I’m a numbers person. And a private person.
Over the years, since I started blogging in 2003, I’ve become a private person online. And, learnt to keep opinions to myself. I deactivated my personal Facebook account a couple of years ago, so now I’m really not privy to whose dog is when and where, or how much one scored in a Grade 1 test.
Where am I getting with this rant?
Social media, in general, and Pinterest, in specific. Social media, whether I like it or not, is an important piece of the puzzle in this game. The brands I collaborate with are more interested in how many eyeballs a particular post received. Social media is a double edged sword. Tease it, crack it, and it will catapult you into limelight. One misstep, it is so unforgiving that it can be the end of all your hard work. Not to mention the psychological impact.
The analytics did not mean much to me, until recently. That is, when I started digging in the numbers to realize that Pinterest was driving tons of traffic to the blog. Much more than Facebook or the miniscule amount from Instagram. Funny that the medium I spent so little thought and time on contributed to over 75% of the social media traffic. It was an icing on the cake. A real example of do what you love doing and the results will follow.
The traffic grew from 90,000 in early 2017 to over 732,200 in 2018.
WHAT IS IT THAT I LIKE SO MUCH ABOUT PINTEREST
Pinterest was the only app I have had on my phone for years now.
Visual medium:
It’s a truly visual medium where the picture is worth a thousand words. You are also not influenced by the number of likes or comments on a picture.
Project planning:
You may not believe it if I say that all the items I intended on purchasing for our home or the looks were pinned and curated on Pinterest. Room by room. I still do it for every project.
A little less conversation:
The hashtag culture is less prevalent on Pinterest as comments and descriptions are not displayed prominently. It’s the pictures that take the center stage and one is not distracted or influenced by other things.
HOW MY PINTEREST TRAFFIC GREW 350%
There are a few things I have doing differently this past year that I like to believe has contributed to this meteoric rise. It was not conscious, though. I’m going to give you a little insight behind what I have been doing:
1. Be consistent
I pin consistently. Every day. No matter what. There’s always something inspiring. If I have a packed schedule, then I schedule the pins for days ahead using an app.
2. Be true
I do not go by what pins have garnered more impressions or repins or shares. If it appeals to my aesthetics, it gets pinned on my board.
3. Organize the boards
One of the things I did about a year ago was to delete unused boards, and organize them the way it would be easier for me to refer to.
4. Create rich pins
These pins are among the most popular ones last month. Rich pins are often self-sufficient explaining what the picture is about.
5. Use Pinterest-friendly dimensions
The cover image of every post is Pinterest-friendly. This means these images use the dimension that is best viewed on Pinterest. Here are some examples:
