Most people think that blogging is an easy job. I mean all you’ve got to do is write some stuff down, hit publish and watch the crowds all jostle for your attention right?

Wrong!  Blogging is one of the most involved online jobs out there. It takes time to grow and nurture an audience – to build your brand on Social Media and generate trust between you and your readers. It doesn’t just happen overnight, rather it develops from a seed to a network of vines, foliage and blossoms.

A huge part of that growth comes from sharing your content on Social Media networks like Twitter and Facebook. There it has the potential to meet newer, more engaged audiences. Today we’re going to be looking at Pinterest and how you can give your Pinterest marketing efforts a much needed boost.

Eat, Sleep and Breathe Imagery

Since Pinterest is one of the most popular visual media platforms, it makes sense to get on board here as soon as you can.

It’s all about the imagery. Whether it’s a quote, a collage or a headline – if it’s got an image that will knock your socks off, it’ll be at home on Pinterest.

Head to the ‘popular’ section on Pinterest and absorb what’s trending. Note-down what all those pins have in common. A couple of things you might come across are:

• A Catchy headline
• Bold typography
• Bright, eye-catching colours
• Portrait oriented images
• The format of the pin i.e., tutorials, step-by-step guides

These common traits are the reason why those pins are popular. Learn all you can about what makes a good Pin and add these to your popularity recipe.

You’re Not A Sheep, Leave the Herd – Stand Out!

One thing I’ve noticed a lot during my Pinterest travels is how everyone twigs on to a ‘set formula’ that works for a good pin. This is always going to happen. People want other people to see their content. They’ll do whatever they can to make sure their efforts work, thus a cookie-cutter formula is born.

The problem with this approach, is that it gets boring fast. Soon your timeline is full of almost identical pins – a massive turn-off for the hungry eye-candy addict.

So here’s what you need to do. Once you’ve figured out what makes a pin popular, I want you to take only the best points. Next you’re going to incorporate them into something completely different. Flip it on its head baby – you’ve got personality so use it!

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

Take a holiday like Halloween, you might want to create a board around it to pin some of your blog content onto. Popularity deems that themed boards should be chocka-block with tutorials and how-tos. Flip it on its head! Intersperse your step-by-step crafting guides, with mood-setting pins. Pumpkins, autumn leaves, apples and other associated images would all work well. Turn your board into a user experience that people will love!

Update Little and Often

It can be tempting as a pinterest enthusiast to pin as much as you can, all in one go. But that’s just crazy town and your followers won’t like a string of pins all about hobbits bouncing around their screen.

Instead of pinning all at once, have several intervals during the day of around 5-10 minutes each time. During this time pin away but do so mindfully by mixing up the topics. This ensures you’re visible without being annoying and helps your pins get much more visibility.

Show Gratitude and Communicate

When was the last time you left a comment on a pin or liked a pin someone repinned from your boards?

Don’t forget that as well as being a visual platform, Pinterest is also a Social Media network, so it pays to be social! Instead of liking, pinning and adding the random comment here and there, go out of your way to show gratitude. Thank people for taking the time to share your content.

Comments are an under-used commodity here, so leaving a comment on a pin is bound to get you noticed. With the new private messaging feature, you can also privately say thanks to regular sharers of your pins. Just don’t spam their inboxes otherwise they’ll curse you to oblivion.

4 Tools to Power-Up your Popularity

1. Pinvolve – This tool pulls all your images from the likes of Instagram and Pinterest and centralises them in a tab on Facebook. It also allows you to convert your Facebook Page into a Pinterest style layout and pins you latest Pinterest pins to your Page too. You can get this free with limited usage but will need to pay to unlock its full potential.
2. Piqora – Dubbed the complete marketing suite for the visual web. Piqora works with Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram to schedule your pins and updates. View detailed analytics and determine ROI with this feature packed resource.
3. Tailwind – Brimming with analytics and social listening capabilities, Tailwind is a complete Pinterest solution. The best features come with the paid plans, but their free starter plan is still worth giving a go.
4. Pin Alerts – A simple yet useful little tool to have, Pin Alerts will send you an email whenever a user pins an image from a specific url. It’s free to use and enables you to keep an eye on how much content organically makes it onto Pinterest.

Wrapping Up

Ultimately the key to staying popular on Pinterest, is to not only know what works well but to take that knowledge to the next level.

Points to take away:

• Get to know your followers and understand their needs, wants and desires
• Be different and stay one step ahead of your competition
• Communicate by leaving thoughtful comments and messages
• Update sparsely with a mixed range of topics and pins

What do you think helps drive a brand’s popularity on Pinterest? Let me know in the comments!