Last updated: August 2018.
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My blog wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for Pinterest.
I talk about Pinterest… A LOT. That’s because I constantly learn new things about it and it’s such a great place for bloggers to share their content- and I really don’t want you to miss out. Pinterest is a very powerful tool. Unlike other social media outlets like Facebook or Twitter where only fresh content seems to be relevant (for a short period of time), pins from your blog can get pinned and shared weeks, months and even years after you’ve published your content. This also means that with Pinterest, you can bring traffic even to posts you’ve published years ago.
In addition to creating Pinterest-friendly images and having a Pin It button installed, you also have to have a Pinterest account (I recommend that you create a Business account). Here’s the thing though: if you want to grow your Pinterest following, you can’t only pin images from your blog and expect people to follow you. Yes, there are exceptions to every rule, but we’re not here to talk about those.
I’ve noticed a huge Pinterest growth once I started pinning daily. I created more boards, pinned more original content (other than re-pinning things I come across on Pinterest). After a while though, I noticed that if I have a busy week and simply not enough time to pin every day, the rate at which my account grew would slow down. So, as you can see, consistency is pretty important here. After reading a lot of blog posts about Tailwind, I decided to give it a try and.. it was a game-changer. It’s also a tool that helped me go from 600 to 10,000 Pinterest followers in 6-7 months.
Edit: Since publishing this post, my Pinterest has grown to over 32,000 followers and it still remains my #1 source of traffic with my account receiving 6.2 million monthly views.
WHAT IS TAILWIND?
I’m sure some of you are already familiar with Tailwind– it’s a service that helps you schedule your pins, but it’s so much more than that. It gives you an insight into your analytics where you can see which pins and/or boards are performing the best.
Tailwind is awesome because you can schedule your pins once a week, and they’ll automatically go up. The program itself does a lot of work for you, so you can save time and concentrate on creating more kick-ass content. Tailwind uses a smart schedule that is optimized for your account. This means that the program itself figures out what’s the best time for your pins to go up. That, of course, will give your pins the best chance to get discovered by your followers. I can spend a few minutes, once a week, scheduling my pins into my calendar and not have to worry about neglecting my Pinterest profile.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
You sign up by syncing your Pinterest account. After that, Tailwind will analyze your Pinterest profile and create a custom Smart Pin Scheduling calendar for you. In addition to scheduling your pins, Tailwind also monitors your domain insights, traffic referrals and it allows you to inspect your pins and optimize your images and boards. I also love using the Tailwind browser extension- that way I can schedule pins directly from my browser when I discover something pin-worthy. With the Chrome extension, I can easily pin images and add pins to my queue when browsing Pinterest or my favorite blogs:
Tailwind Chrome Extension
Tailwind Chrome Extension
When you create your Tailwind account and take a look at your dashboard for the first time, it can feel a little overwhelming with all the options available. There are a bunch of very helpful video guides under the help section, explaining how everything works.
I also LOVE using Intervals and grouping when scheduling my pins with Tailwind– I explained both in this post.
You can get a completely free trial with some of these options being limited, or you can get Plus membership for $15 per month when billed monthly or $9.99 per month when billed annually. Plus plan includes: Smart Pin Scheduling, Measure Pin Success, Schedule 400 pins per month (with the annual plan, you have unlimited pin scheduling), basic profile and board metrics, Basic Website Insights, 7-Day History Archives. Before signing up for the Plus membership, I signed up for the free trial and used it for a few weeks and really started seeing results within days. You also don’t need to input any kind of financial info when signing up for the free trial, so it’s not like one of those programs where you have to remember to cancel your membership after the trial expires.
JOIN MY TRIBE
Here’s another thing I love about Tailwind: Tribes. This is a fairly new feature that is still in its Alpha stage, which means that you need an invite to join in. This is how Tailwind Tribes work: it’s a group of bloggers who share their own content, connect with each other and share each other’s pins. It’s a little easier to manage than a Pinterest Group Board because it shows you how many people from the tribe have re-shared your pins. So, the idea behind them is that for every quality pin that you share from your blog, you pin content shared by someone else. This is also a great way to find quality content to add to your boards and to connect with other bloggers and expand your reach.
If you want to join my Tailwind Tribe for Bloggers, you can click this link for your invitation. If you’re new to Tailwind you will also receive a free month of Tailwind Plus (Tribes is a free feature, even if you don’t already use Tailwind). Before you decide to join in though, there are a few rules: pins need to be vertical, high quality and need to be relevant to lifestyle/blogging niches.
REMEMBER TO ALSO…
Whether or not you decide to or already use a service like Tailwind, there are a few other things that you should keep in mind. First, you need to keep your Pinterest organized. Move your boards around once in a while, especially when it comes to seasonal boards like holidays, etc. If you don’t have rich pins set up for your blog, get on that ASAP- I explain how to do it right here.
Another great thing you can do for your blog is to optimize your images for Pinterest- we recently talked about it in this post. You don’t always have to cover great photography with overlays and/or text, but this works really great when you want to encourage Pinterest users to click on your pins. Adding text works for posts like DIY ideas, recipes (I’d suggest you keep text to a minimum when it comes to recipes to make sure that you show off the recipe/meal nicely) tips/advice posts, list posts, etc. If you post something like an outfit of the day or monthly favorites, don’t bother adding text.
Quick tip for fashion/style bloggers: images with no faces get more re-pins. If featuring an outfit, make sure to add a few shots to your post that capture small details.
I get so many emails from a lot of you guys, with questions like how to grow a blog, increase traffic and expand your audience. Truth is, there isn’t a short answer to this. It’s also a lot of work. You can’t just depend on one tool when it comes to expanding your audience. It’s all up to what kind of content you publish and how you choose to promote it- you have to figure out what works for you. I love anything that’s visual and I love photography, so naturally, I’m drawn to outlets like Pinterest and Instagram as that’s where I feel most comfortable. BUT, there are resources like Facebook groups, Twitter chats, there’s StumbleUpon- you kind of have to try everything to see what works best for you and your blog.
More Pinterest tips:
+How to Create Pinterest-Friendly Images
+How to Use Pinterest to Increase Your Traffic
+Pinterest for Blogging- What Are Rich Pins and How to Set Them Up
+How to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Blog
The fastest way to grow your Pinterest following is to pin daily- once you start doing this, you’ll notice your following grow quickly. I highly recommend that you download the mobile app, too- it’s so much better and easier to use than the browser version! Keep in mind that you should pin quality content and that if you really want to grow your following, you shouldn’t pin only for yourself- keep your audience in mind. Which of your boards have most followers? What kind of pins get most repins? Pay attention to those things! Remember that sharing your own content to multiple boards is important too- just don’t be spammy about it and avoid doing it all at once.
As always, if you have any questions, leave them down below.
For a list of ALL of my blogging resources, including my favorite affiliate networks, see this post.