Pinterest is booming. More than 444 million people are on Pinterest every month, searching and saving literally billions of pins. A high percentage of those pins are related to the home, which makes Pinterest an ideal social media platform for real estate agents.
As agents continue to show tremendous success using Pinterest real estate marketing, we wanted to know more. We compiledthe most creative Pinterest real estate marketing ideas from social media experts to help you master Pinterest for your business. Here’s what they had to say.
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Expert Advice
Top Real Estate Pinterest Boards for Inspiration
1. Your Pinterest Strategy Should Be About Building Community
Nicole Mickle, Realtor with almost 10 million monthly pin views
Pinterest offers a softer, more organic form of marketing. With Pinterest, you’re presenting yourself as an authority. You’re solving problems and answering questions, all in an authentic way.
We talked to real estate agent and expert Pinterest influencer, Nicole Mickle, to hear her approach Pinterest marketing:
Pinterest isn’t a punch-in-the-face kind of marketing, it’s much more of an exchange. It’s much more, ‘let’s chat, let’s exchange ideas.’ With Pinterest, I’m offering something—not selling. I’m problem-solving.
Everyone can find something to be an expert on. You like fishing? Pin that. You like to bake bread? Build community around baking.
At the end of the day, it’s about being a resource.
Pinterest isn’t a punch-in-the-face kind of marketing, it’s much more of an exchange. It’s much more, ‘let’s chat, let’s exchange ideas.’ With Pinterest, I’m offering something—not selling. I’m problem-solving.[Listen: Check out The Close Weekly and our recent podcast with Nicole Mickle on Apple Podcasts]
2. Help Buyers Make Decisions
Heather Farris, Founder, Farris & Company LLC
Most agents’ might start out by treating Pinterest like Facebook or Instagram, but Pinterest is its own thing and needs to be treated as such. People use Pinterest as a visual search engine where they save ideas to reference later, which can be of real help as real estate agents plan their marketing strategy.
Here’s social media expert, Heather Farris, to help explain:
One of the biggest myths about Pinterest is that it’s just recipes and craft 3. Create Evergreen Content
According to digital market agency The Refinery, the average life of a tweet is about 15 minutes. Facebook posts stay relevant for about six hours and Instagram lasts as long as 48 hours.
But on Pinterest, an average post gets engagement four months after it’s been posted, making it vital that the things you post today are going to be just as relevant and interesting tomorrow, next week, and next year.
We heard more about this from international marketing consultant Nicole Gustas:
For example, a Los Angeles real estate agent will be more successful on Pinterest by creating pins for blog posts like ’10 Up and Coming Neighborhoods in LA You’ve Never Heard Of’ or ‘The 10 Hottest New Loft Buildings in Downtown LA,’ rather than something about a specific house in a particular neighborhood that is for sale at a particular time.
It can take anywhere from several weeks to a couple of months before a pin starts getting traffic. Because of this long tail, Pinterest isn’t ideal for posting about your open house this weekend, or even about specific listings.Alexa Kurtz, marketing strategist with Webtek Computer Company, agrees:
Think outside the box when it comes to marketing properties. Since Pinterest content lives for so long on the platform, creating pins about individual properties doesn’t make a ton of sense. After all, these properties are going to sell, and then that pin is worthless. However, if you create a pin that has a broader appeal, the targeted content that pin leads to can talk about your property and you can update the content as properties sell. 4. Women Are Your Audience, Plan Accordingly
Mae Karwowski, Founder & CEO, Obviously
Studies done by Statista show that upward of 77.1% of active Pinterest users are women. Mae Karwowski, Founder and CEO of the influencer marketing agency Obviously, suggests:
When crafting your content, make sure you consider who your audience is. The majority of Pinterest users are women, many of them with an average household income of over $100,000. Create your content accordingly so you are reaching the best audience with the best message every time.5. Make Sure Your Content Gets on the Right Boards
Hamna Amjad, Digital Marketing Project Manager,
Since Pinterest is part social media platform and part visual search engine, it’s doubly important that your content is categorized properly onto boards that are easy to find. Hamna Amjad, a social media expert with Gigworker, told us more:
Because Pinterest serves both social and search purposes, properly categorizing and cataloguing your content is very important. Create several Pinterest boards to help separate your content into categories, making it easier for people who are interested in what you have to say to find more of it. The more specific and specialized your boards are, the more likely people are to follow them.6. Reach the Right Audience With Hashtags
Daniela Andreevska, Marketing Director, Mashvisor
Just like on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, hashtags help create conversation across the platform, across users, and across boards. Effectively using hashtags gets your content in front of a much wider audience. We spoke to Daniela Andreevska, Marketing Director and Pinterest guru with Mashvisor. Here’s what she had to say:
Each of your posts (pins) should have at least three hashtags that are popular in the industry and relate well to your image. Don’t go overboard though—any more than 10 hashtags and your posts will start to look like spam.
Similar to other social platforms, using hashtags on Pinterest is a must. Hashtags make your content easier to find and navigate to. Do the research to figure out
7. Make Your Branding Ultra-consistent
Bradley Shaw, Founder, SEO Expert Brad Inc.
As great as a visual search engine is, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of images, especially if everybody’s pins are starting to look the same. A strict style guide is crucial.
We talked to Bradley Shaw, an expert in search engine optimization (SEO), about the importance of consistency across your brand, and how that affects your brand visibility:
One simple branding touch that works well on visual platforms like Pinterest is to add a small logo or watermark to the bottom of all your pins. Keep it discreet, keep it understated—you don’t want it to take away from your message, but you do want to remind people where this quality content is coming from.
Pinterest has a famously crowded version of the news feed, so real estate agents who want to stand out need to get consistent with their visual branding. Your pins should be immediately recognizable in terms of fonts, messaging, tone, and color scheme. 8. Your Pinterest Strategy Needs to Be a Year Long
Amanda Behm, Founder, Real Estate Digital Assist
Because of what we know about other social media platforms, it’s tempting to take your strategy a week at a time. However, Pinterest is different. You need a long-term, structured strategy to keep your messaging consistent.
Here’s what Amanda Behm, real estate efficiency expert and founder of Real Estate Digital Assist, had to say:
Set up an optimized pinning schedule and start creating your pin images—you’ll be reaping the rewards next year.
Long-lasting Pinterest success depends on more than just a couple of pins here and there—it requires an overall strategy. First of all, remember all the things that make something successful on Google: is it clickable, captioned correctly, linked appropriately? Combine these with an image that draws someone in, and you have the start to your successful strategy on this visual search engine! 9. Pin at Peak Times
Becky Brooks, Digital Marketing Manager, The Close
Like any social media platform, there is research that shows the best time to be active and create content. For Pinterest, the same is true, so we turned to our own incredible digital marketing team to learn the times they recommend pinning.
“We find that the best time to create and share pins is in the early to late evening and on weekends. This seems to be the time users are searching for ideas, either for projects, recipes, or inspiration. This is when we try to be the most engaged and active.
“However, because Pinterest often works more like a search engine than a social network, we still get traction on even older pins. Which is why there really is no wrong time to pin, so just have fun with it!”
10. Use Pinterest to Stay in Touch With Clients
If you’re hoping to turn business into repeat business, you’ll want to stay connected to former clients and referral sources. Pinterest is an ideal tool to help. We heard more about this from Pinterest aficionado and social media expert, Lori Ramas:
Think of the things that your clients love and care about, and start pinning! Pinterest can be another touch in your communication plan with the goal of turning your former clients into repeat clients.
Pinterest is a great place to recruit new clients, but it’s an awesome way to maintain relationships with your existing clients. Try building boards that your customers will enjoy visualizing. If you have families on your client roster, try building boards for easy family meals that you can update regularly. 
11. Be a Part of the Social Community
Bill Gassett, Realtor, RE/MAX Executive Realty
When we put out our call for expert advice, we figured our sources would be marketing professionals only … until Bill Gassett sent us a note. Bill is a rock star Realtor with RE/MAX, and just happens to be the most influential Realtor on Pinterest today.
Here’s what he had to say about how being social can help you grow your audience and get more leads on Pinterest:
Pinterest is a visual search engine, but it is also a social media platform. In order to be successful, you need to be social. Don’t just create content and expect others to do the work for you. Interact with other people’s content, share it, be a part of the community. If all you do is promote yourself, you will fail to grow on this site.
12. Set Up a Pinterest Business Account
Lizzie Dunn, SEO Associate, Fundera
In order to get the full power of Pinterest, real estate agents should consider a business account. They’re free, easy to set up, and they unlock all sorts of bonuses unavailable to the general public.
SEO Associate and small business finance expert Lizzie Dunn gave us the inside scoop on why realtors should take this free (but important) step:
Business profiles give you access to key features like analytics and paid advertising. With these tools, you can have better insights into your best performing content, what kind of people are consuming that content, and when. Using the business level resources will allow you to learn something from every pin, and make your plan for your next pin even better.13. Target Your Audience by Location With Pinterest Ads
McKinzie Bean, Founder, Moms Make Cents
Pinterest has its own form of paid advertising, and it can be an effective way to get the right content in front of the right user. As we’ve learned, Pinterest isn’t just crafts and recipes—many users depend on Pinterest to help them make buying decisions. That’s why using paid advertising can be profitable down the line—and Pinterest makes it pretty easy to get started.
We talked to Pinterest blogger and influencer McKinzie Bean, of Moms Make Cents, to hear the best way to get started:
Narrow your audience down with a geographic location and with keywords so that you are only showing your ad to the people in your area who are searching for what you are selling.
Watch your results carefully and adjust course accordingly! Pinterest marketing is all about making sure you are understanding what is performing well and what isn’t, as the leads start coming in, leverage your successes and put a stopper in your failures.
If it’s your first time running a Pinterest Ad campaign, start with the ‘traffic campaign’ option. I’ve done thousands of dollars’ worth of testing on this platform, and this type of campaign has always been the most profitable and easiest to get started on. With a traffic campaign, you only pay for the actual clicks to your website. 
Great Real Estate Pinterest Boards for Inspiration
We asked our in-house digital marketing team to share their favorite real estate Pinterest boards, and they came through with some great ones that are sure to inspire:
Nicole Mickle, Realtor, 9.2 Million Monthly Views
Joy Aumann, Realtor, 423,000 Monthly Views
Marni Cummings, Relocation Coach, 68,400 Monthly Views
Ladies of Real Estate, 2.9 Million Monthly Views
Bill Gassett, Realtor, 154,700 Monthly Viewers
Hilton & Hyland, Brokerage, 64,900 Monthly Views
With Millions of Views on Pinterest, Realtor Nicole Mickle Shares Her Secrets
Nicole Mickle isn’t just good at selling houses, she’s also one of the most successful Pinterest marketers in the business. This Orlando-based design and real estate expert has reached a peak of 15 million monthly Pinterest views and is crushing it with 60,000 individual followers.
We sat down with Nicole to find out how she did it—and maybe even more importantly, why.
Tell us how you got started in Pinterest marketing.
I was never going to be one of those people who makes 200 calls a day to get business. It works for some people, but that sounded like my worst nightmare. I was looking for a way to build my business, but in a way that worked for me.
Pinterest happened by accident. It was early in the pandemic and I was playing around on the Pinterest discover page. I ended up connecting with a woman who blogs about theme parks. We met for coffee and she was looking at my numbers and couldn’t believe how much they’d grown organically.
She really helped me understand what I was doing well and how I could do even better.
What makes Pinterest different from other social media platforms?
There has really been a shift. It’s not about social media—it’s about providing information. It’s a chance to show that you are an authority. For example, my area is design and decor. It’s a passion of mine and one that allows me to be creative. People follow me because they see me as an enthusiast in design and that leads to a connection and an exchange.
I have answers to the questions people are asking. It’s just this organic process—people, house, life, people, house, life. It’s all connected.
Can you give us an example of how a connection on Pinterest leads to business?
A guy is building a pool in Texas and he loves a tile that I’ve pinned. He reaches out to ask about the tile because he can’t find it in Texas, but it’s everywhere in Florida. So I connect him to the tile company here. There, I’ve made a referral to a small business in my community and I helped someone in Texas. That translates to referrals back to me.
I’m offering something, not selling. And people like that. They don’t want to be sold to—they want their problems solved.
For example, another guy is buying a house down here as an investment—and he found me because he was building a house in Canada and couldn’t find anyone up there to do these black-and-white piano stairs. So I helped him with his design and he eventually ended up doing business with me.
Are there other ways Pinterest helps you?
I had a client who was relocating here and she only had two days and not much time to find a home. I sent her lots of pins and she was able to really narrow down what it was that she was looking for. She thought she wanted farmhouse. But the photos she was picking were really a different feel. I could build what she wanted in my head and then say, OK, now I know what you’re looking for.
That let me show her houses that were what she actually wanted—not what she thought she wanted. It saved time and energy, avoided burnout, and she found the house she loved, at her price, in a neighborhood that wasn’t even on her radar.
Nicole’s Expert Tips for Success With the Pinterest Algorithm
- Be sure your bio is well done. Include your name, and what you do, or how you help. Think of it like a dating app—for example, I help buyers and sellers. Then get more specific. I help buyers and sellers in Colorado. I help buyers and sellers in Denver, Colorado.
- I usually post 10 times per week. But be sure not to exceed 25 posts a day or the algorithm will think it’s spam.
- Pinterest wants content to be authentic. Build out your boards and be sure they are optimized. Think, what would my client look for?
- You can use photos from your phone, but you need a filter. I really recommend creating a custom Canva template.
- Group boards aren’t necessary. They want you to engage directly with the end user. Really only use group boards for collaboration. There was a time when realtors were just engaging with one another’s group boards and Pinterest seems to want us to stop playing in the same sandbox.
- It’s about presenting ideas in a visual way, so make sure pins are visually appealing.
- Make it fun for yourself or you won’t be able to keep it up. Finding that topic that you’re passionate about is key.
Your Turn
If you haven’t already, follow us on Pinterest! We’d love to interact with you there. We pin new content every week, so check back often. In the meantime, tell us about your Pinterest experience. Are you driving a lot of traffic and picking up clients? What’s working or not working for you? Tell us in the comments.
