If you have a Pinterest business account, you can use Idea Pins to share multiple images and videos in a single Pin. Similar to Static and Video Pins, Idea Pins will stay on your boards once you’ve published them.
Idea Pins allow you to share ideas with up to 20 pages of images and text. You’ll recognise Stories by the icon in the top-left of the image.
It doesn’t have to be static images, it could be multiple short videos (no more than 60 seconds) with additional descriptive text or text overlay.
Idea Pins have seen significant user interest & with more people gravitating towards short video content, it makes sense to consider Idea Pins when it comes to your Pinterest strategy.
As explained by Pinterest: “The foundation of a great Idea Pin is a great idea. …picking topics & ideas you genuinely care about…. & your authenticity will come through in your final content.”
With this in mind, there are 6 Idea Pin formats that have seen the best response to date:
1. Instructional
These can be a great way to maximise engagement, whether it be tutorials, teaching people a new skill or recommending specific products (especially when you can tag them from your catalogue!) So if you’ve got your catalogue set up and you can then refer and tag that to your product.
A great example that I saw was from the Ocado account where they uploaded a garlic bread recipe and as you can see, the image is clear, they’ve added clear overlay text alongside their keywords that lets you know exactly what the Idea Pin is about.
Within the Pin description, they let you know how long it takes to make the recipe, how many people it serves, the ingredients etc.
Honestly, it’s a fantastic example of an instructional Idea Pin that just works.
Instructional Example:
Quick Tip Example:
2. Quick Tip
Providing quick tips can be captured in just a few frames; short and sweet is the big trend right now!
Nowadays, people want to digest information as quickly as they can and then move on. The Mind charity put together 7 relaxation tips for your mental health and it’s perfect for Pinterest as we all know that they’re all about wanting to use the platform to promote positive mental health.
So for Mind, they are able to upload anything and it would do amazingly.
They’ve also utilised the last Pin really well as they’ve added a Call To Action where users can get more information by following their accounts on other social media platforms or by going direct to their website.
Mind proves just how easy it is to do a successful Quick Tip Idea Pin… 7 tips… 7 Pins… boom, done.
3. Comparison
Comparison Idea Pins highlight different ways in which a product can be used ie recipe hacks, home decor ideas or even for fashion.
Next have created a denim breakdown for men’s jeans within their Idea Pins. They let you scroll through the different variations, whether it be SlimFit, Bootcut, Skinny, Straight Fit jeans. Within each Pin it explains what they look like and they’ve also got some overlay giving that a little bit more information.
Stereotypically, men aren’t really into fashion, although we know that they all are – especially as more men are flocking to Pinterest; but if you don’t have the time to go shopping in person and just want to order something quickly, Next does online shopping as well.
By having all of the different types of jeans laid out, It’s a really good way for them to be compared. It tells people exactly what the difference is without making them go onto the actual website and sift through everything.
Comparison Example:
Storyteller Example:
4. Storyteller
If you’re looking to create a story, showing how you create your products via video works really well here.
Whether you’re baking cakes and want to show how you make them, or if you’re just in the kitchen cooking a dinner recipe, or you’re creating a personalised gift for someone. Storytelling is a really great way to highlight this.
The Idea Pin I’ve found to highlight this is a UK eco jewellery maker who shows how they make their own wedding rings.
Obviously, It’s filmed in their workshop where they’ve got all of their tools and they’re making the rings. It’s fascinating to watch to be fair and is actually really good. Personally, I love it. To see how it’s made, I just think that’s amazing.
Where it’s handmade rather than a machine, you can kind of understand why there’s an increase in price for these kind of products. Small business owners love their skill and their craft and they want people to know that.
This Idea Pin shows people an insight into their day-to-day life and how the creators put their love and their soul into creating this piece. I think is lovely, and to see that I would be more inclined to pay the higher money than you would, if you were just to go to H Samuel’s to buy something so standard.
5. Showcase
This can be a great option to encourage engagement just by simply showing something in action.
Similarly to TikTok, if someone asks a question, you can then create a brand new TikTok with the answer. It is a brilliant way to encourage engagement and create a conversation!.
Encourage your viewers to share their own versions as a Take. This then adds further potential for engagement & participatory instructions that invites action from the user.
I think it’s more a case of getting users to show how they’ve tried your showcase idea, rather than them commenting and responding with a Take initially; but for example, if you do a recipe showcase, a user does it but something doesn’t go right. You can then respond to them.
Maybe it’s something you come across quite often, so give them a solution via comment, but it might be better in the new format of a Take (it also drives more traffic too!)
The showcase example I’ve used to the right is with Kylie cosmetics, Kylie Jenner’s own cosmetic brand. The Idea Pin showcases yellow loose powder being applied to a model’s face, so you’re literally seeing how the makeup’s being applied by professionals.
This allows you to see how to apply it correctly and not be applied by people like me, who rarely wear makeup, if I were to try something like that, it would just look all kinds of wrong.
So if you’re interested in using a different product, or just want to know what the shade of lipstick or foundation looks like on a person, then showcase Idea Pins are definitely worth using.
Honestly it’s something to use when it comes to products, makeup or an outfit, rather than just seeing it kind of on a flat lay, you want to be able to see what the colours actually look like on a person as well.
Showcase Example:
6. Conversation
Encourage your audience to ask questions, take note of them & use them as inspiration when creating new Pins. (Don’t forget to use this to reply to the comment as a take as well!)
So if you’ve created something and someone asks you a question regarding something you’ve uploaded, create a brand new idea pin that is in response to the question. Similarly to what I mentioned above, this can be used as a Take and then you can reply to their comment and say, I actually answered this here and then link to the new Idea Pin.
So I don’t actually have an example of a conversation Idea Pin because to find an Idea Pin within a conversation that is good enough to highlight would probably take forever. However, I know that there’s so much potential with this type of Pin because Pinterest really do seem to be trying to ensure that users stay engaged within the platform itself.
So what do I think?
Pinterest is encouraging an increase in engagement, whilst I don’t necessarily agree with it becoming more of a social media platform, I can kind of see why they would be doing things like this and It’s another way to be strategical within your Pinterest actions, I suppose.
The downside that I find to Idea Pins though is that you can’t actually drive traffic to your website. That’s literally the only thing that I think is detrimental and Instagram has finally picked up on this and now you’re able to add in a link to your stories. Before you could do this, I found Idea Pins better as at least they stuck around for more than 24 hours, but now I’m like… oh I don’t know. I’m not a massive fan, there is great promise to them, I just think the fact that you can’t drive traffic to your website is not just a little downside.. it’s potentially a game changer in some eyes, especially the adapted strategy to get people to go to your profile page and then onto other Pins that might grab a users attention.
Have you tried Idea pins yet? How have you found them? I’d love to know how they’re working in your Pinterest strategy.
Ping me a message at info@pinnedsocial.com if you have any questions, or ya know, you’re looking for some Pinterest support!
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