Finally, the blog post you were waiting for! I have been a fan of Pinterest since the very beginning, but it wasn’t until I started paying close attention to some of these things that I gained huge traction with my client’s and my food photography pins. I have gathered all the best tips to share with you the secrets to create a viral pin for your business.
You have been putting in a lot of work on your recipes, online courses, blogging… but are still not sure how to make it searchable, noticeable. Do you want to know how to drive more eyes to your Pinterest profile and website?
These are the tips and strategies that can take you from having just a few clicks to hundreds of people visiting your website and tens of thousands of impressions.
But first, what is a viral pin?
What defines a viral pin?
The definition of viral in the world of social media is anything that gains extraordinary amounts of attention within a few hours or days after you post it.
Depending on your following, traffic, and what you consider to be a standard amount of impressions and likes, your definition of “viral” may be different from other people.
Now when we are talking about a search engine like Pinterest, we should remember that pins can go viral long after you post them. So, don’t worry if something doesn’t catch on straight away. While you keep working on the strategies I list, you should also experiment to see what works for you.
The basic components of a viral pin
There will always be outliers! But pins that do well despite all of the stuff mentioned below are uncommon. They might be unique in a novel, eye-catching way that only works once or belong to an account with hundreds of thousands of followers.
However, most viral pins that you will want to utilize for your food and photography pins will share these characteristics.
- For a recipe pin:
- If you go for just a visual component, without text, make sure it is eye-catching. Normally close up photographies with bright mood tend to attract more audience.
- Add pins with overlay text, a clever design template that is new and refreshing will improve your chances too!
- Make it Real! Add some life to your recipes by including hands, or a real-life table setting scene where people interact with the food. 9Avoid showing faces)
- Use catchy video pins or gifs of the process of the recipe
- For a food photography business:
- Your images are fantastic already! Every photograph is a final project itself and therefore, I suggest to add a small signature to your images (Have you noticed mine?) Nothing too big, something small and subtle.
- If you offer any training, workshops, mentoring or whatever your business is dedicated to, remember to use a strong CTA (Call-to-action) text that encourages the viewer to take action (click, download, sign up)
- Make it Real! Your audience wants to see how you work, where you work and above all… wants to see you… Include the human element in your scenes to connect with your ideal clients!
The “must haves” to get a viral pin for any business:
- SEO focus, keywords, hashtags, and intuitive pinning in your own relevant boards and a few select quality boards of other people
- If you add text to your pins, make sure it is easy to read* (this is so important and often missing when people focus on the design too much)
- Lead to a blog that is relevant to the pin description and image and provides even more quality content to the reader
SEO SEO and oh, SEO
Remember when I told you why having a Pinterest account is important to your business? (Why Pinterest for food bloggers and food photographers?) So, if you want to stand out from the competition then the most important thing you need to focus on is SEO.
SEO for those uninitiated stands for Search Engine Optimization and is a way of optimizing your content to be read by the algorithm and be served to interested parties. So, if someone is looking for “vegan no refined sugar macaron birthday cake” and puts those words in the search bar, they can land on your photos and then click to go onto your website.
But how does Pinterest know to show your photo to the right people?
Well, you have to tell them in many strategic places.
Those include
- Keywords
- Descriptions
- Pin file names
- Alt tags on your website
Keywords are the general idea behind SEO and searchability on Pinterest for viral pins. But how do you know what keywords to use?
Some keywords like these Top 100 Keywords of all time include things like “healthy birthday cakes” and “instant pot recipes” but they are probably waaaay too big to rely on. Instead, you should combine these high traffic keywords with more niche long-tail keywords like “vegan chicken soup instant pot” that will target the specific audience.
How to design the perfect viral pin for Pinterest.
Clever and eye-catching design that is NOT generic
Keywords might make your future followers find you but they will not make them click on the image. What you need for that is a clever, thoughtful, and eye-catching design.
What does that mean? You need some professional Pinterest templates, unique to your brand, but you can also use Canva templates. Canva has a very extensive library of templates that you can tweak and play around with that you will find very simple to work with.
Note! A quick look around Pinterest will show you that there are a lot of similar or identical pin designs. While they can still deliver a perfect viral pin, the fact that they are so common also means they will not be attached directly to you and your account so people may not connect it to you.
Solid headlines
The headlines or the text on the image should be simple and enticing copywriting. It should also be easy to read and deliver exactly what it promises.
Make sure to avoid excessively cursive fonts. Firstly, when you are scrolling through Pinterest, it is very hard to read small and cursive fonts. But also, Pinterest itself uses its technology to identify and categorize pins so they can promote it accordingly. So don’t make it hard on the machines or the people to find your precious pin!
Be creative when using your titles, put them in boxes, circles or any shape that relates to your branding, or make it part of the image by placing them in specific areas of the image, like it would be planned before the shooting.
Examples: If you look at some of the pins in this post, I have used a cursive font, but it is still readable, letters are easy to understand and only one or two words are highlighted in this script font. I have also used the negative space to add text in that particular area.
Keep it consistent
Depending on how established you are on your food photography business or recipe blog, you may already have some brand colours and fonts that you use. Figuring out your brand identity and personality is a whole science that creates associations between your business and certain colours, graphics, and font combinations.
But even if you haven’t established a thorough brand identity, just look at your website!
Chances are you are already using some fonts and colours more than others. It is best to stick to two fonts per pin and a few colour combinations.
Put that together with a custom or unique and clever pin design and you will have your very own easily identifiable everywhere pins that have a much better chance of going viral.
I can always help you designing your pins! That is what I do with my Pinterest clients, so don’t hesitate to contact me if you need personalised templates that you can use on Pinterest and Instagram too! 🙂
Summing Up
Are you ready to make your recipe pins go viral? With strong attention to detail, solid keyword research, and a combination of pretty, functional, and eye-catching design your pins will start to take off and be shared by people all over the world.
Let me know if this post has been useful for you, I love to read your comments.
Want to work with me? Check my PINTEREST MANAGEMENT PACKAGES and let’s chat to find the best Pinterest strategy for your services.
Do you like this stunning macaron cake? It is one of Anuja’s beautiful sweet creations. She makes bespoke cakes, muffins and wedding cakes for any occasion.
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