So let me start off this post by saying I’m no expert blogger (clearly) and I don’t assume to know any more about blogging than you do. I also will never presume that what worked for me will work for you. That said, I looked at my Pinterest news feed the other day and noticed that one of my posts has been pinned almost 300 times and some other posts, (like this one, this one and this one), are pinned pretty frequently. While they are by no means ‘viral’ posts, I think those are pretty good stats for a teensy tiny blog like my own.
The best part is that I honestly wasn’t trying.
So I thought why not tell you what worked for me – or what I did on those posts that I didn’t do on other posts.
1. Image is everything – while I may be an inconsistent blogger these days, when I do blog I put effort into making sure my images are nice. I’ve evolved in my blogging over time and now, aside from the writing aspect of my blog, I genuinely enjoy making my posts visually appealing. Evidently it pays off. I’ve noticed that the posts that I put extra work into making nice images are the ones being pinned. Case in point – these five posts are pinned the most:
I’m sure its no coincidence that these are the five posts (here, here, here, here and here) that I spent the most time creating images for – also, its not lost on me that these are all original photos / not stock photographs.
2. Pin the things people want to re-pin – I don’t waste time pinning link ups or random posts. No one is pinning that on Pinterest. So I only pin my posts that have actual info like recipes, planner stuff, beauty and makeup etc. Don’t waste your time flooding your feed with random posts that you know no one wants to read. You see my Erin Condren posts? Well if you google ‘Erin Condren horizontal’ at least one of them is usually on the first or second page and the images are definitely some of the top images for that search on google. Its crazy and its also no wonder people pin them the most – that’s what they want to see!
3. Re-pin to different (but relevant) boards – it’s advisable that you should pin your pins to more than one board. However I would add that you should pin to relevant boards. I use the word relevant because I notice that some people pin random items onto random boards just for the sake of pinning them several times. I get it, you want the pin to be seen, but at the end of the day I use Pinterest as a resource for useful information (and lets be honest, funny stuff). I’d like to think that’s why most people use Pinterest and if I see a recipe in a Beauty board that isn’t very helpful to me, now is it?!
4. Caption this! – From what I’ve seen, a good caption is everything. I have a tendency to just name my posts whatever comes to mind, sometimes its an attempt (and fail) at being witty. I’ve also used boring captions, lines from blog posts etc. I realize however that my posts that have the words ‘recipe’ or ‘how to’ or ‘5 ways to’ get pinned. Sidenote: this does not mean that I plan to post 500 blogs with these names. Nopes. I’m just noting that those blog posts with these captions get more attention.
5. Don’t take it too seriously – … and for heavens sake don’t try too hard – have fun with it. I love Pinterest for the ideas I’ve found there. I’ve loved Pinterest WAY before I even blogged (I had/have another probably now defunct Pinterest account). The number one reason I use it is to look for things – not to promote my blog. I think this attitude has helped – I don’t over pin, I don’t rigidly stick to rules, I just have fun with it.
** I cannot give any stats or info on what the best time of day to pin is or how many boards you should pin to, or anything like that because as I’ve said, I pin when I want and don’t follow strict rules.
I hope this helps, especially smaller blogs like my own. I feel like most of the information out there is geared toward the big blog. Us little guys could use the push too hehe!
Have a great Tuesday guys!!
