#151: What is Pinterest Saying Now to Be Successful?

What is Pinterest saying now to be successful on the platform?

I’ve got Alisa Meredith from Tailwind back on the show for her fourth visit. She is a dear friend and alway willing to share the most cutting edge news about Pinterest.

As we all know, Pinterest wants “new content” on the platform. But what is new content? Back in February this was a new pin.

Now they’ve now come out and said that a new pin connected to a new URL (a new blog post) counts as “new content.”

So does this mean you need to blog every day to be pushing out new blog posts with new URLs? Or that your old content won’t work on Pinterest anymore? Absolutely not!

Listen to the episode now, to understand how you can still have a lot of success driving traffic from Pinterest, and how you should think about your Pinterest strategy going forward.

I think you’ll find this episode very enlightening!

Show Notes:

• MiloTree App
• Catch My Party
• The Blogger Genius Share & Grow Your Blog Facebook Group
• Tailwind (affil)
• Tailwind Facebook Live
• Fleetwood Mac “Dreams” TikTok video
• Pinterest Creative Agency Advertising Guide
• Tailwind “How to Create New Content for Pinterest”
• Tailwind Create (affil)

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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 friends. Welcome back to the show. It is me, Jillian Leslie, founder of
Catch My Party, founder of the MiloTree App, host of this podcast business coach. And as I like to call myself business translator.

Jillian Leslie 0:28
I take what is working in online business today, I break it down. So, you can use these tips in your own blog or business.

Before I get started, I want to invite you to join my Facebook group, it is called The Blogger Genius Share & Grow Your Blog Facebook Group. If you go to Facebook, and in the search bar, you type in Blogger Genius, you will find the group please join it.

It is a wonderful place where we are all helping each other, grow our businesses. And if you want to grow your traffic, your followers, that kind of thing. Definitely join this group.

What is Pinterest Saying Now to Be Successful?

For today’s episode, I have my friend, Alisa Meredith from Tailwind on the show. This is her fourth appearance on the podcast. And there’s been a lot of emotion around Pinterest these days.

We all want to know how to be successful on Pinterest and drive traffic to our blogs.

Pinterest has been changing what they want bloggers to post on the platform. So, Alisa and I get into all of the details. We share what you need to know to be successful on the platform.

The question I keep getting is can I still be successful on the platform? Can I still get traffic from Pinterest? And the answer is definitely yes. But you need to think like Pinterest is your best friend.

Like the more you help out Pinterest, the more Pinterest will help you out, too. I think this episode is really enlightening, and will give you a lot of strategies and a lot of new ways to think about content creation.

So, without further delay, here is my interview with Alisa Meredith. Alisa, welcome back to the show.

Alisa Meredith 2:27
I’m so happy to be here.

Jillian Leslie 2:29
I was going to count like how many times you’ve been on the show. I want to say this might be four or five.

Alisa Meredith 2:34
Could be. Yeah.

A Fresh Pin for Pinterest Is Now a Pin Attached to a New URL

Jillian Leslie 2:36
So, we have a lot to talk about in terms of Pinterest, and messages from Pinterest and the community responding to what you’re hearing from Pinterest. So, I feel like let’s launch in to what new content means today.

Alisa Meredith 2:58
Alright, new content on Pinterest today, from Pinterest’s mouth to our ears is a brand new URL to Pinterest.

New content today, from Pinterest’s mouth to our ears, is a brand new URL to Pinterest.

Alisa Meredith

Jillian Leslie 3:12
Okay. Well, let’s talk about then what happened in February.

Alisa Meredith 3:18
Yes.

Jillian Leslie 3:18
And how it has now morphed from February to today. So, new content, when we’re talking about new content, we are talking about new content added to Pinterest meaning a Pin or a video on Pinterest.

Alisa Meredith 3:35
Well, what we’re talking about now is, as far as content goes is a new URL. So, a new page on your website, a new product listing, a new blog post that now you are sharing to Pinterest for the very first time.

Jillian Leslie 3:49
From this URL. But back in the day, it was initially just a new Pin.

Alisa Meredith 3:53
Yes, just a new image. Yep.

Jillian Leslie 3:55
A new image that could have been linked to an existing URL maybe that you created 10 years ago.

Alisa Meredith 4:02
Yes.

Jillian Leslie 4:03
But now Pinterest has come out and said, it’s going to be a new Pin, a new image linked to a new URL, a new post.

Alisa Meredith 4:16
And I think it’s really important to think about why they’re saying this, like in the context of it. What does it matter how they define a fresh Pin? Because that’s what we’re really talking about is fresh Pins. What does it mean?

It matters because what they’re saying is, those will tend to get priority in the algorithm. That doesn’t mean they’re the only thing that will work. And I think that’s what a lot of people heard. That that’s the only thing that will ever work.

It’s that they’re just giving us a heads up, and they started this back in February saying we want new stuff on Pinterest, and now they’re just clarifying.

Pinterest Wants New Ideas That Come From New Blog Posts

Oh, and by the way by new things, new and fresh Pins, we mean brand new ideas which come from brand new content on your website. Because that’s what users want. And, I think what happened.

Well, I know what happened in February is that we, like all of us got the message that a fresh Pin is a new image to whatever URL doesn’t matter. And as we try to get the most benefit for ourselves and our business on Pinterest.

The inclination was to create dozens of Pins for one URL. Probably with the same text on it looking very similar, like really not adding value to the platform. And instead, like showing up in the same search.

I think I saw someone bragging about how, if you search this term, you’ll see 15 of my Pins pop up, and it’s like, wow. Maybe good for the ego, but definitely not good for the platform, not good for the user, and ultimately not good for you.

Because people can report you for spam. And so, that’s what we do not want on Pinterest is just a bunch of repetitive Pins to the same content.

Jillian Leslie 6:03
I think that as bloggers, as content creators, as online entrepreneurs, typically we can be solopreneurs. It’s a one-person operation, and we’re always looking for shortcuts, we’re looking for somebody to tell us the formula. And then we go execute that.

So, Tuesday is my Pinterest day where I make a bunch of Pins. And I don’t think about it, because I know this is my workflow.

What Is Good for Pinterest Is Good for You

And I think that taking a step back, and recognizing that what is good for Pinterest will ultimately be good for me means, I have to think about providing value first. So, anytime I’m creating a Pin, and let’s say it’s a Pin for an existing post that I have.

Or that’s been on my site for three years. is there a way that I can find, say, a different audience, this might attract or a different holiday that this might be relevant to? But am I providing value with this Pin to somebody else?

Who’s come to the platform looking for ideas? Or is this really me trying to trick the platform into driving traffic to me, and I’m not really thinking about the user. And by the way, that user is somebody who’s going to end up on my blog who I want to help.

So, it’s not just oh, they’re on Pinterest, is ultimately, they’re coming to me for help and assistance. And I think putting our visitors, putting Pinterest users first and foremost, will really keep you on the right path.

Alisa Meredith 7:50
Yes, absolutely. And I know that, this updated information stirred up a lot of Facebook groups and a lot of chatter about, a little bit of panic, because new ideas are scary. But we should probably be grateful that they’re telling us what works and what doesn’t.

Or even like what’s going to work like they told us in February, you’re going to see this happening over this year. And we have seen things change. And we’re going to probably continue to see things change.

But thank goodness, they’re telling us what we’re doing.

Jillian Leslie 8:28
I talk about this all the time, being an online entrepreneur, you better hold on tight, because the ride can be really bumpy. And it’s always changing.

Alisa Meredith 8:38
Do you remember years ago when you would go to your home feed? And it was the same Pins you had been seeing for weeks and weeks?

Jillian Leslie 8:43
Absolutely. There’d be 30 of them.

Alisa Meredith 8:46
Yes. And they’re not like that anymore. Thank goodness.

Jillian Leslie 8:50
Pinterest has gotten smarter. And you can assume Pinterest is a couple years behind Google. But you better believe they are trying to catch up to Google. And those engineers are really smart.

So, there were ways back in the day where you could slap that Pin up 30 times, and it would work for you. But that was not a good experience for the end user. Pinterest is a public company, they need to make money, they need to have a good experience.

If you think about it, like who’s your God, that’s their God, their God is their user.

Alisa Meredith 9:28
It is definitely not content creator.

Jillian Leslie 9:31
It’s not.

Pinterest Does Not Hate You But They Care Most About Their Users

Alisa Meredith 9:31
I think that’s so important to try to remove that. And we were talking about this a few minutes ago about how it is not personal. Pinterest does not hate you.

Jillian Leslie 9:40
No. No.

Alisa Meredith 9:41
It’s like they care about the user. So, if you do what is good for the user, you will be rewarded. But Pinterest was not built for bloggers. It was not built for E-commerce sellers.

And I think that if we can just remove ourselves from that, taking it personally that will help us to be a little more. Like to be rational and to really reason on things and think through it.

Jillian Leslie 10:04
Know that Pinterest is coming up with new products and new ways so you can see it to keep you on a platform. So, Pinterest is competing for attention. And they’re competing with Instagram and Facebook.

And now TikTok and think about it from Pinterest point of view, you go to Pinterest to do what? To leave the platform. And Pinterest is saying, wait a second. Maybe we want people to stay on the platform.

And so, we’re going to come up with stories and videos. And who knows what other things they’re thinking up now. Will these things ultimately work? Who knows?

But you and I were talking before I pressed record, about when Instagram came out with stories, and I thought that was the dumbest idea ever. I’m like they’re copying Snapchat. Isn’t Snapchat going to sue?

And aren’t people going to be up in arms and go, “Wait a second? What is this?” And now the app was so much more complicated. I never thought it would work. And guess what? It is.

Alisa Meredith 11:11
That’s what I watch now.

Jillian Leslie 11:12
It’s the biggest success that Instagram has come up with.

Alisa Meredith 11:14
And I think it’s interesting too. Because Instagram stories and Instagram feed posts, they work in a certain way because Instagram is about connecting. Whereas Pinterest is more about discovery than connecting.

But if you haven’t watched the Pinterest Creators Festival from October, you should be able to Google that Pinterest Creators Festival and if nothing else, watch the introduction or the welcome message.

Because they’re very clear about a change in direction towards helping pinners and creators to connect. So, they even use phrases like you deserve more than a double tap.

So, if that’s not directly going after Instagram and Instagram stories, I don’t know what is. Like they’re giving us a clue that things are changing.

But I don’t want all of this to lead to the conclusion that Pinterest is no good for traffic. Because it is.

Pinterest Is Still Good for Driving Traffic

Jillian Leslie 12:15
Right.

Alisa Meredith 12:16
It is probably for most of us still the very best investment out there. So, I don’t want you to hear these things and be like, “Okay, well stop my Pinterest, just do something else.” Because it can be still, like the best investment.

Jillian Leslie 12:31
Absolutely. So, what I would say is, your job now as a creator is to align yourself with Pinterest. So, every time you are creating a Pin, ask yourself that thing of, is this creating value? Am I helping with this Pin? And that will keep you on the right path.

So, you are sharing a way in which you could take a piece of content. And you could think about it from a variety of angles and provide value while still sharing one piece of content.

Alisa Meredith 13:11
Yes. So, we talked about this on the Tailwind Facebook Live a couple weeks ago, and there were just hundreds of questions and a lot of emotional reaction to this new definition of what is a fresh Pin.

And if it’s okay, I’d like to just clear up some of the major questions before we get to the magic formula.

Jillian Leslie 13:33
Absolutely.

Alisa Meredith 13:34
Particularly it might open minds to this possibility a little bit more. One of the questions we got a lot was, “Wait, does this mean that everything I shared on Pinterest has to be brand new as in a brand new URL brand new image?”

“That’s the only thing that will work?” And I think my answer would be look at your analytics. Is that what you’re seeing? Probably not. Because we never said that’s the only thing you can pin.

We’re saying that this is what Pinterest really wants from you, as a creator is brand new content. However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t share to relevant boards. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t cases where you might want to reshare.

What Pinterest really wants from you, as a creator is brand new content. However, it doesn’t mean that you can’t share to relevant boards. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t cases where you might want to reshare.

And it certainly doesn’t mean that you can never create a new image for an existing URL.

So, I’d just like to clear that up.

Alisa Meredith

And it certainly doesn’t mean that you can never create a new image for an existing URL. So, I’d just like to clear that up.

Jillian Leslie 14:22
I just want to say for Catch My Party at the holidays. It’s so weird. We have this cocktail recipe and it always shows up at the holidays. And it’s amazing, it’s like clockwork. I don’t know how people find it.

I don’t know why it resonates it’s not a great cocktail. Now, we do go in every year or so an update the post and make a new Pin and stuff however, it is it like people love this at the holidays. It is now one of our top Pins.

It is one of my top posts on Google Analytics, it’s not a new URL, I’m not changing the URL. It’s amazing how that post continues to do well, for us.

So, that speaks to this idea of does every piece of content now have to come with a new URL? And the answer is no.

Alisa Meredith 15:19
And I’m glad you said that, because that was something immediately some of the audience members went to, “Okay, if it’s a new URL, does that mean I can just create a bunch of URLs for the same content and share them on Pinterest?”

It’s like, “No, don’t go there.” Again, this is our black hat.

Jillian Leslie 15:36
That’s blackhat stuff. That’s like you trying to find this shortcut. And, I just want to say, for Catch My Party, we get millions of page views a month. And people ask me all the time, what is your secret? And I always have the same answer.

And it is, I don’t have a secret. And I’m going to say my term, it’s a long slog. Now, by the way, we started it in 2009, we’ve been making content since 2009. We have a ton of content.

However, we’ve made some good choices along the way. When it comes to SEO, you better believe if I had this secret formula, I would be using it for myself. And I’d be selling it for tons of money.

Alisa Meredith 16:26
And I would buy it.

Jillian Leslie 16:27
I know. So, I want to say I wish that there were these secrets. And by the way, every so often, they show up like back in the day with Pinterest. And you could put the same Pin up 30 times. And it probably led to more traffic.

Don’t Try to Trick the Pinterest Algorithm By Making 30 Pins for the Same URL

But if it feels spammy over time, it won’t work. So, if you’re going to trick Pinterest with new URLs, trust me, maybe you’ll find like a little bit of success for a little bit of time.

But the chance that Pinterest would flag your site or your account, it’s not worth it. It is about putting out quality content and helping others.

Alisa Meredith 17:11
Yes, that’s right. And I think where people are, we’re used to a certain volume of pinning too. It’s another kind of mind shift. So, people asked, “I want to keep my queue full. Does that mean I have to blog five times a day?”

And it’s like, “No, nobody has time to do that.” No. So, I think that comes up because people thought they heard that you can never share a Pin again, or you can’t make new Pins for existing content.

Focus on Quality of Pins Not Quantity

So, again, it’s like everything in moderation. Focus on quality over quantity. And while fresh URLs will likely produce the best results for you, you can still reshare it within reason, and get good results.

Jillian Leslie 17:56
Here’s the other thing too, Alisa, you would be able to speak to this. My account will be different from your account. So, when somebody discovers something, and they’re like, here is the answer.

It might be the answer for you. But it might not be the answer for you. A lot of people in Facebook groups love to say, here’s what I did. Here’s how it worked. And in fact, I’m going to monetize that. So, let me teach that.

And then you buy the course or you put that into practice, and it doesn’t work for you. And you either think that person is a liar or that Pinterest is broken, or Pinterest hates me.

But it’s this weird thing, which is Pinterest doesn’t work the same way for everybody’s accounts.

Alisa Meredith 18:41
Well, there are all kinds of different industries. The quality of your content and your pinning. Your ability to do Pinterest SEO. Besides, I think there is this little nugget of magic.

So, we have best practices, Pinterest even tells us what they want. To some extent, we can do all of that. But it feels like when something takes off, like your seabreeze. Sometimes it just feels like it just happens.

Jillian Leslie 19:11
It does.

Alisa Meredith 19:12
I don’t pretend to know why all the time.

Jillian Leslie 19:14
In fact, I think being a content creator is so humbling, and the way that we teach it. So, we do coaching and we have a coaching group. And what I say to the people in my group is you don’t know.

Now, you know better than I know about your business or what will resonate with your audience. But at the end of the day, the only way to know is to test it. Is to see like for example when you are trying to come up with content ideas.

Well, hopefully you do some stuff like keyword research and you look at it on Pinterest, you look at it on Google. Maybe you go to Ubersuggest and you see, what are people searching for?

But then ultimately at the end of the day, either it works or it doesn’t and you don’t know. Some of the Pins that do so well for us. I’m embarrassed by.

Alisa Meredith 20:07
Oh, I know that feeling. Yeah, I had one on an old account, it looks like an advertisement for Lego. And it was about how to create a YouTube profile. And, oh, for years and years, that was my top Pin. So embarrassing.

Jillian Leslie 20:23
So, there’s always this element of magic or surprise is a little bit of like, right place, right time something.

Alisa Meredith 20:34
Oh yes. Timing is so important.

Jillian Leslie 20:36
Perfect example, I’m sure you’ve seen it the TikTok video of the guy on the skateboard drinking his cranberry juice. Do you know this singing the Fleetwood Mac song?

Alisa Meredith 20:47
No, I have not seen that.

Jillian Leslie 20:49
Okay, you have to Google that I will send it to you as soon as we get off. I bet a lot of you know what I’m talking about. It’s some random dude on a skateboard. And it just clicked.

Alisa Meredith 20:59
Oh, if I were Ocean Spray, I’d be buying it.

Jillian Leslie 21:01
Exactly. But you go. “Why would that work?” And you watch it and it’s fun. But it’s just lightning in a bottle.

Alisa Meredith 21:09
True. And I could do the same thing. And maybe it would go viral because I fell and broke my face, but probably wouldn’t.

Jillian Leslie 21:18
So, it’s a continual process of learning and recognizing that what might work for you, it might not work for me. And your secret sauce might not work for me. But I need to find my own secret sauce.

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A Strategy for How to Create New Pins for Existing Content

Alisa Meredith 22:45
I think we’re ready to get to our formula. So, creating new images for existing content. Okay, what does that not mean, is like moving the text around or maybe flipping the image. And, that’s not what we’re talking about at all.

So, you kind of led up to it, like finding a new audience for this existing content and appearing in a different search. So, what we’re not wanting to do is dominate the search results on Pinterest, that is not a good thing.

We want to have one or maybe two of our Pins show up in a search on Pinterest. That’s what we want. So, an example is a Half Baked Harvest recipe which I just love. And it’s for a garden cherry bourbon smash cocktail. It is beautiful. It is delicious.

And there are several different ways that you can present it. And this formula works for anybody. And I got the idea, not my idea from Pinterest Creative Agency Advertising Guide, which is publicly available, I’ll share that link with you.

And the idea was surfacing your ideas to the right pinner at the right time. So, the concept is take what you offer, so your product benefit, your brand value, your service value, whatever that is, and then add that to a specific mindset.

Think about how your content could be shared as an everyday interest, a seasonal moment, or life event.

Alisa Meredith

And that can be its own new idea. Now, is it a fresh Pin? No, because it’s based on a URL you’ve already added to Pinterest. But is it adding to the experience? Is it adding value? Is it helpful?

Yes, it certainly can be. So, using that example of the garden cherry bourbon smash, like presenting it as that on Pinterest. Beautiful, works great, but you could expand your reach so help yourself and also help other people who might have this desire.

I don’t think I could say need but I do have a desire for something. So, the example with the recipe is maybe you have someone who wants to discover something exciting and new. So maybe somebody who’s really into bourbon.

I know there are those people. So, the result might be a Pin that says something like, “Your next favorite bourbon cocktail.” And so, your title is going to be different from before. Your description is going to be different from before.

You’re going to focus it all around this particular angle. And you’re also going to make sure that has some continuity with the actual content. That one’s pretty basic. So, you might not need to change your blog posts about that. Same recipe.

Jillian Leslie 25:45
Wait, I just want to say one thing about that. I love though, in your heading, you’ve opened a question, which is, what is this new bourbon cocktail? I must click and find out.

Alisa Meredith 25:57
A little intrigue.

Jillian Leslie 25:58
Intrigue.

Alisa Meredith 25:59
Yes, I love that.

Jillian Leslie 26:01
So now, here’s a question. Do you think in terms of then, if I’m going to do it, let’s say I’ve got the bourbon angle? Should I have a bourbon board? Should I have a cocktail board?

Because Pinterest is not only reading the Pin, reading the description, they’re seeing what board you’ve put it in? So how would you be thinking about that?

Alisa Meredith 26:27
Oh, absolutely. I would. And I think the next example I will probably expand on that even more. So, let’s say same recipe, same URL. Now we’re talking to people who want to impress their friends over the holidays.

Okay. It’s probably next year. But anyway, the result might be a Pin that has text on it like a holiday cocktail to wow, your friends at your next party. And so, what board does that go on?

It could go on your bourbon board, but you’re not really focusing on that. So, maybe it’s more like holiday entertaining?

Jillian Leslie 27:06
No. Okay, I have to stop you for this. Here’s my question.

Alisa Meredith 27:10
Please.

Jillian Leslie 27:11
Does it matter? Do I really want to be thinking about taking this one new Pin and only pinning it into one board? Because my feeling is that both of those Pins, let’s say could go in the bourbon board.

Or the other Pin about holiday cocktails? Like what is the newest bourbon cocktail could go in my holiday cocktail board?

Be Intentional About the First Board You Share Your Pin To

Alisa Meredith 27:34
It could but tell me think really hard about the first one you share it to? Pinterest has been very clear about that, like the first board you share a Pin to is going to give you the most. Like that context really attaches itself.

So, you’ve got to give it the strongest signal with that first time it goes out. So, definitely the first one I would put on your bourbon cocktail board first.

And the second one I would put on your holiday entertaining or holiday cocktail board first before it goes to bourbon. And then the other way around.

Jillian Leslie 28:07
Again, I don’t know if you can answer this if you talk to the Pinterest gods. But do you think there is value though, in putting it in the second board? Or even the third board? I know you don’t want to be spamming 10 boards.

But do you think there is some added information that you’re signaling to Pinterest by putting it in multiple boards? Or do you think you’re hurting yourself? And you should really just pin one Pin into one board?

Alisa Meredith 28:37
We have seen that sharing again does result in more traffic. Maybe not as much as the first time but it does. So, the direction to us from Pinterest. We are a Pinterest partner tool.

Share a Pin in Up to 10 Relevant Boards

And we do meet with Pinterest. And we get direction from them on what to say and what behaviors to encourage. It has not been updated. So, the last we heard officially share up to 10 relevant boards.

They rarely put a limit, like a number limit on but this time they did. And I think the idea is don’t go crazy with it. Could you come up with 15 board names that would be relevant to this? Yes, you probably could. But is it adding value?

It’s probably just spammy. It’s probably just an opportunity to put your Pin out more. Don’t do that, make it additive. Unless something has changed, and we just don’t know. It seems yes that there is no benefit to sharing to more than one board.

But do share to the most relevant board first. I don’t believe that has changed either.

Jillian Leslie 29:44
Okay, so now you’ve come up with two. Do you have any other examples of how to think about this cocktail from a different angle?

Alisa Meredith 29:52
I have a third one. So, let’s now talk to people who want to plan a Ladies Night in. Doesn’t that sound fun?

Jillian Leslie 30:02
It does.

Alisa Meredith 30:02
Sounds good right now it’s been so long. So, maybe the next text on your image is, ‘The perfect cocktail for girls’ night in’. And so, your images are all going to be different too, because you’re talking to different people.

You’re using slightly different keywords that should appear in different searches. And now you’re reaching perhaps beyond your normal audience.

To all new people who can follow you, and then come to your website and then buy your product, sign up for your emai. It takes a little bit of thought, but I challenge you to try it because it’s kind of a fun challenge. To make that formula work for you.

Jillian Leslie 30:44
And I would say this, when I think Pinterest, I think Google, because they’re very similar and their search engines. And what Google says is, we don’t necessarily want new URLs, but we want new content.

So, if I’ve come up now. I’ve got my bourbon recipe, and I’ve now come up with three, I’m going to call them use cases, for the bourbon recipe that I had never thought of before.

For Google, Update Your Blog Post to Match Your New Pins

I recommend going into that blog post now. And updating it with these three use cases, maybe use a photo from how you’ve reconfigured your Pin. But I would definitely now have a section in that post where I talk about the uses.

And I would put them in an H2, which is a heading. And I would put like, “Have you thought about a girls’ night in?” And then write a paragraph or some bullet points, which I think was probably the better of how you could use this cocktail.

And then maybe you have written at some point, a girls’ night post and you better link it in this post. That is how you layer stuff. So, that now your authority grows in Google, you’ve updated the date of that post.

Because Google now will see that as new content, and it’s useful. So, what you’re talking about is, if I say here’s the test. I’m doing something that hopefully helps my business and drives traffic to me, but am I being useful? You’re being so useful.

Alisa Meredith 32:23
Yes, you are. So, when we presented this on the Facebook Live, people just went crazy about it, because we love the formula for success. So, there is a PDF, which is undated. And I’ll share the link with you.

Jillian Leslie 32:39
Yes, and I’ll put it in the show notes.

Alisa Meredith 32:41
Great.

Jillian Leslie 32:42
So, that we can find it. And by the way, there could be even as we’re all kind of in this weird time, maybe it’s about self-care. I’m going to fix myself a drink, and I’m going to sit there with a book or Netflix and indulge because, we all need to take the edge off.

I’m not necessarily recommending that. However, there’s even this other angle of like, I can’t necessarily entertain with this cocktail, but I could do entertain myself with this cocktail.

Alisa Meredith 33:15
Yes.

Jillian Leslie 33:16
When I interview people with Etsy shops, one thing they always say, because Etsy is also very SEO focused.

The way you win on Etsy is because again, you’re serving up the right solution to the right person at the exact moment. They’re looking to buy something.

Alisa Meredith 33:37
And you’re making hot cocoa bombs.

Jillian Leslie 33:40
Yes, but the one thing that everybody I interview about Etsy says to me is, so I make jewelry, let’s say, and I have this pretty necklace. Well, it’s not just a pretty necklace. It’s what are the ways in which somebody could want my necklace?

Alisa Meredith 33:58
Right.

Jillian Leslie 33:58
It could be a gift? It could be to go with my style. It could be Boho, it could be a great gift for, I don’t know, maybe a new mom. So, therefore you’re using keywords that aren’t just necklace, or aren’t just Topaz.

But they are what are the ways in which somebody could get to my product and need my product?

Try Designing Different Pins to Test with Tailwind Create

Alisa Meredith 34:24
Absolutely. Yep, you’ve got it. And then once you have those different contexts or different ideas. You can try like AB test your image styles. So, you’re talking probably to a new audience, figure out what they like by trying a couple of different styles.

Which is something you can do in Tailwind, with Tailwind Create. So, all you have to do is drop in your URL, and we’ll pull images from your site or you can upload images or grab stock photos.

And then we’re going to show you literally thousands of Pin design ideas. And then you can scroll through those, you can filter by content type, and all kinds of other things.

Figure out a couple that you like, tweak them the way you want them, so they’re perfect. And then schedule them. And then of course, follow up and see which one is performing better.

And kind of store that away in your brain for oh, okay, the Bourbon Aficionados like, this darker image. Or the girls’ night in, and they like this one where you see faces. So, just kind of make sure you’re following through on those testings.

Jillian Leslie 35:32
When we are, let’s say, designing Pins, we do get kind of caught in, this is what this Pin will look like. So, we think we’ve changed it up a lot. And we might not have, but if you use something like Tailwind Create.

You’re going to be blown away with the different images, like when I’ve explored it, and I’m like, Oh, my God, I would never have thought of creating something that looks like this.

And I would say pick stuff that definitely looks different. So, that you can then see and try stuff that you would never have thought up.

Alisa Meredith 36:07
Yeah, we had Kristie Hill on the podcast, or on the show a few months back. And I didn’t know she was going to say this. But she’s like, I tried it. And I pulled some out that I never would have created myself. But it uses like her brand colors and her fonts.

So, it was branded for her, which is one of the great things about it. And she’s like, “So, I went with it. And it’s actually one of my best performing Pins right now.”

Yeah, you never know.

Jillian Leslie 36:38
I think that what you’re saying, if I can paraphrase.

Alisa Meredith 36:43
Please.

Jillian Leslie 36:43
This idea of stepping out of your content from your perspective as the creator. And looking at it from the other side. One look at it from Pinterest, which is how do I make Pinterest happy? How do I align myself with their goals?

And how do I get rid of my own preconceived notions of why I created this recipe or this craft or whatever? And try to really think from like blue-sky thinking, which means anything could work.

And how can I find those ways to think about my content for people? And where could this be useful?

Alisa Meredith 37:29
Absolutely. In this PDF, there’s a couple of lists of things. So, there’s a list of everyday interests, life events, and seasonal moments. So, that’s a way to jumpstart this.

Alright. Would this content fit in any way for someone buying a home for Memorial Day? Some of these won’t fit for your content but I think a lot of them will. And it will just like you said, get you outside of what you were thinking when you created it.

Jillian Leslie 38:00
Yeah, if I’m a mom, and I do kids crafts, I might not be thinking about teachers, or I might not be thinking about summer camps. Because I’m so stuck. I’m so in my life.

One thing I think is that the best content creators have a tremendous amount of empathy.

Alisa Meredith 38:25
And I think that’s where Taillwind kind of comes in too like, okay, we know, everything in marketing is getting harder. That’s just the way it is with competition. And as platforms change and evolve.

So, we try to build things to take the time out where we can. So, to give you more headspace and more time to do the things that you need to do. I think especially with Tailwind Create, now, it’s a workflow improvement.

So, you don’t have to create the image, download the image and upload the image and schedule. But you can make it right inside of Tailwind really fast and make it with all Pinterest best practices baked into it, then schedule it right from the platform.

So, hopefully that will leave you a little more time a little more headspace to think about these ways to really make meaningful improvements.

Jillian Leslie 39:18
Absolutely. Okay. Is it too late? So, it’s December 2nd, when we’re recording this. Probably we will go live in a week from tomorrow.

It’s Not Too Late to Pin Christmas Content on Pinterest to Be Successful

Is it too late to be thinking about Christmas? Or has that ship sailed? And should I focus on the New Year?

Alisa Meredith 39:35
You know what’s interesting about that, like, it’s certainly a little bit late. However, if you advertise on Pinterest, you will notice that the big brands buy up so much inventory, even on December 25th.

And then it all kind of tanks from there. Then the auction opens up and things are a lot more inexpensive. So, I would take that as a really good signal that it is not too late until the 26th.

Because sometimes it takes content a little while to take off on Pinterest. But sometimes it doesn’t. And this kind of seasonal content can really take off quickly. So, no, it’s not too late.

Jillian Leslie 40:22
That’s so good to hear. In fact, I would say I’ve learned with Catch My Party, we give away a lot of free printables. And we give away a lot of seasonal printables. We get, of course, our biggest downloads literally the day before and the day of the Holiday.

Alisa Meredith 40:41
Oh, interesting.

Jillian Leslie 40:42
So, you want to think that people have planned this out, and months before they’re getting their decorations ready. It’s not the case. I’m amazed at how last minute we all are. And it is true.

Alisa Meredith 40:59
So, we’re working on for Tailwind Create, we already have some seasonal Pins in the product, which I would love it if you could check those out. Let me know what you think, Jillian?

But yeah, we were like, Is it too late? No, it’s not too late. We should still be creating these pins now.

Jillian Leslie 41:18
Right. And then in terms of, it’s funny. Christmas is a big bump for lots of people, the new year is a big bump for lots of people. What do you see that works in the new year? How should people be thinking about their content in the new year?

Alisa Meredith 41:40
This is a weird year. So, it’s hard to predict, because nothing has been normal. But I think in the past anyway, and probably to some extent this year, as well as, it’s been kind of cliche. So, new year, new you.

For 2021 think New Year, New You!

Whether that’s weight loss, or getting organized, or whatever it is, it’s starting over and like being the best version of you, which is a huge theme on Pinterest overall anyway. But when it comes to a brand new year, that’s when people are very focused on that.

So, if you’re talking about marketing content, you’re going to be helping people to get their 2021 plan in order. So, we can start talking about that now. And it’s going to keep going for a couple months into the new year. What do you see for your business?

Jillian Leslie 42:27
We see for MiloTree, we get lots of sign-ups at the beginning of the year, because people are like, hey, I want to invest in my business and that’s really huge.

For Catch My Party, weirdly, our biggest traffic day, and this has been the case for maybe 11 years is literally January 4th. It is shocking, I think it is moms are done with Christmas, kids have gone back to school.

And moms start thinking about planning parties, whereas at Christmas time, because our users are moms, our traffic starts to die off, you think it wouldn’t. But I think it’s always that moms are too busy to do planning stuff.

Like hard planning in December, they kind of want to throw things together a quick recipe, that kind of thing. But in terms of planning, and by the way, I just want you to know. Every year, I freak out a little bit in my head.

I’ve gotten used to this, but I do whereby traffic starts to die in December. And I go, oh my god, we’re out of business. And then January shows up, and boom, we get this huge influx of visitors to our site. So again, that seems counter intuitive.

Every time I tell people that, they’re always shocked to hear that. But again, it shows why my business is different from your business. Other people are celebrating in December, and I’m sitting here going, “Oh my God, are the people going to come back?”

So, it’s just interesting to see. Now again, this is a weird year. And I’m waiting, I’m waiting for the baby shower bump to happen.

As people are home and hopefully making some babies that there will be babies coming and baby showers. I’m expecting at some point that to happen. But we’ll see.

Alisa Meredith 44:22
So, what is happening with your business, when we can’t have parties like we used to?

Jillian Leslie 44:28
So, what we did was we linked into virtual parties, socially distant parties.

Alisa Meredith 44:36
That’s so smart.

Jillian Leslie 44:37
Those are some of our biggest traffic drivers right now. People are still interested in looking at party photos and party ideas, because I think we’re all hoping that this ends at some point.

But we saw where we went into our Google Search Console. So, we wrote a post early about throwing parties online like on Zoom, what does that look like? And then what we noticed was we were starting to get traction.

So, we now probably have 15 posts of stuff. So, for Christmas, we just did, how to throw a virtual Christmas. We did how to throw a socially distant Christmas. We did this for Thanksgiving, we did this for Halloween.

And we have posts on just general. Here we did a 40th birthday women. We do really well with women 40th birthday party ideas. So, we did one with a virtual 40th birthday party themes.

For example, having somebody come in and lead a yoga class for you and your friends. Have somebody come in or everybody crafts together on Zoom. Have a cocktail party on Zoom.

Alisa Meredith 45:55
Oh, yeah.

Jillian Leslie 45:56
Like all these things you can do with your girlfriend.

Alisa Meredith 45:58
Okay, I need to go to your site right away?

Jillian Leslie 45:59
What did you say?

Alisa Meredith 46:00
That I need to go to your site right away.

Jillian Leslie 46:02
So, we really try to, again, provide value where people are, because I believe that it’s in our bones to celebrate. I think it is making us depressed and lonely, not to. Why are people getting together at Thanksgiving?

Everybody knows, it’s a bad thing or it’s dangerous to get together at Thanksgiving, and people cannot not get together at Thanksgiving. I really think that says something about our humanity.

And I think it says that we need each other and we need to come together. And we need to mark time with celebration. So, it’s like in us and so how can I help facilitate that for you so that you can feel less lonely? So, you can feel more connected?

Are there ways that you could go, hey, that’s a good idea. I did a post about Christmas, and how to celebrate virtually.

And it was like, hey, if everybody usually is in the kitchen cooking together. Maybe you could be at your own homes, but cooking together. Virtually.

Alisa Meredith 47:06
Yeah.

Jillian Leslie 47:07
Or maybe you could all make the same recipe. Or maybe if you always make these holiday cookies, you make the cookies and you put them in the mail and you send them to all the people who would normally be at your Christmas table.

Alisa Meredith 47:19
So, you can take the content you already made like that cookie recipe. And then use it in a new post that talks about using it in a new way. And then you’re creating a fresh Pin. That’s so super fresh, because it’s a brand new URL with tons of added value.

Jillian Leslie 47:33
Absolutely. Oh, by the way, don’t think that we didn’t see the pandemic coming and freak out. And we watched our traffic literally, it’s like there’s a day where literally, our traffic just tanked.

And we had to say, how can we reinvent this and be of service and help people? Because again, I’m such a believer in us coming together. How can I still help people do this?

Alisa Meredith 48:00
Yeah.

Jillian Leslie 48:03
And it has worked. I think I might have shared this. I don’t remember exactly. I think our traffic dropped like 65% in one day.

I know. And that’s real money. And yet we’ve been able to slowly rebuild it by being the resource for people that they need. So, that’s what we did.

Alisa Meredith 48:27
Oh, congratulations. That’s awesome.

Jillian Leslie 48:30
Thank you. Okay, so if you’ve listened to this, and I hope this has given you audience members, a new way to think about creating content for Pinterest where it doesn’t have to be a them versus me. Like David and Goliath kind of thing.

It’s really about I think getting on their side and giving them what they want. Because it will give you what you want. So, if you’re feeling sad or feeling angry, to recognize it’s an algorithm, and it’s not personal.

But there are ways and things might not work today like they did work two years ago.

Alisa Meredith 49:17
They probably won’t.

Jillian Leslie 49:19
They won’t. That’s the nature of how the internet works. As I say again, hold on for the ride. But there are ways to become friends with Pinterest.

Alisa Meredith 49:32
Yes. And realize that even if your traffic from Pinterest is dropping, and even if it doesn’t bounce back up, compare it to the other work that you’re doing on other networks. Is it still the best investment for you? It’s very likely that it is.

Jillian Leslie 49:50
Absolutely. Absolute. Okay, Alisa, people want to reach out to you learn about Tailwind Create all this stuff. How should they do it?

Alisa Meredith 50:00
I am on Twitter @alisammeredith. I blog on tailwindapp.com. And yeah, just go on over to tailwindapp.com. You can start a free trial. And you can use Tailwind Create with your free trial.

Jillian Leslie 50:13
And we’ll also talk about your Facebook page and your Lives because I love those.

Alisa Meredith 50:19
Oh, thank you. They’re so fun. So, every other Thursday, Jeff Sieh and I host a Facebook Live, which is about Pinterest. And we have an incredibly active and involved conversation going and we pull in questions from the audience.

And it’s a really good time. People helping each other out in the comments and just trying to get through this together. Because it is a challenge to keep up with what’s working and what’s not.

And just to try to give some inspiration ideas to make it work better. That’s Thursdays at 2:00.

Jillian Leslie 50:53
I love it. And I would say that is a must watch. That’s where I get all of my new Pinterest info.

Alisa Meredith 51:01
And we’re going to have you on again.

Jillian Leslie 51:02
I would love to come on again. So, Lisa, thank you. Again, I know you will be back on the show. So, thank you so much for doing this. I always love talking to you.

Alisa Meredith 51:13
Likewise. Great to see you, Jillian.

Jillian Leslie 51:15
I hope you guys like this episode. I always find Alisa. So honest, so helpful. So balance, she’s one of my favorite guests.

And my biggest takeaway is that if you can align yourself with Pinterest. And you can think about what their goals are, and create content that supports their goals, you will be successful.

And your job as a content creator is to help your audience to inspire your audience. And to keep that top of mind to think about new ways to do that.

And if something feels spammy, like you might be spamming the platform, just don’t do it and think in terms of helping.

And my final request, please join my Facebook group, head to Facebook, search for Blogger Genius and you will find my group called The Blogger Genius Share & Grow Your Blog Facebook Group. And please join it. I think you’ll really like it.

I’d love to get to know you in there. And I will see you here again next week.

Other Blogger Genius Podcast Episodes About Pinterest You Might Be Interested In

#146: How to Be Effective on Pinterest Today with Jennifer Priest

#143: How to Easily Design Pinterest Pins to Get More Traffic with Clarita Gerlach

#135: How to Be Successful on Pinterest and Instagram Today with Jeff Sieh

#128: What’s Working on Pinterest NOW! with Kate Ahl

See all Blogger Genius Podcast episodes here.

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