I wish it wasn’t true, but my Pinterest reach TANKED over the last month! I was definitely surprised, but to be honest, I wasn’t too upset about it.
Actually, I was happy! It means I’d figured out a HUGE part of the Pinterest algorithm and really narrowed down what it takes to be successful on the platform.
I’ve worked with Pinterest for a long time and used it to bring in thousands of visitors to my blogs, but I always wondered:
what is the ONE most important step in growing a successful Pinterest profile?
Back in April, I launched my Pinterest management services to help other people grow their Pinterest accounts and drive traffic to their website.
Of course, I always want to give my clients the absolute BEST service, so I can’t guess what works when it comes to Pinterest marketing.
I realized I needed to know what ACTUALLY works and what doesn’t so I can grow some mega profiles and increase organic reach quickly.
So, this blog has basically become my Pinterest testing zone. I use it to test out different marketing strategies and experiment with new ideas to grow my reach (as you’ll see, some work out better than others!)
Whatever I learn on this blog, I can use on all my others, and use it to help my clients grow THEIR accounts.
Back in December 2018, I had taken a small break from blogging and I didn’t have ANY new content to share. I wasn’t posting on Pinterest and I was letting my beautiful Tailwind account go to waste!
My monthly reach on Pinterest looked something like this…
Pretty abysmal!
I slowly started creating more content and becoming more active on Pinterest, and in March, I decided to do 30 days of my super-intensive Pinterest marketing plan. If you haven’t read about it already, my plan was basically this:
- Be consistent: schedule posts through Tailwind EVERY day
- Manual pinning: stay active on Pinterest by doing 10-15 pins manually each day
- Engage with other users through comments
- Leave under-performing group boards
- Delete under-performing pins
- Post NEW content from my blog every 1-2 days
It’s definitely a lot of work, but for all my fellow bloggers out there, you know it’s TOTALLY worth it!
After 30 days, my Pinterest views jumped from 270,000 to 573,000!
I had finally figured out the ultimate strategy for growing my Pinterest profile! BUT, it was a lot of work…
And because it was so much work, I knew I would have days (or even weeks) when I wouldn’t be able to do everything consistently.
So I decided to start my Pinterest experiment…
I told myself I would use process of elimination to find the single most important step in the Pinterest marketing strategy. I would take 2 steps at a time and stop doing them for 30 days. After 3 months, I should be able to tell which steps in my marketing plan were the most important!
For my first month, I decided to start by eliminating:
– being active on Pinterest daily, and
– pinning my own fresh content every 1-2 days
I still scheduled through Tailwind once a week from Pinterest and my tribes, I still analyzed my group boards every week, and I deleted any pins that weren’t getting repins.
The only thing I did differently for 30 days is that I didn’t pin any new content AND I only logged onto Pinterest about once a week.
So, what happened?
Brace yourselves: it’s brutal!
My monthly Pinterest views dropped 200,000 in LESS than 30 days! EEK.
My monthly views took a HUGE nosedive after I stopped posting content!
I told myself I would stick with it for the full 30 days (as painful as it was!) and I’m so glad I did!
It’s obvious how much Pinterest appreciates pinners who actually stay engaged and USE the platform consistently.
So if you only have time for 2 or 3 things to build your Pinterest profile, make sure you’re sharing new content at LEAST 2-3 times a week and that you’re actually logging onto the platform and pinning. Pinterest will love you for it!
Any other Pinterest marketing tips to share? Please comment below! 🙂
Elisabeth, thank you for taking the risk in doing this so we can all benefit from your findings. And for giving the information you found so freely!
Bizzarely, we are in the same niche and have just gone through the same experiment, although it wasn’t as purposeful on my behalf- I just felt overwhelmed by the number of group boards I was in, so I left the underperforming once and found no loss. But then I stopped sharing new content following this (again feeling overwhelmed and was just focusing on other parts of my blog) and found almost the exact same thing! My reach plummeted from almost half a million, to quarter of a million!
I was actually so glad to have found this post today, as it just confirms what Pinterest has been telling us for so long- you must be sharing new content if you want to be seen as a content creator with images worth sharing!
Looking forward to reading more of your posts 🙂
Hi Emily,
Thanks so much for reading! It’s so good to hear that other people are having the same experiences. And that’s a big drop in monthly views! I really think Pinterest puts a HUGE emphasis on new content and now I’m seeing promoted pins becoming super important as well!
Good work from you give people powe to move forward
Thanks
It’s Good but I need a bit more time to digest it. I have something similar going on with my own P account. One of the biggest problems is that I keep getting followed by people not wearing clothes. Whilst I am not a “prude” or whatever I would rather not have followers who post such things! My total reach has dropped quite a bit in the last couple of weeks but activity / pinning etc. and importantly traffic generation has continued to grow and grow!
Hi Richard,
Thanks so much for reading 🙂 I had the same problem!! Earlier this year I had so many spam sites start following me and I had to go in and block each one individually. It was really time consuming but I think it helped my monthly views in the long run. Good luck!
Amazing share, Elisabeth.
I have been very inconsistent on Pinterest and as a result, my monthly views is just under 50k now. And I only get around 10-20 visitors from Pinterest.
However, I’m trying to change that and start being more active on the platform.
Thanks for the awesome share.
Hi Shafi,
Thanks for stopping by! I know Pinterest can be super frustrating but if you’re consistent, it will DEFINITELY pay off! Good luck 🙂
Thanks for share this information.But my pinterest marketing strategy play good, I got about 40k visitor only from pinterest.
I have read about 100 posts on Pinterest, an I must say thing one may be the one I have been looking for. I have bought courses and done everything but one thing and I think this is the reason why I am stuck and not growing. It’s funny how things can be so simple, but for months I have been running around trying to figure out what I am doing wrong but the answer is simple, I am not posting enough content.
Hi Michelle! Thanks so much for reading 🙂
Honestly, posting fresh content (consistently) is EVERYTHING for Pinterest!!
I can only imagine how much research has gone into this. I like your writing skills as it makes one feel included in the journey. Thank you for the valuable notes.
Thanks so much- I’m so glad it helped!
I recently got into pinterest and looking for a way to grow like you as well.
It’s well worth it! Good luck!!
Great advice! I hadn
It makes such a difference! Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Thanks for sharing! I am a fellow blogger. I appreciate you taking on this experiment and sharing how it went. I
Thanks so much and good luck with your blog! <3