A simple Pinterest strategy that actually works

Now I don’t know about you. But Pinterest was one of those platforms that I struggled to get my head around for ages. Having worked in social media and marketing for the past ten years none of my previous companies or clients used Pinterest. Working in the business to business sector meant that their audience wasn’t going to be on Pinterest. But when it came to my blog. I knew my audience was using that platform. The only problem was I wasn’t. And I wasn’t even sure I fully understood the platform. So if this sounds like you, then don’t worry. This is the post for you. I’m sharing a simple Pinterest Strategy that actually works. Having used this myself I’ve seen my monthly users grow by a huge 5400%!

Now I should start by saying that I use the Tailwind Pinterest scheduler. In my opinion is one of the best ways to grow your Pinterest audience and drive traffic to your site because it automates so much of the hard work! I’ve already covered how to use Tailwind for Pinterest but you can also join up here and receive a free month!

STEP ONE: ACCOUNT HOUSEKEEPING

Now the first thing you need to do is make sure your Pinterest Account is in order. That means you need to understand the different types of Pinterest boards you’ll need and also how to organise them correctly. Yes, there is a correct way! Plus you’ll want to enable rich pins (you can find out how to do that here). And make board covers.

Plus while we’re talking of account housekeeping. You’ll also want to make sure you’ve got a profile picture. A profile description and board descriptions full of your relevant keywords and hashtags,

STEP TWO: CREATE PINTEREST FRIENDLY CONTENT

Now this might seem easier said than done, but it’s really quite simple. As Pinterest is a visual search engine, you want to create pins that are eye-catching. To do this, set yourself up a Canva account. You can have a free or paid account but either way you’ll have access to literally hundreds of tried and testing Pinterest templates!

Now for creating Pinterest friendly pins make sure they’re vertical pins with easy to read titles. You can experiment with the templates in Canva or just scroll through your Pinterest home feed and look at what catches your eye. Is it a layout? A colour choice? A font? Try and incorporate the elements that catch your eye into your pins.

And then when you’re ready. Start creating your own templates. I have around 15 templates that I use. Which means when I need to create a new pin, it will only take me a few seconds!

STEP THREE: JOIN THE COMMUNITY

And by this, I mean join the group boards in your niche. Or start your own! No matter how small or niche your niche is. There will be other people pinning in the same area. So find those boards and join them.

You can find group boards when using the search function on Pinterest. The circle icon at the top gives it away that it’s a group board. Or you can use Pingroupie.com to find boards to join.

The great thing about using Pingroupie is that they give the board a ‘score’ out of 100 which is based on resin rate, number of collaborators, follower growth etc. So you have a better understanding of which boards to join.

Personally I’d go for a board with not too many collaborators but plenty of followers.

STEP FOUR: PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE

Now this step is perfect for those of us who love ourselves a spreadsheet. Every time I write a post, I add it to be spreadsheet. I have different colours for every category I post about, naturally. But every time I add a new post to the spreadsheet it adds it to my overall schedule. Which tells me what I should be pinning each week.

That’s because every single post I write gets promoted at specific intervals. So when it’s just been published, then a month later and so on. Everyone has their own thoughts on how often you should be promoting a pin. And honestly, a lot is trial and error.

I personally choose to post when it’s new, a month later, then three months later and then when it’s six months old. But if you have seasonal content, then your schedule would look different.

STEP FIVE: KEEP IT FRESH

And by this I mean, every time you promote the pin. Promote it with a new image. So my schedule shows that I promote the same pin four times. When it’s new, then again at one, three and six months.

Each time I promote the pin, I have a new image. Which means when I’m creating one image for my pin, I also create the second, third and fourth pins too. That way it saves time when it comes to adding them into Tailwind to schedule them.

This means that although the content isn’t technically new at month one, three or six. It looks new in the boards I post the pin to. Which means the life of your pin is longer and your audience sees ‘fresh’ content from you!

So there you have it. My five step simple Pinterest Strategy that actually works. Let me know in the comments below how you feel about Pinterest and what issues or questions you have about the platform.