January Pinterest Trends: What to Pin in January

Today, we’re covering what has become one of the most popular topics on the podcast, what to Pin for each specific month. But before we dig into the January Pinterest trends, let’s first let’s talk about some big picture tasks that you probably need to check off your list in January as a business owner.

I know you are all hearing a lot right now about New Year’s resolutions and choosing a word of the year. It can be easy to just shut down and want to bury your head in the sand and wait for it to all go away so you can get back to business as usual.

I understand those feelings and I know that it can seem really overwhelming. But making a business plan for the year is one of the best things you can do to grow this year and avoid wasted time. Within your Pinterest strategy, you should be thinking of ways to diversify your business and increase the amount of traffic you are getting from the platform. But do so in a unique way that builds your tribe.

Simple Pin Goals: Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

I want to talk a little bit about our goals at Simple Pin Media and what our focus is for the coming year. I have been asking myself some questions over the past few months as I prepare for this year:

• Where are we going as a business?
• Where am I going as a thought leader in the Pinterest space?
• What does this year hold for Simple Pin Media?
• How do I not get distracted by what other people are doing?

It is crucial for me as the owner of this business that I not get distracted and that I have a plan for the year. At its core, Simple Pin is a service-based business. If my focus moves away from that, the business won’t grow in the direction that it needs to.

Everything I do in addition to managing Pinterest accounts is meant to draw attention to that aspect of my business. Any new content or additions to the services we offer will be created with the idea of growing the service-based side of the business.

January Pinterest Trends

What to Pin in January

Before I get into specifics, let me say that if you haven’t gotten your Ultimate Pinterest Planner, you need to get it now! That will allow you to follow along with me and my team as we pin specific ideas for each month and give you ideas for content creation.

January is all about organizing and getting healthier. I want you to consider these things in light of not only personal health and self-improvement but also as it relates to your business. If you have content related to time management, productivity, financial organization, etc., those are things you need to be sharing with your audience.

Spring Cleaning is another very popular topic in the new year. Think of all the new stuff people are trying to find places for in their homes after Christmas. This topic will carry over into February as well.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and will start trending on Pinterest around the middle of January. Everybody is still on chocolate overload from Christmas right now, so hold off for another couple of weeks on any chocolate heavy Valentine’s pins.

Healthy recipes are where it’s at right now for food pins. Lots of salads, keto recipes, smoothies, and anything related to healthy eating.

Related: Pinterest Marketing for Food Bloggers

What to Promote In January

While knowing what to pin is important, knowing what to promote can be the difference between just having a bunch of unengaged followers and getting high engagement with your pins. Remember that you are going after page views, not followers.

I have an entire guide to promoted pins here on the Simple Pin website, so if you need a thorough education on them, be sure to grab the guide. Some general content ideas to promote in January include:

• Fitness tips
• Healthy food
• Business planning
• Printable downloads
• Year-specific downloads
• Habit building
• Super Bowl
• Content planning ideas

Another great way to get your finger on the pulse of what’s trending on Pinterest during a specific timepoint is to explore keywords using the Pinterest Trends Tool.

Tip of the Month

Every month in the planner, you will find a tip that you can try that month to see if it improves your reach on Pinterest. The tip for January is to try different sizes for your images.

We have seen pins as long as 1600 with some of our clients, but Pinterest still has their recommendation set at 600 x 900. Some longer pins are getting cut off in the home feed but there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it yet.

This month, think about putting your text nearer to the top of your image. The top of the images isn’t getting cut off, so your text will be safe if it’s near the top. And play around with fonts; try a new font style if you used the same one all year last year.

Just play around with your Pinterest images and try some new things this year. If you usually make shorter images, try longer ones. Also be sure to listen to episode 76 when Monica of Redefining Mom shared her image secrets and took us on a deep dive into Pinterest analytics.

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Monthly Action Tip

My action tip for January is to evaluate the group boards you are in.

Leave any group boards that are spammy or ineffective. Find new boards to join that will make a difference to your business. You can go to board insights in your Tailwind account to see what changes you need to make.

In 2018, we will be talking more about group boards as well as Tailwind Tribes, because they’ve made changes and we want to keep you abreast of how these changes can affect your business.

That’s all I’ve got for you today. I hope you will sign up for your planner and share your photos of how you use it on social media using the hashtag #ultimatepinterestplanner. I love to see the repeat planner users and hear how helpful it has been to you over the past few years.

And if you are a new listener, please go back and listen to the previous episodes of this podcast to learn so much about how to level up your Pinterest marketing this year!

Time Stamp

Intro
2:40 Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing
5:50 Goals for Simple Pin for 2018
13:35 What to Pin in January
19:35 What to Promote
23:55 Tip of the Month
26:00 Monthly action tip