Pinterest sees nearly 300 million daily users – making it the online hub for visual content. When people think Pinterest, they think of scrolling through stunning, yet static visuals. While functioning as an image-driven site has worked for the platform for years now, video is en route to becoming the main medium of online content in 2020.

Facebook and Instagram are continuously expanding their platform’s video capabilities (think: Facebook Watch & IGTV). Pinterest is now keeping up with this digital trend as well. While it’s always been possible to pin videos from YouTube, Vimeo or other web sources – as of July 2019, business account users are now able to create Video Pins. Video Pins were previously only available to Pinterest advertisers as promoted Video Pins.

Here’s what you need to know.

Why You Should Start Creating Video Pins ASAP

Here are 5 reasons why you should create Video Pins for your brand in 2020:

1. Rise of Video – Video is the future of content marketing. 87% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool (compared to 63% in 2017, and 81% in 2018.*) Instagram originated as an image-only platform – and now, video is dominating on IG. Is Pinterest headed in the same direction? According to Pinterest, “Pinners are 54% more likely to say they’re inspired to action by videos on Pinterest compared to videos on other media platforms.”

2. Increased Engagement – Video is known for providing great ROI. If a Video Pin is dynamic and high-quality, it will grab viewers’ attention much faster than a static pin will – making them more likely to click on your Pin’s outbound link (think: more traffic to your site!)

3. More Information, More Value – Video provides more info and context than an image possibly can. When viewing a Video Pin, a user can receive direct value within Pinterest itself. Online Marketing Strategist Sara Nguyen’s Video Pin is a great example of this (click image to watch):

Note that Sara’s Video Pin is optimized for Pinterest very effectively – it has a clear title, is the correct sizing and is eye-catching. Also note that her content has subtitles – a must-add to Video Pins, since most Pinners will be viewing without sound.

4. Video Pins Are Just Getting Started – To put it simply, Video Pins are NEW. You now have the unique opportunity to create Video Pins as they’re gaining traction, instead of when they’re an already-popular type of content. Take advantage!

5. Not Only for the Pros – Many are intimidated by video content creation and perceive it as a skill reserved only for the pros. There are great free tools out there for creating professional-looking Video Pins in minutes, no matter what your experience level is (think: Boosted)!

How to Create a Video Pin & Best Practices

According to Pinterest Business, “Video Pins are a great way to tell a more comprehensive story about your brand, idea or project.” Like all Pins, you will be prompted to add a title, description, as well as insert an outbound link. You can also add a cover image to your Video Pin. The Video Pin will play in the Home feed, “following tab,” as well as within search results.

Here is Pinterest’s step-by-step guide for creating a Video Pin (guide is available for desktop, Android and iOS). Keep the following Video Pin Specs in mind when creating your content:

• 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), square (1:1), and vertical (9:16, 4:5, 2:3).

Pinterest has also compiled their own Creative Best Practices for Video Pins. Their practical tips include: the value of selecting a strong cover image for your Video Pin, as well as advice on how to optimize your Pin copy. The platform showcases Glad as a brand that’s killing it with their Video Pins – check out their creative stop-motion content for inspiration (click image to watch):

Analyze & Schedule

Now that you’ve been inspired to create your own Video Pins, be sure to continually check in to see how your Pins are performing. Here are the relevant metrics for Video Pins, provided by Pinterest. If your Video Pins aren’t performing the way you’d like them to – try out a different content style or choose an alternate video topic.

Once you’re creating Video Pins regularly, scheduling your Pins will be a big time-saver. You can plan your Video Pin content using Pinterest’s native scheduler. Additionally, Video Pin scheduling is currently in beta within Tailwind, and a few other Pinterest scheduling tools are rolling out this feature as well.

So go ahead – start creating some scroll-stopping Video Pins!

Action Items:

1. Watch Video Pins. Scroll through Pinterest and watch as many Video Pins as you can! Consider starting a new board and pinning the content that inspires you.

2. Get creating! Follow Pinterest’s step-by-step guide and keep their Creative Best Practices in mind.  

3. Check your Pin stats regularly. Rework your content accordingly if it isn’t performing optimally. 

*Statistic Credit: Wyzowl