A few years ago, I looked to Pinterest as a handy way of bookmarking the dozens of kid's crafts and fun party ideas I had spent countless hours clicking through.
Now I see it as THE number one marketing technique for my shop. Once I realized it was the largest source of traffic for both blog and Etsy shop I put a hold on pinning all those banana mummy treats, and instead focused on making my Pinterest Boards a platform to share my work. And it worked.
In just a few months, my Pinterest followers grew from a measly 300 to a whopping 30,000.
Here, I'd love to share with you just how I did it!
Of course, there's the common advice like crafting a spiffy profile & writing excellent board titles which were also important success, but I won't go into those here. Instead, I'll focus on a few, very specific suggestions for my fellow creative entrepreneurs.
#1 DETERMINE YOUR PINTEREST PURPOSE
I found that when I focused on my core audience (customers from my shop, Facebook, instagram) and their interests - which correlate with my brand, the follower count steadily increased. This means crafting a fine balance of what is authentically me & the interests of my audience base. For example, my shop focuses on my handmade creations in bold designs and bright colors, so my boards reflect these ( Color Me Happy, Design & Typography, Make Something). I am also so thankful to be part of this wonderfully amazing creative community and seek to share other shops on my Lovely Handmade Finds board.
Having a few different, targeted boards that my audience is interested really worked for me is that I can easily & authentically pin my own items onto these boards as well. This way, I'm not focused on a single Allisa Jacobs board :)
#2 IT TAKES WORK
While Pinterest is easily addicting, I actually don't spend too much time pinning away. Instead, I created a targeted strategy and stayed disciplined. In the initial push, I dedicated a set amount of time (10 minutes, morning & evening) to finding meaningful, high quality pins for my boards. And, just like a snowball, once the numbers start climbing, a little work goes a long way. Being diligent with pinning, consistently updating covers, editing pins, and connecting with others reaps big rewards. Once the numbers start increasing, over time and with a little love, they continue to grow!
#3 BE A PIN SNOB
Do not pin everything or just anything. I realized that when I started weeding through pins and pinning only the very best images and ideas, my repins and followers skyrocketed. It's easy to pin a bunch of random stuff. Instead, I focus on super high quality, vertical images and avoid extra 'noise.' Sometimes, I find something really cool, but the image is poor or less than ideal so I save it instead to a private board. This allows me to bookmark the idea but keeps my pin stream from filling up with low quality images.
#4 SPREAD THE LOVE
As mentioned above, I found that spreading out the pins of my work gained more followers and a stronger base. I mean, some people might love my bags, but no one wants to see dozens of pins in a row of my cosmetic bags. I learned this from Nordstrom. Not only do they pin select items they carry, but they also spotlight Etsy shops, inspirational quotes, and pretty images that "fit" with the message of their brand.
A surefire way of losing pinterest followers? Start pinning dozens of your items or blog posts in quick succession. Trust me, not a good strategy.
Hopefully these tips give you some ideas for your own Pinterest boards!
Still looking for an extra boost? I've begun taking Pinterest advertising submissions, just send me a message with the subject : SUBMIT for consideration and rates.
allisa [dot] jacobs [at] gmail [dot ]com
Have your own Pinterest tips? I'd love to hear, post yours here. See you in the comments!
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