How to Use Pinterest to Build Your Audience
When you are starting from zero.
I spent all weekend noodling around on Pinterest because I’ve heard from successful bloggers that it’s a serious driver of traffic.
I was on the platform years ago for fun.
I was initially attracted to Pinterest because it’s a visual platform, and images excite me. I’m a visual person; images draw me in — magazines, art, photography, my visual art practice — so Pinterest piqued my curiosity. I put together a bunch of boards, nothing took off, which wasn’t why I joined the site anyway. I wasn’t trying to build a brand then.
When Instagram started, I abandoned Pinterest completely.
But lately, people in the blogging world keep talking about how Pinterest is a great tool to drive traffic to your blog, so I’m giving it another go, and I will keep you updated here through my publication, The Write Path.
What to do first
Here are first steps
If you are trying to drive traffic to your blog or your Medium post,
- Set up a business profile. You can attach your business profile to your personal profile and toggle between the two. Make sure you set up a business profile that communicates your brand.
- Communicate your brand consistently. What this means on Pinterest is naming boards very specifically to what your content is communicating to your audience.
If you are an expert on espresso, and have a ton of knowledge you want to impart to the world about everything espresso — your brand — niche down and name your boards appropriately and accurately.
Example of board names: Ethiopian espresso, Hawaiian Kona Coffee, the best place to grab an espresso in all 50 states.
These are very specific examples of board names, and will tell your audience what you’re about when they visit your profile or see a pin in their feed.
Consistency is key.
How to set up a successful business profile
- When starting on Pinterest, perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when naming boards and filling in your business profile description are the keywords you choose to do so.
- Choose keywords that Pinterest likes and rank high in their search bar. Even though Pinterest is a visual platform, keywords should be your top priority when making pins for Pinterest.
- Pinterest makes it easy to search up keywords in the search bar. It is more evident on Pinterest those words which rank high via their algorithm, then say on Google. It’s much harder to crack which keywords rank high for SEO on Google.
What if you don’t have enough content to share?
- Even if you don’t have a lot of content built up on your blog or portfolio for your brand, you can offer your audience resources they’re looking for through other pinner’s boards and pins, related to your brand.
- Search for espresso related content and pin those pins to your boards.
- Like any other social media platform, offer and share content that reflects you and your brand.
Growing your Pinterest audience
- Pin Daily. Even other people’s content counts. When you pin other people’s pins you are building up really specific resources for your audience. As you create your content, add your newly created content into the rotation as you generate it.
- Name each board with thought and be methodical. Be intentional about the way you set up your profile and boards — the way you name them.
- Incorporate into your boards, profile name and descriptions the keywords Pinterest users search for the most in your niche to drive traffic to your boards. Pinterest makes it really easy to do this in the search bar. In the search bar, when you search for a topic, it tells you a list of keywords — little tiles come up — those are keywords that people are searching for on the platform.
Remember that even though Pinterest is a visual search engine, images plus keywords rule on Pinterest.
What makes a good pin
- Keywords. Keywords are the number one thing to get right on Pinterest even before hashtags. Hashtags on Pinterest are relatively new. Keywords are what you are targeting in your pin description. Only use one or two hashtags on one pin.
- Text Overlay. The text overlayed on top of your image is important to help you rank high in the Pinterest feed. Choose your text overlay carefully. Pin description and text overlay are what give your pin the biggest bang for your buck.
- Image. The image should be clear and attention-grabbing. It should accurately describe and be related to the link in your pin. It should be tied directly to your keywords.
- Quality over quantity. Your images are your brand’s advertising, like a billboard. Make sure you use a high-quality image for your pins.
Focus on keywords, text overlay, and the image of your pin.
When pinning, optimize your pin through text overlay, pin descriptions, images and keywords for what people are searching for in your niche.
Pinterest plan going forward, if new to Pinterest
- Start by pinning ten pins per day. To start, eight of those pins can be other people’s pins plus two of your content.
- Every week try to pin more of your content until you are adding eight of your content and two of someone else’s content.
- Build to 30 pins a day. A mixture of your content and other pinners.
Building up your resource library with other people’s pins is an excellent way to start. If you are just starting on Pinterest, it might take you 2–3 hours a week to get the hang of it, but like anything else, you will get faster with regular pinning.
There are no quick wins on Pinterest — it is a slow burn. Like a fire, Pinterest needs tending. Daily. You can’t just start one day and get instant engagement like you can on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Followers don’t translate to clicks and engagement on Pinterest. In other words, you could have 100k followers, and barely any clicks, so like Medium, quality over quantity.
I’ll be writing a monthly progress report on my Pinterest pinning, mostly focused on how to grow on Medium, writing, and how to be successful on this platform and others through branding.
According to the experts, you have to train Pinterest’s algorithm via keywords to recognize your profile and brand, so they can promote it. This takes time though daily pinning. It will take a while because Pinterest success is in the long game, just like most things in life.
Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering Type A personality. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
