How To Grow Your Pinterest Account

I am heading to San Francisco in exactly 10 hours to go to a huge conference that Pinterest is hosting with influencers all over the world.   I am soooo excited!   People ask me all the time how I grew my Pinterest monthly views to 8 Million + monthly viewers.  It’s still cray for me to wrap my mind around it, but I thought sharing an exclusive interview I did with the Pinterest headquarters would be an amazing place to start.  Pinterest has launched so many amazing new things.  Have you guys heard of the new Profiles feature from Pinterest? I’m so excited that it’s finally rolled out! I have been on my toes to officially start using it! If you haven’t heard, Profiles is the new business feature for anyone using Pinterest for social media marketing or to grow their followers. BFFF got a sneak peek, and so far everything about Profiles has been so great. From organizing and tracking BFFF’s pins, to monitoring my Pinterest traffic, I’m totally obsessed! I also got the full behind the scenes scoop on Profiles straight from the Pinterest Headquarters!! Now I can’t wait to share all of the tips I’ve learned on how to grow your following on Pinterest, how to optimize your images, how to get more monthly views on Pinterest, and tons of other great information that will help take your Pinterest Profile to the next level!
 

 

The Inside Scoop On Pinterest Profiles

 
In my latest meeting at the Pinterest HQ, I got to sit down and chat with Pinterest’s Community Director Yuka Ohishi. She was sweet enough to give me the full inside scoop on Profiles and share some of Pinterest’s secret pinning practices! :)  Yes, I repeat, this is straight from the source. =)

 

 

Setting Up A Pinterest Profiles

 
When you start with Pinterest Profiles, one of the first things you should do is actually claim your website, if you have one. This will allow you to look at all of the analytics from your website for your pins. Trust me! Profiles has a ton of new analytics features, so this is a total must! From here, definitely take some time to customize the look of your page. With Profiles, you can pick a new cover image to highlight any of your content from Pinterest. You can choose some of your favorite new pins, a specific board you’re eager to share, or some of the recent activity from your own profile. It makes for such a great visual on your page and lets you highlight exactly what you want your followers to see!
 

 

New Features On Profiles

 
There are a ton of new features on Profiles that are designed to help businesses and brands! You really want to spend some time with these features because I’ve already found them so, so helpful! The new Following Tab for example is amazing! Even as a user, I love this feature! The following tab basically gives users a filtered look at the pins only from the accounts they follow. The Following Tab actually displays pins in the order that you save them… or should I say Pin them. ;)  I love that part because it really allows me, and other brands, to decide what content is the most important and valuable to them. There are also new updates to Pin Stats, which breaks down all kinds of metrics to the pin level! This becomes such a time saver and a lifesaver as a business because you can see EXACTLY what kind of content and trends your followers are interested in.
 

 

Analytics On Pinterest Profiles

 
The new Pinterest Profiles comes with heaps and heaps of new analytics, reports, and data!  Pinterest Analytics like “monthly views” provide so much more insight to your Pinterest page than ever before. The monthly views stat is designed to show you exactly how many users viewed your pins in the last month. The stat is also displayed on your profile, so anyone who visits your page will be able to see that as well, giving you an extra boost of credibility!  I love this because BFFF has accumulated 8 million monthly viewers, which makes me so so happy! Being able to view each account’s monthly viewers is so helpful because it doesn’t just reflect how many followers you have, but how much engagement you have. The new monthly views analytic is a great way to know the kind of content your followers connect with and help you plan more content that’s similar.
 

 

How To Grow Your Business On Pinterest

 
After my interview, I thought it would be super great to compile some of Yuka’s tips to cracking Profiles and my secrets on using Pinterest to grow your business! These are some of the easiest and best things you can do to strengthen your brand on Pinterest Profiles! :)
 

 

Write Quality Descriptions For Your Pins

 
First things first! Your pin descriptions should always, always, always be relevant and detailed! Pin descriptions are a great way to communicate to your followers and throw in a call to action. Plus pins with descriptions see a higher click through rate than pins without! Outside of communication and branding, pin descriptions are also a great way to boost your pins in searches. When writing your pin description, remember to add in plenty of keywords and hashtags to help users find all of your amazing content. You can add up to 20 relevant hashtags to any pin description and tons of keywords. If you aren’t sure what keywords to add, start by searching on Pinterest yourself! Get into a pinner’s mindset and start to think about what you would search for if you needed inspiration for lunches this week or wedding outfits. Pick a few words or phrases to start with and let Pinterest’s search features do the heavy lifting for you.

 

Pin Others’ Content On Pinterest

 
By far my biggest personal tip for Pinterest, is to pin other brands’ content! I know that sounds totally backward, but it’s incredibly important. If you are only posting your personal pins, then your followers on Pinterest are getting totally saturated with your content. And not in a good way! This is a mistake I see so many Pinterest influencers make on the platform. At the end of the day, I promise this strategy only leads to a lot of work and a very small following. I can’t say it enough — never just pin your own content! For BFFF’s Pinterest, I try to pin about 90% of other people’s content and then 10% of BFFF’s content. This way, you’re breaking up the distribution of your personal pins and also building your brand along the way.

 

Schedule Time To Update Your Pins On Pinterest

 
If you’re using Pinterest for any kind of social media marketing, then keeping up with all of your pins can be a real challenge! I know that it can be really tempting to put “Pinterest updates” on your to-do list once a week, but this won’t help you in the long run. It is very important to spread your pins out. When you post a new pin, your Pinterest followers are the first to see it and how they interact with your content, determines how Pinterest decides to show it to everyone else. So you want to be sure that your followers are seeing all of your beautiful pins consistently, not in one big flurry on a Tuesday afternoon! I know it’s easier said than done, but try to carve out a few minutes each day to pin some new ideas. If you need to start small to build the habit, then shoot for five pins a day. Pinterest actually prioritizes your first five pins each day for distribution, so it’s the perfect way to start! You can of course pin as much as you like in one day, just remember to pin the ideas you’re really trying to highlight first! I learned this straight from the Pinterest Headquarters.

 

Keep Your Pins Organized On Pinterest

 
If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to get over excited and overambitious when it comes to Pinterest! So often I have to hit the brakes and keep myself from creating eight new boards on a whim and pinning a million things all at once. There’s just so much wonderful content! The good news is, there’s no such thing as too many pins!! Just as long as you keep them organized. :) Boards on Pinterest are obviously a super easy way to keep all of your amazing pins neat and tidy, but make sure that your boards are as clear as possible! Remember, your Pinterest board organization has to be easy enough for others to scroll through. If you’re totally overwhelmed when starting, then stick with just five boards to start. Keep the topics of your Pinterest boards specific and really relevant to the followers you’re hoping to attract! Then try to add searchable words or phrases to your pin descriptions and titles of your boards. Just think of words that you and your friends would use to search for the topic of your pin!  From here, I’ve also found board sections to be SO helpful. For example, if you’re trying to organize your Pinterest recipes, you can take a “Sweet Treats” board and divide it into sections like “Brownies,” “Cookies,” and “Sprinkle Dessert.”” It makes it easier for you to check back through your content and a total breeze for your followers. Before you finish organizing a board, be sure to pick a board category too! This tip helps Pinterest better understand your content and makes it easier to display to other users across the Pinterest app.
 

 

Make Your Pins Visually Appealing

 
When it comes to creating your pins, presentation is absolutely everything! It’s super helpful to think about what your pins would look like in your personal feed. Are they fun and eye-catching? Would they make you stop scrolling? Be sure to capture crisp, bright, focused images that will really stand out in a feed! When I’m styling pins, I like to make sure the images show reality or as close to reality as you want to get! Any of your followers on Pinterest are there for your thoughts, tips, and opinions, so make sure that your images for your pins reflect that! Demonstrating real-life scenarios in your pins feels more authentic and will also make your pins more successful. If you’re showing off a cute, new outfit, use a photo of you wearing the outfit out on the town, rather than on the hanger. Style pins that show the fashion in real-life events actually have a 30% higher click-through rate on Pinterest. So always, always, always be sure you’re making visually-appealing and authentic pins! Extra pro tip: try to use vertical images for your pins as well!  Pins are obviously shown on a vertical column, so vertical images make pins more visually appealing. Also don’t be afraid to add text to your image! Certain categories like DIY or recipes, can sometimes benefit from bold copy on the image, if there isn’t enough context from the image itself.
 

Be Authentic

 
This tip may sound so simple, but be authentic! Pinterest users can totally tell when you aren’t being genuine or just pandering to them.  Don’t just post things for quick clicks and follows, start slowly building trust and loyalty with your followers. To start, I really recommend encouraging people to follow your website or interact with your account on other channels. It gives you more credibility and creates a sense of familiarity and loyalty with your followers, so they want to look specifically for your content! Having an engaged group of followers is super important because Pinterest actually distributes your content to your followers first. After your followers have seen your pins, Pinterest then distributes your best performing pins to other people who are looking for ideas like yours. Keeping your brand authentic, means that your current followers will engage more and your pins will be distributed further. Plus as your authentic base kind of grows, Pinterest will actually recommend you as someone to follow for other pinners interested in your content. It’s a win-win!

 

With all of Pinterest’s Profile features, I feel like the Pinterest game has totally changed for businesses! Have any of you started working with Pinterest Profiles? Do you have any other advice for using the Pinterest app for businesses?   If you’re not already following BFFF on Pinterest, come join the party… literally, it’s a party over here! ;) PS. Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest. I am literally obsessed! Stay tuned, I’ll update you guys more later on what I learn from the Pinterest conference tomorrow.