Mastering the art of inspirational videos on Pinterest

People come to Pinterest ready to get inspired, discover new ways to do the things that they love and to try something new. Among the billions of ideas on Pinterest, videos are proving to be an ideal format to reach audiences in a creative and actionable way. Last year, the number of video views on Pinterest grew more than 6x compared to 2018.

We continue to see increased views of organic video pins—up 240% year on year—particularly driven by food and beverage, beauty, DIY, entertainment and home decor.

In fact, 66% of Pinners say that videos add to their discovery experience more significantly than videos on other media platforms. Pinners are also 54% more likely to say that videos on Pinterest inspire them to take action.

With inspiration increasingly and steadily coming from video Pins, brands and content creators are taking advantage of the native video format to get more traffic and engage with users.

Food is one of the top categories that resonates with Pinners, and when it comes to recipes and food-related content, Tastemade is one of Pinterest’s biggest video partners worldwide. With strong profiles in the US, Spain, Latin America, Brazil, the UK, France, Japan and Germany, they have a global Pinterest profile that attracts over 10 million unique viewers each month. 

The brand uses the native video format and takes advantage of their food expertise to combine tips and tricks with beauty shots, and achieve the perfect balance between entertainment and information. Following their example, brands and content creators may be inspired to create their own videos to captivate viewers and tell a story – in the past year alone, the searches for 'Tastemade cake videos' increased 355% on Pinterest.

Here are five tips from the global Tastemade team for optimising your video content: 

1. Beautiful videos attract attention

Indulgent recipes are widely popular on Pinterest, and since the first few seconds are crucial for capturing the user’s attention, no matter what the subject of the video is, look for the beauty shots – such as grilled cheese being pulled apart in slow motion, or a flower bouquet being filmed from above. However, that’s not everything that users are looking for: having a broad range of content, as well as tips and hacks, is a great strategy for attracting all types of viewers from all parts of the globe. Remember to describe the video in the title, as specifics – such as 'ovenless' or 'microwave', for example – will improve the video's performance.

2. Keep an eye on quality and time

Pinterest users want the whole package: they want to see the whole recipe or project, from start to finish. Keep the videos between 45 seconds and 3 minutes long, balance entertainment and information, and preferably record in vertical mode. As Tastemade is an authority on food, they add tips and tricks – the viewers like these, and they can boost watch time.

3. Seasonal moments help planners

Festive celebrations such as Halloween, Christmas, Easter and New Year's Eve increase in searches on Pinterest from two to three months in advance, so planning ahead – like Pinners do – is a must. To do this, brands can add descriptions, hashtags, specific boards and sections, and display them on their profile. Keep in mind that some of that content (a tutorial for folding napkins, for example) may also work throughout the year.

4. Know your numbers

If you don’t have a business profile on Pinterest, set one up. You'll get access to additional features, as well as analytics, which are indispensable for understanding what Pinners want, look for and like. For example, you can analyse weekly results to see which Pins are working best and which features may help to optimise performance, such as re-saving the same content as a Pin or creating different boards.

5. Get inspired

Pinterest is a great tool to drive traffic and inspire users, but it is also a helpful tool for creators and brands to find inspiration for themselves and their work. For instance, you can create a board with future references (if you have a team, make it a collaborative board so that everyone can weigh in). Pinterest’s reports, such as the Pinterest 100, are great sources of information on global and local trends that can inspire you when you're thinking of ideas for your next videos.