Hashtags on Pinterest? Why Yes!
The feature sets offered on social media networks are in many ways similar, however, it’s the way you use those tools that sets each platform apart. This is in particularly true for hashtags. Even-though hashtags typically are implemented to sort data, every platform has a different vision as to how they’re used. Making sure you know how to use the tools correctly will ensure success.
For years using hashtags on Pinterest has been a big ‘NO’! The reason being was that it was confusing using them on the platform and that they could work against you. But according to Tiffany Black, Head of Content Business Development and Corporate Development at Pinterest, hashtags are back:
“It is true that In the past, I think that we were dissuading people from using hashtags. We are actually changing that such that you can and are often benefited in the future by using hashtags. As far as best practices go, the rule of thumb is use authentic hashtags but don’t keyword stuff essentially. So I know on other platforms you can often see people putting 50 or 100 hashtags on something.
It’s not the volume of hashtags that’s really useful, it’s actually making sure you are using the hashtags that people will likely be searching for. So not trying to do like 100 because actually doing too many will decrease rank in some capacity because we will think it is possibly spam.
So I would say we haven’t figured out exactly what the right number is. I don’t think that we will probably come out with an exact number but you know keeping it reasonable and using ones that are relevant to the content and authentic is the way to go.
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Look Out For Hashtags
Over the last couple of months we have seen more and more hashtags pop up under pin descriptions:
Just the other day I accidentally typed in the hashtag symbol in Pinterest’s search bar on my iPhone and Pinterest automatically pulled up hashtags for me, which further suggests that they are taking hashtags seriously.
I then tried to be more specific with my hashtag search and Pinterest suddenly got a lot more targeted.
Although when I picked #fallfashion Pinterest took me to pins with fall fashion, and a bunch of unrelated pins as well.
Should Marketers Use Hashtags On Pinterest?
Yes, it’s time to start using them! Start out slowly and test the grounds. Use fewer hashtags rather than many as suggest by Tiffany Black, and try to incorporate unique hashtags. It’s still too early to tell how exactly Pinterest plans to implement hashtags in their network, but one thing’s for sure, they are gearing up to making hashtags an important part of Pinterest and therefore so should you!