When you’re starting a new business, there are so many big things that you have to learn! For many new business owners, Pinterest feels like another one of those giant things to learn. To help you out with this, I’m sharing the top five Pinterest lessons I’ve learned since becoming a Pinterest manager. You don’t want to miss these!
Focus on the important analytics
Number one of the Pinterest lessons is to focus on the important analytics. As a word of warning, Pinterest analytics can and will make you crazy! They go up, they go down, they’re inflated, they are unreliable, and they are often delayed.
It is absolutely necessary to understand Pinterest analytics and what they all mean. You have to make sure that you know which Pinterest analytics are the most important and what each analytic actually tells you.
While I discuss a little bit about Pinterest analytics in this post about problems with Pinterest, it can be difficult to truly understand the analytics. I wrote an in-depth tutorial on understanding the analytics you can check out, but the important thing to remember is you need to focus on the number of clicks to your website, not the average monthly viewers of your Pinterest profile.
While the 120k monthly viewers above might seem like an impressive number to some, it really doesn’t matter. When you pay attention to the clicks through to your website, you are focusing on the actual purpose of Pinterest, instead of getting caught up in the vanity metrics of monthly viewers.
Always look for ways to improve
The second of the Pinterest lessons is always look for ways to improve. Pinterest is not a platform that you can develop one strategy and continue using that same strategy forever. Due to the changes they make to the platform and the unknowns of Pinterest, you can not tell immediately that you are doing all you can do to grow on the platform. It’s important to evaluate the results of your strategy and try new things.
That doesn’t mean that you should constantly make changes to your methods, but it does mean that you cannot do what you did five years ago (or even one year ago) and expect the levels of success. What you should do instead is try one new thing for a few weeks and evaluate the results.
Things you can try include:
- Pinning more often
- Pinning less often
- Pinning more of your own content
- Researching new keywords or hashtags
- Trying different pin designs
- Adjusting your intervals between pinning the same pin
- Rewriting descriptions
- Trying a promoted pin campaign
I’ll say it again – do not try all of these at once and give the new method time to see what kind of results you get. Most importantly, reflect on those results to decide whether or not your methods are working. You don’t want to do things that waste your time and don’t grow your online presence and business.
Streamline your processes
Whether you are responsible for one Pinterest account or fifteen accounts, Pinterest can take a lot of time. As I’m sure every person has experienced, it can be very easy to spend hours pinning things you might never need or maybe never read. You want to make sure that the time you’re devoting to Pinterest is used wisely.
One of the most important Pinterest lessons I’ve learned is that I have to streamline my Pinterest processes. Every person is different and what works for them is different as well, but I’ve found time blocking to be the best way to complete my Pinterest tasks.
I spend time weekly on my various tasks for Pinterest and it’s much more effective to devote a chunk of time to schedule to Tailwind, a chunk to research keywords, a chunk for pin design, and a chunk of time for adding pins. There is less jumping between websites, I don’t forget where I am, and I stay focused.
Other ways I’ve streamlined my Pinterest management are:
- I have a template that I use to update my clients monthly on the results their account is experiencing.
- I use an invoice template for each client that has the link to their spreadsheet on it.
- I have the code for the methods I use to embed pins on websites on my desktop to copy and paste to the website text editor.
If you need more tips on time blocking or using your work time productively, check out How to Maximize Productivity as a WAHM.
Stay current on the latest trends
Since Pinterest is frequently making changes to their algorithm and recommendations, it is important to stay up-to-date on those. I have several ways that I stay current on Pinterest.
Pinterest Business blog – Pinterest provides lots of great tips and information on their business blog. They share ideas and trends on how to succeed on Pinterest. Their emails are also quite helpful, so be sure to sign up for those.
Simple Pin Podcast – The podcast from Simple Pin Media and Kate Ahl is amazing! Kate is interesting to listen to and has great guests to help grow your business with Pinterest. I like to listen to it while I’m driving. Let me tell you, my boys (six and four) know lots more about Pinterest than your average kids!
Facebook groups – I am in multiple Facebook groups that focus on Pinterest. If it’s happening on Pinterest, it’s being talked about in various Facebook groups. Because there is a lot of speculation about Pinterest, it is a good idea to verify what you read in the groups in other groups. Of course, the group with the most inside information is the Simple Pin Pinterest Strategy Group. It’s a very large group, and people are very helpful if you have a question.
Which leads to my last lesson…
Ask for help when you need it
There is no way to know everything about Pinterest, so there will be times that you have a question. You might want to get pin design critiques or strategy tips or problem-solving advice. While you can research information for yourself, it can be a lot faster to search in a
Facebook group or ask your questions there. People are incredibly helpful and I love how we can access people with serious Pinterest knowledge and experience easily!
Besides asking for help, it is a good idea to continue learning about Pinterest. There are some amazing bloggers that have fabulous courses on Pinterest. You can read my recommendations in 4 Problems with Pinterest That Will Make You Crazy!
Recapping the Pinterest lessons
While I’ve learned a lot in my time as a Pinterest manager, the five main things I’ve learned are definitely:
- Focus on the important analytics
- Always look for ways to improve
- Streamline your processes
- Stay current on the latest trends
- Ask for help when you need it
Of course, this post would not be complete without the bonus lesson – Have patience! Pinterest growth does not happen immediately, so don’t give up. Keep working your strategy and your business will grow.
For even more Pinterest lessons and strategy tips, subscribe to my email list! You will get a few emails a month from me with ideas and recommendations to grow your business and your Pinterest. Plus, you’ll get access to my Resource Library with free resources for your business. Sign up today!
As always, I love hearing from my readers, so be sure to leave any questions or comments below. I can’t wait to hear from you.
Until next time,
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