Pinterest hashtags are popping up all over the place. Are you using them yet?
Back in the day, using hashtags on Pinterest was a big no-no. But things change allll the time on social media platforms (especially on Pinterest!) so now, hashtags are IN!
What’s the official word on Pinterest hashtags?
According to Pinterest,
“When you add hashtags to the description for a new Pin, Pinners can visit a feed of all the Pins that share that hashtag. Hashtags are a new way to reach users interested in your content. When a user searches a hashtag the freshest pins with that hashtag will appear at the top of the feed. When a user searches the same phrase without the hashtag, it will pull up the original search results page.”
Essentially, Pinterest Hashtags are a new way to reach users interested in your content. Pinners can find you by searching for a specific keyword term OR a hashtag. Typically it can take some time for keywords to appear in search (like weeks or even months). But when a user searches a hashtag, the newest pins with that hashtag will appear at the top of the feed.
What does this mean for you as a marketer on Pinterest? Your pins are going to be found sooner since Pinterest hashtag searches are going to be chronological.
If you’re totally confused about how to use hashtags on Pinterest, I got you. In this post, I’ll dive deep into Pinterest hashtags: what they are, how to best use them, and how to get started ASAP.
New here? Welcome! I also have the following blogs to help you crush your Pinterest marketing strategy:
- The Secret to Using Keywords on Pinterest
- Pinterest Marketing Strategy: My Top Pinterest Hacks that Increased my Monthly Reach to 700,000 per Month
- The Ultimate Guide to Repurposing Content on Pinterest
- How to Share Instagram Pictures and Facebook Videos on Pinterest to Explode your Traffic on Social Media
- Pinterest Marketing Strategy: Tailwind Tribes
- The Ultimate Guide to Pinterest
- 6 Reasons Why You Should Use Pinterest for your Business (and How to Get Started)
- How to Create Pinterest Images that Convert: 4 Tips to Create Great Graphics for Pinterest (with Before/After Examples!)
And of course, you should def register for my free masterclass where I’ll share my top secret strategies to getting new leads and sales on autopilot with Pinterest!
To start, go to the Pinterest search bar and search for pins using a specific hashtag.
In this example, I’m searching #entrepreneurtips
Oh heyyyyyyy, those are a ton of my pins that show up! #winning
Click on the pin, and you can see the other hashtags I’m using in this post.
You can easily get into a hashtag rabbit hole here so be careful lol.
Now that you know what hashtags on Pinterest are and how to find them, I’ve got 5 tips for you so you can get the max benefit of adding hashtags to your pin descriptions.
Pinterest Hashtags Tip #1: Add Hashtags to your pin description
You’re already writing a killer pin description using epic keywords, right? All you’re going to do is add a few hashtags to that description. See the example below.
While you can use up to 20 hashtags per Pin, that seems a wee bit excessive. I personally use between 5 and 7.
You can add these hashtags when you upload a pin manually, but I highly suggest using a social sharing plugin on your blog, so that when someone pins content directly from your blog, it’s the exact pin description (with hashtags) that you’ve created.
Personally, I use Social Warfare for this. While I’m writing each blog post, I come up with a keyword rich pin description and add it to that post before I hit publish.
Pinterest Hashtags Tip #2: Be specific and descriptive
Use words or phrases that describe the content in the Pin. Don’t try to use cute or funny hashtags. They should be relevant and searchable. Remember, Pinterest is a search engine, so get into the head of your ideal client and think: what are they searching for on Pinterest?
EX: #ketorecipe vs. #whycantistopeatingallthecarbs
Don’t overthink this—just turn your keywords into hashtags.
Not sure how to use keywords on Pinterest? Lucky for you, I have an entire post (with a freebie) dedicated to Pinterest keywords =)
Pinterest Hashtags Tip #3: Timely and Relevant
Depending on your Pin, you might want to use hashtags that are timely, like: #summerbreak, #christmasrecipe.
Maybe you’re creating holiday recipes, or you have a parenting blog and want to give some tips for parents to survive summer break. Whatever the case may be, you can use timely hashtags in your pin description.
You’re creating timeless content too, right? Timeless aka evergreen content does very well on Pinterest, since your content works for you over time. I have posts that I created 4-5 YEARS ago that are still being repinned. #insane
Hashtags for timeless content might be something like: #glutenfree, #bucketlist, #entrepreneurtips. Again, this will make it easier to for users to filter and find relevant content they are interested in.
Pinterest Hashtags Tip #4: Create a Branded Hashtag
Consider creating a branded hashtag and add it to all of your pins (ie: #shesmakinganimpact)
When you start adding a branded hashtag to all your pins, your content can be easily indexed. So no matter who pins your content, you’ll be found when searching your branded hashtag.
That way when someone clicks on that hashtag, all of your content shows up. #genius
Do you have a name for your blog/business? Do you have a specific message that you’re talking about consistently? Turn it into a hashtag.
When using my branded hashtag, I put it FIRST (out of all of the other hashtags) so that it gets the most attention.
Pinterest Hashtags Tip #5: Add in hashtags to old posts
If you use a platform such as Social Warfare, which allows you to write custom Pinterest descriptions for social sharing, you’ll want to go back and add hashtags to your descriptions, and also in your alt text box when you upload pinnable images.
Do NOT spend your time adding in hashtags to pins that are already on Pinterest, since the pins are going to be searched chronologically (as discussed above).
Do you have to do this step? Nope, but if you have people coming to your site consistently and pinning images from your blog, it makes sense to update them.
To sum up, Pinterest hashtags freaking rock. Get started using simple, searchable hashtags and add between 5 and 7 per pin. Create a branded hashtag. And if you use a social sharing plugin like Social Warfare, go back and add a few relevant hashtags to the pin description.
Whew! I know that was a lot of hashtag talk! Have you been using hashtags on Pinterest yet? Will you start now?
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“Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.” Tony Robbins
