Social Media Series: Pinterest for your Creative Business *Part 2*

Last week we discussed Pinterest and I showed you how to create your business account, I also did a live video on my Instagram where I went over the steps by step of creating your accounts with you. If you haven’t seen that post, go ahead and give it a read here if you’re completely new to Pinterest before you dive into this section.

Now that we all have a business account for Pinterest, let’s break it down into the different components. when you find pictures, video or product images on Pinterest they are called pins. A board is a collection of related pins you or someone else has put together in one area; they can have sections under them if they are created with broad names.

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What are boards and how to create them?

Boards are little collections where you save all your related pins based on categories you’ve set. You can create new boards both from your profile page or as you browse Pinterest.

Step 1: From your profile, select the plus sign at the top right of your page

Step 2: Select create board.

Step 3: Choose a name for your board. You want a name that is searchable, so naming your board It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere like I did on my personal account doesn’t make it easy for others to find. On my Desamour Designs account, my blog names are as simple as Blog, Free Crochet Patterns for Women, etc. Think of what your audience will be typing in the search bar to find your content. You can use the search bar on Pinterest to find ideas for your board names based on what people are actually searching in your niche. For example, if you start typing crochet blankets in the search bar, Crochet Blanket Patterns, Crochet Blanket Patterns Free, Crochet Blanket Afghan, Crochet Blanket Patterns Easy, Crochet Blanket Edging will show up as I’m typing. Those are great board name ideas since your board will start showing as well once people type those words in the search bar. You can have 3 or more board using the suggested results above. You can have multiple boards for the same type of product using minor changes in the title since poeple are more likely to follow boards than accounts you will have more chances of your products being seen no matter which board they decide to follow. This also gives you the flexibily to repin the same pin overtime into multiple boards.

Step 4: Fill out the description. You can let your board followers know what to expect to find within that board. For me, it keeps me accountable for what type of contents I’m saving to each board. I keep it broad and concise enough where the board can evolve over time. Also Pinterest looks at this section when they’re showing what people search results, so use keywords there as well.

Step 5: Select the category your board or business falls under. Never leave those blink as they are also used for search purposes. If you’re a crocheter or knitter, most, if not all your board will fall under Arts & Craft.

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If you want to have all your boards with the same type of cover images and create a cohesive look, here is where you would add that. It is pleasing to the eye but it is not going to make or break your Pinterest experience.

You may also choose to make the board secret which means only you can see it. Secret boards are great for when you want to keep certain pins private. Leave it as a no for now. We will discuss secret boards futher in part 4.

I leave the personalization box check so that Pinterest can recommend me more pins similar to the ones I have on that board. It’s a way for you to discover new pins and inspiration to grow your account.

Collaborators, you can choose to add other businesses or individuals in your industry who are on Pinterest to contribute to your board. I would skip that one as well since you’re just starting out and you want your audience to see your content. Now if two of you own the creative business, then yes it makes sense to invite them. We will also talk more about group boards in part 4 of the Pinterest mini-series.

Step 6: Select create. Now you have a new Pinterest board!

You can also create a board as you’re saving a pin but for now. A good rule of thumb is to create at least 10 Pinterest boards with about 10 pins minimum when you start out. Keep them broad but with one focused theme; remember people are more likely to follow Pinterest boards than they are to follow Pinterest profiles. They always want to have things that are interesting to them displayed in their feed.

You can also create sections for your boards to make them even more organized. This is a relatively new feature which I love! It helps me condense my number of boards into more cohesive sections. Now instead of having 5 boards for women clothing, I can create one board Free Crochet Patterns for Women and under that have sections such as Free Crochet Beanies for Women, Free Shawl Patterns for Women, etc. You can learn more about creating sections for your boards here. I suggest you fill out all the same information as you did for your board for your section so it is even more searchable.

How to add pins to your board

Step 1: Go to your home feed by selecting the Pinterest button at the top left of your page.

A pop up may show., select Add Browser Button. his button allows you to save pins while you’re on google, blogs, in your shops (Etsy, Ravelry, etc) or anywhere online you see something you want to save to Pinterest. As a content creator, blogger and designer, I have used this tool to create pins from my blog posts after I create them, pin from my Etsy and Ravelry shops to send more customers there and much more.

Now that that’s done. Let’s continue with pinning.

Step 2: You can scroll through your home feed until you find a pin that picks your interest.  Tap on the image, this will make the pin larger. If you scroll down, you will be able to reach the pin title, see the website which would lead you to and more information about the pin. You can also see the account which created the pin and choose to follow them or not. You will also see a box with your board name showing and the save button next to it. Select the board you would like to save your pin to by clicking the little arrow and select save. You’ve saved your first pin!

you select the back button to return to your home feed or scroll further down to see more pins related to the one you selected.

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Pinterest best practices

Earlier this year, Pinterest announced they will be giving more priority to fresh content or pins.  What is a fresh pin? Any image, video or content which has never appeared on Pinterest before is fresh content or fresh pin. Don’t worry this does not mean you need to create new pins from scratch every time you’re on there, you can still share the same pin to multiple boards over time to maximize its exposure. 

Be part of the community. 80% of the content currently on Pinterest is repin, which means only 20% are new pins created by users. That 80% should be the making of your boards. Use the work of others in your industry that is done well to boost your profile and get more people to visit it. The more you repin, the more people will come to your profile and the higher chances you get of your own pins being seeing since they’re relevant to the ones which brought them to you.

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How often should you pin

As I mentioned in part 1 of this series, Pinterest pins have an average half-life of 4 months. This means a pin you created will start decreasing in showing after 4 months. This does not mean it will never show again in a search, it just means the number of impressions and reach for that pin will decrease. Pins are known to go viral years after they have been created so don’t worry too much about that.

It is recommended that you pin frequently, between 5-12 pins a day. Those can be you scrolling Pinterest and repining relevant pins to your industry into your board, they can be you creating new pins straight from your shops and|or blog or it may be a combination. Whatever you do do not get hang up on the number above. Pinterest is a very addictive place and you’ll soon find yourself pinning 50 pins in an hour without realizing where the time went*speaking from experience*. One thing to keep in mind is that Pinterest do not like when you go and pin 20, 50 or 70 pins all at once to all your boards, they prefer you do it over time. If you have a crazy surge in pins in a short period of times, Pinterest has announced that they will stop showing them to your audience. The best way to ensure your pinning at the right intervals is to use and app and pin manually regularly.

Tools for pinning to Pinterest: Tailwind and other apps

If you are a creative business owner, momtrepreneur, a student, small business owner, or all of the above, chances are you do not have enough time in the day to devote to Pinterest and keeping it as active as possible. There are apps created to assist you with the process and pin for you while you are busy changing the world. No, I’m not talking about bots robots that go around and pin random things, I’m talking about scheduling apps. They still take some time since you have to manually go and schedule pins in them but once you’re set you won’t have to do it again until you’re ready.

I use Tailwindapp to schedule all my pins. It’s easy to use and has great analytics which helps you see what type of pin your audience enjoys the most. You can also discover new content to aid in your scheduling. I devote a day when I’m off solely for pin scheduling from my newest blog posts, new products in my shops and anything I want to promote. I also add pins from around the web that are related to my creative business using the discover and tribe sections of Tailwindapp.  I plan my pins for a month or two while leaving some room for me to add pins later on as I create more content on my platforms.

Scheduling tools are great because you don’t want to bombard your Pinterest feed with all your pins at once.  These applications allow you to create an evenly spread out Pinterest presence.

Although you’re using an app, I recommend that once a day or every couple of days, you log into your Pinterest and pin a few manually.

You can use this link and receive $15 off your Tailwindapp membership after your free trial period. GET $15 OFF my membership!

Buffer is another great tool for Pinterest scheduling. It’s a much simpler scheduling platform than Tailwind. One thing it does have that Tailwind lacks is the option to create your image straight from the application. They do offer a day FREE trial, so give it a try and see if you want to use them.

There are many more tools out there to help you with your Pinterest scheduling such as Hootsuite, I recommend you research and find the one that works best for you. I love Tailwind because of all the options it offers and they are an official Pinterest partner.

HOMEWORK

Your homework for this week is to create at least 10 boards and add pins to them. Take a picture and share it on Instagram using #desamourdesignsSMS or share it in your stories and tag me! Also take a few minutes and research the best tools to help you pin such as Tailwindapp.

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Now that you’ve learned to create a board, pins and some of the best practices of Pinterest, come back next week for part 3 where I will show you how to create fresh pins, graphics for your pins and boards for FREE and more.

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