Today, I want to talk about something new that’s happening on Pinterest. Pinterest is giving more and more accounts the ability to claim their Instagram (again – since we used to be able to do this in the past). But what do we do with it once it’s claimed? Should we be auto-posting our Instagram posts on Pinterest? Should we be repurposing our content? We’re going to cover all of that today.
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Table of Contents
Changes in Pinterest Account Claims
I remember eight years ago you were able to claim all of these accounts on Pinterest. Your Etsy account, your YouTube account, your Instagram account, and it was really nice because then you could sort in your analytics where the data was coming from.
And then in more recent years, Pinterest kind of took that away and now they’re slowly giving Instagram back. I think if you have the option, you should absolutely claim your Instagram account. Why wouldn’t you? I’m seeing on some accounts, it shows up in their profile, which is really nice. As a Pinterest user, not too many people are looking at your profile, but for those that are, I feel following you on Instagram is a natural next step. So I do love that feature.
Auto-Posting and Third-Party Tools
This time not only are they giving you the option to reclaim your Instagram account, Pinterest is giving you the option to automatically post from Instagram to Pinterest. Now to be clear, other tools like Repurpose AI have been able to do this automatically for you.
But in general, I like to stay away from those third-party tools unless it’s an approved scheduler like Tailwind. Which hasn’t been able to auto-post for you manually from Instagram, but you have been able to do this with some tools like that.
Generally, I would say when you can do something natively, it’s better. But in this case, I’m actually going to say I am not encouraging my clients to crosspost and there’s a few reasons why.
Curating Pinterest Accounts
First, I want to just reel it back and talk about what makes a good Pinterest account. Usually, as a business, you want your account to be a little more curated. When I start to work with someone and they have a mix of personal pins and maybe pins that have represented every interest or business venture they’ve ever had. I usually go through and archive all of those boards. You don’t have to delete them or go crazy, or if you have boards that are performing really well, don’t do this. Don’t read that as advice, because there are some nuances to it.
But in general, I like to keep a very curated profile because I think, (and Pinterest has said this too), the more clear it is for them to see what your account’s about, what each pin and board is about, the easier it is for them to recommend you in searches. And that is how most accounts are being found, right? Pinterest is a visual search engine. People go to Pinterest and they start with a search. So it’s really important to have a clear account. That doesn’t mean you have to post about just one thing all the time, but it does mean you don’t necessarily want things to be random.
And when I look at repurposing, I always think what is the purpose? And if the purpose is because you believe all of your Instagram content will perform really well on Pinterest, then sure. But even so I wouldn’t auto post, but just humor me here. If the point is just to feel good, and you feel like if you check off this box and everything is being repurposed, then you can say that you have a Pinterest strategy. I am so sorry to say this, but you do not. It just really isn’t the same. It’s not even close. In fact, I think sometimes it’s hurting you.
Reasons Why I DON’T Recommend Auto-Posting Instagram Posts on Pinterest
So I’ll give you a few examples. First, anything with a trending audio, usually the sound is going to get removed. I don’t stress too much about this. Sometimes I will repurpose reels if I think they’ll do well on Pinterest, but the reality is most Pinterest users are on the platform without sound. So unless your reels or whatever content you’re creating does well without sound, it won’t work as well on Pinterest.
The other thing that people don’t like on Pinterest, which I would argue they don’t like this on Instagram either, but it won’t punish you the same way. Is these six-second loop reels. Absolutely not. I feel like I’m being negative, but there’s so much stuff on Instagram that just does not translate well on Pinterest.
For example, carousel posts. When you hit auto post on Pinterest, carousel posts will actually upload to Pinterest as individual pins. So if you have six slides of five different points you want to make, they’re all going to be separate pins, which is just wild to me. It is not a good user experience.
So let’s say you do this and your pins actually do rank, it’s ultimately not going to be a good experience for the end user, and that is going to weigh your account down. Pinterest does not push pins from accounts that are not performing well, not engaging people or people are bouncing. Anything that is going to result in a bad experience for the end user, Pinterest is not going to promote.
Misconceptions About Pinterest
I love the whole, “we can’t put so much pressure on ourselves”, but I do think that it needs to be said. So many times we feel like we’re “on Pinterest”. Pinterest is not an easy platform anymore. It’s not hard. You should definitely be on there, but it’s not like back in 2017 when you could grow your account on an hour a week. I wish. It is just not like that anymore.
And I think there’s this misconception of where people say they’ve been on Pinterest so long and they’ve posted so much and it’s just not working for them. And this is not just with Pinterest. This is any platform. And I really want to challenge that and ask, what have you really put in? So if somebody tells me they’ve been on Pinterest and it’s not working, I would expect them to be like, here’s my spreadsheet of keywords.
I’m not just winging my stuff. Here’s my spreadsheet, here’s my pin schedule, here’s my board optimization, here’s my profile. I would expect all of those things, and I would expect them to tell me that they’ve been doing it for six to 12 months before I would actually entertain the idea that Pinterest is not working for them.
Successful Repurposing Strategies
But anyway, what does work on Pinterest? Because I do believe in repurposing content. I just don’t necessarily approve of it in this automatic kind of way. I kind of said this already, but I repurpose reels as long as I think that they’ll work without sound. I will literally have Kaylee go through my account and have her download the ones she thinks will work on Pinterest (using an Instagram reel downloader) and upload them to my account. And we will do that with the clients too. I think that that’s a really good idea to get maximum value for the content you’re creating.
If you’re doing face to cam and you’re talking to the camera and there’s captions or texts, I think that that can work really well as far as repurposing Instagram posts on Pinterest can go. If you’re in a more visual industry, I think before and afters can work really well. Let’s say you’re a brand and website designer, before and after content can work really well. Again, you have to think people are going to be scrolling with their sound off.
Linking Strategies
This is another big thing, when you upload manually, you can link to a certain Instagram post. Sure. Or you can link to your website. But, sometimes the content that we’re publishing on Instagram posts on Pinterest it doesn’t necessarily send to a specific page on your website. So that’s just something to keep in mind too. I’m obviously a big advocate for linking things to your website. I always like to look at the intention and if it’s more relatable reels or entertaining reels, I love that for you. I think that’s a great nurture tool. And I don’t think Pinterest is the platform to post your nurture content.
Final Thoughts on Putting Instagram Posts on Pinterest
I also just want to say, having Kaylee manually go through my reels, (which I don’t post a million reels), doesn’t take long. It’s a pretty fast, easy process to put my instagram posts on Pinterest. So that’s just something worth noting too. When we look at auto posting, yeah, it’s set it and forget it, but in general, I’m not recommending it at this time. Even though that takes no time, my way, (where you just have one extra layer of vetting the content that you’re repurposing), takes maybe 20 minutes a month.
So again, it is worth repurposing your Instagram posts on Pinterest when you think it will do well, but auto posting is not going to result in a good experience for you or your end user.
LINKS MENTIONED
- Hire us to be your Pinterest Marketing Managers
- This is the IG Reels Downloader we use most (although there are other good ones!)
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