1. Optimize Your Pinterest Profile
The first step towards getting followers on Pinterest is profile optimization. You want to attract Pinterest users that will engage with your Pins via clicks, saves, and comments. To ensure that your Pinterest audience will love your Pins, optimize your profile to be found by the right Pinterest users with SEO keyword optimization.
The same keywords used by your search marketing team to increase visibility for your website for search can be used to do the same on both Google and Pinterest. Read more on how you can optimize all aspects of your Pinterest presence – profiles, boards, Pins, etc.
2. Find Out What Your Target Audience Likes
Pinterest users typically follow other users because they like the Pins that user shares. Find your competitors on Pinterest. In addition to your traditional market competitors, analyze any account that appears at the top of search results for your target keywords and phrases. Look at the users whose content appears at the top for relevant interest categories.
You are looking for the types of Pinterest content your ideal customers/audience are most engaged with – both unique content and popular content shares/repins. You also want to gauge the frequency at which your competitors are posting and their schedule. These can serve as inspiration for your Pinterest content strategy, ways to organize your boards, and how to write your profile bio.
3. Add a Pinterest Link to Your Website
Header and footer links using a simple social media icon is a common way for businesses to display their top social media links. You can find the official Pinterest logo on the Pinterest for Business brand marketing resources page.
Pinterest also offers Follow buttons and website widgets. These encourage your website visitors to follow your account and displays your latest Pins.
Some website plugins allow you to take a more direct approach to building your following. OptinMonster for WordPress allows you to prompt website visitors to follow you on Pinterest with a pop up.
No matter what method you choose, be sure to let your website visitors know you are active on Pinterest. If they aren’t ready to buy just yet, they can follow you and keep getting reminded about your brand until they are ready to make a purchase.
4. Add Pinterest to Your Other Profiles
As you are creating or updating profiles and pages on other social networks, see if you can add Pinterest to your other social network or website links. This will help your fans on other networks discover your Pinterest account.
Below, you can see how to add Pinterest to your Facebook profile. This should help you get Pinterest followers for your business from your personal profile.
5. Connect to Instagram, Etsy, and Youtube
Pinterest allows business accounts to claim/link their Instagram, Etsy, and Youtube. You can find this option under your Pinterest account settings.
By claiming your accounts, Pinterest can attribute any Pins of your Instagram, Etsy, or Youtube content to your Pinterest profile. When people Pin your content from those sources, they will be prompted to follow you on Pinterest.
6. Create a Call to Action to Follow
If your primary goal is to get Pinterest followers, don’t just assume other Pinterest users will follow you. Tell them why they should follow you in your bio and on your Pins. A simple “Follow us for more home decor inspiration.” could help you grow your audience with the right users.
You can go another step and add a “Follow us on Pinterest @username” on the unique images you Pin to your account or on Pinnable images from your website. This would help you gain visibility for your account anywhere the image is shared beyond Pinterest.
7. Pin Daily
When you post Pins that are optimized for search consistently, you increase the likelihood that Pinterest users will find you in search, under related interest categories, and on their home newsfeed. The best way to ensure that you publish high quality Pins on a daily basis, you need to plan with an easy to follow social media content calendar.
From there, add Pinterest to your daily publishing routine. If you use MeetEdgar, you can add Pinterest to your account and start scheduling posts to Pinterest from the same interface as you do your Facebook, Twitter, and other posts.
The key is to focus on quality. Pinterest wants to provide a great experience for their users, and to do so, they design their algorithm to see content that will perform well in terms of engagement. If your content drives engagement, Pinterest will feature it more often in newsfeeds where new audiences can discover and follow your profile.
Each doesn’t have to be brand new. You can go back through your Pinterest stats to find a high performing Pin from the past to repeat again for new followers and more exposure beyond your audience with hashtags.
8. Repin Relevant Content from Other Users
Pinterest isn’t all about creating content from scratch. Find Pinterest users who share content your audience would love, but not content that competes with your business. It allows you to add to your Pinterest posting frequency without forcing you to create original content nonstop.
9. Capitalize on Trends
Pinterest shares monthly trends and annual predictions to help Pinterest marketers plan their content strategy. You can also use free tools like Google Trends and trends from other social networks, like Twitter. If you can find trends that match your audience’s interests, you can post content to engage them and attract new Pinterest followers.
10. Cross Post Pins to Other Social Profiles
How do you get followers on Pinterest from other social networks? Cross post your best Pins of the day to your Twitter, Facebook, and other social platforms where you have an established audience.
You can also schedule regular posts to other social networks to let your new followers and fans know you are on Pinterest too. These are easy types of posts to set and forget, yet benefit from greatly as you use them to build your audience across multiple networks.
11. Use All of the Features
Spend time each day using the platform. As you browse Pinterest categories and search results related to your business, save and comment on other Pins. Reply to direct messages people have sent. Besides just posting Pins, this is the way to signal to Pinterest that you are an active and engaged user that should be recommended to others to follow.
12. Verify Your Domain
When you add your website to your Pinterest profile, take the time to verify it with Pinterest. As others Pin content from your website, those Pins will be linked to your profile so Pinterest can suggest those users follow you.
Verification will also allow you to review statistics for Pins from your website. This can help you craft content that drives more engagement from Pinterest users and optimize more content on your website to attract Pinners.
13. Create Pinnable Content for Rich Pins from Your Website
Once your domain is verified, focus on creating at least one Pinnable image for every page, post, support doc, etc. on your website. If you have a lot of website content without images, start by updating the content with the most traffic. As more website visitors are encouraged to Pin your images, you will begin to see more traffic from Pinterest. And with a claimed domain, you will grow your followers as well.
To ensure Pins from your website have the widest reach possible, optimize the Pin title and description with keywords and phrases your target audience searches for on Pinterest. Do this by using the Pinterest Save button and customizing the Pin details. Although website visitors don’t have to use this information when they save your Pin, it increases the chance that your chosen keywords are included in the Pin.
14. Embed Pins Into Your Website Content
Another way to gain Pinterest followers from your website content? Embed Relevant Pins from your profile within your blog content. You can use the Pin or Board widget to add your Pinterest content. The Board widget, like the Profile widget, includes a button encouraging Pinterest users to follow it.
15. Thank People Who Pin Your Content
Each time you see someone share your content on Pinterest, whether they are saving your Pins or Pinning images from your website, take the time to comment. Your fans will appreciate a simple “Thanks for sharing” from their favorite business.
The positive response will likely encourage that user to share your content again and again. Word of mouth marketing is a valuable way to get more Pinterest followers.
Another way to thank them? Share their Pins with your audience on other social networks. If you tweet a Pin from a fan and mention their @username, you may get them to follow you there as well. The same could work for sharing Pins on Facebook and tagging the user on Facebook.
16. Follow Active, Engaged Users
Common following strategies usually include finding the users with the largest number of followers. A large number of followers doesn’t mean a user will engage with your content. Instead of looking for users with large numbers, look for users who engage on relevant content.
As you explore the top Pins of the day, follow the Pinterest users who leave positive comments. Those are the type of people who may follow your account and engage with your content. The more engagement, the higher the visibility and chance of being discovered throughout Pinterest.
17. Comment on Your Followers Pins
How do you get more followers through commenting on your followers Pins? If your followers have a community of like-minded Pinterest users, they Amy click through to your profile and follow after you leave a valuable comment.
The key in any commenting strategy to grow your audience is to only comment when you have something valuable to contribute. You want to be seen as an active and engaged user who wants to be a part of the community, not as another business/marketing spammer.
18. Engage with Your Commenters
Conversations are a two way street. Don’t leave a Pinterest user hanging with unanswered questions in the comments for too long – competitors may see this as an opportunity to swoop in and impress your potential customers.
You can also push the engagement level of your own posts by prompting commenters for a response. Especially the ones who leave a “Great Pin” or similarly ambiguous comment. Even if you don’t receive a response, the next Pinterest user who wants to engage will be more likely to jump in the comments.
Another good reason to develop better discussions is tagging. People involved in a good discussion on social media – including Pinterest – may tag other users to join in. Those users may love the discussion so much that they follow your profile for more.
19. Pin to Group Boards
If you search Google for Pinterest group boards to join, you will find many lists of suggestions by niche, like the 171 Pinterest Group Boards for Bloggers or Ultimate List of Pinterest Group Boards. When you join group boards, you can share your Pins with a larger audience. The popularity of your Pins and Pins from other users in the group should boost visibility for everyone who participates, allowing you to attract new followers.
Be sure to follow the group board rules. While some allow unlimited curated content, others will have rules that limit you to a certain number of original content Pins per day. Adhere to these rules so that moderators of the board and other collaborators continue to welcome your business’s content.
After you deliver engaging content on a consistent basis, check your direct messages. You will start to see invites to join other group boards.
You can create/join up to 2,000 boards, so aim for the ones that have engagement and recent activity in your niche. The more active other collaborators are, the more likely they and other board followers are to follow your account.
20. Add Pincodes to Offline Marketing Materials
Don’t forget to include offline marketing materials in your quest to build Pinterest followers. Business cards, brochures, postcards, direct mail flyers, magazine ads, TV, and radio ads can all include a nod to follow your business on Pinterest.
Pincodes allow you to connect other Pinterest users with your account. You can create yours by going to your Pinterest profile on the Pinterest app and tapping on your profile photo.
21. Advertise
Pinterest allows businesses to promote their Pins to reach audiences beyond their followers through Pinterest Ads. Ads can be created with several objectives. To get followers on Pinterest, choose Brand Awareness.
Once you have configured additional details about your ad, you can target your ad for a specific audience using interests, keywords, and basic demographics. Match your ad audience targeting to your company’s audience persona. By showing your ad to smaller, but more targeted audiences, you have a better chance of achieving a high return on investment by converting ad viewers into followers.
22. Post Story Pins
Once Pinterest gives your business access to Pinterest Story Pins, take advantage of the new feature as soon as possible. Most social networks give additional exposure to Pinterest users with active accounts and engaged users when you use new features.
To get access, you can request Story Pins for business accounts by logging into your account and requesting an invite here. While you wait, be sure to update your phone to the latest version of your OS and update the Pinterest app when updates become available. They quote five to seven days to review your request, but in many cases, you will be approved in 24 hours.
Bonus: Should You Buy Followers
There are several cases for and against buying followers on any social network, including Pinterest. In some cases, users with large followings get access to new features faster. A social account with a large following and quality content also appears more authoritative than others with smaller audiences.
On the other hand, most social networks purge bots, fake users, and misinformation spreaders. Since many services that sell followers use bots and fake accounts, the chances of you keeping your newly purchased numbers long term is slim.
Another concern with paid for followers is the lack of engagement. Paying for followers simply increases your follower count. It doesn’t increase engagement since the paid followers may not be real.
Pinterest may look at your accounts number of followers in relation to how engaged they are with your content. If your content isn’t getting engagement, it’s less likely to be shown in the newsfeed. Thus, your paid followers won’t be helping you achieve other business objectives through your Pinterest marketing.
In Conclusion
While many of the above mentioned methods of growing your Pinterest audience can take time before you’d receive noticeable results, they ensure you are growing an engaged, quality following. Users who will follow you, engage with your content, and actually help you gain more visibility amongst Pinterest users.
Ready to get more followers on Pinterest? Find out how to use MeetEdgar to publish consistent, high-quality content to attract your target audience.
