There are many Pinterest marketing strategies you can use out there to do this, some of which I discuss in my article> 5 Thiongs You Should Do On Pinterest to Increase Traffic . But today, I’m going to introduce to you a not-so-popular way to optimize your pins to drive the traffic you’ve been craving for all this time! 

I present to you the hashtag baby! If you don’t already know. HASHTAGS. ARE. NOT. DEAD. ON. PINTEREST! say that 10x t your self, 10x fast! The hashtag has just started to make it’s debut on Pinterest not too long ago. Before, I show you how to use hashtags, here are a few reasons why you need to utilize them as fast as possible:

PINTEREST UPDATES:

Pinterest is constantly updating their terms, features and etc. so with the new updates come new ways to market your blog!

Hashtags are relatively new, so I say make use of them right now! 

EXPOSURE 

By now, I’m assuming you, ladies, already know how Pinterest is a visual-based search engine. Like on other platforms, hashtags help categorize content. therefore, using them on your pins will help Pinterest present them to the right audience. “Exposing” your content to the right audience.

You have to keep in mind that keywords and hashtags are two of the most powerful Pinterest tools and I am going to show you just how to utilize them (specifically hashtags)
 in this post!

I am going to stop rambling & get on with how to best utilize hashtag on Pinterest and what has worked best for me!

HOW TO USE THEM:

Now, this is how I personally do it, and this is how it has worked for me. 

I use a mixture of related long-tail and short-tail keywords in the descriptions of my pins. Then I insert any long and short-tail hashtags underneath. 

DO YOUR KEYWORD RESEARCH

I find that by doing my keyword research using Pinterest’s auto-complete feature and another secret feature I reveal in my “Secret Pinterest Guide” helps me rank higher and get my pins seen by a bigger audience… and then convert to engaged traffic!

Long -tail keywords in simple words are basically just keywords that are more specific and well, “longer”. So something like “how to start a blog” could be considered a long tail keyword. Whereas something like “blog” could be considered a short tail keyword.

BE SPECIFIC 

Be specific when you type in your keywords. You’re much more likely to rank for something like “sewing for beginners” rather than something like “sewing”. 

So be as specific as possible and try to “think like the audience”. Ask yourself, if you were in your ideal audience’s position what would you be searching for. Pinterest’s auto-complete feature on it’s search bar really helps with this as it gives you exactly what people are searching for in your niche. 

When inserting hashtags within the descriptions of your pins, try to understand what kind of hashtags relate to your content the best and the weave them into the description to avoid looking “spammy”.

HOW NOT TO USE THEM:

 Pinterest hates spam and dislikes unrelated and confusing content! If the platform was a person, I’d consider them a “perfectionist”. 

So don’t go spamming your pins with unnecessary hashtags and/or too many hashtags . The recommended number of hashtags by Pinterest is 20! So keep it chill, nice and tidy. Only add what seems necessary

Also!

 Please don’t  put in unrelated hashtags just cause they are widely searched for. Please don’t do this. I have to give it to you, This would be horrific and very unprofessional! Besides, Pinterest is smart, the platform  probably wouldn’t even make pins like that rank for those kinds of hashtags.

Overall, it’s a big mess, so don’t do it.

WHERE ELSE DO HASHTAGS GO?

Okay,  by now you must be asking yourself: ” Where else do hashtags go?”. And to be very frank…..

This is still a confusing question, 

Let me explain why..

You see, hashtags can only be used to categorize content or pins when they are “clickable” in other words when they are truly serving their purpose..

But what happens when you insert hashtags in other places like in your bio, or board descriptions? 

Yea,  you guessed it.

They are not clickable.

As of December 2018,  Pinterest’s platform doesn’t have this option. YET! So, what I suggest you do is, experiment. 

I, personally have hashtags in my bio and board descriptions and haven’t seen any significant growth or decrease in growth. 

BUT. Who knows? Pinterest might update their platform (as they usually do)  But that’s something to think about when they do.. 

HOW HASHTAGS HAVE HELPED ME:

Hashtags were things I sort of tossed out the window at first. 

“Hashtags? No, hashtags are for Instagram and Twitter, how the heck will they help me with my pins?” I thought..

But I was wrong. Every now and then I go in and see how my Pinterest pins are performing and to my surprise pins with hashtags go much better results than those that didn’t have any at all!

Now.. I like being real with you guys. The truth is, hashtags have helped me a lot, and they are an awesome Pinterest Marketing strategy, but so have other great Pinterest Marketing Strategies! I have a great article about other  strategies you can read here > How I Use Pinterest to Bring Traffic to My Blog

Overall, don’t be disheartened when you feel like your pins aren’t performing well. It takes mistakes to achieve success. I believe you can achieve anything you set your mind to cause you’re absolutely awesome!

Let me know in the comments down below what your biggest takeaway was and if you found this article helpful! I’ll make sure to reply!