How to build your Pinterest following? This is a question I get asked all of the time! Some of you may know that I have a kinda big following on Pinterest – currently I have 3.6+ million followers (check it out here!!).
I often get asked how did I do it? Can I share the secret? Unfortunately many of you aren’t going to like the first part of my “secret” – I got lucky! I was one of the earlier users of Pinterest, I was pinning before pinning was a verb! Let’s just say I was a bit obsessed. The Pinterest gods took notice and highlighted my boards when new people signed on to Pinterest. This gave me my first initial million followers. From that point forward, I took it and ran with it – which brings me to my second part of my secret……
Don’t listen to the “experts” – Pinterest is a very personal thing. It is about YOU and what YOU like – every single Pinterest user is unique – that’s what makes Pinterest AWESOME! Each user is like a fingerprint – no two are the same. You may like my board on dinner recipes – but you may hate my board on fashion – what is wonderful is that you can follow all or one of my boards – just see what you like in your feed!
So here are my Do’s & Don’ts on Pinterest:
DO: Be Authentic!
The best thing you can do to on Pinterest is be authentic – pin things that inspire you, things that speak to you, things that you like! Don’t pin things that you think will just pin well – your audience will know and abandon you.
DON’T: Feel like you must follow a schedule
Many “experts” will tell you to spread your pins out by XX number of minutes or just pin XX number of pins at a time. Pin what YOU like when YOU are inspired. There are times I go on a total shoe tangent. I can’t stop myself…. I MUST pin each one of these beautiful shoes right now. If my followers don’t like it – they will scroll past it in their feed, but if they do….. we can then share our love of that beautiful shoe together – they repin, like or best of all comment on my pin – and for that brief moment we are connected by that shoe pin….. it is a beautiful thing!
Never EVER Purchase followers or repins
Did you even know you could… well you can – but don’t! These are SPAM accounts and will be removed.
DO: Have a good pin? Pin it again!
You may have been told not to do this, but I personally disagree! I have repined items many times over. BUT, what I try to do is repin it at a different time of the day. Remember we spoke earlier about every Pinterest user is different – they have different habits, a different number of people they are following, different times of day they typically use Pinterest. So you may have people who use it ONLY in the morning, or ONLY on the weekends or ONLY late at night. So you may have pinned a great recipe or DIY idea and only your afternoon Pinners saw it – so pin it again at night or to a different board or on the weekend. People will scroll down their newsfeed and if it didn’t jump out at them one time, it may the next. You don’t know the other things that were on their feed at that particular time that they are looking at it – so don’t be afraid to pin and pin again!!
DO: Comment, Comment & Comment More!!!
I love people who interact…. I want to know what they like and what they hate (as long as they say it nicely). Many times, I will follow back the people who are interacting with me. Which then will benefit you because you will show up in my feed and I may pin something of yours!
DO: Join group boards
Group boards are a great way to build your Pinterest audience. When someone “follows all boards”, they are following all group boards too! This gives you much more exposure to a larger audience who will then follow you and all of your boards.
DO & DON’T: Feel like you have to have a million different boards
The majority of my followers are on my “Want… Need…. Love” board. This is the place where I do most of my pinning. Many “experts” will tell you to have lots of different specialty boards – while I have 85 boards – 90% of what I pin is to my Want…Need….Love board (trust me, there is a lot that I want, need AND love! – much to my husbands dismay). I would say have a diverse board which covers all of those things that you love – it could be a recipe, a dress or a project. But, feel free to pin the same pin to that board AND your more specific board!
Remember – if you look at many of the “experts” on Pinterest, their following is probably not much to speak of. There is no magic spell or golden key to build your Pinterest following, you just need to stay true to you, love this amazing tool and the followers will come!
Coming soon – The best Pinterest tools for bloggers (don’t miss an article – subscribe to my site by clicking on this link: Subscribe to Princess Pinky Girl by Email) Be sure to click on the confirmation email that will be sent to you!!
WAIT – did I mention…. Follow me on Pinterest!!!
Thanks so much for the great tips Jennifer!
Great tips Jennifer! Thank you for confirming there is no magic to have a large Pinterest following. I think we get (as bloggers) so wrapped up in what we need to be doing to gain followers and become obsessive with finding the latest tips and tricks! Great tip – pin what you like! Hope you are enjoying being part of Whimsy Wednesday! Great to have you join us!!
Susan – right on! If you don’t LOVE Pinterest – don’t do it! It is my obsession and I love all of the great ideas that I find on it! I started playing on it when I was planning my sons Bar Mitzvah a few years ago – I got THE BEST ideas from Pinterest and all of the amazingly creative people out there using it
Hi Jennifer, Great article. It’s lovely to see real comments and not a lot of fluff. I LOVE Pinterest and have found it my best source of traffic for both my Wedding Page and my Social Media Page. Just wondering how long you have been on Pinterest and how often do you Pin?
Hi Gaynor – I have been on since about 2011 (I think!) – I pin A LOT!!!! Pretty much all day!
Hi Jennifer! I love learning more about Pinterest…so many different strategies to try and keep track of. I like that your are candid and honest about your habits. I pin when I can but do keep in mind the high traffic periods and work with an outside group. Stoping by from Wake Up Wednesday.
Laura- Petite Allergy Treats
Laura – thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for tips. They were exactly what I wanted to hear! I always felt my pins were a reflection of me so I pin only what I love.
Glenna – Thanks for the message! Pinterest should be all about what you love!
Thanks for the tips Jennifer! Would love to do a pinterest giveaway with you. Check out my site and let me know if you would be interested in giving away any of the pieces in our collection: http://www.shopsixtwenty.com
All the best,
Angeli
Angeli – I have never done a Pinterest giveaway – can you email me some details? jennifer.fishkind@gmail.com.
Definitely. Will email you later today 🙂 Thank you!
Hi Jennifer, Ive followed your board Want.. Need.. Love.. since i joined pinterest around 2yrs ago.
And thank you so much for the Pinterest tips! But i have a question for you. There has been 4 different
people that have not been following me and have pinned from one of my boards and pinned anywhere
from 30 to 60 pins all at once, i thought that was so rude! If i liked that much stuff from someones board
i would follow that board ad see what else they pinned. Am i wrong to feel that they are totally rude and
lazy for pinning that many and not trying to find there own. How do you, or would you deal with situations
like this? Thank you
Hey Cynthia! That would be very frustrating! But, try to look at it positively….. imitation is the greatest form of flattery!
Hi Jennifer, me again sorry for all the questions but I’m just trying to comprehend what i thought the idea of Pinterest was about. When i read Cynthia’s frustration it makes me wonder isn’t that what Pinterest is about pinning others pins?? What does she mean they are not trying to find their own?? Im sorry just confused because now i feel like I’m doing it wrong or maybe its my insomnia that has me not thinking straight. No disrespect to anyone just trying to get my brain to make sense of it all and i certainly don’t want to make anyone frustrated if I’m doing something wrong!!! I do appreciate any info!! Have an awesome day!! 🙂
Thanks for the great tips, Jennifer! How lucky you were to start out early and gain so many followers! I’ve slowing been growing my following but in the last week, it’s kind of exploded. I’ve seen some days where I get over 100 followers in a day!
Thanks again for sharing these tips at Marvelous Mondays. Have a lovely week!
That’s GREAT, Julie!!!!
I was curious to see your other social media, but when I clicked on G+, I got a “page not found” error code. Just FYI. 🙂 I followed you on Pinterest for kicks. 🙂 You had a GORGEOUS pair or red Choos I was drooling over 🙂
hmmmmm….. Nicole, I just went and tried it and it seemed to work. Not sure what happened! Weren’t those shoes AH-Mazing!!!
I’m not sure if you meant this, but when someone ‘follows all’, only the group boards created by that pinner are followed. Any group boards they didn’t create but contribute to are not followed. This is something I wish was clearer on Pinterest. Thanks for the tips. You got a great opportunity by being an early adopter but you’ve done great things with it. 🙂
Melissa – Great clarification! Thanks!
Hi Jennifer!!! Thanks for all the great tips!!! Very impressive!! I just wanted to double clarify, if we wanted to truly follow all boards of one pinner because all their boards are awesome would I have to follow each board seperately and not “follow all”?
Also what is your take on descriptions on your pins? Do you add hashtags to help get more traffic?? I read that somewhere cant remember where.
And lastly how does one know how much traffic you are getting and from where on your blog? Im starting a new blog thats why i ask. I do appreciate all your time!!! So sorry for all the questions you just seem so knowledgeable that I couldnt resist!! Im grateful for any info. Thank you so much!!! Have a great day!! 🙂
Hi Sandra!
First question – just hit “follow all” and you should be good!
Regarding descriptions – these days descriptions are REALLY important! Pinterest is changing the way they display things so descriptions will help you get noticed in the search fields – which is key! Make your descriptions very SEO friendly!!! (search engine optimization).
Regarding seeing your blog traffic – GOOGLE ANALYTICS – it is the BEST ….and highly addictive!
xoxo – good luck!!
Thanks Jennifer!!
I do appreciate your feedback!!!! Did you happen to see the other questions I had on some of the other comments? If you happen to have time it would be great!!! Thanks again!! 🙂