat it as so. SEO is Search Engine Optimization which means you need to add keywords to your Pinterest copy in order to be found more often in the large and amazing world of Pinterest. If you want to go viral on Pinterest, you need to start doing some Pinterest keyword research!
Don’t stress if you’re clueless about Pinterest keyword research because I teach you all about it in this video!
#yourewelcome
#4 Titles, Descriptions, & Boards Should be Keyword Rich
I mentioned Pinterest SEO but I wanted to clarify as to where you should be adding these keywords:
- Pinterest Profile Name
- Pinterest Profile Description
- Pin Titles
- Pin Descriptions
- Board Titles
- Board Descriptions
- Pin ALT text (I always add keywords to these just in case)
Always create keyword-rich titles for your pins where you’re incorporating those awesome keywords into it. And when you go to type your description, add some keywords to it as well. My Proper Pin Guide gives you some Pinterest SEO tips on adding keywords to your pins the proper way.
#5 Consistency = Going Viral on Pinterest
Listen, if you follow me you’ll learn that I am not super consistent. I am a busy mom, wife, business owner, and chronic Netflix binger. And I have adult ADD to make things worse. While I can manage and grow Pinterest accounts like there’s no tomorrow and am super consistent for my clients…I am not that consistent at all with my own marketing.
I get it…Life happens and there’s more to do than there is time to do it all!
But this is solid advice that we all should follow…even me. Being consistent is a surefire way to go viral on Pinterest. You see, what happens is that Pinterest’s algorithm starts to see you as an authority in your niche. The more content you pin on Pinterest, the more Pinterest will acknowledge you and show your pins to the Pinterest world.
And keep in mind that Pinterest pins show up on Google in the search results too! So your pins can start popping up all over Pinterest and Google.
But if you aren’t consistently pinning, Pinterest won’t respect your work. You need to make sure you’re being consistent on the platform and proving your worth. And if you’ve got adult A.D.D. like me and struggle to focus, you can learn how to improve your focus and motivation here. This way, you can stay consistent!
#6 Bold & Clear Images
There is nothing worse than seeing a pin that I can’t wrap my mind around. You want to make sure that your pins are easy to read, clear, and bold. Here’s a little Pinterest secret…Pinterest loves white backgrounds because that text overlay really pops out at you! It makes it crystal clear for people to understand what your pin is all about and what they will receive when they click on it.
You can find some excellent visual marketing design tricks in this post.
But I created a little sample for you to really show you how just changing the background and text overlay placement can make a HUGE DIFFERENCE in the success of your pin design.
Here’s a free guide to creating a proper pin on Pinterest in case you need a little extra help.
#7 Add CTAs to Your Pins!
People NEED to be told to take action to actually take action. You would be surprised now many people won’t click on your pin unless it literally tells them to – so make sure to have a CTA or Call To Action on your pins. This article shares 75+ Pinterest Pin Call to Action Ideas. I suggest giving it a look to get some inspiration
You don’t have to necessarily add a CTA to all of your pins. I always suggest to try adding some CTA buttons or phrases to some of your pins and see how they perform compared to others. Marketing strategies are not “one size fits all” by any means. You always want to try new things out, give them some time, see how they perform, and then decide whether you should continue or stop them.
However, it will help your pins go viral on Pinterest if you add a good clear CTA to get your audience to take action. 😉
#8 Branding
Since we are on the topic of design, let’s talk about branding your pin designs. I wrote this entire post about why branding is important and even a bit of the psychology behind it. If you haven’t already read it or have no clue why your pins should be branded just go ahead and read it now.
But to summarize the entire article…branding is super important to help your brand and business become familiar to the Pinterest viewers. It helps your pins start to stand out more. And it can help you go viral on Pinterest.
Make sure your pins have similar colors, fonts, and styles. #takenotes
#9 Pinterest Trends
Make sure you’re utilizing Pinterest Trends. Not just for keyword research but to see what is trending, what kind of content are people searching for on Pinterest, and what kind of topics are becoming popular soon. You can curate your content to fit Pinterest trends.
Pinterest Trends is a powerful tool to help you go viral on Pinterest. It shows you surging trends on Pinterest for the week – and what’s trending in their most popular categories, such as Fashion, Food & Drinks, Beauty, Home Decor, and Travel. It is so amazing to know what people are interested in. Clearly, you can see why this can help you go viral on Pinterest.
Now…Pinterest Predicts is a whole nother ball park and powerful tool too! It’s a great way to find out what Pinterest’s audience is going to be into in the future…that’s right…in the future! So, you can be prepared. And it’s super simple to use! Pinterest Predicts has been accurate with their predictions of what’s going to be trending 8 our of 10 times! That’s pretty good!
#10 Use Different Types of Pins
Always make sure you’re utilizing the different styles of pins that you can pin on Pinterest! You can pin static pins which are static images or video pins which are just that…videos. You should be pinning Idea pins which have multiple pages with different tips, tricks, products, or information on each page in either static or video format. Some idea pins can even be repurposed IG reels or simply a one page video format. You can also pin carousel pins that allow you to pin multiple photos into one pin placing the photos on different pages OR you can create a collage pin which is a photo collage with the different images.
The reason you should pin different types of pins is to see what you’re audience prefers. Some people prefer static pins. Some might love looking through the idea pin pages or collage pin pages. And some might only love videos. If you pin the different types, you can reach a wider audience and also learn about what your target audience likes.
#11 Use Pinterest Analytics
Looking at and analyzing your Pinterest analytics is another way to go viral on Pinterest. How do you do this? Well, it’s simple. When you go to your analytics page on Pinterest, it’ll show you several things: Impressions, Engagement, Pin Clicks, Outbound Clicks, Saves, and more.
You need to make sure you’re going into your Pinterest analytics to see what is and isn’t working with your audience. Are you getting more engagement on your video pins versus static? or vice versa? Are you getting more impressions and pin clicks on your idea pins?
Look at what is working and what isn’t. Then, do more of what is working and less of what isn’t.
Change your strategy based on the performance of your pins. If you get more clicks and engagement on static pins, you’ll know you want to create more of those, etc. This will help increase those impressions, engagement, and traffic to your website – plus give your pins the potential of going viral on Pinterest.
#12 Relevant Content to Relevant Boards
Now, if you want help coming up with a great Pinterest marketing strategy curated for your business. I can teach you here. But I will tell you that one of the things you should be doing in your strategy is pinning relevant content to relevant boards.
For example, if you’re pinning a recipe about easy back-to-school lunches, you’re going to want to pin it to a board with a title and description that is relevant to that information. Pin your back-to-school lunch recipe to a board titled “Kid’s Recipes” or “Easy Lunches” or “Back to School” – the board you pin your content to needs to make sense. Don’t pin your back-to-school lunch recipe to a board titled “Christmas Recipes” or “Home DIY Projects.” That isn’t relevant to the content.
If you want to have a pin go viral on Pinterest, you’ll need to pin relevant content to relevant boards.
#13 Promoted Pin Campaigns
If you know Pinterest like I know Pinterest, then you already know that it can take a WHILE before really gaining traction on the platform.
However, there’s an easy way to really get a pin to go viral. Once you know you’ve created a Pinterest SEO rich high-quality clear and bold pin – you can invest in a promoted pin campaign in order to help that pin get traction.
I’ve been able to get a TON OF TRAFFIC to websites, landing pages, and products with promoted pin campaigns so I highly recommend this method if you want a pin to go viral on Pinterest.
I always recommend to create a campaign for multiple pin designs – try a video and static pin or whatever you already know your audience prefers.
Then curate your pin campaign and change the settings as you learn what is working and isn’t working in your campaign (sound familiar?).
And if you get stuck figuring out how to create a great promoted pin campaign, I’m here to help 🙂
#14 Hiring Help
Ok, I got to admit I’m a bit biased on this topic since I am a Pinterest Marketing Manager – but hear me out. I hear from so many business owners that are doing their social media marketing by themselves that they are too busy to add yet another platform to their to-do list.
I totally get it. But if you’re trying to promote your business on Pinterest and doing the bare minimum, it’s just not going to be that effective.
One of the things you can do to go viral on Pinterest is hiring help – like an expert to manage your Pinterest account. Having an expert to help you with Pinterest can make a HUGE difference in the success of your Pinterest marketing strategy and success.
So, anyways…let’s talk 😉
#15 Patiently Waiting
If there’s anything in this post that you take seriously…it’s this last and final tip.
If you really want to go viral on Pinterest, you are going to have to be super PATIENT.
Seriously, I can’t emphasize this enough. Like I said early on…Pinterest used to be effortless. I remember pinning like a mad woman and getting so much traffic back in the day. But Pinterest has made serious changes to their algorithm and spam filter that changed the speed at which you start seeing results now.
If you want to grow, get consistent traffic, or go viral on Pinterest – you will need to give it TIME. Lot’s of TIME. You will need to be consistent, use a clear strategy, adjust it as you go, and then sit back and patiently wait to reap the benefits of all your hard work.
It might take 6 months before you really start getting good traffic on Pinterest or it might take an entire year before your work pays off! Yup, I said what I said.
If you’re not willing to stick to it, be patient, and wait…Pinterest just isn’t for you. #nuffsaid.
Ending Notes...
Now you know how to go viral on Pinterest in 2023. Well, you’ve got 15 tips to really help you get there.
Remember to really focus on FRESH content. Pinterest loves it. And that idea pins are a must! If you’re not using idea pins, it’ll be tough. Treat Pinterest like a search engine and use Pinterest SEO in all you do – add keywords in titles, descriptions, boards, etc.
Be consistent with your marketing strategy! Consistency is super important. Use bold images with clear branding – and don’t forget to add those CTAs in some of your pins.
Use Pinterest Trends and Pinterest analytics to curate your Pinterest marketing strategy to really set yourself up for success. Make sure you try different types of pins to see what works best with your audience. And always pin to relevant boards that make sense.
Once you’ve got all this down, feel free to invest in a promoted pin campaign and watch your pin go viral – or you can hire a Pinterest Marketing Expert, like me, to help you. But like I said before…the most important you’ll need to remember if you’re trying to go viral on Pinterest, make sales, get website traffic, or grow a following on the platform is that you will need to be PATIENT.
And if this post was overwhelming to you or you were very confused by some of the Pinterest lingo, feel free to reach out to me so I can teach you in more details! Check out my Pin Like a Boss page where you can get one-on-one coaching from me or check out one of the best Pinterest marketing training platforms below.
As always, I am here to help boost your business. Until next time!
If you’d rather watch me talk about all of this instead of reading it, check out my YouTube video below! (THIS VIDEO IS FROM 2022 BUT THESE TIPS STILL APPLY FOR 2023)
Comments? Questions? Ask them below! I will answer as soon as I can 
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