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The Secret to Success is Support

Get More Followers: Secrets to Rapid Pinterest Growth for Bloggers

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Are you ready to get more followers on Pinterest, and ultimately drive traffic to your blog? We’re dishing on the step-by-step approach on how to do just that today! Read on to find the details you need to take your blog to the next level.

If you’re a fellow newbie blogger (oh hey there!), or even if you’ve been going for a while, I’m betting you’ve seen (and just a tad envied) those elusive, oh-MY-how-has-her-site-become-so-successful bloggers out there.

But then…No one is reading your blog and no one leaves comments on your posts. No ones raving about how awesome your site is. It’s a gloomy time. And an INSANE amount of blogs go through this phase, who then end up quitting. The thing is though, no matter HOW great your blog is, if no ones heard of it, it’s not going to get off the ground.

And that’s where the SECOND key to success comes in; promotion and to get more followers on Pinterest.

get more followers on Pinterest

How Bloggers Can Get More Followers on Pinterest

You need to get your blog OUT there for it to survive, and Pinterest is quickly becoming the go-to platform for us newbie blogging ninjas to utilize.

I started my own blog A Chic Lifestyle just over 7 months ago in fact, with a laser focused attitude on promotion –  and I’ve seen the biggest amount of growth I’ve ever had with a new blog thanks to Pinterest (and that’s SAYING something people, because I’ve been blogging since I was ‘yay high – aka 11 years old!).

So I wanted to share the nitty gritty on exactly what I’m doing to reap the rewards of Pinterest, and decided to create a case study as detailed and informative as I can covering the last 7 months.

But first – what kind of results did I get by promoting my new blog on Pinterest?

get more followers on Pinterest

get more followers on Pinterest

get more followers on Pinterest

Pinterest is hands down the most rewarding social media network I’m on!

  • 62% of all traffic to my blog has been from – you guessed it, Pinterest. Which has delivered over 50,000+ pageviews between June 2013 (my blogs birth) to January 2014
  • The most clicks I’ve had solely from Pinterest to my blog in 1 day has been 1,270 so far – not bad for a newbie at ALL
  • Content on my blog was pinned and seen 63,864 times on Pinterest in 1 day
  • Content on my blog has been pinned and repined thousands of times on there since June too

How I Used Pinterest to Get Results

1. I built a follower base on Pinterest by:

  • Creating and inviting people to my community boards like Simply Chic
  • Creating a distinct style on Pinterest that would cater strongly to my target audience ONLY (don’t try to please everyone; like the 60 year old gardening fanatic AND Michael-Kors-loving teen Pinners. You’ll only dilute your appeal).

get more followers on Pinterest

I deliberately focus on students only, with a specific taste in fashion (laid back and cool). I create boards SPECIFICALLY for them and their needs, like “effective study tips” and “treats under £50”, for my budgeting fashion lover, who wants to do well at school.

So make sure you know who you’re targeting, and how you can appeal to them (only!) by meeting their needs.

I know it can feel counter productive to alienate others outside of that ‘target zone’, but trust me, it’s much more beneficial that you cater to your target audience specifically, and make your blog/Pinterest really speak to them.

So just ONE more time, because it’s THAT important *ehm hint hint* – be SPECIFIC, SPECIFIC, SPECIFIC *phew, well I got that out of my system*.

2. I made my posts Pinterest friendly (more on that in a few minutes!)

3. I partnered up with another pinner to cross-promote our content.
I bumped into Studentrate on Pinterest a few months back, and realized that not only did they speak to the same type of people I did (young students interested in fashion and saving money), but they also had a relatively similar fan base size as me (we were both in the thousands, but Studentrate had more).

I emailed them about cross promoting each other on Pinterest, and we loved the idea and agreed to invite each other to 3 of our boards, so we can pin each others content and promote our sites.

This has been THE biggest driving force in bringing new readers to my site, as I’m exposing my content to brand new viewers, and I tend to get over 3 times as many re-pins and click-through’s when I pin my content on our shared boards, than on my individual ones.

4. I created community boards (which are Pinterest boards that you can invite other pinners to, so they can upload photos on the shared board) and invited hundreds of people to join me in pinning there.

The great thing about this is that if people decide to join, your community board (with a follow button to your Pinterest profile) will appear on their profile, so you’re increasing your exposure, as well as getting some brilliant people to contribute to the boards.

And don’t be afraid to do this even if you’re a small pinner.

I created my first community board with only 200 followers (Simply Chic) which went on to grow to 6,000+ followers in less than a year, with over 300 contributors!

How to Replicate My Success and Drive Traffic to your blog:

1. Do you see another pinner who’s targeting the same group of people as you? Get involved with them by:

  • Offering to contribute to their community boards with relevant pins (including some of your own posts – but my best advice here would be to ask permission first, otherwise it may look like your spamming their followers with promotion for your own site only. And there are only 3 syllables to describe that, people: a-nnoy-ing.)
  • Partner up with them and cross promote your content.

2. Make your posts Pinterest friendly (hang in there, specific advice on this coming right up!)

3. Create your own community boards and invite other pinners to join.

What pins brought in the most visitors to my blog and why (analysis):

Here are the top 4 pieces of content from my site that have been pinned the most onto Pinterest, and why they became so shareable:

  • They all solve a significant problem among my target group (students), like procrastination, investing in a new camera and getting A grades. So the how-to-guide pins did really well.
  • They all include high quality, attractive pictures.
  • They all feature the title of the post on them (the most popular 2 have larger, easier to read titles than the others. So this is something I’ll replicate with future posts).
  • I used the caption space in all of them to reiterate the benefit of clicking through to my site, for the full post. E.g. for picture 3 I wrote “5 Resources that Will Improve Your Productivity (And ASSASSINATE Procrastination)” – it’s short, to the point, and clearly communicates the benefit I’m going to give to my readers (resources to help them stop procrastinating).

get more followers on Pinterest

How to optimize your content for maximum exposure on Pinterest:

Step 1:
Choose high quality and gorgeous photos (which always do better on a visual platform like Pinterest) for your posts.

Step 2:
Add attractive titles (that make it clear what problem you’re going to solve) to your images in large, easy to read (even when shrunk down on Pinterest) fonts.

Step 3:
Use the caption space to make it clear what problem your post will solve.

Step 4:
Install a ‘pin it’ hover button on your blog (so if a visitor on your blog likes a post of yours, they can simply hover over the image and press ‘pin it’ – remember: the easier you make it for them, the more likely they’ll be to share your post).

Your Turn

So do you think it’s time you started benefitting from Pinterest too?

Here’s your first mission, if you choose to accept:
1. Choose 1 post of yours and update the 1st photo with the title on it. Then pin it onto Pinterest with a caption that explicitly says the problem your post will solve.

And I’d love to see you in the comments section below! Let me know:

  • If you’re already using Pinterest (or other social platforms, like Instagram/Twitter/Facebook) to promote your blog – what kind of results are you seeing? Is there a particular platform that’s driving the most traffic your way?
  • And do you have any other tips on promoting your posts?

About the Author:
Sanam MohammadHey, I’m Sanam Mohammad. The sarcastic, high aspiring (almost bordering on the point of being nuts) student blogger, encouraging young women to pursue their big-to-insanely-HUGE ambitions at A Chic Lifestyle. If you have any Q’s or need a hand, then let me know on Twitter @AChicLifestyle!

 Ready for More? Keep Reading!

If you enjoyed this post on how to get more followers on Pinterest, keep reading! We have more for you.

About Tracie Nall

Tracie lives in Arizona with her husband, teen daughter, and more books than her shelves will hold. She spends her days writing and editing. Many of her words end up on her blog, From Tracie. Find Tracie on Twitter @FromTracie and on Instagram where she takes pictures of things that are yellow.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Darren Boland says

    Hey,

    That’s a fantastic post, thanks… Even though I’m a bloke… and old… I can still use a lot of the ideas… I’ve not done much with pinterest at all..

    Thanks again…

  3. Katrin Brandstetter says

    Fantastic post Sanam! I’m with you that you have to use high quality pictures to attract readers. People generally respond much better to visuals. It’s a great idea to partner up with another pinner – thanks for that! We haven’t tapped into Pinterest yet and are wondering whether it’s a worthwhile investment.

    What’s been more powerful for you – Twitter or Pinterest?

    Thanks for the tips!

  4. Jessica @ Mothering with Creativity says

    Thank you for this! I also get most of my traffic from Pinterest as well (my most viewed post on my blog receives all its traffic from the 133,000+ repins it’s had over the last year!) I’m going to try more of these ideas since it’s such a great traffic driver!

  8. Candi says

    This is one of the best posts I have read on Pinterest. Thanks for all the great info. Of course I pinned it.

  10. Krystal Bernier says

    Thank you for this. I’ve been putting of Pinterest but you put together a very good pro argument so I better get in gear and experiment with Pinterest!

  11. Jackie Lee says

    Great tutorial… my question is how do you connect with the people about having them add you to their community boards, and invite people to join your boards?

  12. Amanda @ Diary of a Semi-Health Nut says

    Honestly I was hardly ever on Pinterest because I felt like it was a time suck until a couple of blogger friends said that Pinterest was where they got all of their traffic from! It does seem that we are all short on time and like to just look at pictures..which is kind of sad when I see that people are obviously just skimming over the words I painstakingly put together..but such is life!

    I also see quite a bit of traffic from Twitter. I like interacting with others most there.

  14. Joanne T Ferguson says

    G’day! Having JUST celebrated my one year blog anniversary, I know there is so much more to learn every day to experience, try and do!
    Thank you for you hints and tips…I have created my first photo with text and created my first community inspiration board

    http://www.pinterest.com/mickeydownunder/inspiration-community-board/

    that I hope all blogger’s will share what they too love and are passionate about too; not JUST restricted to food and drink (my niche).
    I do have a question….how to invite more people to the board, giving exposure (by welcoming) people to visit my site without it appearing like am intruding on their privacy or spamming them (which is never my intention to do)
    Thank you!
    Cheers! Joanne

  16. Clotilde/Craftybegonia says

    Thank you for the post! I must admit that I use Pinterest a lot, but not always with a rhyme or reason. I just enjoy the site and the beautiful things featured there. Yet, my followers are slowly rising and I get traffic from there. How much better it would be if it were all focused! I will try to redirect it better. Thank you!

  17. Allison says

    I loved the idea about putting the post titles in the pics! Great advice! Thanks for sharing and way to go on your success! 🙂

  22. Sara says

    One again, SITS posting the best information!!! Thank you.

    I have been slowly using Pinterest to try to interest viewership but these tips and tricks are definitely things I had never thought to try before. I am very excited to link my blog to my Pinterest more and vice versa 🙂

  24. Ana says

    Awesome tips! Although my following is small, I’ve been getting a huge amount of traffic from Pinterest and hope that following your suggestions will help me reach my goals. I still need to improve the quality of my photos/fonts to make them Pinterest-y, that’s my biggest struggle.

  26. Meredith Heron says

    As a designer’s whose work is on pinterest and is repeatedly shared WITHOUT CREDIT TO ME I find your post offensive. Where is the integrity of giving credit where credit is due? You want to use the work of others to drive traffic to YOUR site? That’s theft. It’s copyright infringement.

    Perhaps if you were CREATORS you would understand. Rip off artists and the promotion thereof are due for a reckoning. My work was recently STOLEN from pinterest and used to advertise a decorator’s Design Classes at a university. Talk about Fraud. You take the class thinking that the teacher did the work meanwhile it is stolen?

    I hope this gives you food for thought. I’m sharing your post as a “WHAT NOT TO DO”.

    • Sanam (A Chic Lifestyle) says

      Hi Meredith,

      I completely understand where you’re coming from, and yes, copyright infringement is an issue people need to be aware of.

      It just wasn’t something I focused on in this particular post.

      I agree that credit should be given where it’s due though, which is what I do (in the posts).

      And have you tried contacting the university to ask for credit or have your image removed?

  33. Madison says

    I am so excited to use some of these ideas to increase pinterest followers and ultimately blog followers! This seems like a great way to get GENUINE readership, which is something you don’t always get from other avenues. Thanks for the great ideas!

  35. Nicki Lewis says

    Great tips! I went back to a recipe I had done a while back. Updated the photo a little and repinned with your suggestions going to see if that works

  37. Beth says

    I really think Pinterest is the best social media platform as well but haven’t quite figured out how to take advantage of it yet. My site is a hodgepodge really so I’m looking to have more specific types of posts as you mentioned with a call to action. Thank you for the great tips which I will certainly be referring to as I go along.

  38. TheBargainBabe says

    Hi Sanam,
    Guess where I saw this post? Pinterest. LOL 🙂 Thanks for all the advice. I’m a member of a couple community boards, but have not yet started my own. Maybe that will be my goal to get one started by the end of the month.

  39. Babes about Town says

    Fabulous post, packed with information. I’m on Pinterest but been a bit slack as find it hard keeping up with so many social networks, but you’ve inspired me to get back on the game! Thanks for all the useful tips!

  42. Jessica @ fantabulosity.com says

    This is an awesome article! Pinterest is my biggest referral too, so I’m always looking for new ways to add to it! It is already growing like crazy! I’d love to cross promote with another mommy blogger if anyone is interested!? (Home décor, organization, kiddo activities, etc.) Email me at [email protected](dot)com if so! XOXO Everyone!

  44. [email protected] says

    I have been blogging for a couple of years, but just recently began implementing some strategies to grow my blog following. Pinterest has been a good source of traffic to my blog. But, I am not sure how to go about joining an existing community blog, or to create one myself. Any help would be greatly appreciated-thanks!