Let’s start at the beginning.  I began blogging almost a year ago – in fact, I published my first blog post on April 28, 2017.  And I had absolutely no clue what to expect.  I had wanted to start a blog for a long time, had taken a course in basic coding, and designed a couple of websites in the meantime.

But those websites I designed weren’t what I was passionate about, and they fizzled with time.  Finally, after thinking about it for the better part of three years, I launched my beauty blog.  And you know what I realized? I love writing.  And I’m okay at it.  It comes easily to me (well, this kind of writing.  Don’t ask me to write any academic papers.) Which all makes sense, because I went to a very writing-centric college, and writing was what I really enjoyed.

Now, before I became a blogger, I had a Pinterest account.  Boy, did I love Pinterest.  I used it for everything, from recipes to home projects to makeup looks – you name it.  And I enjoyed the humorous posts and motivational stuff I would find on there as well – overall it was a win-win.

But…my Pinterest account had nothing to do with the blog I was launching.  It was a big ol’ mess, if you want the truth, because it was personal and had no strategy.  So guess what I did?

I deleted my Pinterest account and started from scratch.

Yes, I probably could have tweaked and fiddled with my personal account until I got it looking the way I wanted a business account to.  But by that point, I was in deep.  I had thousands and thousands of pins that had nothing to do with what I was trying to accomplish.  So I wiped the slate clean.

I learned quickly, though, that as a blogger, one of the most critical tools you should be using to get your work out there is Pinterest.  I mean, it’s essentially free promotion.  And that’s when I really started taking Pinterest seriously.  This was probably about nine months ago. And full disclosure, I’ve had some brief periods of time where I decided to kind of ignore Pinterest and focus more on other social platforms.  That was a mistake.

How I Got 389K Monthly Views on Pinterest

What follows is a list I’ve put together for y’all of my tips and secrets to grow your Pinterest following.  I’m following them, too – I hope to hit 1 million by the end of the year!

First, in order to see your Pinterest Analytics (monthly views, etc.) you need to convert your personal Pinterest account to a business account. You will only be able to do this on your desktop computer, not the app, so plan accordingly. Also, stats won’t appear on the mobile version, just number of followers and number of following.

Here are instructions on how to convert to/set up a business account.

Now for the tips portion of today’s post:

Pinterest Tip #1: Pin What Interests You

This is important.  Don’t pin just for the sake of pinning; you do yourself and your followers a disservice.  They want to see what you like! So pin your passions. Other people will feel the love and follow that.

Pinterest Tip #2: Be Consistent

This. Is. HUGE. During the time that I kind of “ignored” Pinterest, I definitely saw a drop in my viewers, my followers, and my engagement.  The rule is simple: The more you pin, the more you will get noticed. Whenever I have free time, I pin! It drives my husband crazy because when we’re watching TV, I’ll scroll through Pinterest and pin stuff and he thinks I’m not paying attention.  Multitasking, dude.  Also, and this is extremely important: ***don’t just pin your own pins!*** You want other people to pin your pins, right?  They want the same thing.  Represent yourself well and others will reciprocate.

Pinterest Tip #3: Create Great Pins

Seriously, this is very important, especially if you want to stand out amongst the millions of other people on Pinterest!  I use Canva to create all my pins – it’s super user friendly and you can create gorgeous pins.  Also, for some reason, vertical pins get more love than horizontal pins.  Must have something to do with how the eye looks at them, but it’s true. Canva has some great tools, including a pre-sized pin option, to help you build pretty and  optimally sized pins.  You can’t ask for more, really.

Pinterest Tip #4: Organize Your Boards

This is another thing that I ignored for a while, but recently have been obsessing over a little.  And you know what?  It’s working. Having organized boards that make it easy for others to find things encourages people to spend time on and follow your profile. If you need ideas, check out my Pinterest boards here! I was grouping my boards into categories, but now I’m letting them flow a little more freely.  I do like to keep them in alphabetical order, though.  Make sure your board titles are straight to the point and not too wordy (although clever board names always catch my eye).  The most successful pinners in the world follow these tactics and, obviously, they’ve worked.  For example:

Beauty | Makeup | Budget

Fashion | Casual Outfits

Lifestyle | Health & Wellness

Home | Bedroom

If your boards are clean and organized, it’s a lot easier for others to look through your Pinterest.

Pinterest Tip #5: Follow Other Pinners/Boards In Your Niche

Share the love! You want people to follow you, right? So do they!  This is a great way to get engagement on Pinterest. By following others who pin the same topics as you, you increase the likelihood that they’ll reciprocate.

Pinterest Tip #6: RePin. RePin. RePin.

You cannot just focus on pinning your own content on Pinterest.  No one will want to be your friend.  In all seriousness, repinning others’ pins lends itself to soooo much more engagement! Pinterest lets you know who’s pinning your pins, and vice versa.  So repin like crazy!

Pinterest Tip #7: Join Group Boards 

Group boards are where it’s at! Seriously, they are so very important to your Pinterest strategy.  Not only that, they’re important to your blog.  You get exposure to thousands of people who may not have seen your pins simply by being a member and pinning to the board.  Most group boards that are accepting contributors have instructions on how to join written in the board description.  This usually entails messaging or emailing the board’s creator, following the board, and sending your blog and Pinterest info to the person.

Currently, I’m a member of 48 group boards of varying subjects.   That might sound like a lot, but when I began, 50 was my target.  I probably will not go over 50.  I also have a group board that I created for Beauty & Lifestyle Bloggers.  If you’d like to join, check it out here!

Pinterest Tip #8: Leave Comments

I go back and forth with this one; sometimes I think it helps, other times, I think it’s a lost cause.  However, I know that I love getting comments on my pins, so that probably means others do, too.  So share some love and those people will probably share the love back! It also helps if you comment on more popular pins, as those get a lot of exposure.

Pinterest Tip #9: Focus on What’s Trending

I mean, just pay attention.  Whatever is trending will pop up on your home feed, so try to repin and post pins that are related to those topics.  You will also get notifications about what pins people you follow are pinning, so that’s a good gauge as well.

Pinterest Tip #10: Use Keyword Optimization and Hashtags

For a while, Pinterest wasn’t allowing hashtags; now, they are.  I use hashtags at the end of my descriptions, instead of integrating them into the description.  It makes for easier reading.

Also, contrary to popular belief, Pinterest isn’t really a social network.  Pinterest is a search engine.  If you use popular and proper keywords in your pin descriptions, it will be more likely to show up when someone does a search for those words.  Be descriptive and use unique titles for your own pins; 20-30 seems to be the magic number.

Pinterest Tip #11: Join and Participate in Facebook Groups 

There are several great Facebook groups that are specifically aimed at increasing Pinterest engagement.  These boards generally have a daily repin thread, as well as threads for follows and group boards.  I use these regularly and it’s a great way to expand your audience.  Also, I have a Facebook group that currently runs a Pinterest-centric thread on Mondays, called Blog Boss Babes.  It’s ladies only, and is a collaborative community to help everyone in the group grow their social followings, blog engagement, and hopefully, income.  Come on over and join here!

Pinterest Tip #12: Find your Optimum Pinning Times

There are tools to help your figure these things out.  Personally, I think between 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. PDT are my best time.  This is when people settle in for the day, and it’s not too late on the East Coast.  Usually, people are playing around on Pinterest when they’re in front of the TV and/or laying in bed, right? Bingo!

Pinterest Tip #13: Use Tailwind and/or BoardBooster

So pinning consistently is super important.  But who has time to sit around and pin 100 pins a day?  Not I.  As far as preference, I use both of these sites, but I have scaled back most of my BoardBooster usage and focused on Tailwind.  They each have their strengths; BoardBooster, for example, has tools that allow me to monitor my group board and ensure that everyone is participating and following the rules.  But I prefer Tailwind for scheduling pins to go up consistently at optimum times on group boards.  You just have to find a strategy that works for you J.  Both sites significantly help with managing your Pinterest time.

Tailwind also has a feature called Tribes, which is kind of like Group Boards on Pinterest.  I have a tribe for Beauty & Lifestyle Bloggers that can be found here – I welcome new contributors!

I hope these tips help! Happy Pinning, y’all! 

If you enjoyed this post please share and/or subscribe!  Also, you’d like to follow me on Pinterest here’s my profile: Beauty Chaos on Pinterest.

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