Best Pinning Practices for Artists on Pinterest

Create a business account on Pinterest here and verify your website here.  Pick a profile image, such as your logo, an artwork, or a good photo of yourself. Once your website is confirmed, your logo or profile photo will appear on Pins that people pin from your site.

Create Your Boards With Informative Titles

I see so many artists on Pinterest create boards titled “My Art.”  How many boards are on Pinterest titled “My Art”?  To make a point, we did a search using the Pinterest search feature. You can too. Type in “My Art” and selected “Board.” (As we did). Many hundreds and perhaps thousands of boards on Pinterest are titled “My Art.” (We stopped counting them after one thousand.) It’s simple logic. If you paint rural homes in summer, but label your board “My Art,” how will your work stand out? How will someone looking for your style of art find it?

You can change the name of your board by clicking on the Edit pencil icon at the top right corner of your board. Give your board a title that contains useful information. “Oil paintings of Birds” or “Watercolor paintings of Sand Dunes”  or “Abstract paintings on canvas by…” –you can add your name in the board title.

Now you are ready to pin high-quality images of your art. Use high-resolution, professional-quality photographs and illustrations. Don’t use images that are poorly lit, out of focus, or that otherwise appear amateurish.

Size and Shape of Your Images Matter

Have you found teenie tiny postage stamp size images on Pinterest? Did you pin them? Probably not. If your images have a width of 600 pixels and are between 900 and 2100 Pixels tall, then they will have good image quality on Pinterest.

Also, Pinterest says that “Pins look best when they’re vertically oriented.” (From Best Pinterest Practices by Pinterest. )

Include your artist name and title on every pin! Yes, on your own art pins. I won’t pin an artwork if the artist’s name is not on it. Many others feel that way too. I also like to see the title. When uploading your art images, include your name, title, link to your site, and some details, such as materials, year created, dimensions, and retail price. Remember, your images will be Pinned and RePinned!  (Use Rich Pins on your site and pin your art images from your own website. That way anyone clicking on your image will be taken to your site. Find out more about Rich Pins below).

Write Thoughtful, Detailed Descriptions on Your Art Pins

Every Pin should have a written description that gives context and provides additional information. Your descriptive text should use correct capitalization and punctuation. According to Pinterest, “…only about 75-100 characters of your description will appear in grid view, [but] you can include up to 500 and they’ll all appear when people click to see the Pin close-up. Generally speaking, more characters mean more helpful details and more opportunities to show up in search results.”

Pinterest says, “use keywords in your descriptions, but don’t use hashtag keywords.”  (Hashtag keywords, such as #art, #painting, #drawing are excellent to use on Twitter and Instagram, but should not be include in your Pin descriptions ).

Link to your website–Rich Pins

Make Pins from your website more useful by Making them Rich Pins.  Rich Pins can automatically include information like price, availability, materials on your Pins–as long as you have those details on your website images. Rich Pins automatically update, too, like when you change your price on your website, or if you mark an artwork “Sold.”

How Often Do You Pin?

Pinterest recommends that you pin once a day so your followers always see fresh content in your home feed. But don’t just pin your own stuff. Tell a richer story by adding pins from fellow artists and from art blogs such as Artist Marketing Resources. Follow us on Pinterest here.

Stop Talking Non-Stop About Yourself — Pinterest users want pins that educate and entertain them. Engage with your followers and they will be more likely to share your pins with their networks. If you need help with this, or ideas on how to increase your engagement, leave a comment and we will discuss options with you!