Tech Series 3: Pinterest is Interesting
The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) Artistry Spin Blog will explore the use of technology and its impact on the world of art. There are so many tools and resources that can benefit the artists to not only create artwork, but to inspire them, to share their work with the world and to potentially sell their artwork. We'll review and offer suggestions on some of the top trending tech on the web, popular for artists, and those wanting to find out more about art, and perhaps, discover YOUR art.
Social Media and Pinterest
Social Media is a pain. Social Media takes time out of your day. Social Media can be a glorious way to be discovered by people that never knew you are an artist, anywhere in the country - unto the world and galaxies beyond. So, social media can be seen as a necessary evil, but I've covered that in other PWAS Artistry Spin blog posts. Choose your pain and stay in your lane whether it be Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter / X, TikTok, or Pinterest (or other route).
For this blog post, the next online platform for artists that we will look at is Pinterest in this tech series. Be sure and see the first two as well.
What is the difference between Instagram and Pinterest? Yes, both are visual platforms.
"Instagram is primarily a social networking site for sharing photos and videos, focusing on real-time updates and connecting with a community. Pinterest, on the other hand, functions more like a visual discovery engine and search engine for inspiration, with users curating content for later use and potentially discovering new ideas from others' boards." - AI Overview
Pinterest is a good place to find out about art, artists, and all things interesting about art and art ideas - besides all those scrumptious looking recipes.. Discover art because Pinterest is basically a search engine that can be used to find art – potentially YOUR art, via photos (mainly) rather than by video or reel as on Instagram.
When you follow someone’s profile or a board on Pinterest, the pins they create will begin appearing on your home feed – and vice versa when they follow you. It’s a good thing to be followed, but a better thing is to have the traffic Pinterest sends. Having quality optimized content in your consistently posted pins gets you in a position to be searched on and found.
You can create a personal account or a business account which is good to know before you begin as your art can be a business account.
"Pins" are the bookmarks that save the ideas, tips, images, products, and videos of interest to you and that you share with others.
Create a Board - sort of like pinning a note on your bulletin board, you can position and categorize the pins you collect in a very organized way. Check out the PWAS Pinterest page here. Hey, while you are there, give a follow!
As an artist (potentially trying to sell art), you may want a few of these sample categories, thinking ahead on the pins you may want to collect and add to your board and for your potential followers that may want to save and share as well:
- Acrylic Paintings
- Art Shows
- Watercolor Paintings
- Art Business
- Oil Paintings
- Art Supplies
- Prince William Art Society
You get the idea. You can create up to 2,000 boards. AND you can follow up to 50,000 users.
Let's Get Your Pin Duties Started
How Loud Does Your Pin Scream?
A pin must scream loudly over the zillions of other pins so that users Stop and Scroll. Followed by them clicking on the link you provided to learn more – which could lead directly to your website, your art for sale, anything you want them to learn about you. We want your Pins to be shouting, "Check ME out!".
1. 1. Create a Pinterest account, individual and/or business with your artist Name
a. Profile Details Name is 30 characters
b. Bio is 160 characters
2. 2. Get the app for your phone, as that is the main way that most people view Pinterest.
3. 3. Plan your Pin, Pin schedule – daily (and time of day), weekly, monthly and how to make your "Pinteresting".
a. Target Audience - who are the people most interested in your art?
i. Remember most users are on mobile
b. There's a Problem - popular Pins identify an issue
c. Solve the Problem - popular Pins solve an issue
d. Benefits to the viewer - popular Pins identify the "What's in it for me?"
e. Easy to Use Graphic Design Tools like Canva
4. 4. Create a Pin, Pin Basics
a. Pin Image – quality image
i. 4 Types - Image Pin, Video Pin, Rich Pin, Product Pin
ii. Be Tall and Vertical
iii. Add a text overlay
iv. Your branded Pins for your business – consistency in visuals so that your pins might be easily recognized as belonging to you. You can do that via consistency in:
1. Color Palette
2. Background
3. White Space on Edges
4. Add your URL on the overlay
5. Margins 1/4 to 1/2 inch
6. Use easy to read fonts – only a couple of changes in font types, set with a hierarchy in the elements and alignments. No need to get so fancy that a viewer can’t read it.
b. Pin Title – 100 characters, a clear Keyword rich headline
c. Pin Description - optimal length of characters is 100-150 is where the main focus is but you are allowed up to 500. Ensure the beginning of the description has main keywords.
i. Pin File Size - 1000x1500 pixels with an aspect ratio of 2:3 width to height
ii. CTA – include a call to action in every pin
iii. Include relevant hashtags # (they are a part of the 500 character count)
d. Pin Link – where do you want the viewer to go to learn more? *THIS is important!
e. Pinterest Board – organize your own boards to reflect your art areas of interest.
i. Board Name is 50 characters
ii. Board Description is 500 characters
f. Pin Tags – select the appropriate tags. For an artwork, look up the subject of the art piece. Here are a few of the "Art Topic" ones I've found:
- Posters, Prints, & Visual Artwork
- Wall Galleries
- Virginia
- Contemporary Artist
- Watercolor Artist
- Acrylic Painting
- Mixed Media Painting
- Oil Painting
- Wall Hanging
- Wall Painting
- Wall Art
g. Select Product – if needed
h. Publish OR schedule it to post later
i. Set a day aside for monthly social media scheduling to save time for yourself - so you don't have to necessarily live pin every day.
5. 5. Create Templates of your branded art business pin styles – about 5-6 different types to repurpose, repost, repin – to help you save time and effort.
6. 6. Research the Tools to use to make Pin Making easier. You know....work smarter not harder.
a. Canva
b. You can use many of the suggestions from these 2 PWAS Artistry Spin blog posts to help:
How Often Should I Pin?
Now we get into the meat and potatoes. Quality over quantity. Five to eight quality content pins posted daily have the longest lifespan, save rates and engagement according to those that do the stats. You may want to begin with 3-5 daily and watch your analytics to find your best engagement topics, times, and sweet spots.
What Time of Say Should I Pin?
You need to find what works for you but the statisticians that study these things say that Weekday evenings are better than am posts. And Sunday afternoons are better than say a Friday evening or Saturday - folks must be too busy to scroll?
8-11pm for Recipes and DIY projects – try 3-4 pins in peak times to test
2-4pm for those home décor and fashion pins
See How Often Should You Post On Pinterest (Revealed)
How do I get people to follow me?
Patience, Grasshopper. Pin consistently, often, and let people know you are ON Pinterest (friends, family, other followers elsewhere) by including your Pinterest icon on your website, art store, other social sites, posts, comments, email subscribers, sky writing....
Can you turn off notifications?
Yes! And you have options.
Can you edit your comment?
Yes!
What keywords do I use in my content?
Yes! Check out this post - Maximizing Pinterest Keywords: A Guide for Artists
What Should I Pin?
Post Ideas and Suggestions (I’ll be updating these so stay tuned)
- Your original content to drive traffic to your own website, blog, Etsy store, online store
- Your Studio Tour
- Lessons Learned after a project or art show
- How you prepare for an art show
- How you create a Go Kit for an art Show
- Seasonal Art
- Gift guides featuring your art and art merch
- Fresh How to guides, instructional, tutorials
- Latest Art
- Pet Portraits
- Art Product Tips
- Your art merchandise for every single item you sell
- Find what doesn’t belong in my studio
- A Day in Your Artist Life
- Caption This or Title This Painting
- Art Motivation and Quotes
- Celebrate Something – a milestone, an anniversary, an art sale, an art award
- Behind the Scenes
- Before and After – great for artists
- Productivity Tips
- Nostalgia Pins
- Re-pin other people’s pins into your own board of interest to your own target audience
- What NOT to do
- How to info
- Pin Video content too!
- Create infographics about anything art
- Ooops I spilled the paint
- What should I add to this painting?
- Drop a Selfie of you doing something
- Have your logo in the photo
- Create a pin for an art commission you’d like to offer
- Create a pin for your art merchandise
- Create different overlays for the same blog post and create different pins
And For Further Reading About Pinterest - as you can see, I believe in doing the research. I don't think you need to pay for a class or a "social media expert" when all the info is already - out there. Out there should be an AKA (as known as) the internet.
The Right Way to Use Pinterest
Get More Art Website Visitors Using Pinteret
The Most Popular Pinterest Categories in 202530 Days of Content Ideas to Boost Engagement on Pinterest
As I have pointed out in other blog posts on Artistry Spin, when I do research for topics with timely advice and how to information, it makes sense to observe the date an article or post was published so that you have the best info available. Prices change, websites are updated, features are added with upgrades to their functionality, so newer content plain makes sense.
Now, go forth and Pin Me! Let me know if you get going on Pinterest or Instagram so we can follow each other! And follow this blog too. Comment? Add one below.
BLOG ECHO: Find the reference for a 1970s TV series and post the quote and Series Name in the comments below
Author: Donna Liguria is the Blogmaster for the PWAS Artistry Spin Blog and Donna's Cave Paintings Blog, and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, Virginia. And she takes on the PWAS social media duties as well (help me!) Donna specializes in acrylic painting of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.
Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm (typically, but check the website in case of any changes.
Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership
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