Like most people I have been using Pinterest to get inspiration for years but never really knew how it worked. I read somewhere that Pinterest was the second biggest Etsy traffic driver, so I knew that I needed to start one for my business, but it seemed so daunting and confusing. After many hours of research and a lot of trial and error I think I’ve found my rhythm, with just over 200k unique monthly views, Pinterest is now my second biggest social driver to etsy after Instagram.
Pinterest was a slow burn for me but I’m hoping that my tips will help you grow yours a lot quicker.
Setting up your account
When setting up your Pinterest for business you can either use your current page, if you have one, but make sure you switch it from ‘personal’ to ‘business, that way you can see all of the analytics, or you can start a brand new page.
Naming your page is especially important, you want the function or product to be immediately visible. ‘Katrilee’ means nothing to people who don’t already know my brand, so I use ‘Katrilee Jewellery’ for my page name. If I was a graphic designer I’d use ‘Katrilee – Graphic design’, if I was a baby blogger I’d use ‘Katrilee – Parenting Blogger’… so you get the picture!
Similarly, you want to choose a profile picture that is easily recognisable throughout all your other social platforms/ websites.
Finally, you want to ensure that you have linked all your social media profiles, Etsy shop and website to your Pinterest page.
Boards
Now that you’ve set up your profile, you’ll want to create content that people can pin and will give them a reason to follow you. I have 3 boards that are all my own content and about 15 others that are inspiration/ ideas boards. You don’t want your page to only have your own stuff on it because there just won’t be enough of it to draw in an audience.
Make your own product/ branded board the main one on your page. This means it is the first one visitors will see. You can also choose this board to be your banner.
Pinning
There are 3 ways to pin things to your page; 1) Pin directly from Pinterest – this is the way that most people interact with the platform, 2) Pin from a website or social media page – this is how I pin most of my products, 3) Create a pin on Pinterest by uploading a picture.
When pinning your own content, I find it easier to pin directly from my website or Etsy page. If you decide to do this instead of creating the pin yourself, you will need to go and edit the pin once you’ve pinned it. Make sure each pin of yours has a link back to your product page, a short clear description, and searchable hashtags (Pinterest lets you have 20 hashtags per pin).
There are certain times of the day that might be better for pinning, I notice I get more repins and follows in the middle of the night, but I generally don’t worry too much about it.
You can also pin from an app called Tailwind which I’ll explain later.
Group Boards
Group boards are basically communal boards that many people can pin to, they can be a really great way to get other people to see your pins and help generate those first few crucial repins. Group boards can be a little tricky to navigate, some have strict rules about how much you can share and you often have to request to join. Try and find group boards that fit the type of product/ service you do. Most of the boards I’m on are centred around ‘Etsy shops’ and ‘Handmade jewellery’. I am also on a ‘feminist makers’ board.
To find group boards you can use the Pinterest search bar and change the filter from 'pins' to 'boards', group boards will have a little circle of faces in the bottom left corner of their board.
Tailwind and Tailwind tribes
Tailwind is a pinterest marketing tool that has many functions, but the two most beneficial are the pin scheduler and the tribes.
Tailwind gives you 100 free scheduled pins (there’s a monthly fee after that). Their algorithm works out when the best time to post your pins is and allows you to pin to multiple boards at the same time. The great thing about the free trial is that once it’s up you can still use all the other tailwind functions for free.
Tribes are like Pinterest group boards. You can join up to 5 tribes and share a maximum of 30 pins a month to these tribes. It works by mutual marketing, when you post a pin to a tribe you are essentially agreeing to repin other people’s content from that tribe and in return your pins will also get repined.
Tailwind Tribes helped me get my first viral pin which has now over 2 Million views and grows every day.
What makes a good pin?
What makes a good pin to you might be totally different to someone else but there are definitely a few ‘best practices’ to bear in mind when creating your content.
Vertical pins always look better than square or horizontal ones. Most people view Pinterest on their phones or tablets and so a large vertical pin is much easier to see than anything else. As you can see from the above pins, the verticle pin has far more view and saves than the square ones.
Product images are great and most of my pins are product images, but lifestyle and DIY shots are saved more.
Make your brand recognisable, whether it’s using the same product staging or having branded items in the shot, you want people the recognise your images when they see them. Hello Ashto is a great example of this.
It might be tempting to watermark your images but try not to.
Pinterest is a fantastic tool for driving traffic and once it s set up it's really not that difficult to maintain. Drop a comment below with you're own tips and let me know what you'd like me to write abpout next.