Pinterest Myth: You Shouldn't Pin Square Images
Pinterest Myth: You Shouldn’t Pin Square Images.
The truth? You absolutely should share any size picture. This is an unpopular opinion by some Pinterest strategists, but I’m here to show you actual proof of why I completely disagree.
I’m not saying that you should not create tall pins. Statistically, tall pins perform much better. If you are designing pins, I highly recommend you make vertical, tall pins. But, I also recommend you work smarter, not harder.
I don’t ever make pins that are square images. You want your pins to get seen, and the longer they are, the longer they are on your audiences’ screens, meaning the more likely they are to notice it, click it, buy it, whatever. I do, however, pin from my Instagram and website the square images that are already there.
If you’re thinking pinning images outside of the suggested size is a waste of your time, let me show you a glimpse of some pins that I have that are square and how they are preforming for me:
These of course are not my highest performing pins, but these are four square pins that have gotten me pretty decent results in the last 30 days. The first number you see is the number of impressions, then clicks, then saves.
In 30 days, these four pins have gotten me…
45,450 Impressions
62 Click throughs
84 Saves
Equaling about:
1517 impressions a day
2 clicks per day
almost 3 saves per day
All from only 4 square pins.
I picked these 4 because they were close together for an easy screenshot, but I did do a little digging yesterday. I found a pin that I see very often (not mine), and saw that it had 19,000 saves.
So before you think about NOT pinning square pictures on Pinterest, here are a few reasons you SHOULD.
You already have square pictures
If you’re active on Instagram like me, you probably have a whole mess of pictures just waiting to be pinned. Don’t waste the content you already have. Reuse it!
If you’re selling products, you might have square or horizontal pictures on your website, Shopify, Etsy, etc. Pin those!
If you’re using Tailwind, you can easily go to your Instagram, Etsy shop, or website and use that handy dandy Tailwind Extension that makes pinning ridiculously fast. If you’re not using Tailwind, see the next section.
It will help you pin more consistently
Pinterest is all about consistency. Let me guess, you have a hard time coming up with content as is, no matter the size? Yeah, I get it. So don’t limit yourself even more by not pinning the images that you already have ready to go.
Tailwind helps you pin more consistently and with absolute ease. Honestly, who has time to pin every single day, all throughout the day, make new pins, keep track of what you have pinned and when?? Tailwind does all the leg work for you. You can use Tailwind to schedule pins out MONTHS in advance. I currently have my Pinterest scheduled out for 3 months. If I get busy or lazy, I can sit back and know that my Pinterest is taken care of and is going to bring me consistent leads.
If you want to try Tailwind for free, click here or below! This is an affiliate link, which just means that I will receive a small percentage if you choose to purchase a plan. But, you can schedule 100 pins FOR FREE. Also, I am 1000% obsessed with Tailwind, and I will never promote anything I don’t know, use, and love.
START USING TAILWIND TO SCHEDULE PINS TODAY!
You never know what pin will go viral
Most likely, the taller pins are going to get you more views than square pins. What if one of those square pins did go viral, though? What if this whole time you have been preventing your own success because someone told you not to pin square pictures?
Those numbers I shared above are just a tiny glimpse into my statistics, but for 4 random square pins, that’s pretty good. As I mentioned above, there is a pin that comes up on my feed a lot with 19k saves, and it’s square. When I started clicking around on my feed, I came across a ton of square pins that had 10k saves, 12k, 20k, and so many more. That’s just saves. Imagine how many clicks and impressions they’re getting. Imagine what 20k saves or clicks could do for your business.
The downside to square pins
I love Tailwind, and I love Tailwind Tribes. Most tribes (that I have seen anyway) require that your pins are tall, 2:3 ratio. That means even if your pin is killing it on Pinterest, you might not be able to share it in the Tribes to maximize the reach.
Other than that, I don’t see much of a downside. I 100% recommend that you design tall pins because statistically they do better, but there is no shame in using those smaller pictures to fill some slots in your Tailwind schedule. Pinning something is better than nothing.
Have you had any really good luck with square pins despite what people say?? Tell me! I want to hear!