We don’t have to tell you that coming up with regular, fresh, and relevant content for your blog can be tough. In fact, we’ll go so far as to say that’s exactly why you’re here. So over the past month, we’ve helped you understand how Google News and Feedly can help you get blog post ideas – for your own benefit, or as direction for our writers.
And as it turns out, there’s a third resource that can be invaluable in this regard:Pinterest.
Using Pinterest for Blog Ideas
What do you do when you have a minute of time and just need to relax? Increasingly, the answer to that question includes pulling out a mobile device and browsing your favorite social network.
As a society, we now spend an average of almost two hours per day on social networks. So why not put that time to good use? Browsing through Pinterest is a great way to take a mental break while simultaneously coming up with seemingly countless blog ideas.
What’s Pinterest?
By many of its users, Pinterest is known as the ‘craftiest’ of all social networks.
It’s a visual spin on a social bookmarking site, allowing its users to create topically themed “boards” to which they can pin and repin (mostly image-based) ideas and notes from other users.
The network describes itself as “the visual bookmarking tool that helps you discover and save creative ideas.” And that description is precisely why savvy marketers use the social network to create more blog ideas with Pinterest.
Taking Advantage of Topically Themed Boards
Those “topically themed boards” we mentioned in the above section are worth a closer examination.
Depending on your business, some of the Pinterest’s most popular categories may be a natural match: photography makes sense for a professional photographer, a restaurant will be particularly interested in food and drink-related pins, and so on. But in reality, most small businesses will find a category on Pinterest that relates to their business, even if it’s indirect. A local bank, for example, may be particularly interested in money-saving tips. If you’re running a print shop, check out graphic design and art-related boards.
You can also discover pins on a variety of categories through their discovery tab.
As with any social network, the key to relevant content is following the right people. Fortunately, Pinterest’s topically themed boards make it easy to do just that, which – as we’ll explain below – is crucial for idea generation to benefit your blog.
Blog Ideas with a Visual Focus
Another major distinguishing factor for Pinterest is its emphasis on imagery. A quick look on the network’s home page reveals just how much that visual focus matters: pins only stand out and get repinned if they’re accompanied by a compelling picture. Why does that matter? Because, as it turns out, visuals matter just as much in blogging.
Compelling visuals make your blog posts easy to digest and memorable. Would you still be reading this post if it was just a wall of text? We didn’t think so. In addition, images on blogs transfer to social media posts about these posts, which will receive significantly higher engagement and click-through rates if they include images.
In short, it makes sense to include and perhaps even center your blog posts around images. Which brings us back full-circle:
How Pinterest Helps with Blog Ideas; an Example
At this point, you should have a great idea of what Pinterest is all about. Now, let’s put that knowledge to good use.
Here’s how you can use Pinterest to generate blog ideas.
Let’s say you’re a contractor.
We bet Pinterest wasn’t your first choice for getting blog ideas. But that doesn’t make it any less ideal. And we can prove it: simply browsing the “home improvement” category on the network results in countless articles about easy fixes to your home that add value, bathroom makeovers, and much more.
We just searched “contractor” and got off-beat ideas like this:
Adding Your Own Angle to Pins
Every single one of these pins represents a possible blog for your contracting business – all you have to do is add your angle. Do you know how to do bathrooms? Perfect. Take the above bathroom makeover ideas, and ask our writers to write a bit more about just how much value some simple fixes could add to a home. Of course, don’t forget about noting that the long-term value far exceeds your upfront costs.
Don’t Forget About the Visuals
Thanks to the visual prominence of each pin, you don’t just have a new blog post idea – you also have a direction in terms of visuals. Of course, you shouldn’t take the image from the pin and simply put it on your blog – that could come with serious copyright issues. But you can take a look at the picture, find and correctly use a similar stock image online, and you’re good to go.
Pinterest Boards, Your Free Blog Idea Generator
But there’s one idea we haven’t yet talked about as it relates to blog idea generation, and it’s perhaps the most important one: how you can use Pinterest’s boards to your advantage.
After reading the previous few sections, you may think of the idea-generation process on Pinterest as time-intensive. In reality, thanks to the network’s boards, that’s far from the case.
After browsing around the network a bit, you can begin to create boards. to stay with the contractor example, these might be one board per room in the house, one board each for minor and major renovations, or any other organizational combination. Then, you can begin to pin blogs in your preferred category (“home improvement,” “renovations,” etc. to the board it belongs. Suddenly, you have begun to create an archive full of potential blog ideas that you can refer back to whenever you’re in need of some creativity.
On average, Pinterest users pin almost 3,500 images to their boards every single minute. Even if only 1% of those are relevant to your business, that’s 50,000 potential blog ideas every single day! By using boards, you can make sure that the ideas keep flowing in without becoming overwhelming. And by using Pinterest for blog idea generation, you can make sure that you (or our writers) always have enough content for the compelling and interesting blog posts that will drive visitors to your website.
