Updated July 2017!
Are you a blogger? Are you on Pinterest? Recently I was talking with some bloggers who are new to Pinterest and I shared a ton of my tips for using it to bring traffic, gain followers, etc. Most of these tips focus on integrating Twitter and Facebook to help promote your Pinterest.
Here is my JUMBO list of tips!
--you can stalk me on pinterest here:http://www.pinterest.com/zucchinisummer/ and see how I have my stuff set up.
1. Make sure your post has a pinnable image. Have SOMETHING on your post that can be pinned.
2. Edit your board covers every so often. . . people want to see something new and fresh.
Here is how to edit the covers if you don't already know:
First, hover over the board and click "change cover"
Once you get to the picture you want, click the red "Save Changes" button and you're all done!
3. Pin seasonally. Did you write a great DIY post 2 years ago about making Halloween garland? Pin it again this Fall when people will be looking for seasonal ideas.
Speaking of Fall...here's what you'll see when you peek at my Fall board:
4. Tweet a pin every now and then. Example:
5. Have a variety of boards. I may find a Pinner from their personal blog about home organization. But when I click to their boards and see all of their content, I'm usually drawn to follow several other boards. Yes, they have great organization ideas but then I see their "Birthday Parties" board and follow it and their "Hairstyles" board looks good so I follow it too and so on. You can certainly have a niche but don't be afraid to branch out and let your personality shine!
6. Go back to old posts of yours that are being repinned a LOT and make sure there is A.) a pinnable image and B.) Add a welcome to visitors. You can see how I did that here on a reading post: click link.
7. Promote your pinterest boards withIN your blog posts. Here's how I did it in a recent post.
8. Pin properly! Make sure the pins go to the actual source and not just a google image! Eeeek!
9. Tweet or Facebook when you reach a particular pinterest milestone.
699 Pinterest followers:
3. Pin seasonally. Did you write a great DIY post 2 years ago about making Halloween garland? Pin it again this Fall when people will be looking for seasonal ideas.
Speaking of Fall...here's what you'll see when you peek at my Fall board:
4. Tweet a pin every now and then. Example:
This dog made me laugh out loud!! http://t.co/eqzs8iTXvb
— TheBargainBabe (@zucchinisummer) February 21, 2014
5. Have a variety of boards. I may find a Pinner from their personal blog about home organization. But when I click to their boards and see all of their content, I'm usually drawn to follow several other boards. Yes, they have great organization ideas but then I see their "Birthday Parties" board and follow it and their "Hairstyles" board looks good so I follow it too and so on. You can certainly have a niche but don't be afraid to branch out and let your personality shine!
6. Go back to old posts of yours that are being repinned a LOT and make sure there is A.) a pinnable image and B.) Add a welcome to visitors. You can see how I did that here on a reading post: click link.
7. Promote your pinterest boards withIN your blog posts. Here's how I did it in a recent post.
8. Pin properly! Make sure the pins go to the actual source and not just a google image! Eeeek!
9. Tweet or Facebook when you reach a particular pinterest milestone.
Celebrating my 1,000th funny pin! http://t.co/C8mUiOXb1b #Pinterest
— TheBargainBabe (@zucchinisummer) February 12, 2014
Or when you are about to reach a milestone. Here's a facebook post I did when I was stuck on 699 Pinterest followers:
10. Tweet or Facebook link to specific boards. Some people may not want to follow my Kid's Party Ideas board but might be super interested in Books Worth Reading. Know what I mean? In fact, when *I* follow someone I almost always hand pick which specific boards I want to follow. It is rare that I want to see every single thing that someone pins. Example:
Who loves Golden Retrievers? You'll love my Goldens board on pinterest. http://t.co/ywatFuWRTb There's even a "wedding." --awwwwww
— TheBargainBabe (@zucchinisummer) March 11, 2014
11. Tweet or facebook a popular pin of yours. "Wow, this rainbow cake has been repinned 200 times. Thanks guys!" Here's an example of what I posted on facebook over the weekend:
12. Tweet or facebook a popular board of yours. (Sound familiar? See #10 about why to link to BOARDS). Here are examples of each:
If you're filling an Easter basket for your kids, check out my pinterest board devoted to ideas! http://t.co/da57QZqOHs
— TheBargainBabe (@zucchinisummer) March 29, 2014
13. Pin a variety of content. Again, you'll catch a wider audience of people. If I never pinned my favorite beauty ideas, then all the people who search for eyeshadow tips would not have a chance of finding me. However, some pin tips have said to pin anything and everything. Now THAT is something I neither agree with nor practice. I only pin things that I genuinely like or am interested in. Which is why you won't find me pinning stuff from Walking Dead. I've never seen it so it isn't an interest.
14. Some Pinterest tips I've read say to leave a comment for people when they repin your stuff. I've done it a few times "Thanks for pinning my post, I hope you found the snack idea you were looking for!" I'm unsold on whether or not it increases followers at all and I don't want to look spammy by doing it all the time. So at this point I'm just kind of testing the waters with that particular tip. Updated 2017: I rarely comment when people repin.
15. Update old post graphics. Case in point: this post. The main graphic (that says "jumbo list of Pinterest tips") used to be a bright color and have some ugly font things going on. So I changed it with some more modern fonts and an easier-on-the-eyes color.
16. Verify your account. You can verify your account with Pinterest and have access to analytics!
17. Watermark your images. This can be easily done for free in PicMonkey. Sometimes I click a pin to learn more and get a bogus spammy site that just took the pic for clicks. But I can use the watermark and a 10 second google search to find what I wanted. If you want credit for your work, watermark!
18. Utilize group boards. I don't do tons but there are a couple that I use. It's a nice way to get more ideas for that topic and get your pins seen by more people who may not follow you (yet!).
19. Use a board to store gift ideas. You can do a gift idea board for members of your family (if they don't also use Pinterest!) and also a wish list of things you would like. I have a board where I stick things I want to remember to get for my classroom.
15. Update old post graphics. Case in point: this post. The main graphic (that says "jumbo list of Pinterest tips") used to be a bright color and have some ugly font things going on. So I changed it with some more modern fonts and an easier-on-the-eyes color.
16. Verify your account. You can verify your account with Pinterest and have access to analytics!
17. Watermark your images. This can be easily done for free in PicMonkey. Sometimes I click a pin to learn more and get a bogus spammy site that just took the pic for clicks. But I can use the watermark and a 10 second google search to find what I wanted. If you want credit for your work, watermark!
18. Utilize group boards. I don't do tons but there are a couple that I use. It's a nice way to get more ideas for that topic and get your pins seen by more people who may not follow you (yet!).
19. Use a board to store gift ideas. You can do a gift idea board for members of your family (if they don't also use Pinterest!) and also a wish list of things you would like. I have a board where I stick things I want to remember to get for my classroom.
If they want to follow a lot of my boards, I encourage people to follow all and then go unselect some of my boards as they only count as a follower if they click follow all.
ReplyDeleteYou could always come participate in The Ultimate Pinterest Party! There I encourage people to leave comments so it isn't seen as spammy! People have left me comments, but not too many so I've never seen someone who looks spammy on Pinterest. I'll have to do more with Twitter and Pinterest--and I'll have to share this on a Pinterest Linky Party
(The Ultimate Pinterest Party is on Friday-Saturday and the Pinterest Linky Party is on Monday--they are different. The Ultimate Pinterest Party is a little more interactive.)
ReplyDeleteThis is a fantastic list! Thanks for sharing. I pinned and +1'ed. I would love if you would link it up with my Small Victories Sunday linky too. The linky order is reversed so new posts go to the top and blogging tips usually do really well! Thanks! http://momssmallvictories.com/small-victories-sunday-linkup-21/
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful tips, Tammy! Thanks for sharing this with us! I'm definitely going to link my other social media outlets with Pinterest now!
ReplyDeleteGreat list to keep handy. I've pinned it!
ReplyDelete