How To Add Interests On Pinterest

Pinterest is an interesting social network but also one of the most confusing. It's an image-based network so is already onto a winner but navigating, finding the actual source of a pin and figuring out some of the features can be harder work than it should be. I use it regularly for inspiration but it took me ages to figure out how to follow a topic on Pinterest. I am writing this tutorial so you don't have to do the same.

How To Follow a Topic on Pinterest

Pinterest topics are subjects of interest. Things like art, comic books, mountain bikes, cabins, DIY and anything you can think of. They work like categories on other websites and as long as the pinner has added the correct hashtags, pins will appear in their respective topics. This means you can follow a pinner or a topic to make better use of the site.

Follow a topic on Pinterest

I follow a range of topics and find them very useful for saving time when on Pinterest. The site is great if you have spare time. You can wander around following from pin to pin and ending up in some very random places. If time is short and you're after something specific, using topics is a way to get what you want quickly.

To follow a topic in a browser, do this:

Log into Pinterest and select your profile.
Select Topics from the tab buttons under your username.
Check the selections and select Follow for topics you think you might like.

To follow a topic on iPhone, do this:

Open the Pinterest app and select the compass icon at the bottom.
Select a subject from the list to bring up the topics.
Select a topic to follow from the next page.
Select the red Follow button in the top right of the following page.

To follow a topic on Android, do this:

Open Pinterest and select the search icon at the top.
Select a subject from the list to bring up the topics.
Select a topic to follow from the next page.
Select the red Follow button in the top right of the following page.

Any topic you follow will appear on your Home page at the top. Once you start with them, you will occasionally see a popup asking you what you're interested in to add more topics to your list. You can add or ignore as you see fit.

Unfollow a topic on Pinterest

Once you begin using topics, you will quickly find a bunch of random stuff begin appearing on your home page. This is likely down to pinners not using the correct tags when posting their pins. That may cause you to want to unfollow a particular topic to filter out some of the trash.

That is actually quite simple to do. You can temporarily stop a topic from appearing in that session or permanently unfollow it.

To filter out a topic for that session, do this:

Select your Home page in Pinterest.
Select the pencil icon to the right of your topics at the top.
Select one of the ticked boxes to filter out that topic.

To unfollow a topic entirely, do this:

Select your Pinterest profile.
Select the Topic tab button.
Select the topic you want to unfollow.

You should now see that topic go back to having the red Follow button instead of the gray Following one. You will now no longer see pins from that topic.

Creating a topic for your pins

If you're a pinner, using topics is a great way to make sure your stuff is noticed. This is especially useful if you're a social media marketer or are marketing yourself using Pinterest. However you use the network, adding the right topics to the right images is paramount.

Pinterest uses hashtags to sort topics. Adding a bunch of relevant hashtags to any pin you add will make sure it is listed within those topics when people select them or search for them.

Log into Pinterest and select you profile.
Select the '+' icon at the top and select Create Pin.
Add your image, a description and any hashtags you want to add.

You can use up to 20 hashtags for any individual pin and I would suggest using as many relevant hashtags as you can. This increases the reach of any pin you publish and ensures it is found by as many people as possible. Make sure they are relevant though as nothing is more annoying than seeing unrelated pins in a topic!