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It’s crucial that you stay up to date with any social media platform and this is especially true with Pinterest. Pinterest is an incredible tool when used correctly. If not used correctly you risk wasting your time or more common lately, getting kicked off entirely. Let’s avoid these mistakes so you can increase blog traffic.
UPDATE: 7/25/18 Head over here for our latest Pinterest strategies. We’ve been experimenting for some time and have found a method that we like. While the information below is still somewhat valid I think you will find this other article more helpful
Pinterest is a mighty force when you know how to use it right. The amount of visits it can bring to your site is tremendous. Let’s make sure you know all the facts so you can succeed.
2018 Pinterest Update
Let’s talk about some of the program and algorithm changes that Pinterest sprung on us this year. It’s crucial to stay up to date with the algorithm if you want to succeed at any sort of social media platform. Let’s see what changed shall we.
Activity Tab
This is a great tool and should be frequently watched by you. The activity tab gives you insight as to which pins of yours people are saving. It can be a lot quicker than going into Google Analytics or even Tailwind, so I find I use it a lot. The activity tab is now public, meaning anyone can check out how your pins are doing. You do have the option to make it private if you like.
First Five Pins of the Day!
One of the bigger and more interesting changes is the prioritizing of your first five pins. This information coming directly from the Pinterest best practice page, left us all wondering what does that really mean.
Pinterest is using midnight UTC as the turn over for a new day. For me in Idaho (mountain time) that puts it right at 6:00 pm. That means that the first 5 pins I post after 6pm get priority. If I post 5 pins at 6:01 and then another 5 at 7:00, my followers will likely only see my first 5.
It’s clear that Pinterest is moving towards being more of a search engine.
“Organize the world’s information and
make it universally accessible and useful.”
Google’s mission statement
Sounds pretty good right. Pinterest is changing their algorithm to focus more on engagement by your followers. Your best bet is to send out just 5 pins and have a high percentage of engagement by your followers. In fact, it’s your percentage of engagement that matters and not the overall count.
For example, if you have 100 followers and you get 25 of those to engage with your pins you’ve done very well at 25% engagement. The next person has five thousand followers and gets 500 people engaging with their pins. Well that’s only a 10% engagement rate. This begs the question, is it the quality of your followers or the sheer number. I haven’t been able to get a straight answer on this but I think it’s the quality based on a few video interviews with Pinterest folks. I’ll post links to those in a bit.
And it makes sense to go this route if Pinterest is, in fact, trying to be more of a search engine. Quality over quantity.
Hashtag Support
Pinterest is now supporting hashtag use. This is great news for you as it allows another method of search and discover for your pins. Pinterest added the hashtag function to help sort out the newest and freshest content of a niche. Now there are many ways to figure out an active and trending hashtag for your post but there is nothing better than the integrated hashtag finder on Tailwind.
It’s as simple as writing in your subject matter of your pin or post and the program will show you the hottest trending hashtag searches in that subject. It’s truly brilliant and promises to be a game changer in getting your content found. Here’s a quick video showing you how it’s done.
Pin Frequently
Now with all that being said about quality over quantity, Pinterest made it very clear that they want people to pin frequently. Every day is better than dumping all your pins once a week. The is where Tailwind really comes in handy. Pinterest loves seeing fresh pins from your website. So be sure to make multiple pins for your articles as these are considered fresh despite the article having already been pinned. When asked if we should re-pin our successful pins from within Pinterest vs pulling a fresh new copy of that pin from the website, they said both options are good. I plan to mix that up 50/50.
There have been lots of reports of people recently getting kicked off Pinterest for spamming. Again, I think we are seeing a trend towards quality over quantity. It's apparent that the spamming police are in full force so it's worth being a little more careful. I will get to my own personal pinning strategy in my next article but be sure to keep good notes or use Tailwind so you aren't flagged as spamming.
Pinning Accuracy
By pinning accuracy I mean pinning to relevant boards, especially for those first 5. Why? Because you need that high engagement score for Pinterest to do anything with your pins. You are much better off pinning to just a few good board then pinning to a bunch of poor performing boards. In fact, that lack of activity from the poor board may take away from good activity on another board.
The take home here, use analytics to figure out which boards are working for you. Tailwind has fantastic analytics. Consider dropping those poor performing boards in search of better ones.
Your Own Boards
Along the same lines as above, make sure your boards are relevant to your niche. Remember, Pinterest is a search engine and it wants to see similar topics on your boards. If you have a bunch of finance boards and then a board about baseball, your group of boards may not rank very well for either subject. If you have personal boards that aren't part of your business consider making them private. Those private boards can still be useful for you but won't hurt you in a search.
Pinterest made it a point to say not to delete old non-performing pins. They didn't think it would help in the algorithm and the truth is, that pin could get hot again.
Here is an interview between a Tailwind employee and I believe the marketing director for Pinterest. Informative and worth a listen for sure. The majority of what they said I have summarized for you but by all means check it out and let me know what I missed. It's rather LONG so be prepared.
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Thank you for this really helpful post. I need to rethink my pinning plans.
Very good information! I know it works it’s exactly what I do. Being new to blogging I have read so many articles that tell,people to pin 40-50 pins a day and this simply isn’t how to do it! You hit the nail on the head??
Stephen,
It seems that Pinterest is always making changes to keep us on our toes
Thanks for this helpful updates.
As I’m new on Pinterest, I’m appreciating any bit of information that helps me get results
Enstine,
Glad you found it helpful! We all need to find those valuable tidbits of info that can help us keep moving forward. Technology feels like it changes every single day 😉
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