Pinterest Trends & Predictions Can Help You Generate Topic Ideas for Writing Articles
Some days, deciding what to write is much more of a challenge than the actual writing.
There are days I feel I have unlimited ideas I am just itching to write about. And then, at other times, it’s a struggle to come up with even one topic for an article.
As online writers and content creators know, you’ve got to keep churning out ideas every single day if you want to keep your momentum going. But how to continuously think of things to write that people will want to read?
A place I sometimes turn to for idea generation comes from Pinterest.
Why should you pay attention to Pinterest?
I had used Pinterest for years to save recipes and find kid’s craft ideas for my personal use. It wasn’t until recently I realized Pinterest is so much more than just a recipe pinning site.
Pinterest has a massive audience with 431 million users per month. People come to Pinterest looking for new ideas; recipes, house decor trends, hairstyles, clothing. You name it. You can find it on Pinterest.
Checking Out Pinterest Trends
Since 2019, Pinterest has been tracking these searches, analyzing them, and creating a tool they’ve released for free to the public to tell us what is trending on their site.
According to the original press release, Pinterest Trends “will give a view of the top US search terms within the past 12 months, and a look into when top search terms peak so you can better understand how content performs on Pinterest.”
Although the purpose of Pinterest Trends is to show you what’s trending on Pinterest, it can help you generate content ideas for articles that you can post anywhere, your blog, Medium, Vocal, or wherever you write.
How I use Pinterest Trends for article ideas
First, I head over to the Pinterest Trends site here.
From there I search for specific keywords if I have something in mind or I scroll down to see what the recent “hot topics” are on Pinterest. Today, I learned that there has been a three times increase in searches for “pink almond shaped nails” and a 152% increase in searches for “empanada.”
I’m not interested in writing about nails, but I could possibly come up with an idea involving empanadas, so I’ll note that and keep scrolling down.
More surging trends for this week include:
- dream garage
- room ideas for men’s bedroom
- rat rod
- march
- bushcraft shelter
- hello march
- mardi gras food
- american muscle cars
- super short nail ideas
Again, here’s the trend for short nails. If you write about beauty and fashion, short nails seem to be a good topic to cover. The other one that caught my eye is the bushcraft shelter.
I must admit, I wasn’t exactly sure what a bushcraft shelter was, other than I know it’s some kind of survival shelter. I didn’t know why it would be trending on Pinterest, so I searched it on Google and ended up going down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos of men building bushcraft shelters in the wilderness.
The videos usually have an outdoorsy-looking man who starts with a few branches and ends up building a makeshift shelter with a cozy campfire in the middle of nowhere using only basic survival tools. There are many YouTube videos on bushcraft shelters. Are people trying to learn how to make them, or do they find it as satisfying to watch as I do? I do feel, if you’re creative, you could probably write something entertaining about bushcraft shelters.
But let’s move on and continue scrolling down. You will see Pinterest breaks out trending ideas across their most popular categories. If you’re a food and drink writer, you can see Ukrainian recipes have been trending. For travel writers, people are interested in beaches, New York City, and spring break.
Time to check out Pinterest Predicts
If you’re still looking for content ideas, Pinterest Predicts is another Pinterest tool you can use for free. Pinterest Predicts is on its eighth year, and for 2022, they’ve made over 175 predictions.
Each year they produce a report of what they have determined will be the trends to come in the new year. How they do this is by analyzing searches by their millions of users to find key trends they predict will be emerging throughout the year. According to Pinterest Predicts, eight out of ten predictions for 2021 came true.
What’s Predicted for 2022?
Head over to Pinterest Predicts, scroll down, and you will see their insights are broken down by category.
When you click on a category, you’re given a breakdown of what it’s all about. For example, I clicked on Night Moves and this is what I discovered. “The most memorable adventures will happen after sundown in 2022. People will turn to the quiet of the after-hours to invest in their travel bucket lists and nature excursions. Gen Z is driving this trend — good thing our phones take better night photos than ever. Into the dark you go.”
Pinterest provides trending search terms within the category:
- Road trip aesthetic +2x
- Bioluminescence aesthetic +95%
- Han River night +65%
- Sea night beach +150%
- London city night +2x
I clicked on “Bioluminescence aesthetic”, and it took me to a page of Pinterest pins of gorgeous photos of glowing beaches. Apparently, in some places around the world, the beaches glow with tiny blue lights as if they were in fairyland. The reason is due to an algae bloom of plankton being disturbed by a wave or other movement.
Another category that caught my eye is, “Emotional Escape Rooms.” After two years of lockdowns and working from home, I can see why people would be looking for an escape.
Towards the end of the category page, Pinterest even has suggestions for how you can use this trend based on your brand. For example, for “Emotional Escape Rooms,” Pinterest suggests the following if you’re a well-being brand,
“Make sure you’re there when they search for self-care. Inspire them to create their very own at-home sanctuary by creating collections ads featuring essential oil diffusers, chic massage tables, and vibey candles.”
As a health and wellness writer, this gives me some ideas for using the emotional room topic for future articles.
Find your own inspiration
Hopefully, I’ve given you some ideas on how to find inspiration using Pinterest for those days you just don’t know what to write about.
You can also use it to plan ahead for article ideas. I like to search for ideas during times when I’m not in the mood to write or need a writing break. I can list out the ideas that catch my eye in a Google Doc or Spreadsheet with links if I found any. Then I’ve always got something to turn to when it’s a day that I don’t know what I want to write about.
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