S1E7 How Many Pins Per Day Is Too Many? - Pin Talk - Pinterest Tips and Updates for Creators

Summary

Pin Talk - Pinterest Tips and Updates for Creators
Episode S1E7: How Many Pins Per Day Is Too Many?
Release Date: December 19, 2024

Hosts: Tony Hill and Carly Campbell

Introduction

In this insightful episode of Pin Talk, Tony Hill and Carly Campbell delve into one of the most frequently asked questions by Pinterest users: "How many pins per day should you be pinning?" They explore the complexities surrounding pinning volume, historical changes in Pinterest's algorithm, and offer actionable strategies to help creators optimize their pinning practices for both growth and maintenance.

Evolution of Pinterest Pinning Strategies

Tony initiates the conversation by acknowledging the popularity of the question:

"[00:23] B: We are going to try and answer one of the most popular questions that we get all the time. How many pins per day should you be pinning?"

The hosts trace the history of pinning volume on Pinterest, highlighting how strategies have evolved over the years in response to platform changes.

Impact of Algorithm Changes on Pin Volume

Carly provides a detailed overview of Pinterest's algorithm shifts:

"[01:25] A: Can you give us a brief history of pinning when it comes to volume?"

Prior to early 2016, Pinterest operated on a live-time feed where pins were directly shown to followers. However, with the introduction of algorithm-based recommendations, the visibility of pins began to depend more on user relationships and engagement rather than just follower counts. This shift led to significant changes in pinning strategies, with many creators initially responding by increasing their pinning volume to maintain traffic.

Current Guidelines and Limits

The conversation touches on Pinterest's contemporary guidelines regarding pinning volume:

"[06:53] B: So there is a limit on that one."

Pinterest's native scheduler now allows up to 48 pins per day, a guideline influenced by past experiences where high-volume pinning (e.g., 100 pins/day) led to reduced traffic and potential spam flagging. Tools like Tailwind previously supported higher pinning volumes, but even they have scaled back recommendations in response to Pinterest's evolving policies.

Debunking the High Volume vs. Low Volume Debate

Tony and Carly discuss the extremes of pinning volume—ranging from as few as three pins every few days to as many as 300 pins per day—and emphasize the importance of finding a middle ground:

"[08:59] B: ...a good middle ground in between three every three days and 300 a day."

They agree that while some creators may thrive with high-volume pinning, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Factors such as content quality, niche competitiveness, and engagement rates play critical roles in determining the optimal number of pins.

Current Recommendations: Finding the Middle Ground

Both hosts converge on a recommended pinning range, balancing between over-pinning and under-pinning:

"[65:43] B: ...a range of 5 to 48 pins per day that we feel comfortable giving as an answer to this big important question."

This range accommodates various niches and content types, allowing creators to tailor their pinning strategies based on their specific circumstances and goals.

Content Strategy: Number of URLs and Pin Diversity

A pivotal part of the discussion revolves around the number of unique URLs being pinned and the diversity of ideas per post:

"[37:30] B: ...how many pins per day is enough to grow an account? We have to consider that, that engagement rate thing and that account quality thing. And we have to consider that if we're doing one article per week and we're doing only five pin images..."

Creators are encouraged to introduce multiple pins for different ideas within a single blog post, enhancing the chances of engagement and reaching diverse audiences. This strategy ties the number of pins directly to the number of unique ideas and URLs, rather than pinning multiple variations of the same point.

Leveraging AI in Pinning Strategies

The hosts briefly touch upon the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in facilitating higher pin volumes without compromising quality:

"[19:56] A: It's like our 20% winners exactly, yeah."

AI-generated images can help creators produce more visually appealing pins efficiently, potentially increasing engagement rates. However, Carly cautions against over-reliance on AI without a solid content strategy:

"[20:35] B: It's made higher volume more accessible and more popular."

Practical Ways to Increase Pin Volume Responsibly

Tony and Carly offer several strategies to responsibly increase pin volume:

Create Additional Boards: Expanding the number of boards allows for diverse pin placement, reducing repetition.
Repurpose Content: Utilize different angles or contexts for the same content, such as seasonal tweaks to evergreen posts.
Target Multiple Ideas per Post: Extract and highlight various sub-ideas from a single blog post to create multiple pins.

"[50:42] A: Yeah. So when I say boards, it's just an. Another place to."

Maintaining vs. Growing Your Pinterest Account

The hosts differentiate between strategies for growing an account and maintaining traffic on an established one:

"[41:46] B: I think once we've figured out how many pins a day is enough to grow an account, the next question that I get is how many pins per day is enough to maintain traffic on an established account?"

For maintenance, significantly lower pin volumes may suffice, especially if the account already benefits from strong engagement and quality content.

Monitoring and Adapting Your Strategy

Continuous monitoring of pin performance is emphasized as crucial for adapting strategies:

"[67:55] A: ...look at the impressions it's initially getting..."

Creators are encouraged to regularly review their analytics to assess the impact of any changes in pinning volume and make informed adjustments accordingly.

Conclusion

Tony and Carly conclude the episode by reinforcing that the optimal number of pins per day varies based on multiple factors, including niche, content type, and engagement rates. They advocate for a strategic and measured approach to pinning, urging creators to:

Start with a manageable volume (e.g., 5-10 pins/day).
Gradually adjust based on performance metrics.
Diversify pin content to maximize engagement and reach.
Stay organized and maintain a clear content strategy to navigate Pinterest's competitive landscape.

"[65:45] A: ...there's a range of 5 to 48 pins per day that we feel comfortable giving as an answer..."

For further assistance or to share feedback, listeners are encouraged to reach out via email at pentalkpodcast@mail.com or join their communities. Additionally, resources and show notes are available on their website: https://pintalkpodcast.com/.

Notable Quotes:

"[01:25] A: Can you give us a brief history of pinning when it comes to volume?"
"[08:59] B: ...a good middle ground in between three every three days and 300 a day."
"[37:30] B: ...how many pins per day is enough to grow an account? We have to consider that, that engagement rate thing and that account quality thing."
"[65:43] B: ...a range of 5 to 48 pins per day that we feel comfortable giving as an answer to this big important question."

This comprehensive discussion equips Pinterest creators with the knowledge to tailor their pinning strategies effectively, balancing between quantity and quality to achieve sustained growth and engagement.

Transcript

A (0:02)

Hey, welcome to pintalk, the go to podcast for all things Pinterest for bloggers and content creators. I'm Tony Hill, and with me is my co host, Carly Campbell. So what are we talking about today, Carly?

B (0:13)

We are going to try and answer one of the most popular questions that we get all the time. How many pins per day should you be pinning?

A (0:23)

Yeah, that's definitely a popular question I get. And. And gosh, I wish there was a really simple answer. We're gonna do our best here to try to give a simple answer, but there's a lot of, like, it depends type of answers here. So our goal here is to give you some background information about, you know, pinning and how many pins per day and what that's looked like on the platform over the years here, and then just some questions to ask yourself or things to think about, and hopefully a framework of trying to figure out how many pins per day should you be pinning? Because it's a kind of an individual thing, I would say.

B (0:59)

Yeah, I think that it's one of the hardest questions to answer because there's so many factors that go into it, and people don't expect there to be this many factors that go into the answer to this question. They expect a straightforward answer. You should be pinning five pins a day. You should be pinning 10 pins a day. You should be Pinning 15. I heard that you're pinning X number of pins a day, so I should be doing that. But that's not how this works.

A (1:25)

Nope, it's not. So can you give us a brief history of pinning when it comes to volume? Because. Right. Volume pinning, it's been talked about a lot. I brought it up earlier this year once people learned some of my strategy of Pinterest and how I'm creating so many pins every single day, it just became another popular topic again for a little while. So you've got a good history of a platform and how things have changed over the years. You want to fill us in a little bit in this context of volume pinning?

B (1:58)

Yeah. So without getting too far into the weeds on it, the important things to know is that Prior to early 2016, Pinterest had a live time feed, and you would pin and that pin would go to your followers. So followers mattered a ton at the time, too. If there was a thousand people following you, you'd pin and whoever was online scrolling would see the pin. At least that's how I understand it. And so obviously, it became kind of necessary to pin your best pins or even your new pins more and more. And More often, because if you were on Pinterest at 8am and you saw my pin, you might not be on Pinterest at 10pm you might not see my pin. So we were pinning these pins all the time. Pinterest turned that off overnight. It was like their first real big algorithm change, the live feed into the algorithm that. That was the earliest iteration of the algorithm that exists now, where they started recommending pins based on relationship to other pins, rather than just as something that the creator that you followed was creating. That was like the first Pinterest Armageddon where bloggers just left Pinterest left and right because they could not figure out how to regain all this traffic that they had lost. Pinterest had been so easy before that because it was literally a matter of just feeding the people who are following you your pins. And so there were people pinning hundreds and hundreds of pins a day at that point. When the algorithm changed, there was no conversation around how much you should be pinning. We were already pinning a lot. It makes sense to keep pinning a lot because that worked right away for some people. That wasn't working right away for some people, that was working because there hadn't been any guidance given at that point about it. And that is the time period where I first created my course. And I was definitely doing volume pinning. If we define volume pinning as like over 50 pins a day, let's, let's. I don't. That's maybe like a. That's maybe an extreme. Some people would call volume pinning like a hundred pins a day or more. I was absolutely doing a hundred pins a day or more at the time that I found Pinterest success and created my course. Tools came out to help people with this volume pinning because we needed to be pinning so many pins all the time. Board Booster and Tailwind were some of the most popular ones. Tailwind is still around, but even they don't recommend really high volume pinning anymore. And that is because in about, I think it might have been 2018, 2019, people just started to see their traffic drop. Nobody could quite understand what it was pinning. More and more and more pins didn't help. People were getting really frustrated. And Tailwind did a live with Pinterest and in the live with Pinterest, Pinterest made it really clear that I don't think in that live they actually addressed a number of pins per day, but they made it really clear that they didn't want to see us repinning our same old pins over and over and over again. That we didn't need to have repetitive content. So repetitive content was specifically the thing that Pinterest called out as a detriment at that time. And to this day, if you look in their, like, community guidelines under spam, there is not very much given as to guidance about how many pins per day you should be pinning. There's three things that Pinterest lists that you shouldn't be pinning as far as, like, I think could be related to volume, and that is repetition, irrelevancy, which is, you know, repetition under a different name. I think, although the image could be different with irrelevancy, so we could talk about that too. And actually the other one is deceptive, so that actually doesn't relate to volume. But we knew we couldn't pin repetitively, so people started making. We were still going for volume. We started making 50 of the similar idea. So before we might have been pinning the same hundred identical pins, we started tweaking the pins, giving them a border. And I still do this to an extent, but it was happening at volume back then. I think that's where you get the word irrelevant from.