Pinterest Hashtags Updated For 2021
Let’s talk about Pinterest hashtags & keywords in 2021
Basically, hashtags are dead. Let me explain…
There have been a lot of important changes over the last six months or so, and it’s time to start implementing them in your Pinterest strategy.
Up your Pinterest game with a good hashtag & SEO strategy
It’s time to talk about what you:
- should actually do when it comes to hashtags and keywords
- shouldn’t bother doing anymore with your hashtags and keywords AND
- how you can make the most of the pinterest platform going forward.
A little background about Pinterest
Now, let me start off by saying Pinterest is fantastic! It’s my favorite platform out there for marketing. It has an amazing online presence and a unique user experience.
What makes it super-duper special in my eyes, is that it is a truly fantastic opportunity for most multi-dimensional, woo-based entrepreneurs.
SOOOOO MANY woo people are using it to find out more about their own spiritual journey, facilitate their healing, and soothe their soul, but hardly any of your competition is using it to market their business — they are dismissing it as “just for quotes and stuff.”
I beg to differ.
Your dream clients are on there, desperately seeking the missing piece to their particular puzzle.
They’re using Pinterest for so many reasons –
- it’s more stealth than social media (hello FB & Insta and everyone knowing your biz!)
- it’s more personal than Google (hello creepy read-my-thoughts algorithm!)
- and it’s quieter than video (I’m looking at you over there Youtube!)
and people in crisis gravitate towards it. The fact that it has a personalized search feed and the ability to follow our favorite people is an added bonus!
Basically, your dream clients are hanging out on Pinterest, feeling like crap, because they haven’t found your solution to their massive, can’t sleep at night, can’t focus at work problem. They need you to be there too! It’s almost your duty to get started using Pinterest, just to help them out.
So, let me just climb off my soap box here, and let’s talk Pinterest strategy for a hot minute…
specifically hashtags
First things first. Hashtags are basically dead. Yup, Pinterest is no longer actively using hashtags in a way that makes them worth bothering with. WITH THE EXCEPTION of your personal brand hashtag(s). Keep using them, but don’t worry about duplicating your keywords as hashtags.
You do HAVE a personal brand hashtag, right?
Something memorable, that makes you stand out, that no one else is using on any platform, that you use across all your social media and searchable platforms (go team #sherissepins)….if you aren’t then you should be. It’s one of the pillars we cover in my Pinterest programs, because it’s that important. I won’t go into depth on this topic here, but suffice it to say — you need to brand your posts and videos with a hashtag so your raving fans can find you.
But, *WHY* are Pinterest Hashtags dead?
It used to be that if you did a hashtag search it would pull the most recent pins with that hashtag. That function no longer exists.
Now a hashtag search simply pulls the keyword by popularity, exactly the same as it does with a simple keyword search.
The reason I say not to bother with any other hashtags has to do with the way Pinterest has changed their algorithm recently. Hashtags are no longer clickable to bring up the hashtag in search, and a hashtag search no longer pulls up any different results from a regular search.
I think they made this change for a few reasons.
Firstly, I suspect that people weren’t searching by hashtag very often. It’s not an intuitive way to search for something on a search engine — when was the last time you used a hashtag search function in Google or Youtube? It’s not how we use these platforms, and it’s not how the users were using Pinterest either.
Add to that the fact that most Pinners are content to just see what Pinterest serves them in their personalized feeds (which are intuitive based on what they engage with), and Pinterest likely found that hashtags were just not that helpful for the user experience and weren’t worth continuing to support and push.
As well, let’s be honest, most Pinners are much more likely to be searching for “how do I” or “what does it mean when” or “what can I” answers than using a specific hashtag!
Basically, Pinners are using it more like Google, because it is a search engine!
I think that that’s actually a good thing for the users, and it’s a good thing for you as well. It means that:
- you can be much more specific and precise in your keywords
- you don’t have to repeat your keywords at the bottom of your pin description
- you freed up a bunch of those precious characters to add MORE keywords and key phrases, to tell Pinterest who really needs to see your content!
This is fantastic news, in my opinion.
Now, all of the other rules when it comes to pins still stay the same.
In case you didn’t know it, Pinterest’s algorithm can read the text on your graphics.
I know, it’s shocking how far we’ve come, but it can — it’s not a hundred percent yet, and it struggles with those pretty but hard to read script fonts, but it’s pretty darn close.
So, make sure that the five or six words you put on your pin graphic are related to whatever the thing is that you want them to click and do.
Your pin title also needs to be very related to the topic that you’re sending them to go see.
And your pin description needs a really strong pitch for why they need to go find your thing and why yours is the best thing.
You’re basically writing ad copy, but not in a spammy, slimy way, you’re doing it in an aligned, helpful way!
You don’t want to over promise, and you do want to be very clear about what the result is that they’re going to get from clicking on the pin and what their potential benefits are and maybe a little bit about what their pain points are.
It’s kind of a fun exercise to fit everything into those 500 characters!
IMHO Pinterest is fantastic for teaching you how to be a really good crisp clear copywriter. (the three c’s of copywriting!)
Because you only have 500 characters and that includes all the spaces and the punctuation, you really have to be absolutely clear on your message — how few words can I put this idea into and have it still make sense? Keep in mind, you still have to leave room for your brand hashtag!
It can be a lot of fun to really push yourself to create a super strong piece of copy that encourages them to step away from where they’re stuck right now and move into their dream life — and isn’t that really what we’re selling?
So, keep these tips in mind when writing your pins, and have fun!
If you want some help with your Pinterest strategy, I offer a few ways to work with me:
Pinterest Primer (self-paced course that offers the basics about Pinterest strategy and some fantastic tools to get you going)
Pinterest Secrets (small-group mastermind program that gives you a full Pinterest strategy in 6 short weeks)
Pinterest Unlocked (9 private sessions with me to really set your Pinterest strategy up for success going forward!)
I would love to help you create a strategy that aligns with your business, that makes you feel good about yourself, and that gets you (at least partially) off the social media hamster wheel and into working with more soul-aligned clients instead of spending all your time chasing potential clients!
Originally published at https://sherissemarie.com on March 22, 2021.