Now that you can use the claim feature that Pinterest has created to auto-publish your Instagram content over, it’s likely not quite doing what you wanted it to. Chances are it’s not optimized for Pinterest because you created it for Instagram. So today we’ll cover how to optimize your Instagram content for Pinterest with all the best practices.

In today’s post, I’m going to walk you through exactly how you can create content for Instagram and repurpose it to Pinterest to also make it work for your Pinterest users. I’ll cover the options that you have with how you can publish your content. That way you can optimize your workflow in the best way that works for you. 

All about the Instagram claim feature

First, let’s start here with what the Instagram claim feature does and doesn’t do. Pinterest has allowed you to now claim your Instagram profiles on Pinterest. What this does is:

• Your content is shared from Instagram to Pinterest
• That content is in your analytics and data sets
• Everything links back to Instagram and holding ownership
• If anyone steals your content in either place, you can file a claim

But even though you’ve claimed your content for both places, what this does NOT do is optimize your content for Pinterest. Same as throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks–no strategy.

• No keywords on IG turned Pinterest pins in titles and descriptions
• No relevant board strategy or searchable results

The good news is that all of this is set inside of the Instagram claim settings. You get to choose how your content comes over and gets published, whether it’s public or secret. 

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Example of poor Instagram content on Pinterest

Now, let’s see some examples of Instagram posts published over on Pinterest, good and bad. First I’ll show you what you don’t want your content to be doing. 

• Linking to Instagram
• No title or pin description
• Telling viewers to read a caption or send a DM

If you hover over pins links and see they lead to Instagram, you don’t want that. Because if your content just tells them to go somewhere else again they’ll back out. 

For example, this IG reel for a copy-cat Olive Garden soup looks great at first. But then there is no title, real description, or link to the recipe. It even has a few sarcastic comments from viewers about how they’re not even given the recipe or shown where to go to find it.

I even don’t want to go to Instagram and then DM the creator, comment on both places to get a DM, to hopefully get a click to go to the website with the recipe. That’s way too many steps. Pinterest pinners are going to get fatigued, so you have to think differently about this.

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My own poor example of IG content on Pinterest

Okay, let me show you a couple of examples that I think are good Instagram content, but not really good for Pinterest. These are two examples of my own that came over from the platform. Again, there’s no titles, only an Instagram caption, videos with no purpose for PInterest. 

One is just an announcement when I became a Pinterest Educator, the other was my trip to the whitehouse. I adored those posts and moments. I put them together for Instagram, but there’s really no other purpose. 

Why even your Instagram content for Pinterest needs a different strategy

Pinterest is a search engine and users behave differently. Pinners don’t know who you are, they don’t follow your life. They’re searching for ideas and solutions, and products to help.

You have to meet them where they are in their customer journey on Pinterest. The three phases of their journey are awareness (ideas), consideration (solutions), and purchase (products). To meet them where they are, in any phase, here’s what your content needs to do.

• Match search intent
• Be optimized with longtail keywords
• Visually easy to digest

Everything you create needs to be what someone is looking for, no matter what their intent is. Just like Google, your Pinterest content (even pulled over from Instagram) needs to answer their question for what they’re looking for. 

It needs to use longtail keywords so that Pinterest SEO can find your content to serve it up in their feed. Those keywords are necessary in your pin title and descriptions, even boards you pin them to.  

Your pin also needs to be visually designed in a way that makes it easy to scan. It sticks out because it’s easy to read, scan, and catches the eye easily in the sea of pins surrounding it. Even if you’re bringing a reel over, the cover needs to do the same.

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Reworking your Instagram captions for Pinterest descriptions

You can start by reworking your Instagram captions into search friendly descriptions. Use key phrases that your audience is searching for from your keyword research, and actually use them inside your captions. 

Pinterest can read what’s in your reel with your transcriptions, cover images, and your captions with it. They can read what’s in your video, what’s inside of those captions, those words. Because captions and descriptions can be longer, add even more relevant longtail keywords that may not be in your pin titles or on the cover.

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Reformatting your Instagram visuals in two ways

You don’t have to create entirely different things or design styles with your Instagram content in order for it to still work over on Pinterest. It’s mainly just about the covers or starting images of your video pins. You just need to reformat things a little bit. I’ll show you how with:

• Cover images on reels that become video pins
• Starting image on multiple slide posts that become carousels

You’re not creating all new imagery, just shifting your thinking with how it begins so you have a quality effect in both places without wasting time.

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Adding Pinterest worthy cover images to reels

Even though a lot of reels on Instagram do great with weird starting screen shots, you can always create a cover slide that goes over it that’s good for Pinterest. When you upload a reel or video pin, you can choose the cover image, or select a shot from within the video that is the cover.

You can pull a separate image in that makes it more Pinterest friendly, or you can add text overlays. Those could be: 

• your blog title,
• topic keywords,
• your tips, or
• value based statements that are the hook to the rest of your video.

These two examples employ this idea. Both of these are reels from Instagram where the covers are simple and have simple text overlay. DIY Scented Playdough, and you see how the creator really positioned that text inside the brown spread. They created this really intentionally and I think this is a huge win for them.

Then the next one, Make a Moonscape, they actually put the white block behind the text so it stands out even more. Now, these both link back to Instagram, so they can improve on that. But we have a good start, and that’s really what matters here. These creators are thinking about presentations on both platforms. 

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Reworking carousels into video pins

Here’s another example of how to rework your Instagram content for Pinterest. 

When you create multiple images for Instagram, like a carousel of slides, the auto-sync when pulled to Pinterest turns each individual image into a separate pin. It’s likely you don’t want that, especially if it’s for tutorials, or list content. 

But if you download a multi-image set into an animated set of slides, it will work for both places. It’s technically a reel for Instagram, and a video pin for Pinterest, but it looks like animated slides being swiped through. You can do it really quickly in Canva.

1. Create your Instagram image slides in a single design.
2. Click the ‘Resize’ in the upper left.
3. Search or select for ‘Pinterest pin’ and choose the 2:3 ratio size.
4. Click ‘Copy & resize’ and it will open in a new design.

From your Pinterest-sized images, you have to do a little more to change the settings and tweak it so you can use it in both places. 

1. Adjust the text on each image, it’s likely they’ll need slight resizing or shifting.
2. Click ‘Share’ in the upper right.
3. Click ‘Download’ in the dropdown that shows up.
4. Change the File Type to ‘MP3 Video’.
5. Then click ‘Download’ and you’ll have your slideshow file. 

This is what you can use on both Instagram and Pinterest so it syncs over and still displays all your created images correctly.

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Uploading Instagram reels directly to Pinterest

Now, the next thing that you can do is to simply upload your reels right inside of Pinterest instead of using the automatic import feature. In this instance, you would have to turn off the auto-publish in your settings. 

Then you would upload your content inside of Pinterest directly if you’d rather do it this way. Maybe you want separate cover images on your reels in both places, or you’re republishing some old things.

You can also write a really solid pin description that would differ from a reel caption, then you’re not having to rework it once it’s already published to Pinterest. Either way, whatever works in your workflow is totally fine to do. 

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Example of un-optimized auto-published reel to video pin

Now, we’re actually just going to optimize one of these together. How about that?

I uploaded this Instagram reel today to Pinterest, and it looks the same way that it would as if it had come over from Instagram. The caption is there, there’s no title, and the link goes back to Instagram, and it’s on no particular board. 

So now you would have to put all of the pre-written title, description, proper link, and the correct board you want to this live pin. 

If you edit things this way there’s two big things to know:

• You can’t change the cover.
• Your metrics reset fresh.

If your reels auto-publish, this is what happens. You don’t have as much functionality versus uploading a pin to publish natively. Also, because you’re editing the pin after it’s been published, your analytics have to start over because it’s going to be re-indexed in the feed. 

Best scenario for auto-publishing reels

So your account and pins are as clean and optimized as possible, here’s what I recommend if you want to keep the auto-published feature on with Instagram.

Have a board dedicated to the auto-published pins that you can visit and know where your pins are that need optimized right away. Depending on your publishing schedule, this would probably be visited daily so you can have fresh data as early as possible. 

Edit your pin with all your pre-optimized keywords, title, and descriptions. Then put it onto the preferred board that’s relevant for the content. If you wait forever, then you might really lose a lot of traction that you had previously received because you changed the content.

You don’t want to do that. You do want to make sure that you are optimizing your content fully and you are using it to its full extent. But you don’t want to redo your work either to save time and have as much impact as possible.

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Great video examples that work for Pinterest

Content that you can create for Instagram that would be a really good fit for Pinterest, these are five video types to use: 

• comparison style videos
• quick tips
• how-to short tutorials
• anything story-based
• product showcases

One popular trend these days are the “Get ready with me” videos that do really well. They can be used for any of those video types in the list above. As long as you keep in mind all of the cover image details and keyword specifics we’ve already discussed, any of those will be good in both places. 

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Content repurposing to Pinterest guide

Here is the link to the free guide I put together in collaboration with Pinterest. It’s repurposing your content to Pinterest and making the most of your Instagram content, even from other social media platforms.

I walk you through the benefits of doing this as well as the steps to do it in a really defined manner, even more on top of what we’ve talked about in this post. So, grab this free guide, heatherfarris.com/repguide, and it will come straight to your inbox. 

Final thoughts on how to optimize your Instagram content for Pinterest

Now you can use this to optimize your Instagram content for Pinterest. It truly comes down to using keywords in those pin titles, using keywords in your descriptions, and changing those cover images.

If you want to take the next step to master marketing your content on Pinterest, and doing it strategically, head on over to our Pin Profit Academy. There you’ll have access to every course, resource, personal coaching, and tools to implement your entire Pinterest marketing strategy for your small business. See you inside the community! 

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