IT’S SEASON FOUR, EVERYONE! This year we are doing quarterly themes – and I’m so excited to bring you the theme for the second quarter: Business Strategy. I feel like as we go into the second part of 2023, it’s so important to be able to take a look at what you have done so far, and then look to the future as we prep for the rest of the year. Business Strategy is going to encompass social media strategy, hiring practices, internal business structure and more.

Today’s episode is with Kate Ahl, the founder of Simple Pin Media. Together, we are discussing whether or not Pinterest is still worth your time to learn and maximize, how to repurpose content you are already creating, which Pinterest metrics we should really be paying attention to and what the most valuable part of your marketing strategy should be. Find Kate HERE.

Why A Pinterest Marketing Strategy Is STILL Relevant with Kate Ahl

Kate Ahl is the founder of Simple Pin Media. She has been helping businesses discover, learn and master Pinterest marketing for over 7 years. She combines the data learned from working with clients, education from Pinterest, and her knowledge of the platform to help people expand the reach of their business using Pinterest. Her mantra is to keep it simple, be authentic, and Pin with purpose.

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Show Notes

  • What does hustle like a mother mean to you?
    • To me, hustle like a mother means wearing different hats and wearing them well. It’s about how I manage being both a business owner and a mom. I’ve experienced burnout and had to course correct along the way. I don’t work outside the home, and my kids see me as a different kind of mom because I’m always there. But I also know that I can’t manage everything on my own, so I hire help and have a team. Hustle, to me, involves finding balance, demonstrating leadership, and having the drive to seize opportunities, even at odd times. It’s about being flexible.
  • I think people who are just coming into using Pinterest feel overwhelmed by it. Where do you feel like that overwhelm comes from as somebody who works with Pinterest?
    • The overwhelm that people feel when using Pinterest comes from the unknown and not knowing how to use it effectively. There are also many myths surrounding Pinterest that contribute to this feeling of overwhelm. However, Pinterest has been the most consistent platform in the last decade and is the largest traffic driver. Moving people off Instagram, for example, is challenging, but once you understand that Pinterest is more like Google and SEO, it becomes easier to manage and less overwhelming than treating it as just another social media platform.
    • It is a different platform compared to others like Google, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Pinterest is cold, while Instagram is warm. So when you’re trying to figure out which lever to pull to reach people, you need to understand that your goals and strategies should be different for each platform. Pinterest works based on search, and it takes about six to eight months to see the results. It’s not an instant gratification platform like Google and SEO. However, once you invest time and effort into Pinterest, it becomes a valuable tool for driving traffic to your website.
  • When we are looking at our Pinterest account, how do we know if we’re doing well? What are the things that we need to look at?
    • You’re first gonna look through outbound clicks and you’re gonna look for saves. So those are two metrics you always wanna pay attention to because saves indicate future intent. A lot of people will use the monthly viewer number on their profile and they should know that this is a compilation of all stats and it’s on a rolling 30-day scale. And so we hear from people, my monthly views are down. Well, we don’t really ever use that for our clients like ever, ever. So don’t pay attention to it unless you’re doing sponsored content with brands. They look at that, they look at impressions, they look at these like eyeball metrics, but you’re looking at conversion metrics.
    • Pinterest has tried over the years to boost the follower idea, but truthfully followers don’t make much sense. Interest makes more sense, which that’s where you get to with the keyword data. But you can definitely prime your followers to follow you and save something. Especially if you’re just starting out and you wanna kick start it. Let’s say you have a high Instagram presence or you have a high email list. Leverage that to get the boost of growth. But generally you hear from regular pinners, I don’t even know how to follow people – it’s not even really in their concept.
  • What makes a great pin?
    • A great Pinterest pin needs to have an image that stands out or is bold, with a statement or a tease that answers a question. You need to use a buzz statement that has keywords in it because Pinterest has a visual search tool. If you’re not good at creating images, get some templates from people and play around with them. You can AB test by using two different images for a post and seeing how they perform.
  • What about groups? Do they still exist and do we bother using them?
    • People have these group boards and it just got super bloated. So we tell people don’t use group boards unless you have a collaborator that you do this with or you’re in the same industry with. […] Here’s where it broke down because maybe you and I are in different industries and now you are pinning my stuff to a really crappy board, which Pinterest looks at the name of the board, they look at that data. So now it’s just like junk – it gets lost in the wind or they pin it to secret boards.
  • It used to be encouraged that you should pin everything for your business to a specific business board. Do we still pin that way or do we just add pins to hyper-specific boards?
    • Yeah, more hyper-specific, but you still can use a business board. So what Pinterest has said is that they look at the board name, the board description, and the pin descriptions that are in the board to get their data.
  • Tell us about idea pins and story pins and now there’s video pins and there’s all these new things that have come out in the last two years or so on Pinterest. How do we use those too?
    • Pinterest introduced new pin formats in the last two years to keep users engaged on the platform. Initially, there were only two pin formats: video, standard pin, and ads. However, in 2020, Pinterest experienced a surge in user base, partly due to people staying at home and engaging in activities like making sourdough bread. At the same time, TikTok became popular with its short-form videos, and Pinterest realized they needed to retain users within their own ecosystem. To address this, Pinterest created a feature called “story pins,” which is now called “idea pins.” Idea pins were designed to combine the culture of Pinterest, where people learn and discover new things, with short-form video content. Initially, idea pins did not have links, which frustrated users who found engaging content that led nowhere. Pinterest then started paying creators to make idea pins, but even that did not solve the issue. In November of 2022, Pinterest added links to idea pins, addressing the problem of dead-end content.
    • As of 2023, the pin formats available on Pinterest include standard pins, video pins, and idea pins. Video pins are becoming less important, and the recommended formats for organic use are standard pins and idea pins. Leveraging idea pins is beneficial as they offer a different type of interaction with users. Pinterest’s algorithm also takes into account user preferences, so if users click on idea pins, they will be shown more of that content. There is now a watch tab on Pinterest, similar to Reels on Instagram or TikTok, where idea pins can be found.
  • So you talked about your workflow earlier, right? When you guys are doing this, how do you decide whether it’s gonna be a regular pin or an idea pin? How do you make that decision?
    • When we’re deciding whether it’s gonna be a regular pin or an idea pin, it’s always both. So we will always have a standard pin because we see that as the foundation of all of our traffic from Pinterest, especially over the last two years. Yep. So that’s always there. And then we take, and we repurpose actually the raw video from Instagram and we put it into na, we download it before we add anything, any music, any of that stuff on Instagram. Yeah. Then we upload it natively into Pinterest, use all of our features. We also now have a Shopify store. So we’re a verified merchant game changer for us because Pinterest is the only platform that allows you to promote your digital products where Instagram and Facebook do not. And so we can now leverage an idea pin, a product tag, and so that can drive people directly to our products in our e-commerce store. So then obviously from there that Instagram reel or gets repurposed then into shorts, gets repurposed into other methods. But that’s how we do it with Pinterest. It’s always both.
  • As we’re thinking about giving some tangible steps for people to take as they go from the podcast into utilizing this for their brands, what are the top three or four things you would tell people to start with first? What should they do to begin making this work for their business?
    • Spend 30 minutes on the platform, scrolling through your home feed and saving any inspiring pins to a secret board. Take note of what stands out, what inspires you, and what makes you want to click.
    • Write a strategy statement for how you envision leveraging Pinterest for your business. This statement will help you align your efforts and set goals for using the platform effectively.
    • Update your profile and ensure that it is fully connected with your website. Clean up your boards by organizing them, providing clear board names and descriptions.
    • Start creating Pinterest images that build brand awareness. Use tools like Canva to create templates with your desired fonts, colors, and images. Begin by creating Pinterest images for at least ten older posts and aim to pin at least once a day to Pinterest. Focus on getting the hang of standard pins initially.
    • Once you establish a consistent pinning routine, you can explore using idea pins for more creative engagement. Consider following and learning from others who are successfully leveraging idea pins. Evaluate your Pinterest efforts by the end of the year and decide if you want to continue using it in the following year.
  • Any last minute tips you wanna leave us with before we wrap up?
    • Be wary of listening to something that might feel like a myth or something that might feel like a hack. I have been doing Pinterest marketing for nine years and believe me, I’ve tried to find every hack under the sun, there really isn’t one. It’s never really existed for Pinterest. It really just is cut and dry. If you do these things, they work, but there’s no quick win. I’m sorry to say it’s hard. But if you prepare for that, then you’ll be much more successful on the platform.
    • One of the questions we get a lot is how many pins per day. And I think that’s where people get stuck with the calendar of how many to do. It all depends on how much content you have. If you’re somebody who’s been blogging for eight years, you can support 8 to 10 pins per day or even more, right? But if you’re somebody who’s new and you’re like, I’m just starting out, you might not need a scheduling tool and you certainly do not need to fill it up. Because what can happen is when people go to your profile, they see everything you’ve pinned. And if you’ve pinned the same thing 10 times, guess what they’re gonna see.
  • Where do you hang out on the internet? Where can we find you and how can we get in touch with Simple Pin Media?

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