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    How To Increase Followers And Engagement On Pinterest With Story Pins

    December 5, 2020 · Uncategorized · 0

    As with all social media platforms, Pinterest is constantly changing and evolving. This year they’ve announced a multitude of changes including a new algorithm that’s geared to give users a more diverse and unique experience on the platform. With this change came the introduction of story pins!

    The Story pin is the newest pin format to be introduced to the Pinterest platform. Because this is such a new feature, story pins are getting pushed out to users like wildfire and they’re getting a ton of engagement as a result! 

    If you’re looking for a new way to increase your reach and get more engagement on Pinterest keep on reading! In this post, you will learn: what story pins are, why you should use them, tips on how to make your story pin totally awesome and get loads of engagement, and how to upload a story pin to Pinterest once you’ve created it.

    What Is a Story Pin?

    Story pins are Pinterest’s twist on the Instagram story. They give you the ability to tell a “story” through graphics, photos, videos, and text across multiple pages within the pin (between 2 – 20 pages). They’re designed to give creators an outlet to reach and connect with new people, increase engagement, and grow your audience.

    At this time, you can not link a URL to story pins (but don’t let this deter you). In order to get the most benefit from them, you want to provide enough value to the user within the pin to want to follow you and find out more! Pinterest offers other unique ways for users to engage with story pins, such as:

    • emojis that you can use to react to the pin (similar to Facebook reactions),
    • a big “follow” button on the last slide that a user can opt-in to follow your account
    • the ability to save a story pin to a board if they want to come back and look at it again later
    • the ability to click directly from the pin to your profile if they’re interested in finding more of your content right then and there. 

    At the time I’m writing this post, story pins are still in beta and are only available to select users in the United States. If you live in the United States and would like to request access to this new feature click here. They will be slowly rolling them out to other countries over time, starting with Canada next, so be on the lookout

    What Do Story Pins Look Like?

    You can identify a story pin by looking in the upper left hand corner of the pin. If you see a small card icon with a number next to it, it’s a story pin! The card represents the pages of a story pin and the number tells you how many pages are in that particular pin. I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite story pins to give you a better idea of what they look like and how to interact with them below:

    Why Should You Use Story Pins

    Pinterest really wants us to use this new pin format and are distributing story pins to its users like crazy! Story pins are seeing giant amounts of engagement in extremely short periods of time. Why is this good? The Pinterest algorithm is wired to show your pins to people who engage with your content, so if you publish a story pin and it sees thousands of views and engagements in a matter of minutes or hours your audience is growing at an exponential rate – much faster than it would grow with a standard pin. This is hugely beneficial to the overall health and authority of your account as well. Here’s an example of a story pin I created for my client, Emily Summer. This is what the pin looked like 20 minutes after I hit publish:

    And the next day (about 20 hours later) it looked like this:

    Pretty insane right? I think these screenshots speak for themselves. Now that you’re convinced to give story pins a shot… (I mean how could you not at least try them after seeing the kind of engagement in these photos) keep reading for some tips to get you started.

    Tips for Creating A Great Story Pin

    1. Use at least 5 pages 
      Pinterest recommends using at least 5 pages or more to tell a truly great and complete idea or “story”. Use the space you need, you can include up to 20 pages.
    2. Keep it simple
      Don’t put too much information on each page. Break the story up into small digestible pieces – try to focus on one step, idea, or action at a time.
    3. Keep it interesting
      Don’t be afraid to add a mixture of video and still graphics to your story pin. You might also want to consider using video on the cover to grab people’s attention. When using video, be sure to highlight the important points in text somewhere on the video, as most people don’t use the volume on Pinterest.
    4. Use keywords and tags 
      Use keywords and tags to help you get discovered in search! Remember, Pinterest is a search engine. Pinterest uses the text on story pins to index them for search, so if you’re designing your pin elsewhere, be sure to leave room to add descriptive text natively on the platform when uploading your story pin to Pinterest. This helps Pinterest understand what your story pin is about and allows them to show your pin to the right users. 

      Tags help with this as well. Pinterest allows you to search and add up to 10 topic tags to your story pin to help your pin show up when people are searching for similar ideas.
    5. Add a call to action
      Be sure to add a call to action on the last page of your story pin to tell the viewer what to do next. This can be as simple as “follow me for more ideas” or maybe “follow me on Instagram @ (whatever your handle is)”

    Ideas For How To Use Story Pins

    There are so many different ways to utilize story pins. They really work for any niche if you put your mind to it. If you’re having trouble getting those creative wheels spinning, heres a few ways I utilize story pins for my clients and some ways I’ve seen other people use story pins in their businesses.

    – The preparation of a recipe
    – Step by step tutorial
    – Outline an online course you’re selling 
    – Steps in a DIY Project 
    – Display a collection of products
    – Show the different uses of a product
    – Tip round-up on something relating to your area of expertise 
    – Introduce a new product and its features 

    How To Upload Your Story Pin To Pinterest

    – From your Desktop:

    1. To get started click on “create,” then click “create story pin.” If you dont see this option, then you have not been granted early acces to this feature. To request access you can click here. 
    2. Next, you’ll see 2 options – “create story pin” or “your latest drafts.” If you want to create a completely new story pin click “create story pin.”
    3. From here you can upload up to 20 images or videos from your computer. You can use a design program like Canva or Photoshop to design your graphics or you can simply use images and videos you already have. Images must be less than 32mb and videos less then 50mb. 
    4. Once you’ve uploaded your content, use the tools on the right hand of your screen to design the layout, choose your cover image, adjust or resize any of the images or videos, and add text in whatever font, color, or highlight you like. 
    5. When you’re done designing, click “next.” Select a details theme from the drop menu and fill in the following: The title of your story pin, description, which board you would like to save it to, and add up to 10 tags (i.e. topics)  that are relevant to your pin. 
    6. Hit publish and whala! You’ve created your first story pin.

    – From your mobile:

    1. To get started, log into your account on the Pinterest app. Click on the “+” at the bottom of the the screen. 
    2. Choose what your story pin is about (recipes, diy and crafts, or something else)
    3. Next, choose and upload your cover image and then upload up to 19 more images or videos that you would like to include in your story pin. You can design your images in Canva or Photoshop and upload them to your phone in advance or use the images or videos you already have stored in your phone. 
    4. Next its time to design your story pin! Use the tools in the bottom left hand corner of the screen to rearrange the photos and videos you uploaded, adjust the videos or images by zooming in and repositioning them to your liking, and add descriptive text overlay to each slide to give context to your viewers. 
    5. Next add your story pin title 
    6. Add your supplies or ingredients. If its an educational pin, write a short description. 
    7. Search and choose up to 10 related topic tags to help your pin show up when people are searching for similar ideas. 
    8. Hit Publish and you’re all set! You’ve successfully created a story pin!

    The Takeaway

    Story pins are killing it right now! Pinterest is pushing story pins out like wildfire and they’re getting 5x – 10x the reach than your average standard pin.  Although you can’t link story pins to your website, they’re great for engagement. Engagement is important because once someone engages with your content, Pinterest will show them more of your content, so this is a great way to amplify your audience! Can’t wait to see all your amazing story pins on my feed!

    Hi, I’m Shaina

    The Pinterest manager and strategist here at The Pin Perspective. I help online entrepreneurs scale their business using Pinterest to gain more traffic + leads and consistently make more sales.

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    Hi, I’m Shaina

    A Pinterest manager and strategist helping online entrepreneurs get quality traffic, leads, and sales
    using Pinterest!

    Recent Posts

    • How To Clean Up And Organize Your Pinterest Boards
    • How The Pinterest Algorithm Actually Works
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    • How To Grow Your Pinterest Using Tailwind Communities
    • How To Increase Followers And Engagement On Pinterest With Story Pins
    @thepinperspective
    Pinterest didn’t think there was enough chaos in Pinterest didn’t think there was enough chaos in 2020 so they decided to add a huge algorithm update to really keep us on our toes! It’s been a few months now and although we’re still trying to work out the kinks, there’s one thing that’s clear - we need to diversify the use of pin formats moving into 2021. 

In the photos above I broke down what each type of pin is and when you should use them, but I wanted to give you a little more explanation as to WHY you should consider using each of these pin formats and the benefits it can have on your account! 

📌 Static Pins - These are the easiest pins to create, which helps us stay consistent on the platform. Pinterest loves consistency and will reward you for it! 

📌 Video Pins - Video pins are killing it on Pinterest right now with 3x more views this year than last and are expected to continue to be successful moving into 2021. They tend to catch people's attention, which in turn improves visibility and engagement. There’s a huge opportunity for growth here! If you don’t use video in your content, try adding animation to your static pins to turn them into video pins! This is superrrr easy to do in canva! 

📌 Story Pins - Story pins are still in their beta phase and aren't available to everyone, or in every country, yet but if you do have access to them, you should definitely consider trying them out! These pins currently don’t have the ability to link to an external website but they are great for brand awareness and increasing overall engagement on your account. Because this is a new feature, Pinterest is pushing them out to users like wildfire and they’re getting a crazy amount of engagement. Take advantage of this! 

If you live in the US and want to try out story pins, DM me and I’ll show you how to request access! 🤗 Be on the lookout Canada, they’re coming to you next! 

📌 Carousel Pins - Up until recently carousel pins were only available to use with paid ads but you can now use them organically as well. This is a big win for product sellers because it enables you to display a collection of products or different views and colors of the same product.

Which pin are you most interested in trying out? ⬇️
    In this day and age instant gratification is basic In this day and age instant gratification is basically ingrained in our DNA 🧬 We want what we want when we want it right? The problem is, sometimes the instant gratification mentality gets in the way of our long term success. 👎🏻

When I first got started using Pinterest it was actually for a lifestyle and food blog. In my mind... I write a blog post, I put it on Pinterest, and I should instantly have hundreds of people flocking to my website to read it! In reality, that’s just not how it works and I was definitely a little disappointed... but hey you don’t know what you don’t know right? 

I decided not to give up and found out later, the results were well worth the wait. ✨

It’s not uncommon for people to come to me with the concern of low engagement in the first month of using Pinterest for their business. Pinterest is capable of driving tons of traffic to your website and funneling leads into your business - nearly on autopilot - but what a lot of people don’t realize is success won’t happen overnight. It actually takes 3 - 6 months to start seeing real results on Pinterest when you first get started using the platform. 

When done right, and given a sufficient amount of time, Pinterest can really bring home the bacon 🥓. Don’t let the 3 to 6 months waiting period deter you from the platform. Good things take time. Pinterest is definitely one of those good things with long lasting results! 

What’s your number one question when it comes to using Pinterest for your business? ⬇️
    There’s only two months left in the year! Let’ There’s only two months left in the year! Let’s make the rest of 2020 count! 

Did you know only 8% of people actually stick to the resolutions they make at the beginning of the year? Personally, I think a lot of people (myself included) give up because of overwhelm. We set huge goals for ourselves without breaking them down into actionable manageable steps and our brains say… NOPE 🤯.  

This year I decided to change things up. I started setting small monthly goals for myself and I’ve accomplished so much more than I ever thought possible. If you’re feeling overwhelmed headed into the last couple months of the year, this might help you as well! Choose a few attainable small goals, focus on one thing at a time, and take each project on step by step. 

For the last two months of the year, I’ve decided to dive into the backend of my business and head into 2021 with a bang! 

I’ll be focusing on 2 things: 

1.  My client experience - because although it’s already pretty great 💁🏻‍♀️ there’s always room for improvement and my clients deserve the absolute best! I’m talking the Pinterest management equivalent to a stay at a luxury beach front resort. mmhmm fancy! 

2. Project management organization - So I can work more efficiently and get more done in my day to day life. The more efficient I can be, the more clients I can take on, and the more impact I will have helping all you badass biz owners up level your business with Pinterest! 💃

Between client work, these two projects, AND the holidays I think I’ll be kept verrry busy but I’m so so excited to take on the work, step by step, and knock out these goals before 2020 is over! 

What do you want to accomplish in the 2020 home stretch? I’d love to hear about it! Comment below ⬇️
    Before we get the ball rolling I want to debunk on Before we get the ball rolling I want to debunk one of the biggest Pinterest myths of all time: "Pinterest is just a place where women go to find recipes, home decor, and fashion." This is just simply not true. 

For the past 10 years, I’ve been using Pinterest to plan out my entire life and there are over 400 million people on Pinterest doing the same thing - searching for all sorts of things from parenting, to online business, to fitness, to finances, to you name it. If you dream it up, it’s probably on Pinterest.

So let's get to what really matters, is Pinterest right for your business? Here's a few things you can do to find out.

📌 Do a simple search. Think about what you do, what you sell, what you blog about and type those keywords into the search bar on Pinterest. Do you see similar topics or products to what you do or sell in the results? If you find pins, boards, and other profiles similar to your business - there is a market for you on Pinterest.

📌 Ask your audience. Email your list, post in a Facebook group, do an Instagram poll. Do they use Pinterest? If your current audience is on Pinterest, odds are a lot more people just like them are using Pinterest as well. 

📌 If you have a website, check out your Google analytics. Go to Acquisition ⇒ All Traffic ⇒ Source/Medium ⇒ Enter "Pinterest" in the search bar. Are you already getting traffic from Pinterest to your website? Oooo girl, there's so much potential there! That means your audience is saving your content onto Pinterest themselves.

Side note: Did you know you can also use Pinterest to drive traffic to your Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and Etsy shops? If you don't have a website, it doesn't mean that Pinterest Isn't for you.

👍🏻 If you answered yes to even just one of these questions, it’s definitely worth considering investing some of your time into Pinterest marketing! 

👎🏻 If you answered NO to ALL 3 questions. Pinterest marketing is not for you. It would be a smart move to invest your time elsewhere. 

So, What do you think? Is Pinterest right for your business? I'd love to hear your thoughts ⬇️
    This picture was taken after a perfect day at the This picture was taken after a perfect day at the Los Angeles Flower Market 🌻 (aka my happy place) That day I brought home the cutest little pink succulent. I have to say, I regret now not taking a picture of the pretty little plant when I got it, cause well, today it’s rather grim. You see… I killed it. Killed it dead (oops!) 

Wondering how on earth I killed what is considered an unkillable plant? Because I treated it like all my other plants. It’s a plant right? Plants need water but succulents are different, if they get too much water, it will drown and result in a very very dead plant… 

Same goes for social platforms. If you’re using the same strategies and techniques you learned for Instagram or Facebook on Pinterest, it's not going to work for you. Why? Because Pinterest is different. People don’t behave in the same way on Pinterest as they do on other platforms. 

Instagram and Facebook are places for you to nurture your audience, Pinterest is a place for people to discover you. It’s the very tip top of the funnel. So if you want to be successful on Pinterest, you have to create a strategy that’s Pinterest specific.

This includes the strategies used to get people off of Pinterest and onto your content, as well as the strategies used behind the content itself to convert those people into clients or customers. 

If you’re reading this thinking, oh shit, I think I totally killed Pinterest like you killed your beloved succulent, I assure you, you’re not alone. The best part, it’s totally revivable! So if you’ve taken a shot at Pinterest in the past, I encourage you to get back out there and try again! 

It will be different this time. This time you have me on your side already cheering you on and ready to help you along the way! 💕
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