We live in a world dominated by hashtags, but let's take a look at Pinterest.
Pinterest isn't social media to start with.
It is a visual SEO platform yet we are so indoctrinated with the use of hashtags the need to apply it to all platforms makes sense but does it?
Do we use hashtags to search on Google, no we don't and Pinterest is the same.
Today I was helping one of my wedding buddies, I am not sure how much of the course she has done but was working on her Pinterest and I could see she has covered very little and was winging it 😜
I explain it so simply so hoping she will take more notice in September when we start again. One of the reasons being she had filled her pin description with hashtags.
At no point during my course do I mention hashtags and here is why.
Pinterest to and fros with Hashtags
Way back Pinterest decided to use hashtags but found they were being abused by spammers to gain more reach so in 2020 they stopped making hashtags searchable and don't recommend using them.
Some people got so used to adding hashtags, brands, keywords that a few at the end in the description won't hurt. It doesn't make the slightest difference now so don't bother!
Maybe in the future if Pinterest announces they will be advocating them again but the general consensus is they won't.
Pinterest doesn't make it hard but for many who don't know the basics and pinning it is a waste of their time.
Keywords are key and you can read more about keywords on this blog post
Not sending viewers to the right place is a no on Pinterest
The analogy I shared today was this. Pinterest users are on the platform searching for all sorts of ideas, products, help and inspirations.
It is a huge traffic driver to your website but let's take a look at how it works.
Let's say you pin a Santorini wedding pin. If a user clicks on it they want to be taken to something about Santorini where they can read and find out more.
They don't want to be taken to a website where they have to search around for anything to do with Santorini, in fact they will just leave your site and find a pin that does actually take them to a post all about weddings in Santorini.
Who is more likely to be contacted? Which pin is more likely going to be saved to their Santorini board or holidays board. The one that has a whole host of good up to date information.
Pinterest is full of Shoppers
I will use this analogy again as I have jewellery designers on my course.
A Pinner finds a pair of earrings and is ready to buy.
If they don't get taken straight to the checkout page where they can purchase the earrings you have lost a sale.
If the product was a one off design the next stage you should have on your website is a landing page to get their email address. 'Sign up here when new designs are released'.
You have captured a potential buyer and can notify them when new or repeated designs become available.
Therefore don't stress over hashtags on Pinterest and just focus on keywords without over stuffing them and create good descriptions on your pins leading the viewer straight to what they are expecting to find.
If you would love my e-book simply explaining how Pinterest works along with blogs you can download it by clicking the image below.
