How to Increase Your Pinterest Traffic

I don’t usually post about blogging related topics, but this week I am at SNAP {which is an awesome blogging conference in Salt Lake City for those of you that don’t blog} and my brain has been filled with all kinds of blogging inspiration!  Today is my day to speak {gulp!} and I will be sharing how to increase your Pinerest traffic by developing your own successful Pinterest strategies and techniques.

While I was working on preparing my presentation, I thought that it might be a good idea to put some of the information down in a blog post as well so I could share with those of you that were unable to make it out to Salt Lake or went to one of the other classes instead.  I did write a previous post on How to Increase Your Pinterest Followers and Drive Traffic to Your Blog, but with the recent Pinterest algorithm change there are a few changes that I have made to my pinning strategies.  Many of the recommendations from the previous post are still valid though, so I will try to avoid duplicating myself and suggest you give that a read as well {see post HERE}.

Although you may be frustrated with some of the recent Pinterest changes, it’s still an extremely valuable tool for driving traffic to your blog.  Taking some time to develop a successful Pinterest strategy that works for you is well worth the time and energy needed.  Just remember that Pinterest is a long-term investment in your time and it will likely take weeks or months to really see things start to take off.  Be patient, follow your strategies consistently, and the return will soon follow!

Ready to get started?  Here are some questions for you to answer to help you determine what the best Pinterest strategy is for you.  Use this as your starting point and then do a little tweaking to make it perfect for you.

How Many Pins Should I Pin Each Day?
While it is important that you pin regularly and consistently, the actual number of pins that is right for you will vary depending on a number of factors including how many posts you actually have on your blog, how much time you have to pin other quality content that is not from your own blog, and whether or not you use a scheduler.  For those of you that have been blogging for a while and have a high number of posts on your blog, you will be able to pin your content more frequently since you have a bigger pool of posts to pull from {thus, not spamming Pinterest with the same posts over and over again}.  I also think that it is very important to be pinning high quality, “relevant-to-you” content from other sources other than you blog and notice that this will make a huge difference in the number of repins that I ultimately get from my own posts.  I try to stick to about 60% other content and 40% my own content but don’t get too hung up on this – there are better things to spend your time on than making sure you have exactly a set percentage. Whatever you choose is the right number to pin for you, be CONSISTENT and do this daily.

How do I pin new content?
Remember that new content will take a while {generally 2-3 months} to really gain some good traction on Pinterest these days, so don’t give up on it too early!  Seasonal posts might not even go big until the NEXT year that the season rolls around. I like to pin from my blog to one of my own personal boards {whichever one I think it would do the best on} and will then schedule repins to all other relevant boards from this initial pin.  This will get my content out there while helping to boost some repins on the initial pin.  I like to post to group boards after it has already pinned to a lot of my personal boards so it has some time to get a little more “juice” behind it.  I will generally repin new content every 12 hours to different relevant boards. For seasonal content, I will then go through a second cycle of pinning and pin again to those boards that it performed well.  For more evergreen content, I will generally repin the initial pin every 1 day, 12 hours to all relevant boards since it is not as time sensitive to get the information out there.  Do some trial and error with the interval pinning and see what works for you.

What about old content?
Older, top performing posts are GOLD on Pinterest.  Keep a Google sheet of all of your top performing posts from Google Analytics {as well as separate sheets for seasonal and holiday posts} and keep these pinning on a regular basis.  I generally set up my evergreen posts to go on all relevant group boards every 3 days, 12 hours to every 6 days, 12 hours depending on how popular the post is.  I start pinning seasonal posts 2-3 months prior to the holiday and may schedule these ones slightly closer together.  Look to your Pinterest analytics {and your scheduler analytics if you use this} for your specific top pins and keep these repinning.

On the flip side of things, if a post is not doing well after a period of months {or after the following season for holiday and seasonal pins} despite trying various photo or collage options and other basic Pinterest strategies, let it go for a while.  You can always try one more time after letting it sit for a while, but the plain truth is that some posts will just be a flop.

How do I choose what other content to pin outside of my own blog?
When you are choosing other content, you want to find high-quality, well repinned pins that are similar to topics that you would be posting and sharing from your own blog.  Pinterest likes you to share other content – not just your own! – and will actually help to boost your own personal content when it is pinned. I generally look for pins that have at least 75-100 repins that are already doing well definitely repin better than those that are just starting to get some steam.  If I find something that doesn’t have many pins that I love, I will still pin it – I just make sure that pins on either side of it are strong pins.  There are a number of ways that you can find these pins without spending too much time:

• Go back to your own personal boards and find the top pins {this is super easy if you use Tailwind through their analytics} and then repin those to another relevant board.  This will help to build up your original pin as well as drive repins to the new pin and board.
• Search out relevant keywords for your top personal boards – especially if they are keywords that would be used to find your own content from your blog.
• Search the “popular” feed in Pinterest.  This often takes a little longer and a little more scrolling to find relevant content but you can often find some good pins that do well.
• Create your own “data” base of top pinners.  These are other pinners or bloggers who pin awesome content {that is relevant to your boards!} that tend to get high repins.  You can then scroll through their pinning feed or particular relevant boards to find top pins that you think would pin well for you.

Are group boards still helpful?
YES – sometimes. 🙂 One of the most noticeable changes with the recent algorithm changes, is the decline in repins from group boards.  Basically the larger the number of contributors, the bigger the hit.  This is not because Pinterest is specifically targeting group boards – it’s because Pinterest is limiting the number of pins shown from any one source over a set period of time.  So…if you have 100 people pinning to a large group board say between 7:00 and 7:30, Pinterest will only show a small number of those pins in the Smart Feed and the rest will be saved in their “bank” that may or may not be shown later.  Out of all of those pins, Pinterest tends to only pick the most popular – those that have been pinned and repinned the most – so if you are pinning new content, it is unlikely that they will be seen.  If, on the otherhand, you have a small group board {say 10 people}, your pin is going to have a much better chance of being seen in the Smart Feed.

Group boards tend to be the most successful helpful if they are kept small {i.e. 10-20 contributors}, and niche specific boards also tend to do quite well. For some of the larger boards, you can also try pinning at less common times so there are not so many incoming pins to compete against. Be very deliberate in what group boards you join and pay attention to how the group boards are preforming {again this is easy to do if you use Tailwind or another scheduler with great analytics!}.  If your pins are consistently doing poorly in a group board despite trying out different pins and times of pinning, it is best to leave it and move on.

The last thing that I want to say on group boards is to choose your pins wisely.  They should not be a dumping group for every little bit of content that you create!!  Owner’s of the group boards want to be promoting your best pins and posts – not every little bit of content that you are creating.  Choose wisely what you are posting to these boards – it will help establish the strength of the group board {which will ultimately be best for you!} and make the owner of the group board want to promote your content more.  Be aware of any rules that the group board may have in terms of how many pins to pin each day and adhere by these rules.

Should I participate in sharing Groups?
Sharing groups can definitely be a huge booster for you if you use them wisely but I feel that they can also drag you down if not used correctly.  Look for a group that has content that you would authentically be pinning anyways, and be sure to not pin too often from one person and spread those out with other organic pins.  I prefer groups that I can choose what I want to repin out of the group {based on what I think will do well on my specific boards and fits more with my style} rather than having to repin everything in the group.  I also think that the groups are much more beneficial when people are sharing their best, top-performing posts and pins rather than all new content as this will likely get you a bigger reach on the pin which is ultimately best for both yourself and whomever’s content you are pinning.

Should I use a Scheduler?
Schedulers can be a huge time saver when it comes to pinning, are extremely helpful for spacing out your pins throughout the day, and are often essential to remain on a consistent pinning routine.  There are a variety of schedulers out there including Tailwind, Viral Tag, Ahology, and Board Booster, so it can sometimes be overwhelming to choose the scheduler that is right for you, but just give them a go.  Most of them have some kind of free trial, so test out the various platforms to help you determine what one is best for you.  The trial likely won’t be enough time to see a real change in your Pinterest results but it will give you a good feel for the layout of the scheduler and how it works.  After trying a variety of schedulers, I have settled on using Tailwind mostly for the ease and control I have over pinning and the awesome analytics that they provide.

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Here are a couple of other fun Pinterest facts that I found out while I was doing some of my research – I thought they might help to give you a little more insight!

• The average pin on Pinterest is repinned 11 times.
• 80% of pins are repins {compared to 1.4% of tweets that are retweeted}
• Pins from different categories tend to be more popular on certain days (i.e. fitness on Monday, fashion on Thursday, and food and DIY on Sundays}
• 1/3rd of Pinterest users choose Pinterest over Google search {so make sure you are using those keyboards and remembering all of your SEO tricks!}
• Pins that have a description of 100 to 200 characters tend to get repinned the most.
• There are 172 million registered users on Pinterest with over 100 million active monthly users.
• 75-80% of Pinterest usage takes place on mobile {so be sure to check out your blog on a mobile device to make sure it is easy to pin from and make those images stand out on mobile}.
• The ten most repinned words on Pinterest are recipe, chicken, minutes, bake, cake, cheese, cut, bottle, step, and mix.
• The half-life of a pin to Pinterest is SIGNIFICANTLY longer than a post to other social media platforms.  The half-life of a Tweet is approximately 20 minutes and the half-life of a Facebook post is approximately 30-90 minutes, compared to the half-life of a pin which is approximately 3.5-4 MONTHS!!

*** If you are looking to up your Pinterest game and sign up for Tailwind, you can use this affiliate link to receive a $15 Tailwind credit. ***