Whether you’ve been using Pinterest in your marketing strategy for a while now, or you’re just getting started, one thing is for sure: a lot, and I mean A LOT has changed in the Pinterest algorithm this year, and Pinterest marketing in 2021 looks very different than it did in previous years.

Is it still a powerful tool for driving website traffic, email list building, and conversions? Absolutely. But in order to see success on the site, you’ll need to rethink and upgrade your strategies from previous years.

Keep reading to see what you need to know to create a successful Pinterest Marketing strategy in 2021.

1. Focus on original content

Gone are the days when Pinterest wanted you pinning 100 pins per day, mostly of other people’s content. Today, Pinterest wants you posting far less and focusing instead on your own pins. There isn’t a set number of pins you should be pinning daily- just focus primarily on sharing your work. If you blog multiple times per week, you’ll obviously have more to share than someone who blogs a couple of times a month. Focus on sharing your own high-quality content rather than hitting a certain number.

2. Focus on fresh content

Whereas before, Pinners would set their content to repin over and over on a loop, Pinterest now wants you to focus on sharing fresh content. That means creating approximately 3-4 graphics per piece of content and sharing each to approximately 3-4 relevant boards, and keeping it to that (these numbers are guidelines, not hard and fast rules). Again, this means you’ll be pinning a lot less than in previous years, when the same piece of content would have been shared over and over again. 

Rather than spending time repinning your content over and over again, put your time and effort into creating eye-catching graphics and doing thorough keyword research so your pins are optimized.

You can still repin your old pins (a great strategy for seasonal content and your best performing pins) but limit it to no more than 1-3 times per year.

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3. Start using Pinterest’s new pin formats

This year, Pinterest put a greater emphasis on different pin formats like carousel pins, video pins, and story pins, and as with all platforms, you’ll likely be rewarded for using these new formats. 

Story pins are still being rolled out, so don’t worry if you don’t have them yet! Focus on trying out carousel and video pins for now. But if you do have them, definitely start using them- people are seeing really great results from them (unlike other platforms, Pinterest Story Pins don’t disappear after 24 hours, so your hard work won’t disappear after a day).

This might seem like a lot of extra work, but the good news is that because you’ll now be scheduling and creating less pins, you will have more free time to experiment with new these new pin formats! Also, you can repurpose content from other platforms, so you’re not starting from scratch. For example, IG stories can easily become Pinterest stories.

4. Prioritize video pins

Video has become one of the most power forms of content across content marketing channels in the last couple of years, and Pinterest is no expectation. I know this can be disheartening because video content takes a lot more time to create than static pins but adding them into your Pinterest marketing strategy can yield great results and is well worth the energy.

Don’t let intimidation keep you from creating video content- it doesn’t have to be complicated!

If you’re already creating video content for other social channels, like IG stories, Reels, or TikTok, you can repurpose this content to Pinterest, which is a serious time saver. Another simple way to make video pins is by simply adding animated gifs to your graphics. 

5. Pinterest (might) get more social.

You’ve heard it over and over again- Pinterest isn’t a social media platform, it’s a search engine. And while this is still true, it looks as though Pinterest will be incorporating some more social aspects into the platform in 2021. They recently introduced Story Pins, which unlike other pins, don’t let you click out of the platform to another website, showing that Pinterest is interested in keeping its users on the platform and encouraging more engagement. This means that things like your Follower count, which previously didn’t mean a whole lot, may become more important moving forward.

Tldr: Focus on quality over quantity in 2021. This means focusing on your own content, properly optimizing your posts, adding in video and story pins, and sharing primarily fresh content.

Want more tips on creating and executing a killer Pinterest marketing strategy? Download my FREE guide here!

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