Are you ready to make the most of Pinterest as a free search engine for your business? Use these simple tools to create and schedule engaging fresh pins that will help you win on Pinterest in 2020.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I will make a commission at no extra cost to you should you click through and make a purchase. Additionally, I was compensated to create this post. However I genuinely use and love this service. All opinions are my own.
Why Fresh Content Matters
If you read my previous Pinterest post, then you know current best practices on Pinterest favor “fresh content” over repeatedly using the same old image. What’s considered fresh content? Any new image that has never been used on Pinterest before. They want to see a variety of beautiful images that improve the user experience vs. scrolling through the same old image multiple times.
Where To Use Fresh Content
In my previous post, I shared how creating multiple images for each of your new blog posts can help you stay ahead of the Pinterest game.
However, you should also spend time creating new images for your most popular older blog posts and cornerstone content. I recommend starting by updating your most popular posts, as well as those that are currently seasonally appropriate. Then over time you’ll eventually have all of your old content covered with new best practices.
Don’t forget that you can also make pins that lead to your most popular categories, pages, and products too. For example, I’m working to make new pins that lead directly to my WordPress guides, SEO guides, etc.
Additional Tips for Making Fresh Pins
I shared a few examples in my previous post to help you create multiple images for the same content on your site. Remember that you can repurpose the same photograph in multiple ways with creative cropping and text overlays.
Tailwind actually offers free Canva templates to help with this! If you don’t already have a Canva account, here’s a link to a free PRO trial. Here’s a sneak preview of the February templates.
If you don’t have design software or experience, these Canva templates can save you time. I used those templates along with stock photos to create two unique images for this post.
Batch Scheduling
Once you make all of your unique images, you still need to pin them to Pinterest. However, you need to be careful to optimize your pinning strategy for maximum reach. I have seen tons of ways to organize this; everything from secret boards to spreadsheets to post it notes. Personally I need a simple system that works. That’s why I use and highly recommend Tailwind.
For those of you who are totally new to Tailwind, it’s a scheduler for Instagram and/or Pinterest, but it is also so much more. Tailwind lets me automatically re-schedule my pins on an endless loop, participate in niche “tribes” for sharing great pins, and easily pin right from my Chrome browser. It’s seriously so fast! I can batch a week’s worth of pinning in about 15 minutes, which is so important as a busy work-at-home-momma who works in small pockets of time.
So how do you organize your pins? Here’s my method:
- First, pin my best image to my most relevant board on Pinterest.
- Then I use Tailwind to reschedule that same image/pin out to a few other relevant boards. I usually pin to 2-3 additional boards, as appropriate for my post topic. The best part? Tailwind has interval pinning that will automatically space out the pins to avoid spam. Super cool feature.
- Finally, I go back and pin my additional images to Pinterest in the same way, starting with my most relevant board and then using the interval scheduler to re-pin over time.
Smart Guide
While you’re working to update your pins, it’s also important to make sure you are NOT spamming your boards. That’s where SmartGuide comes into play. Because Tailwind is an official Pinterest partner, they are always up to date on best practices for pinning.
SmartGuide will monitor your pinning and alert you of potential road bumps before your account is flagged. This will make sure that you get the highest possible reach on Pinterest by optimizing your schedule.
Here’s an example of SmartGuide at work, checking to make sure you’re pinning a variety of images at appropriate intervals.
Look what happens when you get a little pin-crazy… SmartGuide warns you that you’re looking spammy. How amazing is that??
In a time when you’re working to “catch up” with new images or promote your seasonally appropriate material, it can be easy to get caught up with your pinning. SmartGuide is there to make sure you’re doing it right.
Grab Your Free Trial
Ready to try Tailwind? Instagram and Pinterest features are separate paid services, so you can opt to use one or both. Rest assured that Tailwind is an official Pinterest and Instagram Partner. This is so, so, so important! You can trust that using Tailwind is 100% safe and up-to-date on best practices for each platform.
You can get a completely free trial for your first 100 scheduled Pins or 30 scheduled Instagram Posts. I love that this is based on your activity, not a timeline, so you don’t feel like you need to rush through a free trial before deciding. You can take your time deciding if Tailwind is a good fit for you, but I’m pretty sure you’ll fall in love too.
