Module 9: Pinterest for Fashion Discovery
Let’s talk about Pinterest. This is the platform that a lot of fashion designers either completely ignore or don’t quite understand. But here’s the thing: Pinterest is basically a search engine for visual inspiration, and fashion is one of its biggest categories.
If someone is on Pinterest searching “summer wedding guest outfit” or “minimalist jewelry for work” or “sustainable fashion brands,” don’t you want your products showing up? That’s what this module is all about.
What Makes Pinterest Different
Pinterest isn’t social media in the traditional sense. People aren’t really on Pinterest to connect with friends or follow their favorite celebrities. They’re there to plan, research, and find ideas.
Think of it this way:
- Instagram: “Look at this cool thing I have”
- TikTok: “Let me show you something interesting”
- Pinterest: “I’m looking for inspiration for [specific thing]”
- Outfit ideas for specific occasions
- How to style specific pieces
- Fashion trends and inspiration
- Shopping for specific items
- “Minimalist gold necklace”
- “Simple everyday jewelry”
- “Delicate layering necklaces”
- “Minimalist jewelry for work”
- Creating pins: You can create multiple pins from one product photo (30-60 minutes per week)
- Scheduling pins: Batch schedule a week or month at a time (30 minutes)
- Optimization: Writing good descriptions with keywords (included in creation time)
- Each dress styled three different ways
- “Capsule wardrobe essentials” featuring her dresses
- “Comfortable work dresses” collections
- Customer photos wearing her designs
- Driving website traffic
- Reaching people in research/planning mode
- Building long-term discovery
- SEO benefits (Pinterest pins often show up in Google search too)
- Building community and relationships
- Immediate engagement and feedback
- Showcasing your personality and brand story
The intent is different. People on Pinterest are actively searching and planning. They’re in research mode, which often leads to purchasing mode.
Why Fashion Works So Well on Pinterest
Fashion and style content is one of the most popular categories on Pinterest. People are constantly searching for:
And here’s the beautiful part: pins last forever. Unlike Instagram posts that get buried in the feed after a day, or TikTok videos that have a short lifespan, your pins can keep getting discovered for months or even years.
A pin you create today could still be driving traffic to your website in six months.
Is Pinterest Right for Your Brand?
Pinterest makes sense when:
You have a website or online store. Pinterest is all about driving traffic off the platform to your site. If you don’t have anywhere to send people, Pinterest won’t be as valuable.
Your products photograph well and work in different contexts. Pinterest users want to see how something looks, how to style it, how it fits into their life.
Your target customer is planning and researching. Pinterest users tend to be planners. They’re looking ahead to weddings, vacations, career changes, wardrobe refreshes.
You have time to create pins consistently. Like any platform, consistency matters.
Your customer demographic includes women 25-55. Pinterest’s user base skews female and slightly older than TikTok.
Pinterest Might Not Be Your Focus If:
Your target customer is primarily men. While men do use Pinterest, the platform is predominantly used by women.
You only sell through in-person channels with no website. Pinterest is about driving online traffic.
Your products are very trend-dependent or time-sensitive. Since pins have a long lifespan, they work better for evergreen content than fast fashion.
How People Actually Use Pinterest
Understanding user behavior helps you create better content.
Someone might search “fall workwear outfits” and start saving pins to a board they’ve created called “Work Style Ideas.” They’re not necessarily ready to buy today. They’re collecting inspiration.
Over time, they save 30-40 pins. Eventually, they’re ready to actually shop. They go back through their saved pins, click through to the websites, and potentially make purchases.
This means Pinterest is playing a long game. You’re not usually seeing immediate conversions like you might with Instagram. But you’re getting in front of people during their research phase, which is incredibly valuable.
Types of Pins That Work for Fashion
Let’s look at what performs well:
Product pins: Clear photos of your products with good lighting. These should link directly to the product page on your website.
Styled outfit pins: Showing how to wear your pieces. “3 Ways to Style a White Button-Down” or “How to Dress Up Jeans.”
Flat lays: Your products arranged beautifully with complementary items. Very Pinterest-friendly.
Lookbook images: Full outfit shots that show your pieces in context.
Inspiration boards: Mood boards or color story pins that showcase your aesthetic.
Educational pins: “Sustainable Fashion Guide” or “How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe” with your products featured naturally.
The Pinterest SEO Factor
Here’s where Pinterest gets really interesting: it works like a search engine.
When you create a pin, you add a title and description. Pinterest uses this text to understand what your pin is about and show it to people searching for those topics.
This means keywords matter. A lot.
If you design minimalist jewelry, you want to use phrases like:
These are the actual phrases people are typing into Pinterest search. Use them in your pin titles and descriptions.
We’ll go much deeper into Pinterest SEO in Program 2, but for now, just understand that Pinterest is as much about search optimization as it is about pretty pictures.
Pinterest vs Instagram
I get this question a lot: “If I’m already on Instagram, do I really need Pinterest?”
Here’s the difference:
Instagram is about building a following and community. People follow you and see your content in their feed. It’s relationship-based.
Pinterest is about being discoverable by people who’ve never heard of you. They’re searching for something specific, and you show up. It’s search-based.
Both can work together beautifully. Many designers take their Instagram photos and turn them into Pinterest pins, driving traffic from Pinterest to their website.
The Time Investment
Pinterest requires less time than you might think:
You’re looking at roughly 2-3 hours per week to maintain a solid Pinterest presence.
The nice thing about Pinterest is that it’s less demanding of daily attention than Instagram or TikTok. You can batch create your pins and schedule them to go out over time.
The Long-Term Game
Pinterest is not a platform for quick wins. It typically takes 3-6 months of consistent pinning before you start seeing meaningful traffic.
But once you build that momentum, it can become a reliable source of website traffic with relatively little ongoing effort.
I know designers who get 20-30% of their website traffic from Pinterest, and they only spend a couple hours a week on the platform.
Real Example: Emma’s Pinterest Strategy
Emma designs minimalist everyday dresses. She started using Pinterest six months ago.
She creates pins showing:
She optimized her pin descriptions with keywords like “comfortable work dress,” “minimalist black dress,” “easy everyday dresses.”
After four months, Pinterest became her second-largest traffic source after Instagram. Her pins from months ago are still driving traffic today. And the people coming from Pinterest tend to have higher purchase intent because they found her while actively searching for what she sells.
Should Pinterest Be Your Primary Platform?
Pinterest works best as a complementary platform rather than your only platform. It’s fantastic for:
But it’s not great for:
Most fashion designers use Pinterest as a secondary platform alongside Instagram or TikTok. You create content for your primary platform, then repurpose it into pins.
Getting Started with Pinterest
If Pinterest sounds right for your brand, here’s how to start:
Set up a business account (free). Convert your personal account or create a new one.
Claim your website. This verifies you own your site and unlocks analytics.
Create boards that reflect how your customers search. Not just “My Collection” but “Minimalist Work Outfits” or “Sustainable Fashion Finds.”
Start pinning regularly. Aim for 5-10 pins per day to start, mixing your own content with other relevant pins.
Be patient. Give it at least 3-4 months before judging results.
We’ll cover the exact how-to of Pinterest strategy in Program 2, including how to create pins, optimize for search, and analyze what’s working.
For now, just understand: Pinterest is a powerful discovery tool for fashion brands, especially if you have a website and products that work well for planning and inspiration. It plays the long game, but it can become a consistent traffic source that works for you 24/7.
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