How to Post on Pinterest [2022 Guide for Desktop, Mobile & Tailwind] - Sarah Chetrit (2023)

The Pinterest app is ever-changing. Learn how to post on Pinterest in 2022 whether it’s on the desktop site, mobile app or even through Tailwind.

Learning how to post on Pinterest six years ago has done wonders for my travel blog. It’s what really helped my blog grow organically within a year of blogging.

Since then, I’ve been teaching small businesses and bloggers alike the power of Pinterest, which more or less begins with posting to it!

In this post, you’ll learn how to post on Pinterest through the desktop site, mobile app or even through the Tailwind scheduling tool.

Side note: I love Pinterest so much I bought stock in it during its IPO. Can’t wait to see this company grow.

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What Pinterest is and Why You Want to Use it

Pinterest is a social media site that you can save images and videos to. This content leads back to websites, blog posts, YouTube videos or wherever else you want to link to.

Pinterest is more than a social media site though; it’s a search engine. This alone is the biggest reason that you want to be on this site.

Because Pinterest is a search engine, your content is searchable for a lack of better words!

Your posts don’t disappear after a day or two like they do on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. They stay within the Pinterest platform for months and even years based on my own Pins meaning they can bring you traffic all that time.

Basically, you want to be on Pinterest to get organic traffic to your site, which include potential readers and buyers!

Read 4 Key Benefits of Pinterest for Business

What You Can Post to Pinterest

If you’re a blogger or business, most likely you’ll want to post your own content to Pinterest. That way, your posts can lead back to your website.

The content you post can be an image, video or a mix of both.

However, as a Pinterest user or even a blogger or business who wants to save something they find on the internet, you can also post other peoples’ content to Pinterest too.

Most of the time, saving other peoples’ content is done in the form of images.

Pinterest Tips + Best Practices

Here are some basic Pinterest tips to know to help you navigate the app and this post easier.

• Anytime you put a piece of content onto Pinterest, you Pin it or are Pinning it to Pinterest (verb). The piece of content itself that you put on Pinterest can also be called a Pin (noun).
• Content on Pinterest is best optimized for vertical viewing meaning similarly to Instagram, you want your images and videos to be vertical (up to down), not horizontal (side to side).
• As of 2021, the best Pinterest dimensions are 1000px wide x 1500px tall for image and video Pins. For Idea Pins, they are the same dimensions as Instagram and TikTok, which is 1080px wide and 1920px tall.
• It’s best to have a Business account so that you can get analytics for how your Pins are doing.
• Make sure to use Pinterest keywords in your Pin title and description. Pinterest SEO is a must to get your Pins to rank in Pinterest since it’s a visual search engine.

Want to learn more basics of Pinterest? Get all the Pinterest tips here.

How to Post on Pinterest as a User

If you’re a Pinterest user and using it to collect things you like from the internet (vs Pinning your own posts to get traffic back to your website) then Pinning from a website to Pinterest is easy. You can do it one of three ways.

Method 1: Pinterest Browser Button on Desktop

All you have to do is add the Pinterest browser button to your browser, then click on the button anytime you want to save anything from the web.

After you click on the button, all the photos from the site you’re on will show up. You’ll need to click on which photos you want to save then choose a board to Pin to (provided that you have an account and are logged in).

You can grab the Pinterest browser button for Chrome, Firefox and Microsoft Edge here.

This method won’t be available on all sites, but more likely than not, the site you’re on will have a social share button. It may be in multiple spots like at the top, side or bottom or even directly on images.

Simply press the Pin button wherever you see it, then choose a board to Pin to.

Method 3: Directly on Pinterest on Desktop or Mobile

If you’re on your phone browsing the internet and see something you like, you can post a photo to Pinterest by:

1. Copying the link of the page you want to Pin from.
2. Opening up the Pinterest app so you will need to download and be logged into the Pinterest app first.
3. Clicking on the black pop-up at the top.
4. Selecting the images you want to Pin.
5. Choosing a board to Pin to.

If you’re on your computer browsing the internet and see something you like, you can post a photo to Pinterest by:

1. Going to Pinterest.com.
2. Clicking on the Create button on the top left of the screen.
3. Clicking Create Pin.
4. Selecting “Save from site” at the bottom.
5. Copying and pasting in a link from a site that you want to save.
6. Selecting the arrow.
7. Selecting the Pins you want to save.
8. Clicking “Add [#] Pins”.
9. Adding a Title, Description and Alt Text.
10. Choosing the board you want to Pin to.
11. Hitting Publish.

How to Post to Pinterest on Desktop (as a blogger or business)

My preferred way to post to Pinterest is on my Macbook because it’s easier to load multiple images and videos at once.

Before you do this, you’ll want to have Pinterest-worthy graphics aka photos or videos ready to post to Pinterest.

Pro Tip: You can make Pinterest-worthy graphics easily with Canva. Read why I love Canva here or jump right to Canva here. I used the free version for years so it’s plenty if you’re on a budget.

Post a Photo or Carousel/College to Pinterest on Desktop

The Pinterest Pinning tool is the best it’s ever been. You can create multiple Pins at once and schedule them out for the next couple of weeks.

Nonetheless, if you find the instructions below to be too tedious, you can use Tailwind like I do. Jump down to the section on Tailwind.

To post a photo to Pinterest:

1. Login to Pinterest.
2. Click on Create Pin.
3. At this point, you can either (see above image for reference):
   1. Drop an individual image into where it says “Drag and drop…” to make one Pin with one image.
   2. Drop multiple images to where it says “Drag and drop” to make a one Pin in the form of a carousel or collage.
   3. Drop multiple images (and/or videos) in the larger gray area to make multiple Pins, each consisting of one image.
4. Whether you make one Pin or multiple Pins, fill out the Title, Description, Alt Text and Destination Link, which is where a Pinterest user would be led to if they clicked on your Pin.
5. Then you can choose which board to publish it to and if you want to Publish it immediately or later.
   • The “Publish at a later date” option is a great option if you want to schedule out multiple Pins over the next couple of weeks.
6. Lastly, hit Publish.

Post a Video on Pinterest on Desktop

Creating a video Pin on Pinterest on desktop is virtually the same as creating a photo Pin except that you can not create a collage or carousel Pin with videos.

You can create multiple video Pins and even upload a separate video cover image. Here’s how to post a video to Pinterest.

To post a video to Pinterest:

1. Login to Pinterest.
2. Click on Create Pin.
3. At this point, you can either (see above image for reference):
   1. Drop an individual video into where it says “Drag and drop…” to make one Pin with one video.
   1. Drop multiple videos (and/or images) in the larger gray area to make multiple Pins, each consisting of one video (or image).
4. Whether you make one Pin or multiple Pins, fill out the Title, Description, Alt Text and Destination Link, which is where a Pinterest user would be led to if they clicked on your Pin.
5. Unlike photo Pins, you also have the option of:
   • adding Tags to your video Pin
   • and choosing which part of the video you want to be the video cover image or upload a separate video cover image.
6. Choose which board to publish it to and if you want to Publish it immediately or later.
   • The “Publish at a later date” option is a great option if you want to schedule out multiple Pins over the next couple of weeks.
7. Lastly, hit Publish.

Pro Tip: An easier way to upload multiple Pins at once is by using Tailwind. Jump down to the section on Tailwind.

Post Story Pins on Pinterest on Desktop

Story Pins is a relatively new feature on Pinterest as of late 2020/early 2021.

To access this, you will need to go to the Create button in the top left of your Pinterest desktop and request access if you don’t have it. Once you get access, you’ll want to really use this feature because Pinterest is really pushing Story Pins out to its users!

To create Story Pins:

1. Login to Pinterest.
2. Click on Create Story Pin in the top left.
3. Drag and drop in multiple images, videos or a mix. I find that at least 4-5 images or videos is a good number to have.
4. Fill out all the steps*.
5. Hit Publish.

*I generally don’t like using their text function. I will create graphics beforehand and then upload them.

How to Post to Pinterest on Mobile

If you are a user of Pinterest (and not a brand or blogger) who wants to Pin to Pinterest from websites you found while on your phone, please head back up to this section on posting to Pinterest on mobile or desktop. You will learn how to Pin to Pinterest with a social share button and directly within the app here.

If you are a brand or blogger and want to learn how to post your own content (i.e. graphics and videos) to Pinterest, then keep reading.

How to Post a Photo or Video to Pinterest on Mobile

To post a picture or video to Pinterest on your mobile device:

1. Open the Pinterest app on your phone.
2. On your homepage or profile, locate the buttons at the bottom at the screen. Click on the ‘+’ symbol.
3. Select Pin.
4. Choose a photo or video that you want to upload to Pinterest. Click Next.
5. Fill out the details. Click Next.
6. Choose which board you want to Pin it to, and Publish.

If you upload a video, you will see that you have the option to fill out Video tags!

How to Post Story Pins to Pinterest on Mobile

To post Story Pins to Pinterest on mobile:

1. Open the Pinterest app on your phone.
2. On your homepage or profile, locate the buttons at the bottom at the screen. Click on the ‘+’ symbol.
3. Select Story Pin (request access if you don’t have it yet).
4. You can record right in the app, or if you click on the square in the bottom left, then you can access your videos and photos.
5. Select on a video or photo to upload. Click next.
   • You can now add text, music, audio and even tag people on your video.
   • Click Done.
6. To add another page to your Story Pins, which can have multiple Pins in a carousel, swipe left and click on the ‘+’ button.
7. Repeat steps #5 and 6 until you are satisfied with how many pages are in the Story Pin. Click Next.
8. Fill in the details such as Title, Board, Details and Tags.
9. Hit Publish.

How to Post to Pinterest with Tailwind, a Pinterest Scheduler

An absolute timesaver for me has been to post to Pinterest with Tailwind, a Pinterest scheduler. Yes, they have a free trial you can try out here.

I love Tailwind over Pinterest’s own scheduler because it:

• pins the same Pinterest graphic to multiple boards for me,
  • vs. if I did that in the Pinterest app, I would have to upload the same Pinterest graphic multiple times to choose different boards
• pins at the most optimal times,
  • vs. when I use the Pinterest app, I choose different times but don’t know the best times for my audience
• has Tailwind communities where others will rePin your Pins to their own Pinterest boards,
• has SmartLoop so it’ll rePin whatever Pins you want again and again,
• and so much more.

Plus I love how I can easily type in the description, title and links all in one area vs. having to scroll up and down in the Pinterest scheduler.

Try Tailwind for free here.

How to Automatically Post Your Instagram Posts to Pinterest

Pinning your Instagram posts to Pinterest is a great idea if you want to get more eyes on your photos, increase brand awareness and potentially get click-throughs and follows back to your Instagram.

You can Pin your Instagram posts with a couple of the methods above, or you can use IFTTT.com to Pin your Instagram photos to Pinterest automatically.

That means, every time you post your photos to Instagram, it’ll automatically upload to Pinterest without you doing anything. Here’s how:

1. Sign up for IFTTT.com.
2. Click on this IFTTT link, which leads you right to the Applet you need to do this automatically.
   • Applets connect two or more services together and help you do something that you couldn’t do with just one service alone.
3. Follow the instructions to attach your Instagram and Pinterest to IFTTT.

Voila! Your Instagram photos should Pin to Pinterest automatically.

How to Save Time Posting to Pinterest (Pinterest Management)

If you are too busy focused on your small business or blog and need to save time posting to Pinterest, you can use Tailwind app as mentioned above.

If you still find that to be too time consuming, I get it! You should definitely stay focused on your core business.

To help you out, I am accepting three new clients for Pinterest management. You can find the service here.

Please email me (hello@sarahchetrit.com) with your website and all social media channels and your target customer to see if we’re a good fit! I will e-mail you back results of my current clients I’m working.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Hope you found this post to be helpful. With your new skills on how to post to Pinterest, consider Pinning this to help others!

If you need more help with Pinterest, feel free to ask me anything in my free Facebook group.

xo, Sarah
@sarchetrit

How to Post on Pinterest: 2022 Guide