How you know you’re ready to market on pinterest
Wondering if you’re ready for Pinterest marketing?
It’s a question I hear a lot. And the truth is, if you've never used Pinterest before, leaping into Pinterest marketing can seem intimidating.
You don’t want to use up valuable entrepreneurial time to learn a new skill. You don’t want to lose money on yet another tool that may or may not work.
It’s completely understandable, too. No one wants to put all that effort in only to still be stuck at square one. But don’t let that stop you!
Pinterest marketing can be a game-changer! Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest content stays popular for much, much longer.
Pinterest is also the spot where wealthier and more motivated buyers go to discover new brands.
If you’ve been feeling like you’re ready for Pinterest marketing, you probably are getting close!
To help you decide, today I’m sharing 3 ways to know if you’re ready for pinning your first Pinterest pin.
This way you can focus on actually making money – without overspending your budget.
(And if you’re not ready yet, you’ll know what you need to do!)
Let’s dig in.
3 Ways You Know You're Ready for Pinterest Marketing
Only you can say for sure whether you’re ready for Pinterest marketing. As I mentioned above, if it’s been heavily on your mind lately, you’re probably in a good place to start researching your options, at the very least. You may even find that you're more prepared for it than most experts in your industry.
To help you decide, here are a few tell-tale signs that show you're more than ready to take on Pinterest.
Readiness Sign #1: People have suggested you try it. More than once.
Has someone suggested you try Pinterest?
This is why it's so helpful to have a supportive network of likewise individuals in your industry.
When I first started using Pinterest to market my business, I didn't feel I was ready for it but I started hearing more people in my network trying it and investing in it.
The more entrepreneurs I’ve spoken with, I’ve become more confident now over time that I’ve done the right thing not only investing time in Instagram and Facebook, but also in creating pins on Pinterest for my business.
Take one of my clients for instance. He started with only 40 pins in 2020 and never updated his account since. Now, in 2023, he has over 1.4 million monthly views and 25 thousand followers, from just those 40 pins created 3 years ago.
If you don’t have a support system or network of people to give you feedback, try asking a business coach or a colleague in your industry. You can even try posting in a Facebook group asking peoples’ thoughts or stance on Pinterest.
Always keep your ears open to what your colleagues are talking about, if they are echoing what you’ve already been thinking about, it’s often a sign it’s time to start. .
Readiness Sign #2: You are craving a change
You may not feel it now, but your intuition about trying out a new marketing platform will more than likely steer you in the right direction.
So if you think you’re ready for Pinterest marketing but struggle with doubts about its return-on-investment and the time to learn, it can be hard to admit that you will never truly be “ready”. That you may never learn to be just as good as a professional social media manager.
For example, I was never truly “ready” to try a new marketing platform. When I was super brand new to the business, I created an Instagram business account. I tried to imitate what other businesses were doing, but I got really frustrated with it because I never felt motivated to post, and when I did, I would over think the captions. The branding and colors were never consistent across the posts, so my profile looked like a mess. One day I had a networking call with a social media manager. I did not go into this call at all expecting that I would sign up not long after for her Instagram services. I realized that I’d never be “ready” for a social media manager, all I could do was find one that I could trust to hold my hand along the way. And I’m so glad I did! With her, my account looks incredible and I have consistent engagement, far more than I could ever achieve on my own. I have so much more confidence knowing I’ve got a team of people behind me.
Here are a few ways to push past it:
First, picture yourself succeeding. What would it feel like to actually do it? Amazing, right?
Next, imagine the worst-case scenario. How would you handle it?
Finally, picture a time in the past when you felt the same way you do now but overcame it
Now, chances are none of the bad things you imagine will happen. But planning ahead will make you feel more confident. You’ll survive it and thrive it!
In the words of Richard Branson, “"My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had -- everyday I’m learning something new."
Readiness Sign #3: You have limited choices
Sometimes big decisions come easy because our hand is forced.
That can feel paralyzing in the moment, but many times it’s what forces us down a new path we’d never considered before.
So when that happens, it’s best to go with the flow of the current. Forces are out there larger than you and I. It can be a really marvelous and humbling moment to realize something bigger than yourself has been pushing you towards your idealized success all along.
I met my business coach, again totally by happenstance. I was not looking for one. But I had been in business already almost a year and still had very few clients to show for it. I was very embarrassed and felt very desperate. I was wondering how many more months would go by before my “big break”. Just knowing my own weaknesses, I knew I needed outside help. Lo and behold, through networking, I had a 1:1 call with my now business coach Caitlin Durning of Meraki Media Management. It felt like fate had intervened to bring us together. In a short time, I have made so much personal and business growth.
Going with the flow is how I met my current business coach!
Other decisions don’t necessarily fall in your lap like magic, it’s more of an “all roads lead to yes” situation.
If you’ve tried many other strategies and all fingers point to Pinterest marketing, it could mean it’s just time.
For example:
You’ve tried Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok but you’re still not getting the waterfall of eyes on your offer. Pinterest marketing is your next option.
In either case, if there’s no other way to achieve more business growth, it may be time to commit to a new marketing strategy.
Readiness Sign #4: You have already created online content
Now that we’ve covered some of the mindset signs that will help you determine if you’re ready for starting a Pinterest marketing strategy, it’s time to cover some practical reasons.
Before you join Pinterest, there are some things you’ll need to have in place. It makes little sense to start a business account without the right content.
A strong foundation of content is important for starting a new Pinterest account. Similar to an art gallery, you need art pieces to put into the gallery for viewing. Having a gallery is not enough. Pinterest for most brands is the place where businesses pin their repurposed content from other social platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, or Youtube. They have the advantage of having tested different videos and posts and finding what resonates the most with their audience.
Without someplace to start, it will be very difficult to create the momentum necessary to rank high in Pinterest results.
Here’s how you’ll know that joining Pinterest will be a huge success:
#1. You have at least a year’s worth of online content
By online content, I mean blog posts, podcast episodes, digital or physical products listed on your website, or even Reels from your Instagram.
This is extremely important because it will ensure that you have enough content to make pins. Ideally 30 URL’s make for a good start. You can make up to 3 or 4 pins for each URL. The ideal momentum of pinning is anywhere from 1 pin/day up to 10 pins/day.
Without enough content, you will only have a few pins and maybe one or two boards up and the account will look stagnant. Whatever pins you do have are unlikely to rank in searches.
Here’s what I mean:
When I first became a Pinterest manager, I immediately jumped to creating my first business account. I was excited to apply everything I had learned from an online course I took on how to be a Pinterest manager. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have any content up yet. I didn’t even have an instagram yet. As a result, I had only a handful of pins and I eventually lost momentum. The account looked very sad, to be frank.
If you want to know how to get started with a simple Pinterest strategy, I cover it in detail in this post..
#2. You have a niche-specific keyword word bank
What I mean is, you have collected the most popular keywords that your ideal audience uses. For example, if you are a marketer, then likely the keywords you’d use are “social media”, “digital marketing”, “SEO”, etc.
This is important when you are creating your pins, pin descriptions, and board descriptions. Having the best keywords will ensure you rank the highest in Pinterest searches.
Without good keywords, you will be stumped after each pin is published, wondering why there’s fewer than 100 impressions, even though it’s been weeks.
If you’re not quite there yet, here are a few things you can do:
If you don’t have a keyword bank set up yet, don’t worry! A way you can gather good keywords is with using the Pinterest search bar, Pinterest Trends, and Answer The Public. Any one of these tools will help you discover new long tailed keywords (or keywords with additional keywords added to it.
2. For example, if you type in “photography” into the Pinterest search bar, a long drop down list of “photography + ______” new keywords will populate. I would create an excel sheet and write these extra keywords down.
3. To use Pinterest Trends, similar to the previous step, you can type in the main keyword for your niche and observe what other keywords show up in the drop down menu.
4. To use Answer The Public, you type in your niche keyword into the search bar. It will pop up with tons of data on what kinds of questions the public are asking with that keyword. It will not only give you additional keywords, but also help you get into the mind of your audience and help with planning more content!
#3. You have education or inspirational content
This is really important because not all content is a good fit for Pinterest. People often go on different platforms for different reasons. For example, people may go on Tik Tok because they want to be entertained. People may go on Instagram to learn something personal about someone they’re following. They may just want some daily humor or news. For Pinterest, the average user arrives there because they are looking for new ideas and/or a new skill. These are your tutorial seekers. Knowledge seekers.
Without the right type of content for Pinterest users, you may get views, but low engagement. Fewer users will want to click through the pin to the website or repin your pins for later.
If you don’t have educational or inspirational content yet, here’s how to get inspiration.
[Step 1.] Start looking at the pins in your niche. What topics come up again and again? Are there a lot of tutorials (e.g. “5 Easy Steps to Making Your Own Bread From Home”)
[Step 2.) Look at the type of pin format that seems to do well. Is it video? Is it a nice picture with no words on it? This will clue you in on what type of format your audience likes most when delivering your content.
[Step 3.] Pro-tip, most users like to see an intro tutorial for beginners. This applies to most niches. Many users also like to see what mistakes to avoid. This is a very common and easy type of content to produce.
[Step 4.] Another pro-tip, many users use their Pinterest as a vision board. They use anything aesthetic, such as wallpaper backgrounds, pictures of outfits, or room decor to inspire their future vision.
#4. You have at least 30 URLs connected to your website, or a “content pillar”
Any web link that someone can click on to take them to your website is usable for a pin. When people prioritize SEO, especially with Google, they tend to have high amounts of URLs on their website. These URLs could lead to articles, podcasts, products, or lead magnets.
Without a decent library of URLs, it makes it harder to generate traffic to your website. Pinterest has gone back and forth on pins that don’t have to lead to a website. Instead they just lead to your Pinterest profile, just like social media. This is of course a viable strategy as well, if your goal is to grow brand visibility and awareness. But if your main goal is to increase traffic and conversions, then the more pins you have that connect to a URL, the better.
Readiness Sign #5: You have a plan for traffic slowing down
Now, I can hear you saying, “You just told us that Pinterest will lead to increased website traffic?”.
And that’s absolutely true. Having said that, every entrepreneur and marketing manager has to have a plan for when your pins are not pulling in as much traffic as before. Because it’s going to happen!
Nothing comes easy, right?
When I first started, I had very little content to use, so I hit a pinning plateau. Because I lost my pinning momentum, my website traffic started going down.
It wasn’t until I realized how important consistent content creation really is. Without consistent content, such as blog posts, vlogs, or podcast episodes, my pins were quickly becoming stale.
That’s when I realized that I needed to plan for this. The content creator’s version of “writer’s block” is just going to happen every now and then.
Here’s what you can do to prepare so you’re ready for it:
First, always have a platform for creating content. That most likely will be your website domain where you post weekly or monthly blog posts, vlogs, and podcast episodes.
Get in the habit of using a ring light for filming videos or Canva to make consistent, high quality content
Research viable topics for content creation in your niche using such tools like Answer The Public or Chat GPT to know what your audience wants more answers about.
Remember that people love storytelling. At the start, I was creating very dry posts on my Instagram and on my blog about data and other facts. I noticed that when I started creating a story about myself and humanizing my content that people started to engage more.
Be ready to go back to the drawing board when content isn’t converting
Having a plan like this, even if it’s only in your head at this point, will help you avoid content creator’s block. There is always more content your audience craves, so believe in your ability to provide it!
Standing in between you and Pinterest Marketing: The Doubt Edition
Usually, the biggest thing standing in the way of your wildest dreams isn’t something external. It’s actually a personal limiting belief about your abilities.
Some common concerns I hear from my clients are:
I’m not creative enough to create content or pins that people will like
I don’t want to look like a failure to others in my industry
What if the direction I went with my pins or content is not working and I want to pivot
Does any of that sound familiar?
The best way to clear those concerns up is to spend some time alone with yourself and meditate or journal and get clear on your “why”. Why do you want to run your own business in the first place? Was it more freedom? The chance to be creative and share your talents with the world?
Standing in between you and Pinterest Marketing: Real-Life Obstacles
Real-life obstacles are some of the most obvious challenges you’re going to face with marketing.
We’ve already covered common obstacles in this post, but you likely will have some challenges that are unique to your situation and resources.
The good news is, there are many who have come before you in the exact same position.
So in addition to what I shared above, I recommend starting very small. Start with watching one Pinterest tutorial for beginners. Start following a Pinterest expert on Instagram for tips.
And remember, when you’re ready, you’re ready.
If you find that you still feel stuck, you know that you’re not quite ready to try Pinterest marketing. And that’s okay, just keep setting the stage for it and you’ll get there.
Want some help on getting started with your Pinterest launch? My team and I are specially trained in Pinterest marketing to grow your business faster than your competitors.
