Resurrecting A Blog Post With Pinterest

Do you have evergreen content that you know should perform better?  Or do you have some old blog posts that performed really well in the past, but lately these posts seem to have no life at all?  Pinterest can help bring life back into those old posts!

Not only is Pinterest a great driver of traffic to your new blog posts, it can also breath new life into that corpse of a blog that has started to gather some dust.  Below, I created a video to showcase some tips that I break down in detail after the video.

Replace Stock Photos

In the early days of blogging, it was easy.  You could use a cheap stock photo image and get away with it.  Not any more!  On Pinterest, the image is everything.  It is what catches the eye’s attention first.  Try to use some original photography if at all possible.  Listen, not all of us are professional photographers, and I struggle with getting good images myself.  But if you do use stock photos, try to find the most original ones you can.  Add filters, crop it in a unique way, and add your personal touch.  Just be sure you don’t download one and slap it up quickly on your blog article.  Revitalize those dying blog posts with a new image!

Use Great Evergreen Content

If your blog post didn’t do well on ANY social platform, there may be a reason.    It may be time for a re-write.  Pick a post that did get some traction, and one that you know has excellent content.  Double check that the post doesn’t have any dated content in it.  I see a lot of low performing pins that share outdated data.  If your post contains an infographic that is more than a year old and is no longer relevant, don’t use it!  Replace the infographic or find a new post.

Use Magazine Covers For Inspiration

If you’re struggling to find new ideas for pin layouts or even images for your blog post, head down to your local book store.  Look at how the most popular magazines are using photos and text together on the cover.  Sketch out some ideas on how you can use those same layout techniques on your pin designs.  But remember!  Magazine’s are a lot bigger than iPhone screens, so adjust accordingly.  

Create a Teaser Video and Pin

One of the coolest things about Pinterest is its capability for video pins.  The fact that people can watch video pins without ever leaving the Pinterest platform is a huge win in my humble opinion.  So use this to your advantage!  Create a short video introducing the blog post that you want to breathe new life into.  It could just be you talking into your web camera, or an elaborate edited video.  Make sure the video captures the viewer’s attention and whets their appetite for the blog post.  Keep the video short.  Remember that you’re introducing the article to them, not lecturing about the article.  If you keep it at 15 seconds, you can also cross promote it to Instagram!

Always Optimize for Mobile

This is becoming more and more important.  With over 75% of Pinterest viewers using the platform from a mobile device, you can no longer ignore optimizing for mobile.  Make sure that your pin title is viewable on that tiny cell phone screen.  Layouts that look great on the desktop can look fuzzy and hard to read when seen on mobile devices.  Pin descriptions can also be cut off on a mobile device.  Also, try to keep description lengths to around 100 characters.

Change Landscape Images To Portrait

This is probably one of the hardest changes for bloggers to implement.  Most blogging themes are not structured for using portrait images for the featured images for posts.  There are a couple of workarounds.  You can use a large square image that can still be pinned effectively on Pinterest.  A great example of this is Peg Fitzpatrick’s new blog design.  The large square format really works for her posts.

The other solution is to make sure that you have a landscape-sized image for people to pin in your post. Until I change my design, that’s what I have to do here at Manly Pinterest Tips.  The portrait image above is a smaller size thumbnail that allows the full size to be pinned on Pinterest.

Check Your Analytics and Optimize

If you’re struggling to find out what blog post would be best to reanimate, check your analytics.  If a post did really well on one social platform, but not another, that would be a great one to pick.  You can also use the new Pinterest analytics to see how well your new pin is doing if you have a Pinterest business account (which you should anyway).  You can also create different pins that point back to the same post and track which one is doing better.  Just make sure to space those pins apart (like a monthly campaign).

Pin To New Group Boards

If you have a post that has been in the graveyard for awhile, and you’ve been active on Pinterest, then you’ve probably joined some new group boards during that time.  If you haven’t pinned there before, now would be a good time to introduce your content to the audience of the new group board.  Once again, use common sense and space out the timing of your pinning to multiple group boards.

Make An Inforgraphic From An Old Post

This might take a little time and thought, but Pinterest LOVES Infographics!  Creating a simple infographic that explains the points of your post is a simple and visually appealing way to awaken an old blog post.  This strategy works for Slideshare presentations as well, since you can view Slideshare decks right in Pinterest!

Create A Pin Quote From An Old Post

Have a great quote that you’re dying to share from your resuscitated post?  Use tools like Canva, PicMonkey, or Recite to create an awesome graphic to pin that links back to your post.  If you have a great comment that was left on the post earlier, this is also a great way to highlight your followers and make them feel significant.

Cross Promote

If you’re taking all this time to rekindle life into an old post, make sure to share it!  Share it whenever and wherever possible.  Include twitter card images of your refreshed graphics when you tweet.  Use the Pin It For Later call to action when you’re sharing on Google +.  Share the pin on Facebook to engage with your audience there.  Remember once you share your post on social media, your work isn’t’ done!  Go back and interact with your followers via comments and shares.

Reference An Old Pin In A New Post

If you had a pin that did really well but the repins are starting to dry up, write a new post and reference that pin.  Embed that pin in your post and talk about it in the article.  Don’t just re-hash the same information on the original pin, but add value, share what you’ve learned, and use that old pin to shock the repins back to life.

Use the above tips to help rouse that old blog post back to life.  The point is…be creative!  Try something new.  Use analytics to track your progress and make adjustments if things aren’t working.  You know your content is great, so don’t give up!  Your post will be crawling back to life in no time!

If you have any questions or would like some help with social media or your Pinterest account, fill out this contact form.  I’d love to talk with you!