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The SITS Girls

The Secret to Success is Support

How To Use Pinterest To Increase Your Readership and Social Media Following

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If you have blogged, tweeted or logged into Facebook in the past month, chances are you have heard about the latest social media craze, Pinterest.

Are you looking for ways to increase your blog readership? Pinterest is the perfect place to start! Blogging | Social Media | Bloggers

Pinterest is an excellent tool for bloggers.

The two most important things Pinterest can do for you as a blogger are:

  1. Drive traffic to your site.
  2. Connect you with potential readers.

Without creating the longest post in the history of SITS guests, I will try to give you an overview of how to do both.

Using Pinterest to Drive Traffic to Your Site

Pinterest is all about visuals. You have the ten seconds it takes for someone to scroll their mouse to the bottom of the screen to catch their eye, make them stop at your pin AND click on it. If you pin a pretty picture of your cat included within a blog post they may stop, “aww” at their screen, then move on. If you pin eye-catching text or an interesting visual they may stop, read what you have written and decide if they want to visit your blog for more.

The key is to always pique the readers curiosity. If you include too much information in your pin they have no reason to visit your blog, if you include too little they will smile at your picture and move on.

Here is an example:

I created a “how-to” post including all I had learned after my sweet little three year-old decorated our house in permanent marker. As much as I wanted to pin this photo of my now tiger-striped child:

Pinterest Tutorial

I created a text image instead:

Pinterest Tutorial

This gave readers a reason to stop, read what kind of information I would be sharing, and then click over to my blog for more tips.  This strategy increased my blog traffic dramatically.  On its best day, that pin brought over 5,000 unique visitors to my blog!

Use Pinterest to Connect With Potential Readers

You could probably classify me as a “mom blogger.” Okay, you could. But there are two specific topics I write about often: autism and grief.

While my regular readers do read and comment on these posts, they also appeal to a target audience. By creating boards on Pinterest focused on these two topics, I am able to connect with more people with similar interests who have the potential to become new readers.

Pinterest Tutorial

When I find a quote I like, articles of interest or write a post pertaining to one of these topics, I pin them to the appropriate board. Since each board is narrowly focused, they do attract fewer followers than my other boards but that is okay. The aim of each is to connect with people who share my experiences.

Jessica Watson Autism Pins

Increase Your Social Media Following on Pinterest

Another great way to use Pinterest to broaden your social media connections is to comment on pins. If you see a pin that rings true for you, comment on it. You may find someone who shares your love of coffee or your knack for screwing up recipes and next thing you know you have a great new blog to read or a person to tweet with the next time you burn dinner.

Pinterest is one more tool to add to your social media toolbox. Once you spend a few minutes (or ten hours, if you are me) scrolling through the site, you will find all kinds of creative ways to market your blog and connect with new people.

We love ourselves some Pinterest and would be thrilled to connect with you. You can find us at SITSGirls and TiffanyRom.

More Pinterest Related Articles

About the Author

Jessica Watson is a freelance writer, blogger at Four Plus an Angel.

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

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  8. Rubel Bogra says

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  14. Deb Manjo says

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  17. Cindy {Jenkins Kid Farm} says

    I *LOVE* Pinterest! It gives me so many great ideas and drives more traffic to my blog than anything else.

    {when I linked I accidentally linked my blog….SORRY! I swear it was an honest mistake. Then when I tried to delete that and link my Pinterest it wouldn’t work. *phthhhhbbb* Dangit! lol}

  18. Lanie says

    I did it – I finally joined pinterest and created a few boards. I still have a lot to figure out but wanted to thank you for all the tips! Take care.

  21. Claire says

    Thank you fir this article! I put up a pin from my blog and got repinned, exciting.

  28. Nina says

    oops- just realized Jessica wrote this one! Jessica–seriously, love your posts too. But it was Gigi’s link on Twitter that brought me here! 🙂

  29. Nina says

    Such a great post! Really appreciate it. Gigi, your posts (wherever they are) always seemed to get starred as I go through my Twitter stream. You’re awesome!

  31. Suzanne @The Wine{a}be says

    Fabulous tips!! Thanks for sharing. Too often I see a pin I love but don’t comment…I will get better at that!
    Amazing you got 5,000 unique visitors from the one pin! In my dreams! 😉

  35. Cari says

    I have been avoiding Pinterest for months! Only because I’ve heard these words, “like crack”, “craft porn”, “instead of ____(fill in laundry, cook, pay attention to kids)”. I just signed up yesterday, already LOVE it. Just getting started, so great tips above, I wasn’t sure how i was going to incorporate my blog.