(Re)Fall in Love with Your Pinterest
Pinterest can be pretty overwhelming, especially if you started pinning long before you started your own business. Instead of ditching your account, capitalize on the content you do have and (re)fall in love with Pinterest all over again. Today we will cover how how to go from Pinterest “hater” to Pinterest-proud and give you tips on how you can too!
I started my Pinterest in college. My boards were broad and un-organized. I mainly pinned craft ideas, yummy recipes and, since I was in design school, lots of design related inspiration. Times changed and I adjusted. Pinterest then became my wedding planning Mecca. I spent hours combing boards trying to find the perfect ideas to incorporate into my own wedding. My wedding day came and went so I started transitioning again. We spent a year renovating our 1960s house into a mid-century modern home. That meant lots of DIY, “dream” décor and furniture. Now, settled and growing an online business, I shifted again.
Now the focus has shifted to blog content, small business ideas, and growth strategies. As you personally go through life stages your Pinterest can grow with you. Here are the strategies we put in place to get on the right path.
Convert to a Business Page
There is no shame in taking your personal board and converting it to a business focus. It is super simple to change; you will just need to follow the steps outlined here. Once converted and verified you will then have access to awesome features like Pinterest Analytics.
Watch the video below for an overview of Pinterest Analytics or download a detailed how-to guide:
Organize Boards
If you have had Pinterest for a while, this is the part that can get overwhelming. Go through and decide what works for you and what doesn’t. Delete boards that are no longer relevant. Repin items so that a couple of similar boards can morph into one. Think about your ideal audience. What sort of boards would appeal to them? How could your products or services relate to those topics? Really want to hoard that recipe board from college but think it’s a sloppy mess? Just turn it to “secret” and your ideal client won’t even know it exists!
After you have really power cleaned your Pinterest, reorganize the layout. Move the most relevant boards to the top of your page. If you have several boards that all have similar topics, group those boards together – for example if you have Wedding Cake, Wedding Invitations, and Wedding Flowers, put those next to each other.
Make New Relevant Boards
As you begin to organize your boards you may realize there are certain boards that you really should have, but you just don’t! Spend some time brainstorming what they could be and then go ahead and create 10 or so of your best ideas. Our suggestion is that after you create them, go ahead and spend 10-15 mins pinning a minimum of 5 items to each board so that they aren’t sitting vacant.
If you are a blogger or have products or services you sell online you should have a minimum of one board – always listed first - that showcases your content / items exclusively. Many times other pinners are skeptical to follow ALL of your boards, but if you have a dedicated board it allows them to follow your products or blog posts as you add them.
Update Covers
Once you have all your ducks in a row, go through and edit the cover images. You want to convey a similar vibe across your account that all relates back to your brand message and images. Some people will even create custom cover images that include the title of the board. If you choose not to adjust it will automatically use the first item you pinned on each board as the default cover image, which generally doesn’t showcase the quality of pins inside that board.
Instant SEO
Make sure that you do simple things like fill in the board description and describe your pins! Think of Pinterest as a visual search engine. The words you find yourself searching for most should be the words most used in your pin and board descriptions. Keep in mind that links don't automatically become hyperlinks, but people can simply copy and paste, allowing you to leave links to your website or email in board descriptions.
Apply for Group Pinterest Boards
Not every Pinterest fanatic believes in this tactic, but we have found group boards to be very beneficial for generating new traffic to our website and new followers on Pinterest. As long as the topics they cover are in line with your content, you shouldn’t have any major issues. Apply for between 5 and 10 and just see what happens. Here is how we got started with group Pinterest boards.
Keep Pinning
Even though Pins live longer than Facebook, Instagram or Twitter posts, it is still crucial you continue adding new pins to your board. Even 5 minutes a day can create dramatic changes for your web traffic.
Pinterest is hands down our #1 traffic source! In fact, Pinterest generates 42.14% of our total traffic - that’s more than 70,205 impressions a day!
