• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Media Examiner

Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

  • đŸ”„ Free Newsletter
  • ⭐ FREE Web3 Course
  • đŸ—“ïž Our Events
    • Social Media Marketing World (Mar 13-15)
    • Other Industry Events
  • 💡 Society
  • ⚙ Tools
  • đŸŽ™ïž Podcasts
    • Social Media Marketing Podcast
    • Social Media Marketing Talk Show
    • Web3 Business Podcast
    • Our YouTube Channel
  • 🎯 Partner With Us
    • Podcast Sponsorship
    • Email Sponsorship
      • Email Newsletter
      • Dedicated Email Blast
    • Event Sponsorship
      • Social Media Marketing World
    • Tools Sponsorship
  • 👋 About Us
    • Our Story
    • Articles
      • Web3
      • Instagram Marketing
      • Facebook Marketing
      • YouTube Marketing
      • LinkedIn Marketing
      • TikTok Marketing
      • Expert Interviews
  • Search
  • Social Media Marketing World10th annual. Biggest industry event. Sale ends soon!IMPROVE YOUR MARKETING

    Pinterest Interests: What Marketers Need to Know

    by Cynthia Sanchez / December 17, 2014

    social media how toDo you need an easy way to find new content to pin?

    Would you like to see pins from people other than those you follow?

    Finding good content to repin has always been crucial for Pinterest success. The solution is to follow interests on Pinterest.

    In this article I’ll explain how to find and use Pinterest interests to improve visibility and engagement.

    what you need to know about pinterest interests
    Discover what marketers need to know about Pinterest Interests.

    Why Explore Interests?

    One drawback for many businesses on Pinterest is that there are only 32 specific and 6 broad categories available to search for pins.

    Businesses whose products or services don’t neatly fit into one of these categories have to do additional searching on Pinterest to find relevant pins to share with their followers and new boards to follow.

    The answer is to follow interests, and the pins come to you.

    category list on pinterest
    Pinterest has 32 specific and 6 broad categories, which is fine for more mainstream businesses. Interests help you find pins for topics within a niche.

    Interests are collections of pins about a specific niche topic from a bunch of people who aren’t necessarily following each other. Interests can be followed just like boards and accounts, and once you follow an interest, you begin to see pins related to that specific topic in your own feed.

    #1: Find and Follow Interests

    The option to Explore interests used to be included in the menu by the search bar, but is now gone. Here’s how you can locate interests today.

    Explore Interests on a Desktop

    At the time of writing this article, it’s not possible to search for Pinterest interests on your computer. The only way to discover interests is to find someone who’s already following them. To do that, go to any Pinterest account. Under their profile information (toward the right), locate and click the Following number.

    social media examiner following link on pinterest
    Browse Pinterest accounts until you find one (preferably in your field) that’s following interests. Click on Following to find the interests.

    When you click Following, a new page will appear. If the profile is following any interests, you will see them here. If not, the page will be blank. From this page you will also be able to see the boards and the accounts that user is following by clicking the tabs.

    After you find an account that’s following interests, click one of them and a new screen will appear. Here you will see hundreds of pins related to that interest: some pins will be from accounts you follow, others will be from profiles you don’t follow. You’ll also see how many followers that interest has, as well as the profile images of eight accounts that follow that interest.

    Below you can see some of the interests Social Media Examiner follows on Pinterest. Notice that they are much more specific than the Pinterest categories and are much more relevant to a social media–based business.

    The Conference You've Been Waiting For

    As a small business marketer, you can probably only pick one or two events to attend each year. Get back into the game with an unbeatable conference experience and expert training at Social Media Marketing World in sunny San Diego, California—from your friends at Social Media Examiner.

    đŸ”„đŸ”„ As a valued reader, you can save $350 if you act now! Sale Ends Wednesday!

    CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
    social media examiner interest link on pinterest
    On Pinterest you can now follow interests, as well as boards and entire accounts.

    When you find an interest board you’d like to follow, just click on the Follow button underneath the title. Now you’ll see pins from this interest in your Pinterest feed.

    To help you find even more interests to follow, Pinterest recommends seven others related to the current interest topic.

    related interest boards on pinterest
    When you discover an interest you like, click Follow under the title. Each interest has seven additional recommended interests.

    As previously mentioned, it’s not possible to search for interests on the desktop version of Pinterest. You need to find pinners in your field who already follow interests. To get you started, here are interests followed by Social Media Examiner (as previously mentioned), Neal Schaffer and Tailwind.

    Tools Resource Guide

    Looking for something to make your life easier?

    Discover the tools we recommend to drive engagement, save you time, and boost sales across your entire marketing funnel or business.

    Whether you need help planning content, organizing social posts, or developing your strategy, you’ll find something for every situation.

    FIND YOUR NEXT FAVORITE TOOL

    Explore Interests on Mobile

    The recently updated iOS Pinterest mobile app added a way to search for interests, but you have to know where to look.

    Both Android and iOS interests searches start similarly to the desktop process. First, find a pinner. Next, check their followers, and if they explore interests, look around. (Android users, select About then Following to get to Interests.)

    pinterest profile on ios
    In the Pinterest mobile app, find an expert in your field and click on who they’re following to see if they follow interests. Then explore that field and recommended, related interests.

    While Android users are limited to finding interests through trial and error, iOS users can do a proper search once they locate any pinner who follows at least one interest.

    pinterest interests on ios
    If iOS users don’t find an interest they like, they just need to click the plus sign to do a search.

    If you’re on iOS and don’t find an interest you like under a pinner’s profile, just select the plus sign to do a search.

    search pinterest interests on ios
    Once you hit the plus sign, a search box will appear that will enable you to look for topics in your field.

    Follow the interest you like, and those pins will appear in your feed.

    #2: Create a New Interest

    The ability to create your own interests, especially at this early stage in the functionality, is particularly helpful for people in niche industries.

    If you search for an interest using your iOS app and it doesn’t yet exist, here’s how you can create it with the push of a button!

    create pinterest interest on ios
    When you search for an interest and find that it doesn’t exist, create it!

    Once you create an interest, it will populate with pins related to the keyword or phrase you use in the title or description.

    new interest board on pinterest
    Your new interest will be populated with pins using that keyword.

    Uses for Interests

    Not many people are aware of interests, which gives businesses exploring this tactic an advantage.

    While pins in the feed from interest groups are a great additional source of repinnable content, there are many other benefits to incorporating interests into your Pinterest marketing:

    • Increase visibility. If you use the proper keywords in your pins’ descriptions, they could become part of multiple interest groups. Your content will be seen by more users who are likely to follow you.
    • Discover new people to follow. The profile images shown on an interest page constantly change. Click on, research and follow other interest followers to discover a great up-and-coming resource or connect with a new potential client who’s followed an interest related to your business.
    pinterest interest follower profiles
    Click on any profile image to find a new resource or potential client you can connect with.
    • Engage easier. Once you start following appropriate interests, relevant content will come to you in your home feed. By commenting on, repinning and liking those pins, you have an easy way to engage with people you don’t follow on Pinterest.

    Conclusion

    If you’re looking for a better way to find and pin content more regularly, discovering interests is a bit challenging, but certainly worth it.

    What do you think? Do you use Pinterest interests? What cool discoveries have you made? Do you have any recommendations for Pinterest profiles that are following great interests? Please share your thoughts and recommendations in the comments.

    Get Your FREE Course: Web3 for Beginners

    Web 3 for Beginners

    Curious about Web3, but don't know where to start or who to trust?

    Introducing Web3 for Beginners, a course taught by Michael Stelzner, the founder of Social Media Examiner.

    Learn the basics of Web3 and apply it to your business with this FREE comprehensive course.


    CLICK HERE TO GET FREE ACCESS

    Tags: Pinterest

    About the authorCynthia Sanchez

    Cynthia Sanchez writes and podcasts about all things Pinterest at Oh So Pinteresting. She helps business both large and small develop their Pinterest strategies. Connect with Cynthia on Twitter @OSPIntersting
    Other posts by Cynthia Sanchez »

    Get Social Media Examiner’s Future Articles in Your Inbox!

    Get our latest articles delivered to your email inbox and get the FREE Social Media Marketing Industry Report (39 pages, 50+ charts)!

    Industry Report Cover

    Worth Exploring:

    Facebook

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Instagram

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    YouTube

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Linkedin

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Web3

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Social Media Marketing Industry Report

    Get Free Report →

    Social Marketing Trends

    The data you've been missing!

    Need a new plan? Find out how thousands of marketers plan to change their social marketing activities in our 14th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report. This 39-page report reveals what marketers have planned for their organic social activities, video marketing, social ads, and more. Get this free report now and never miss another great article from Social Media Examiner.

    Enter your email to get
    our free report:


    Footer

    Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
    Copyright © 2023 Social Media ExaminerÂź
    All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy.

    Helpful Links

    • About us
    • Our content via email
    • Our podcasts
    • Our YouTube channel
    • Our live show
    • Our industry report
    • Sponsorship opportunities
    • RSS
    • Accessibility