Starting at the end of May, I decided to completely transform my Pinterest account to better represent my blog and focus on self-created pins instead of saved pins from other creators. I started by cleaning up my boards and deleting old ideas before rebranding with efficient captions for an easy-to-navigate account.
When I began, I had less than a thousand monthly viewers and wasn’t focusing much time or energy on bettering that statistic. That is until I saw another blogger in my Instagram circle get over 200k monthly viewers! I immediately realized there was tons of potential on Pinterest to reach a larger audience and get my blog content out there.
This is only the first of many posts about how to organize your Pinterest Business account and maximize the efficiency of your pins. Since the initial reorganization of my account, I have sustained 25-30k monthly viewers and I have set the goal of 35k by the end of February!
Clearing Out Old Boards
I started my account revamp by turning my boards ‘hidden’ and doing a detox of any and all pins that are not my own content. While some viral account owners will advise against only pinning your own content, it’s my personal preference so that my Pinterest is a true reflection of my blog.
Doing this also makes it easier to read my analytics because all of my pins are my own, so I don’t have to worry about factoring in views on pins from other accounts. I’ve been able to closely watch my statistics and see what does and does not work. This means less guesswork on my part and a better understanding of the numbers Pinterest is throwing at me on the analytics page.
Rewriting Captions and Titles
The posts that I decided to keep on my page were some of my oldest (all the way from 2018 woohoo!) that I figured I’d leave up because I didn’t want to search through my flash drives for the digital content. I had to change the links on many of these posts because they had my original website link from before buying my domain, so this was a good refresher.
Once I had a clean slate I could start posting whatever I wanted, which was really exciting after not knowing what to post for so long. I started simply with graphics that pertained to previous blog posts. Not only will these drive traffic to my site with each pin click, but they also give new Pinterest viewers a better idea of the content I provide. Once I had some of these out of the way, I could shift focus to ‘life aesthetic’ posts and repost my old Instagram content without worrying about being lost in people’s feeds.
The way I format my titles is simple. For example:
Catchy Title | The Untamed Optimist | Summer Recipes
First, what is the pin about? I am sure to use SEO-friendly terms before adding a spacer and my blog title. Then if I’d like to, I add another spacer and the name of the folder it will go into. I don’t do the third title section for all posts, however, because I often save the same post to many boards.
You may be asking yourself what SEO-friendly means, and it’s simple yet easy to overthink. SEO-friendly terms are “Google-friendly” in a sense, as they are concise and easy for their web databases to analyze for users trying to find content. For creators, this means using lowercase captions, common search terms, and shortened URLs used in backlinks.
Formatting captions doesn’t have to be difficult either!
Formatting captions is the best way to use SEO-friendly search terms that will boost your pin to the top of the page. I personally enjoy using a part of my caption for related terms, but it’s also important to give context to what the pin is about first.
It is also helpful for your viewers to know whether it is your photo or if you are using a stock image. I indicate this last.
Organizing for Clarity
When you begin to clear out old boards and focus on creating new content to share, it’s time to organize your existing pins. I grouped mine by recipes, wellness, fashion, travel, etc. as these are already topics that can be found on my blog.
Some content can even be posted to multiple boards. I post recipes to my blog and often share photos of my meals on Instagram, giving me plenty of content to sort through. My Food board is the hub for all of this content while it also gets saved to either my Meal Prep or Recipes From the Blog boards. The content from social media posts can also be saved to my The Untamed Optimist on Instagram board.
Idea pins can present the opportunity for lots of new impressions, so don’t forget to save them to your boards while organizing!
Growth Rate
Pinterest offers a great interface for business owners looking to track their growth rate, interactions, and impressions. It updates regularly and can even anticipate views ‘tomorrow’ in the time zones ahead of you. I have noticed that the app tends to update quicker than the desktop analytics page, but both provide a good idea of how your account is doing.
Growth on this platform tends to be slow and steady, though with a couple of saves your pins could start gaining popularity in no time! I paid the most attention to my impressions and saves, as well as outbound clicks as these are all linked back to my other content. Be careful not to become too consumed in watching your analytics!
You may find that one day your pin seems to go viral, but by the next, it will have gone back to the average view count. This is common and can lead to inconsistencies from day to day, however, you can zoom out to view the overall trends by selecting a longer period of time.
If you’re looking for more Pinterest creator advice, then you’re in luck! This is only the first of many posts to come that will include advice and shared experience since I have revamped my business account.
I started in May 2021 with less than a thousand monthly viewers and quickly climbed to 10,000 then 25,000. I currently maintain between 25-30,000 viewers on my account, even after a period of time without posting.
The next post to come will include details on how to maintain 10-15,000 viewers by managing daily posting and setting yourself up for success on days you do not have time to create or post new content
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