Getting more Instagram followers isn’t as easy as it used to be, but did you know one of the best ways to grow on Instagram is with Pinterest?
Thanks to its link-friendly nature, Pinterest is a fantastic channel for increasing referral traffic, which can result in some serious Instagram engagement and more followers.
Ready to get pinning? Here are 5 great ways to grow your Instagram with Pinterest:
Grow Your Instagram with Pinterest #1: Claim Your Instagram Account on Pinterest
Claiming your Instagram account on Pinterest comes loaded with benefits — you get access to more robust Pinterest analytics (including data for every action taken on your Pins, across all of Pinterest) and attribution on any Pins that originate from Instagram.
But it can also drive more traffic to your Instagram account!
Similar to a claimed website, once you claim your Instagram account, your Pinterest profile will be displayed on any Pins created from your Instagram content.
Basically, what this means is if you or anyone else creates a Pin using content from your claimed Instagram account, your profile picture and a “Follow” button will appear above that Pin:
This is a great way to get more monthly viewers to your Pinterest profile and click-throughs to your Instagram profile.
Plus, since Instagram posts have a fairly short lifespan, by claiming your Instagram account on Pinterest and then pinning your Instagram posts, you can drive more traffic and engagement to your Instagram content over a longer period of time.
For example, if you run a travel account on Instagram and pin your Instagram content to travel boards on Pinterest, those Pins might be saved to other users’ boards and spread across Pinterest.
From here, more and more people will see it and click-through to your Instagram account, which could result in more followers and engagement on Instagram.
You can plan, schedule, and automatically publish your Pinterest content with Later! And the best news? It’s free!
Grow Your Instagram with Pinterest #2: Publish to Instagram First, Then Pin to Pinterest
If your goal is to grow your Instagram account, you should publish your content to Instagram first.
Then pin it to your relevant boards on Pinterest — this ensures that you’ll get proper attribution.
To do this, log into your Instagram account on your desktop, navigate to your Instagram profile, and then open a particular image to grab the post’s URL — that’s the link that you’re going to pin to your Pinterest board.
Once you’ve curated a gorgeous board with your Instagram posts, you’ll see your Pinterest referral traffic climb!
One of the biggest keys to success on Pinterest is quality over quantity. Post your best and most on-theme Instagram content to your Pinterest boards.
Recipes, infographics, and visuals with text overlays tend to perform really well on Pinterest, so if you’re posting a multi-image post to Instagram, consider creating a Pinterest-optimized graphic of all the photos together in one image.
Then you can pin the image to your board, but link back to your original Instagram post for more context in your Instagram caption, making awesome custom content that works for both platforms.
Want to learn more about the wonders of growing your brand on Pinterest? We go into the details in our Ultimate Guide to Pinterest Marketing!
Grow Your Instagram with Pinterest #3: Let SEO Be Your Friend
Pinterest can be an SEO machine when used properly — in fact, at its core, Pinterest is sort of a visual search engine!
So how can you benefit from Pinterest SEO?
The trick is to add relevant keywords on Pinterest that are specific to your business, and aligned with what your target audience is searching for — the same way you create content that’s optimized for relevant keywords on your blog or website.
There are multiple places you can include SEO keywords, but one of the most important places is your Pin title. Your keywords here should cover as many bases as possible as this will help your Pins get into your audience’s search results.
You should also include keywords in your Pin descriptions, alongside relevant search hashtags.
And while there’s no hard-and-fast rule, high-traffic Pins tend to include between 5-10 keywords and 3-5 hashtags.
Check out how Later captures multiple keywords in our Pin descriptions, while also providing a clear and informative description for viewers.
Doing this can skyrocket traffic to your Pinterest profile, boards, and Pins! And if you’ve taken our last point about pinning your Instagram content to Pinterest, it could result in a ton of click-throughs to your Instagram account.
Grow Your Instagram with Pinterest #4: Cross-Post Your IGTV Videos to Pinterest
Another strategy to grow your Instagram using Pinterest is to cross-post your IGTV videos to Pinterest!
It’s no secret that videos perform really well on Pinterest — in fact, there were 6 times as many video views on Pinterest in 2019 than in 2018!
The reason for their success is that Video Pins allow brands and businesses to share so much more on the platform. From authentic storytelling and product demos to tutorials and recipes – the options are endless!
And with that added value, it’s more likely that users will save Video Pins to one of their boards for others to see and share.
A great way to benefit from all of this while driving traffic and interest back to your Instagram account is by repurposing your IGTV videos for Pinterest.
Not only is it super easy to do but it’s a great way to get more out of all your amazing video content!
Just keep in mind that Pinterest videos have a maximum length of 15 minutes, so depending on how long your IGTV videos are, you may have to give them a trim.
Check out Pinterest’s help guide for a full breakdown of video creative specs.
Grow Your Instagram with Pinterest #5: Share Your Instagram Stories as Pins
Did you know that you can repurpose your Instagram Stories content for Pinterest by sharing it as a Pin?
This is something we’ve been doing a lot with Later’s Pinterest account with really great results.
Here’s how to do it:
Unlike Facebook Stories, there’s no way to automatically post to Pinterest from Instagram, so you’ll need to get a little creative.
To begin, head to your Instagram Stories and tap the ellipsis button in the bottom-right corner and tap Save. Here, you’ll have the option of downloading that individual story or all of your stories as an MP4 file.
Keep in mind that any interactive elements in your Instagram Stories, like stickers or swipe-up CTAs, won’t be “clickable” on Pinterest.
If you haven’t included anything like this, you can go ahead and share to Pinterest as is. But if you do, it’s a good idea to edit your video to remove them.
Finally, just upload your story to Pinterest as you normally would!
Instagram and Pinterest are two of the most visual social media platforms out there, and when used together, they can help you extend the personality of your brand and build deeper connections with your followers.
But remember: don’t just collect fans and followers! If you want to truly grow your Instagram with Pinterest, your need to engage with your audience. Give them a reason to follow you by creating unique and helpful content.
Don’t forget! You can schedule and automatically your Instagram and Pinterest content for free with Later!
