How to Create Video Pins on Pinterest
How to Create Video Pins on Pinterest
You may have noticed that there are new video pins on Pinterest when before it has always been a still image. They recently added this new feature and I am loving it. It is pretty cool to be scrolling along and see a pin start playing. It makes me love Pinterest that much more! Now I can see even more detail about what that pin is about before clicking through! But for a business owner, video pins on Pinterest means something more than to a normal Pinterest user.
Yes, as a normal Pinterest user you get to enjoy videos sharing all the cool ways you can braid your hair, but as a business owner, you now have more opportunity to share your business with your potential customers!
First let me say, don’t worry if you don’t have the option yet to create video pins on Pinterest yet. It is fairly new so it will be available soon if you don’t have it yet. If you do have the option to create a video pin then let’s dive into why this is so awesome for you and your business!
Video Pins Can Benefit Your Business
1. People Like to Watch Videos
It is pretty obvious that people like videos. YouTube, TikTok, SnapChat, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all have videos on them. Not all of them have always had videos but they have evolved to all cater to videos because people love to watch them! You can tell so much more of your story with a quick video than trying to explain it all over text and with an image. Even blogs have turned into vlogs!
2. Video Pins on Pinterest are Eye-catching
Videos catch your eye when they start playing, you can’t help but watch. If the video is good you are likely to stay and watch it until the end. When you could easily scroll right on past images.
3. Video Pins on Pinterest Stand Out in the Crowd
On Pinterest, it is a sea of images. There aren’t personal posts to break up the images, it is only images. With that said, it is very easy to just scroll and scroll. However, if a pin starts moving and playing an eye-catching video, you can’t help but stop and watch what’s happening at least for a few seconds. And those few seconds of your attention are more than the other pins got!
4. Video Pins Share More Than a Still Image Can
With a video pin, you are able to share with your potential customer more about your pin that with a still image. If your pin image is a delicious recipe but it is a still image that is just one shot to show them how amazing your recipe is. With a video image, this gives you the opportunity to show them how amazing your recipe is. I love watching those quick cooking videos! And I don’t even like to cook! I just love watching them and it gives the illusion that this is quick and easy to make, even when it may not be.
But that video got me to stop, watch, think, and possibly click through. That is MUCH more than a still image recipe pin gets from me.
5. Video Pins are Listed at the Top of the Mobile App
On the mobile Pinterest app, there is a section of video pins at the top after you search for something. I searched for fall soup recipes to show you what I mean. In the search results, there is a list of video pins at the top of the feed. There were also several promoted video pins as I scrolled down that were by big companies like the Food Network. That should tell you that video pins work right there!
Well, now that we have covered the video pins are awesome and everyone’s favorite let’s talk about how to make them so you can join the cool club of video pin makers!
How to Make a Video Pin on Pinterest
My favorite way to create animated pins is with the Adobe Spark App. Since my pins are all about blogging tips, it is an easy way to add some zest to my pins without completely creating an entire video. With the Adobe Spark App you can create your pin very simply and then you click on effects and from there you can animate your text on your pin.
This App is free and makes creating pins very easy. It is something I actually just started using last week. That was when I realized that you could animate your text turning it into a short video that would be perfect for grabbing your reader’s attention out of the crowd of other pins without creating a video.
Check out this pin I created for an example of what I mean. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/791578071990332770/
Programs to Use to Create a Video Pin
How do you make a video pin?
As with anything, there is more than one way to create a video pin and yes, luckily some of them are free! As I mentioned you can use Abobe Spark but here are some other free options to help you get started.
Free Options
- Wave.video
- Giphy.com
- Adobe Spark
- iMovie
- Powerpoint
- Video Speed App
Wave.video and Giphy.com
I have not personally tried the wave.video option yet but I used giphy.com to create the video above showing you the fall soup recipes example. I just read that the wave.video was an option another blogger used so I included it for you.
The video above from giphy.com would be able to be a video pin because it falls into all the criteria listed for a video pin on Pinterest. That said, that means you could use giphy.com to create animated pins or video pins as well.
This pin was created with giphy.com too and I am going to use it on Pinterest to advertise this blog post. I created three pin images like I normally would do. Uploaded them to giphy.com and set the time fo 3 seconds per image. Then the final step allows you to add an animated sticker. I added the arrow and hit complete!
Now I have a video pin that showcases all of the three pins I created. This is an easy way to set your pins apart from all of the others!
iMovie
If you are an Apple user you can use iMovie to create a video right from your phone. This is where creating an actual video and editing it would come in. If your blog is about cooking you could video the process of cooking something and edit it in iMovie to shorten it and create a video pin.
PowerPoint
You can even use PowerPoint to create a slideshow video. You just need to make sure that the slides are the pin image size but I tried this method and was able to get it to work! It didn’t work for GoogleSlides though. You have to save the movie in a correct format and GoogleSlides didn’t have that option. Also, PowerPoint let me set a timer to automatically change the slides turning it into a movie similar to the pin above and GoogleSlides didn’t have that option either.
Video Speed App
I included this App in the list because it helps you speed up your videos faster than iMovie will let you. Let’s say that your video is of you drawing something and you want to speed it up but iMovie will only go 2x as fast and you need 4x. The video speed app will speed up your video for you so that you don’t lose your viewer’s attention.
I love to watch those videos of people drawing things out but if I have to watch it in real-time I would give up very quickly. When they speed through it I stick around to see the end result because I know it’s coming quickly.
Paid Options
- Animoto
- Lumen 5
- Canva (paid option)
Again, I read about Animoto and Lumen 5 so I wanted to include these options but I haven’t tried them myself. I have tried Canva (the free option) and I do enjoy it so if Canva is something you already use then it may be worth the small investment to enable to video option.
Video Pin Specs from Pinterest
How long can videos be on Pinterest?
|
File type |
.mp4, .mov or .m4v |
|
File size |
2GB max |
|
Encoding |
H.264 or H.265 |
|
Length |
4 seconds – 15 minutes |
|
Description |
up to 500 characters long, though only the first few lines will show in feed |
|
Aspect ratio |
We accommodate standard video sizes including widescreen (16:9)Horizontal -Youtube, square (1:1)-Instagram, FB, and vertical (9:16, 4:5, 2:3)- Pinterest. |
This information is from Pinterest on the video pin dimensions. You can find out what all Pinterest has to say about video pins right here. So if you are wondering how long can videos be on Pinterest the answer is anywhere from 4 secs to 15 minutes.
What Makes a Good Video Pin and What to Avoid
Pinterest has a lot to share on their business page on the basics of creating pins on Pinterest. Of course, going there and reading everything straight from them is always the best. This is some advice from myself and other bloggers on what makes a good pin and what to avoid.
Also, you can check out my Free Pinterest Image Course that walks through this information and the programs I use to create my pins.
What Makes a Good Video Pin
- Are vertical and not horizontal bc they are easily scrolled right past. You can, however, do the square video pin bc they are used at the top of the mobile app.
- Add Text overlay with clear easy to read font, avoid too much script font.
- Bright colors (or at least contrasting colors).
- Watermark – make sure to put your URL or logo somewhere on the image to avoid others stealing your pin and to make it easier for it to be repinned by others.
- Eye-catching.
- Saveable – the point isn’t to just get an ad of your blog out there in front of people but it is to get people to:
- a) save it because then it goes to more people but also
- b) to click through
- An attention-grabbing title.
- Solves a problem.
- Branding colors (or at least colors that go well together).
- A keyword filled description.
- Keep it short (doesn’t give away too much and keeps attention).
- Use beautiful images.
- Don’t rely on audio with video pins.
- Link to Pinterest Business page.
- Rich pins added to your account.
How to Upload a Video Pin to Pinterest
Once you have created this masterpiece all you need to do next is to upload it to Pinterest. To do this it is just like adding a regular pin to Pinterest. Click the + sign that can be found on the top right corner of the screen and follow the steps from there.
There is an approval process for video pins, unlike normal pins. I’m sure this is to verify that all videos being uploaded to Pinterest are appropriate. Which I for one am very thankful for! I don’t want to be scrolling along and seeing something I don’t want to see.
Promote Your Video Pins
How do you promote a video pin?
You can promote your video pins by following the steps explained on Pinterest’s business page and after reading up on promoting pins I see that you can not promote GIFs so just be aware of that if promoting video pins is something you think you might do. I would hate for you to create a video pin from a giphy.com and then not be able to promote it later if it took off.
How to Schedule Your Pins
Tailwind
Now that you have creating video pins for Pinterest down, let’s talk about scheduling them out to automatically pin on Pinterest. If you have made it this far to learn how to create video pins on Pinterest I am sure that you have already been pinning regular pins and have either realized it is too much to do all on your own or you have already signed up for Tailwind.
If you haven’t yet signed up and you are feeling a bit overwhelmed on how to possibly be pinning all day every day then I am here to tell you that Tailwind is a lifesaver! I have two different success stories I will share with you on how amazing Tailwind can be.
My Success Stories
- When I first started using Tailwind on my new blog within a week my traffic spiked. It went from a couple people a day to hundreds of people a day visiting my blog. I had over 7,000 page views on my very new blog in 30 days. The last week of January is when I started and 30 days later I had over 7,000 page views. I go more into detail on that in this blog post.
- Fast forward to me not staying consistent on neither creating content nor adding it to Tailwind and my traffic had gone down. I only have myself to blame but it’s the honest truth I let it all go and basically went back to where I started. I reloaded my Tailwind with all new blog posts and did my normal leave it and forget about it until a couple days later. My traffic took off again! This time I tried my best to keep it alive and I was able to off of that one blog post that was driving traffic in. I was able to get over 20,000 page views in 30 days. I talk all about which pins too off and why in this blog post.
If you actually use Tailwind the way it should be used (and if you are paying for it then you should – unlike me!) then it definitely works. My traffic 100 percent reflects my Tailwind strategy. If I am keeping up with it and adding new content to my blog and to Tailwind then my traffic goes up. If I get behind and I don’t then my traffic goes down. Learn more about how to use Tailwind and give it a try and see for yourself!
Thanks for reading!
Vanessa
