Pinterest is an interesting platform because it’s a visual search engine, but it also has elements of social media. So you should have a social media strategy for Pinterest, but it’s going to look very different from a strategy for Facebook or Instagram. So if you’re a small business and you’re trying to figure out how to get started on Pinterest, these are my top Pinterest strategy tips to get you going!
Top Pinterest strategy tips
Why does Pinterest matter?
So first of all, why should you care about Pinterest? Isn’t it just for people to find recipes or crafts for their kids?
Pinterest has changed a lot since it was first created and it’s still great for finding creative things, but it’s an AMAZING source of traffic for businesses! It does take a while to start getting traffic to your site, but you can get awesome, consistent traffic to your site with time- it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
These are some advantages that Pinterest has over other social media platforms:
- Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posts typically stop getting traffic after 24-36 hours. Pins can drive traffic to your site for months to YEARS, and it doesn’t even matter how many followers you have. I have a pin that’s 3 years old that has been the top driver of traffic to my photography site since it was created, and it’s not even a pretty pin!
- Pinterest is a slow build (just like SEO), but if you stay on top of your strategy, you can build consistent growth without much effort.
- People come to Pinterest to shop for products and services, and almost 90% of pinners have bought products or services from Pinterest.
- Pinterest is a huge driver of traffic because people come to Pinterest to find something. People just mindlessly scroll through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and they might click on a link if they find it compelling, but people on Pinterest WANT to click on your link if it’s what they’re looking for!
If I’ve convinced you to use Pinterest for your business, set up a business account and rich pins on Pinterest (learn why and how on my intro Pinterest post How to Use Pinterest for Small Businesses: 9 Easy Tips to Get You Started) and read on for strategy tips.
Pin consistently
Pinning consistently is the #1 strategy for Pinterest. It doesn’t matter if you pin 5 or 30 pins a day, you just need to make sure you’re being consistent with it to help Pinterest’s algorithm. People can also see when the last time you pinned was, so if they’re thinking of following you and see you haven’t pinned in a week or more, they could be less inclined to follow you!
If you know you can’t pin manually every day, don’t worry, I’m going to address that further down.
Pin from other accounts in your niche
I know, it sounds counterproductive to pin from other accounts, but it looks spammy to only have pins from your own website on your boards. You probably also don’t have enough content to pin multiple pins from your own site every single day, so pinning from other accounts actually helps you. You can fill in your gaps with other pins, which will help your content with Pinterest’s algorithm.
Learn how you can have Tailwind pin consistently for you and find pins in your niche further down!
I recommend pinning 50% of your daily pins from other accounts, but play around with it and see what percentage works best for your account and the amount of content you have!
Create Pinterest graphics
If you don’t know what you should be pinning, I recommend creating a basic graphic for each of your posts. It should be vertical with a 2:3 ratio, and it should have some easy to read text on top of an image. It doesn’t have to be fancy (remember, my top performing pin for my travel photography site is basic and isn’t pretty!), but it should be clear and not too colorful or busy- especially as more and more people are using Pinterest on their phones and can’t read busy looking pins on their small screens.
Pins with text on top are higher performing than just photos because they’re much more eye catching, and you can quickly digest what the post is about instead of trying to read the small headline that could get cut off. If trying to create a graphic is scary for you, Canva is a free program you can use, and they have Pinterest templates!
Set up Pinterest sharing buttons
You should set up social sharing buttons for all social media platforms, but especially Pinterest! There are all kinds of plugins that can do this for you, so you can see which one works best for what you’re looking for. Pinterest sharing buttons encourage your audience to share your post, which will get your pin seen by more people on Pinterest.
Do keyword research
Pinterest is a search engine, just like Google, so you should do some keyword research! I recommend using a keyword research tool to get a general idea of the types of keywords that would be good to target, and then you can start typing them into the Pinterest search bar to see what Pinterest auto-populates for you. You can also just search keywords on Pinterest and see what pins show up. If you can see that there are tons of pins for a particular keyword, you might need to niche down even more or target another keyword.
Use Tailwind
Remember how I said you should pin every day? Most people can’t do that, so that’s where Tailwind comes in! It’s a scheduler for Pinterest, and it will pin at the optimal times for you.
If you’re new to Tailwind, check out my post Tailwind 101: How to Use Tailwind to Grow Your Small Business on Pinterest!
It also comes with a perk called Tailwind Communities (formerly called Tribes), that are similar to (but better than) group boards. Communities are groups of pinners in your niche, and the idea is to add your pins to it to have other people share them and vice versa. Tailwind Communities are more advanced than group boards because there’s more accountability. You can see how many pins you’ve added to a Community, how many pins from the Community that you’ve pinned, and how many people in that Community are pinning your content. Most Communities have rules, so if someone is just adding their own content without reciprocating, the admin of the group can kick them out.
I recommend finding Communities that are on the smaller side with a few hundred to maybe a thousand people, and you can see which Communities are the most active before you join. It can be a great way to get your pins shared by other people in your niche to get more traffic to your site!
If you are interested in trying out Tailwind, you can use my affiliate link and get a free trial!
Pinterest can be a lot of work when you’re first getting started, so if you want someone to just do everything on Pinterest for you, I can help! 🙂 I offer Pinterest management packages that start at $400/month, and all my clients see big, consistent growth after just a few months. If you want more Pinterest tips that are specific to your business, I offer Pinterest audits and Pinterest training. If you want to get started or learn more, send me a message and let’s talk Pinterest!
Disclaimer: Some of these links may be affiliate links, and if you purchase a product or service through the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you!
Thank you for your tips and tricks with Pinterest!
I hope they help! 🙂
Thank you! This is exactly what I needed right now.!8 have been investing more time in Pinterest after forgetting about it for a long time.
That’s great! I hope this helps!