#224: What is This Pinterest Secret That Drives Free Traffic?

Want to know this Pinterest secret that drives free traffic?

In today’s episode of The Blogger Genius Podcast, I’m talking to Laura Rike, Pinterest powerhouse, as she shares how she’s able to get serious traffic by using a combination of Pinterest Trends and Pinterest boards as “pop-up shops.”

I had never thought of Pinterest like this, using boards that rotate with the seasons and the trends. But I think she’s onto something.

We talk about:

• How to figure out what’s going to be trending in 30-60 days
• How to plan your pins and blog posts accordingly
• The number of pins to create
• How to schedule your pins
• How to cycle your content
• How to show and hide boards at different intervals

If you are looking give your Pinterest traffic a boost, don’t miss this episode.

Show Notes:

• MiloTree Easy Payments
• Join The Blogger Genius Newsletter
• MiloTree Pop-Up App
• MiloTree Blog Post Checklist
• Become a Blogger Genius Facebook Group
• All Blogger Genius Podcast Episodes
• Catch My Party
• Laura Rike
• Pinterest Trends
• Tailwind

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Intro 0:04
Welcome to the Blogger Genius Podcast brought to you by MiloTree. Here’s your host, Jillian Leslie.

Jillian Leslie 0:11
Hello, my friends. Welcome back to the Blogger Genius Podcast. I am your host, Jillian Leslie. And before I get started, I wanted to read an iTunes review. So this is what somebody wrote, I was so touched.

“I’ve been a student of Jillian’s for many years learning from her podcast, blog, Facebook group and other trainings. If anyone wants to uplevel their business knowledge, get ready to soak it all up. I highly recommend Jillian and all of her products.”

Wow, thank you so much for that review. If you’re liking the podcast, do you mind pausing it right now and heading to iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and just give it five stars. That way other people can find it and I can continue to bring you such awesome guests.

And I would be so appreciative. And I might even read a review. If you leave a review. I might even read it online.

For today’s episode, I have Laura Rike on the show. She calls herself a Pinterest powerhouse. And I have to say I think that this episode is really powerful because she has a whole strategy that I think you will be really impressed with.

What she is using is Pinterest Trends to guide her. And then she’s using her boards almost as pop-up shops. I’m sure you’re going, “What?” Which is what I was thinking when she was first laying out this strategy.

If you are feeling confused by Pinterest, if Pinterest is important to your business. If you want a new way to think about Pinterest content, this is the episode for you. So without further delay, here is my interesting interview with Laura Rike.

Laura, welcome to the show.

Laura Rike 2:10
Thank you so much.

Becoming a Pinterest Strategist

Jillian Leslie 2:12
We were just talking about it. You call yourself a Pinterest strategist and a Pinterest coach. Will you explain how you got into Pinterest? What you do? Where your business is now?

Laura Rike 2:27
Yeah, of course, I actually did not start out even thinking about Pinterest. I started out as a virtual assistant. I was in school, going for marketing. And it kind of just happened.

I had an internship. And they hired me on virtually. They were out of California and I was like, “Whoa, I could do this, I could be a VA.” So I did that. And I did that for many years.

And I now have three kids back then I only had one and I was already burned out. I felt like I was pulled in so many different directions. And I didn’t really have the sense of okay, this is my purpose.

This is what I’m supposed to be doing. And this is like allowing time for my family as well. And so, I started stepping back and looking at what I really loved to do. I have a background in graphic design. That was my minor in school.

And so I started helping my VA clients with Pinterest. Back when it was invite only.

Jillian Leslie 3:38
I remember those days.

Laura Rike 3:40
Yes, I know the fun days. But we started seeing results. And it was fun for me to be able to put that design with something that I loved doing. So I started trying to and I say trying to very heavily break into only Pinterest.

And I had a lot of mindset around that where I shouldn’t exclude this money coming in or things like that. So it took a few years. But now since I’ve been doing Pinterest only.

Like I told you a few minutes ago, I live, eat and breathe Pinterest and my family loves it because it’s opened up so many opportunities for me, for my clients. For my family. It’s been really great.

Jillian Leslie 4:31
I feel like though recently within the last, let’s say two years, Pinterest has become more of a roller coaster. All of a sudden in Facebook groups you started seeing, “Wait, I’m not getting the traffic that I used to get”. And I’ve interviewed so many bloggers, who backed into a business.

They started putting pins up on Pinterest. Traffic magically started showing up and they were like, “Whoa, I can get into an ad network. I could start making money with this.”

And I feel like those windows have closed. And today, it’s much more about being intentional. It’s no longer like, I’m just taking photos and whoa, look at all this traffic.

Laura Rike 5:13
I don’t know that I would say that the windows have closed.

Jillian Leslie 5:16
Okay.

Laura Rike 5:16
But I do 100% agree with you that it has to be way more intentional. I think the days of enjoying the sit back and relax, have my images skyrocketing dwindled. I don’t want to say they’re gone. Because again, you can still have those legacy pins that are helping. But I do think that there has to be the intentions behind it.

I don’t think that’s just Pinterest either I think that’s a lot of business. With everything that’s happened in the past two to three years. I think that everybody is realizing your intentions about what you want to do. And the strategy about how you go about it has drastically changed.

And so, I think Pinterest is just really on par with that. And as long as your intention is not, I don’t want to say lazy.

Jillian Leslie 6:14
It’s like kind of scattered shot.

Laura Rike 6:16
Yes, I say pin and pray. I’m not just going to throw it up there and say come in.

What Is the One Pinterest Strategy That Drives Free Traffic?

Jillian Leslie 6:22
And also, it was pin and repin and just make a bunch of boards and look at this magic traffic. And it didn’t end. Today it is not like that. So can you explain to me the paths, Pinterest they’re now a business, they’re a public company, they need to be making money.

How they see their business and how you as a creator can have success on Pinterest. And there are different kinds of people on Pinterest now pinning and creating content.

Laura Rike 6:58
For sure. So, I think Pinterest really sees itself as a business as well. And so, I think a lot of times they are focused on the Creator first, which I still believe is there because they are constantly asking for feedback and constantly trying to make changes to help as much as possible.

Jillian Leslie 7:20
Because I would say creators have felt abandoned on Pinterest. It’s kind of fun to vent about Pinterest in Facebook groups.

Laura Rike 7:30
And so that’s been a big challenge for me, I’m not privy to all of the rants that are in Facebook group, because I tried to keep myself out of that. And the reason is not because I’m a Pinterest manager or have an agency that I run Pinterest for.

I stay out of that, because I’ve really learned in the past couple of years. And we’ll get back to your question here in a second. But the more that I focus on the negative, and the more that I focus on that frustrating pieces, the less headspace and the less time I have to focus on what’s actually going to bring future success.

Jillian Leslie 8:14
Future success you would say money?

Laura Rike 8:14
Yes, money. And that can be in terms of traffic, that can be in terms of digital sales, whatever that business is, for these creators, I think they get wrapped up in he said, she said, and they’re in these Facebook groups, because that’s originally what worked.

Four years ago, five years ago, you were in this group. And everybody was sharing, this is what’s working on Pinterest. And hey, let’s do these repin threads. And so, they’re still in these groups with the hopes that somehow this magic is going to come back.

Changes on Pinterest from 2018 to 2022

And I think focusing on the past is really holding them back from seeing what can bring new success for them in the future. And so, thinking about the frustrations. Constantly I am trying to help my clients and my students see you can’t compare your analytics to 2018 and 2022.

And be frustrated at the fact that maybe you’re only 2/3 of the traffic that you got back in 2018. Because the platform is not the same. The platform has changed so much that the comparison can’t be the same.

And so, I think don’t focus on what he said, she said. Don’t focus on the negative, look for the windows of opportunity of this is what’s working. This is how to do it quickly.

This is how to do it efficiently and focus on those things so that you can keep yourself in that mindset of positivity around the platform, so that you continually are grateful for the traffic you get and the sales you get.

Jillian Leslie 10:09
Free traffic.

Laura Rike 10:10
Yes, it’s free.

Jillian Leslie 10:11
Let’s talk about what is working. And let’s talk about it from the perspective of, I am a blogger who wants traffic or I want sales, I have a shop, I sell digital goods, that person, I want traffic. And also, oh, I’m a Pinterest creator, and I want to just hang out on that platform.

And they have a creator fund, and they can pay me and stuff like that. So let’s start though, with where I think more people in my audience are, which is I want traffic from Pinterest. How do I do that?

Secrets for Using Pinterest Trends to Drive More Free Traffic From Pinterest

Laura Rike 10:41
Of course. So, I think the biggest thing, and I know if you have been on the platform before, you know that they have the trends.pinterest.com if not check it out, because it’s amazing. And you can basically future predict what people are going to search for.

So if I went on it now, and I said, what should I be planning my blogging content, no matter what niche, even for myself, I use it. I can figure out anything from 60 to 90 days out because it will future predict what happened previously.

And let me tell you, even Pinterest predicts, it was like 8 or 9 out of 10 of them correct last year. So they really know their stuff in terms of what the platform has done, and what to expect going forward. So, I always look at that.

New Pinterest Trends Strategy

And I think the insider tip that people are missing is I create boards, and I hide them. But I use the future key phrases and longtail keywords that are going to be ranking. So if I’m looking today, and it’s going to rank in, say 90 to 120 days, I’ll create that board today.

And I will start creating pins and content to put on that board. So that in 30 days, I unarchive that board, and then I’m recycling that content that I put out the past 30 days, that’s going to be ranking in the next 60 to 90 days.

Jillian Leslie 12:28
Let’s break it down. Give me an example. You go to let’s say what is a trend that you have seen here on trends.pinterest.com?

Laura Rike 12:37
I’m going to pull it up right now so that we can get an actual example. I think really, to easily put that is basically pre plan your content out longer than three months. So that you can really figure it out.

Right now on Pinterest trends, they say a surging trend that is really starting to take off right now is firepit designs. So that is great if you already have content that can go with fire pit designs, because that’s already trending and surging right now.

Jillian Leslie 13:18
So therefore, I needed to have pinned my fire pit design content 30 to 60 days ago that if I do it today, it’s too late.

Laura Rike 13:29
It might still index in time, but you have to keep in mind that with Pinterest being a long game, if you’re not giving the algorithm enough time to see that you are using the right keywords and the right design and you have engagement on your account. You might miss the mark.

You may get a little bit from it. But right, you should focus on what’s coming up.

Jillian Leslie 13:56
On trends.pinterest.com it will tell me what is coming up?

Laura Rike 14:02
Yes, if you search let’s just say that we’re going to do dinner recipes. That’s super easy and super broad. But if I do dinner recipes and I want to know what’s coming up, what’s another holiday we have coming up?

Jillian Leslie 14:18
July 4th. Barbecues. Summer barbecues.

Laura Rike 14:22
Perfect. We’re going to type in summer barbecue. There we go summer barbecue party, summer barbecued side dishes. I’m going to pull up some of these so that I can compare. And the other thing that you want to do on trends is make sure you don’t just have one word that you’re looking at.

You want to have multiple of the same type of phrase. Because if you just look at say summer barbecue side dishes, you only have one graph to go off of. So it could look like that is an amazing keyword. When then if you type in summer barbecue, maybe it blows that other one out of the water.

Jillian Leslie 15:06
In terms of traffic.

Laura Rike 15:07
In terms of traffic. So, what I did is I compared summer barbecue side dishes and summer barbecue food. In my mind, food is general. And that would take over more searches and trend more. That’s not the case, summer barbecue side dishes as of June 6, and July 6, even after 4th of July, takes off.

It’s almost double of summer barbecue food. But what I can see and I so wish I can show you this. But maybe I’ll take a screenshot and I can give that to you so you can see exactly.

Jillian Leslie 15:50
And I’ll put it in the show notes. I would love it, please. Yes.

Laura Rike 15:53
So what we can see here is the week ending April 27th, is really when these two keywords start to trend. And so anywhere from April 27th. Then it starts to drop down July 13th is your window.

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And now back to the show.

Jillian Leslie 17:02
So, let’s talk strategy. So today, you say I am going to target summer barbecue side dishes. And let’s say you’ve got some side dishes on your blog that could work and you say I’m going to create a roundup of my eight recipes. That could be summer barbecue side dishes. So today, you say I’m going to write that blog post.

And again, one thing that I recommend is doing roundups of your own posts. And so you’ve got corn salad and potato salad, and who knows rolls and whatever. And so today, you create that blog post then let’s say you’re creating how many pins for this blog post.

How Many Pins Should You Create Per Blog Post?

Laura Rike 17:49
So I like to create anywhere from five to seven pins for that one blog post.

Jillian Leslie 17:57
All different?

Laura Rike 17:57
Yes. And that was my next thing is because I love to do everything completely different. So the design is different. The collage style is different, the title is different. So maybe I say summer barbecue side dishes, and maybe I say barbecue side dishes or summer barbecue dishes.

And I play off of some of these different phrases, all leading to that same blog post.

Jillian Leslie 18:25
Are you researching those phrases in trends?

Laura Rike 18:28
Yes.

Jillian Leslie 18:28
So you’re not just randomly coming up with things?

Laura Rike 18:31
No, no, no. So there is a ton of them. When we go on to here and you do summer barbecue. It’s pulling up barbecue party, barbecue outfits, summer salads, for barbecue, backyard barbecue salads, there’s this whole list that you can go through.

And so I like to utilize those as long as it’s in the roundup or in the blog post to create different designs that will lead back to that same one URL blog. And so because this is already going to start trending, April 27th, that’s 30 days, literally a little bit more than 30 days from today.

Jillian Leslie 19:17
So explain then let’s say you’ve made seven pins for this post. So you’ve optimized the posts for SEO. You’ve done a good job creating this roundup post. You’ve now created seven static pins, or are you creating video pins? What are you doing?

Static Pins Still Bring the Most Traffic on Pinterest

Laura Rike 19:35
Ooh, good question. So, I start off with static pins. Because that’s what’s going to bring in the most traffic. That is the original what I like to call the OG of the traffic. So I start there. I am going to create a new board with the highest trending key phrase.

Because I’m focusing on summer barbecue side dishes, that’s going to be my main board. Because the relevancy of what I’m going to pin to that board for this blog post is going to be astronomically helpful in terms of ranking, indexing and keywords.

Jillian Leslie 20:19
You mean, the naming of the board? And then also the description of the board?

Laura Rike 20:25
Yes.

Jillian Leslie 20:25
So you’re going to use all of those keywords without keyword stuffing making it readable for humans. So you’re going to put all of those keywords written well.

Laura Rike 20:36
In a conversation.

Jillian Leslie 20:37
In the description, so you then you’re making this board?

Laura Rike 20:41
Yes.

Jillian Leslie 20:42
You have seven today. And you are archiving it or making it a secret board.

Laura Rike 20:48
So because we’re only 30 days out for this key phrase, I’m not going to make it a secret board. I’m going to leave it open. Now, if it was longer, I would say 60 days are out. That’s when I make it secret. Because then I will unarchive it or unmake it secret 30 days prior.

So that way, the pins have already been out there. The pins have already been on the board that I’m going to put on there. And then I can cycle in new ones.

Jillian Leslie 21:19
Got it. So it’s not archived, or it’s not secret right now, today. What is the pin? So now have you gone live with the blog post?

The “Pop Up Shop” Board Strategy on Pinterest

Laura Rike 21:31
Yes. Yes. The blog post is live. The board is live. The descriptions are live. I’m going to post my first pin right now today. And I would love that first pin for you guys to utilize that same keyword phrase on that first design. So summer barbecue side dishes, because again, we’re going for the relevancy.

Everything needs to be super relevant to what we’re saving. And so I prefer Tailwind. I’ve been on the backend of Tailwind. I love them. I know that they’re super helpful. So, I will put that first pin on Tailwind to go out today to my summer barbecue side dishes board. And then I will set the interval to be anywhere from 7 to 14 days.

Jillian Leslie 22:26
For that was one pin going to other boards?

Laura Rike 22:30
Yes. Going to the other relevant boards.

Jillian Leslie 22:33
So, that’s summer party ideas.

Laura Rike 22:35
Yes. This is when you look for other boards that you’ve had that are already active, that can still be relevant. So summer food, summer parties, any day side dishes, those are still going to be relevant. But it’s this first board that I want to be more specific on.

Jillian Leslie 22:57
Got it.

Laura Rike 22:58
And so these are like pop-up shops, if you think about them. The reason I’m doing this is because this is my pop- up shop board. I want Pinterest to know I have relevant content that is going to be trending right now. And so, I can still utilize all those old boards, quote unquote, “old” but use them in the intervals.

And so then I’ll go back in.

Jillian Leslie 23:28
So this one pin you’re scheduling it every seven days to go. So first into the most relevant pop-up shop, and then into your other boards. So every seven days that’s going to get pinned. But now what about pin two that you’ve created where’s that going?

Laura Rike 23:45
I’ll go back in and I like to wait anywhere from I’ll say, this is not a hard and fast rule. But I’ll say anywhere, if it’s a trend right now, which this is five to eight days.

Jillian Leslie 24:01
This is the second pin?

Laura Rike 24:02
For the second pin. Because again, back in the old times of Pinterest, you would put this one pin out on all the boards right away or you would do it one today, one tomorrow, one the next day. We don’t do that anymore.

But as long as you keep the titles different, the designs different, the descriptions different. It’s going to show up as a fresh pin.

I still however, do not want to do it back-to-back because I’m not trying to game the system. I’m not trying to push out this one blog. As bloggers we have tons of content. So, I’m just trying to utilize what Pinterest is telling me the audience wants.

Jillian Leslie 24:48
Now here’s the thing. The math though, starts to fall apart because I’ve got 30 days to support this pin. But I’ve got seven pins. So if I’m waiting five to seven days between pins, I’m going to miss the trend, the trend is going to peak. And I’ve still got new pins.

How to Space Out Your Pin Schedule on Pinterest

Laura Rike 25:08
No, because this trend doesn’t peak until the end of or mid-July.

Jillian Leslie 25:15
Got it. So I’ve got a while.

Laura Rike 25:17
You still have a while.

Jillian Leslie 25:17
So, I’m beating it. I’m beating it.

Laura Rike 25:20
So, that’s a good point to make is the 30 days has to be before the start of the trend.

Jillian Leslie 25:27
So I can beat it.

Laura Rike 25:28
I am waiting for the index to pick up and say this is what she has, it indexes it and then as it’s trending, people will start to find it. So you are playing that game of feeding your boards, feeding the algorithm, getting it to index getting it to show up.

And then when this trend starts to surge, you’re going to be the one that showing up on top. Because you’ve done all the steps pre planning, where someone else comes in and says, “Oh, my gosh, summer barbecue side dishes is trending today, July 6th, I should put my blog out there.” And then they don’t get that build up.

Jillian Leslie 26:07
Now for a while then. So, I like the idea of the pop-up shop that works for me, I got my pop-up shop. But in 14 days, I only have two pins in it. It’s not this big robust board. Is that a problem? Do I want to seed it with other content that I have?

Maybe I have some recipes because remember, I’m doing a roundup of my own content. So those pins are out there for other recipes. Do I want to start to populate this board or do I not care? Because at the end of this run, I’ve only got seven pins in there.

Laura Rike 26:53
So, I’m going to answer this in two parts. One, if you have relevant content that can go on to this pop-up board, absolutely. It’s not a big deal if you only have a few pins to it, it’s not going to show as an issue in my eyes, and here’s the second part.

When this trend starts to trail off, it starts at for these words, July 13th. And then it completely drops off. It looks like August 31st. And so when that happens, this is another insider tip, you’re going to archive that you’re not going to delete it. So then, you know now, April 27th. It’s starting up again,

Jillian Leslie 27:47
Now why do I want to archive it versus just leave it out there?

Why Do You Archive Your Boards?

Laura Rike 27:53
Because you’re going to want to focus on the new pop-up shops that you’re going to be doing, you’re going to focus on other ones that you can get more specifically relevant. If you keep up these ones. It takes up more headspace, so to speak, in terms of your boards.

So if you start doing pop-up shops for all these keywords, you’re going to have so many boards that you’re not going to have this clear cut direction, one for your audience and two for the algorithm. So I like to just archive it, but don’t delete it.

Because now you know, April 27th is when it starts again. So you can put it in your calendar to come back March 1st, unarchived it and go back in with new content again.

Jillian Leslie 28:42
Interesting. So for somebody, I’d say I’m a blogger, and let’s say I’m a food blogger. How many of these trends do you recommend I be following through the year? Because you’re right, it could explode. And I could have like 30,000 trends that I’m going after. Do you recommend, say one a month? Do you recommend more than that?

So that I know next year to turn this board back on. How many of these pins do you have running in the background?

Look at Pinterest Trends Monthly

Laura Rike 29:22
For my clients in our agency, we look at trends reports monthly for a couple of different reasons. One, because I want to know that what we found last month that we’re planning on creating next month is still on trend, that something didn’t happen or go bump in the night.

The other reason is because keywords are going to change. So just because someone said summer barbecue side dishes was the highest search this year. That doesn’t mean that next year it’s going to be summer barbecue dishes.

And so then what I can do is instead of creating a whole new board, I can go in and update my archived board to summer barbecue dishes, drop the side, and then unarchive it, and I’ll still be within the trends.

Jillian Leslie 30:15
Got it.

Laura Rike 30:15
So you’re not necessarily always going to be creating these new pop up shops, if you’ve already started doing it, you could alter them to mix with what’s going to happen. A few years ago, when COVID had hit, we had people that were like, “Oh, my gosh, my traffic tanked.”

Essentially, it didn’t tank for those that spent time looking at these keywords. Because I had people come to me and be like, “I used to do summer outfits. And summer outfits is not bringing me a dang thing anymore. What do I do?” And I said, “Did you look and research, what are people looking for?”

And it wasn’t “summer outfits,” it was “summer aesthetics,” that was the top keyword. So just that one change in the word she did and within 45 days, her traffic came back.

So it’s just focusing every single month on taking an hour out of the month, and just really look and pre plan what you’re going to do ahead, so that you have this action plan. And it’s just quick and efficient for you every time it comes up going forward.

Don’t Try to Create a Trend, Follow the Trend

Jillian Leslie 31:30
I think that is so smart. And I’d say this all the time, our first business, it’s still big, big deal on Pinterest is Catch My Party. And we learned this lesson the hard way. So what would happen is there would be a new Disney or Pixar movie. And we would say we’re going to get ahead of this trend.

So, we would create all this content, blog posts, pins, whatever, and put it out there. And sometimes it worked. But other times the movie just didn’t hit. And people weren’t having parties around that movie. And no matter what we did, I couldn’t make a trend.

However, what we would do is watch our site and go, oh, my God, here are some parties, we’re just starting to see show up because our site is user generated content. So people add party photos to our site. And we could see like, whoa, here’s a trend. The trend that put us on the map was Frozen.

But I didn’t know that Frozen was going to be the hit that it was, but I could start to see it on our end. And then I was like, “Oh, now we lean into this.” There’s an arrogance to this idea of I can make a trend. I think this movie is going to be great.

A good example, Mary Poppins did nothing for us. And I think we made a post before the movie came out it was announced. And it just didn’t work for us. And what you are saying is go where the people already are. I think about it this way. They’re waterfalls, waterfalls of content.

So people automatically are going to have July 4th parties. And they’re going to need side dishes. And that is a waterfall already happening. Learn how to get your bucket underneath it.

Laura Rike 33:23
Yes. And so that’s such a great analogy as well. Because if we’re focusing on summer barbecue side dishes, that can go on a board for July parties. Because if it’s a 4th of July recipes. That’s a summer party. So don’t just keep yourself restricted.

Put Yourself in the MIndset of the Person Searching on Pinterest

Because a lot of times you have to put yourself in the head of what are they going to be searching. And this is a big thing for people too that I know that is hard for them to try to tackle is if you are, say a digital product Ecommerce type business. For going into this and saying, “I help people set up Etsy shops.”

What if they don’t know Etsy? What if that’s not what they’re looking for? So if all your pins and all your keywords are saying, start an Etsy shop, start digital products selling on Etsy. If they don’t know that Etsy is out there, that’s not going to be their search.

So, it’s got to be how to make money from home or how to sell a digital product and then lead to your content that teaches them about setting up an Etsy store. So, don’t just think inside that box of who you are and what you offer. But what are they searching for?

Jillian Leslie 35:02
Yes, Yes. Search intent, search intent. That’s exactly right. We fall into this all the time. We build products, we’re building a product MiloTree Easy Payments, and we have nomenclature that David and I, and our designer Clarita, we say, and weirdly, we think it makes sense to us.

But then we have to stop and go, does this make sense to anybody else? And so you’re right, how do you elevate out and get into the mindset of somebody who would be searching for your product? And what are the different ways that they could end up needing your content?

Laura Rike 35:42
Yes, for sure. And so here’s another thing too, going back to your parties and your movies, just a quick search on trends, Turning Red, the new movie that started trending February 8th, it took off March 8th, through March 15th. It’s still at its peak on March 22nd.

So just because it came out back then, and people were talking about it doesn’t mean that’s what people were all of a sudden searching for. So it’s that search intent. Exactly what you said is like, think about what’s happening, what are they searching for? And how can you put that bucket where it needs to be?

What You Need to Know About Video Pins on Pinterest

Jillian Leslie 36:31
Very quickly as we wrap this up video pins. And then very, very briefly, creators on Pinterest, and is that a whole separate thing? So video pins do they work, do they not. So you’ve made seven static pins. The thing I keep hearing, the money is in the static pins for traffic.

Laura Rike 36:49
I still go to static pins for traffic. But that does not mean that I do not create the other options that we have, that Pinterest has given us. So I do video pins.

Repurpose Your Videos from Other Platforms to Pinterest

One of the things that I have been doing in teaching lately that I absolutely love, is if you are a creator, and a blogger, and you’re doing stories on Instagram, or reels on Instagram, or TikTok videos, please repurpose those do it the right way.

There are a couple of steps that need to be taken to make it a Pinterest video, and not just a TikTok video plastered on Pinterest. But it makes your job easier. And so if you’re a food blogger, and you’re doing an Instagram story, showing them step-by-step, turn that into an idea pin with step-by-step.

Or turn that into a full video for a video pin with the step-by-steps in there. That’s two different waves. And the reason I say that is because I do videos, but I also repurpose my videos, my video pins as idea ends.

Jillian Leslie 38:16
Okay, got it. That’s interesting. So don’t create more work for yourself.

Laura Rike 38:21
No, not at all. And so even with those static images, if you have a story that you did on Instagram, and you put it into a video, a full video and use it as a video pin. Take that static image, take that video pin and test it out as an idea pin on the platform.

Because using each piece of the puzzle that Pinterest gives us is really where we need to be. Even though idea pins aren’t necessarily bringing in as much traffic as a static pin. It’s bringing in the visibility. It’s bringing in the engagement and the audience.

And you need to hit all of these things for Pinterest to say, she’s getting the repins, she’s getting the clickthroughs. So we’re going to show this pin more. He’s getting the video views and he’s getting the clickthroughs. So we’re going to show this one more.

And so you’re kind of playing a part in each of the pieces. Don’t just focus on one strategy, but you can repurpose it and you can use it in different multiple ways

Are Followers Important on Pinterest? Yes!

Jillian Leslie 39:37
And followers on Pinterest.

Laura Rike 39:40
Ooh, good question. I believe that followers are important. I know this is a question that a lot of people choose different ways. It’s half and half. I believe it is important. I think that even though Pinterest is not social media, and it is a very visual search.

So, I think that not focusing on that as a piece of your strategy, again, is leaving something in the backend. With that being said, I have had accounts that we’ve managed that have like 200 followers, and $50,000 in income, so it’s not going to make or break it. But don’t forget about a well-rounded strategy that you need.

Because if you only focus on one thing, which I’ve had people come to me and say, I’ve only been doing videos, because they came out and they said, they were the top thing and it was going to be the best. And now I tanked. Well, it’s because you dropped your static pins, or it’s because you didn’t focus on this other piece.

Jillian Leslie 40:44
I just want to put in a plug for our MiloTree pop-up app, which grows your followers on Pinterest, and depending on how you set it up, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, but we use it with Catch My Party, we set it to grow our Pinterest followers. And we have 1.7 million Pinterest followers.

And I will tell you that we get millions of pageviews. We have millions of people coming from Pinterest to Catch My Party every month. And I believe it’s because these are real followers. And Pinterest goes, oh, people like this account, we should show their pins.

Laura Rike 41:25
And it goes hand-in-hand, you are correct. Because again, like I said, Pinterest is going to be looking at the overall aspect of what’s happening on the account. It’s not just one piece. It’s not just the clicks. It’s not just the impressions or the saves, it’s going to be what you overall are doing.

And so if you are increasing your followers, that’s going to go hand-in-hand with increasing everything else happens on the account. And I also use the pop-up, I right now have 37 it’s saying new followers this week, I have not had to do anything because I’m focusing on traffic and engagement on the Pinterest platform.

They go back. And the way I see it is they search, they don’t find my profile, they find my pin. So then they go through my pin to my blog, the pop-up happens, they see that they need to follow me.

And then following that they’re going to start seeing more content, more from me, which gives Pinterest the notification that I’m getting more engagement I’m growing, I need to be shown more. So it’s just something that’s naturally hand-in-hand with what we need to be doing.

Jillian Leslie 42:47
Absolutely. It’s like a flywheel. So we with Catch My Party gets something like 400 new followers a day.

Laura Rike 42:56
That’s amazing.

Jillian Leslie 42:57
And again, it builds on itself. So definitely check out our MiloTree pop-up app. So thank you for plugging it as well. And I’m glad for you because it will work if you have traffic.

So let’s just very briefly touch on people who are content creators on Pinterest. And that’s like a whole other strategy. It’s like being a TikToker, or Instagram influencer.

What Are Paid Creators on Pinterest?

And as somebody, though, who typically wants traffic from Pinterest, do you have any thoughts about creators on Pinterest? Are they leaning into that? Are they trying to cultivate that? What is your thought?

Laura Rike 43:36
I think creators are focusing on all aspects, I know that there are certain things that they have to do to be accepted or allowed to be one of those paid creators. And so, I think it’s really important to know that it’s not just someone like on TikTok, who is creating these funny dance videos and doesn’t really have a purpose.

They’re still helping the audience, they’re still providing that value. And they’re doing it in other ways as well. I do know that one of the things with creators is that you have to be timely is the word that I will use, because they do ask for certain things.

And they’re not going to wait around for the people to provide it three weeks later. There are people that are creators ready and waiting and they get it within 48 to 72 hours or within that first week. And so you have to be ready to make these idea pins or make these things that are going to be requested of you.

Jillian Leslie 44:56
By Pinterest.

Laura Rike 44:56
By Pinterest.

Jillian Leslie 44:57
If Pinterest comes to you and says hey, we need more floral garlands, we need more side dishes or summer parties we need whatever it is, then you go create it, you deliver it. And then that’s how you are a creator on the platform.

Laura Rike 45:14
Yes. And you can join Pinterest communities as well. And that’s if you’re not a Pinterest creator, that’s really the area that I would suggest you go if that’s something you’re interested in, because the communities in there. For me, I’m in the US community, I’m outside of Minnesota.

And so they have not only conversations about things that are working and help that they’re looking for from Pinterest directly, which is, in my opinion, better than a Facebook group you might be in because these communities are direct from managers that have access to the backend of Pinterest.

But also, that’s where they’re going to be saying, okay, these are the March trends that we’re seeing. And this is what we’re looking for. And this is what we need, or we want to provide.

And so they’re giving you the opportunity not only to tell you what’s trending, so you don’t have to try to search for it yourself. But also to get in on that submission for creators and things like that.

And so, I really suggest that if you’re not a creator, and that’s something you’re looking to possibly get into to help with your blogging or to help with your income or whatever your intent is behind there. Look at the communities on there first. And they do have requirements to join the community.

So they don’t just let anybody with a Pinterest account join you have to have certain requirements. And you have to be following the algorithm and following that full created strategy.

Jillian Leslie 47:02
Laura, this has been so enlightening really about how to lean into what’s already working. I feel like a broken record, because that is something that I say all the time. Follow the people look for the waterfalls, where are they and get your bucket underneath it.

Laura Rike 47:21
Yes, for sure. 100% I love that analogy so much.

Jillian Leslie 47:25
You can use it, take it. If people want to reach out to you, Lauren, learn more about you. If they have a question, how can they do that?

Laura Rike 47:35
Yeah, of course. Laurarike.com is my website. L-A-U-R-A-R-I-K-E.com. I have a number of different resources there for whatever level of Pinterest you’re at. And then anywhere on social media, Pinterest and everything. It’s the same Laura Rike. So you can find me there.

I do try to post on Instagram, as many of the trends that Pinterest is providing us. So the theme for March was “Be the Light”. I have a few posts on my Instagram that I try to bring it out to you guys as quick as possible as well.

Jillian Leslie 48:20
Awesome. Well, Laura, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Laura Rike 48:24
Thank you so much for having me. It was absolutely so much fun.

Jillian Leslie 48:31
I hope this episode opened your eyes to new ways of thinking about Pinterest. It did for me. And I just thought that Laura puts more creativity into how she thinks about Pinterest and that you don’t necessarily need to work harder. It’s really about working smarter.

And I think she shared so many tips on how to do that, like don’t reinvent the wheel, use what’s working and just build off of it.

And please, if you would go to iTunes and just leave the podcast five stars. You don’t have to write a review just leave a rating because it helps the algorithm show the podcast to more people and I would be so grateful.

Also, are you a member of my Facebook group. It’s called the Become A Blogger Genius Facebook group. I would love to meet you in there.

And I will see you here again next week.

Other Blogger Genius Podcast episodes to listen to:

• Pinterest Still Drives Traffic if You Know These Things with Amy Ford
• What’s Working in Social Media Right Now with Jeff Sieh
• Need to Pivot Your Pinterest Strategy? Yes! with Jennifer Priest

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