Pinterest Mistakes Your Blog is Making in 2019

Pinterest is more than just a social network. It’s an actual search engine designed specifically for blog posts. As a blogger or business owner, you need to know how to use Pinterest to get your posts or products in front of the right eyes. That’s why I’ve compiled this list of Pinterest makes your blog might still be making in 2019.

I consider myself a bit of a Pinterest professional, if such a thing can exist. I started in the early days of Pinterest just searching for fun crafts, DIYs, and travel tips. When I started my blog back in 2015, I had no idea Pinterest was such a powerful platform for bloggers.

Seemingly by accident, I began promoting my college lifestyle posts on Pinterest. I had zero followers and zero idea what I was doing. Within a few months, one of my posts had gone “viral” on Pinterest. My views were skyrocketing.

Guys. I was going from like 100 views a day to over 1000. I was reaching over 120k pageviews a month. If I had known about monetizing my blog posts at this time, I probably would have quit my day job sooner.

As someone who now has made blogging her full-time job, I basically worship Pinterest. Don’t get me wrong, I love SEO, social media marketing, and all of that other good stuff. But Pinterest will always have a special place in my heart because it’s so easy to use, it’s used by just about every audience imaginable, and you don’t have to rely on follower counts.

Let me repeat that: you don’t have to rely on follower counts.

Your follower count on Pinterest doesn’t really matter as much as it does on other social platforms. Your content is still searchable regardless, and there are other effective ways to get your content in front of new eyes.

All of that being said, are you ready to dive into the Pinterest mistakes your blog is making? We’ll be covering 5 of the most common mistakes I still see in 2019, and I’ll also share how to revamp your Pinterest and up your page views.

Stats About Pinterest

Before we get started, let’s dive into some essential Pinterest facts. I think it’s so important to understand who uses each platform before you invest your time in it. So who’s on Pinterest?

There’s a bit of a stigma that Pinterest is full of mostly middle-aged moms looking for school lunch ideas and DIY tips. While this audience certainly exists on Pinterest, you’ll discover it’s a lot more than that. 

Pinterest by the numbers:

• 250 million people are active on Pinterest every month
• 83% of U.S. women between the ages of 25-54 have used Pinterest
• In 2018, half of all new sign-ups were men
• High-income and educated U.S. households are 2x as likely to use Pinterest
• 85% of women use Pinterest to plan their “life moments”
• 59% of Millennials have discovered products on Pinterest

As you can see, Pinterest covers a wide audience and has a lot of pull over buying decisions and life decisions. If you’re a blogger, this matters because it means the users searching on Pinterest are looking for information and value. In other words, they’re not casually browsing.

Now that you have a better understanding of the platform, let’s dive into the top Pinterest mistakes.

1. You post personal pins.

This is the number one mistake I see time and time again. I totally get the temptation to use Pinterest to save things you like. That’s what Pinterest is for, right?

Yes and no. To the casual user, Pinterest is designed for saving ideas and images. For bloggers, it’s about pinning content your audience wants to see.

This comes back to your niche. When I first started college blogging, I focused my Pinterest profile on my college blogging audience. I included topics I knew my audience wanted to see: dorm inspiration, study tips, meal ideas, college fashion, etc. This was a wide range, but it fits my audience.

At the same time, I have a lot more interests than this. I like to look up tattoo ideas, minimalist fashion, and debt payoff plans. Does this relate to my audience? Not really. So you have two solutions: use secret boards or create a separate personal account.

Pinterest learns what you post. It knows your audience, and it will continue to promote your content to that audience. That’s why you need to be consistent within your niche.

2. You don’t loop your content.

When you post on Pinterest, the platform shows your post on your follower’s feeds. If you post on a group board, you’ll show up in that group board’s feed. As you can tell, there’s a lot of content constantly being posted to Pinterest. It’s easy to get lost in the fray.

You can’t just post your content once and expect it to magically take off. While you shouldn’t spam your content back-to-back, posting your old and new content regularly is a great way to keep your content fresh in front of new eyes.

Does this sound like a lot of work? It doesn’t have to be. I use Tailwind to automate my looping with their Smart Loop feature. Get a free month of Tailwind by using my link here. (This is an affiliate link. That means you’ll get a free month at no extra cost to you, and I’ll receive some Tailwind credit in return.)

3. You don’t maximize group boards.

Group boards are my jam, and they should be your jam too. If you want to stop making Pinterest mistakes that are impacting your blog, you need to know how to use group boards to promote your content.

Finding group boards, applying to them, and then promoting your content on them regularly is a bit of a hassle, I’ll admit. But once you know how to find group boards that are perfect for your audience, the whole process is much simpler.

Here’s how to find group boards:

• Look for leading bloggers in your niche and see what boards they’re in
• Ask around on Facebook groups for bloggers
• Search on Pinterest for niche keywords and change the search to “boards” instead of “posts”

I’d recommend joining 10+ group boards. However, these have to be high-quality, active group boards in your niche or you’re wasting your time.

4. You use Pinterest like Instagram

I’ve seen a lot of Instagram images on Pinterest recently. What’s with that? As I mentioned in the beginning, Pinterest is a search engine for blog posts. Instagram is a social feed for images. These are very different things that should be treated differently.

If you’re posting things to Pinterest that should be posted to Instagram or Facebook, nobody wants to click on that. People want actionable content. They want value. They want something they can use in their own life. That photo of your avocado toast or #OOTD likely won’t fit the bill.

Save Instagram for building your community. Keep Pinterest full of your evergreen blog content.

5. You’re not using a business account.

Finally, not switching your Pinterest account to a business account is a fatal flaw. Even if you’re a one-man-show of a blogger, you need to be pinning from a business account.

What’s so magical about a business account? Mainly, you get a lot of special analytics. You also can claim your website which helps you take better control of your content. But most importantly, Pinterest requires you to create a business account if you plan to do any kind of business on Pinterest. Hint: your blog is a business.

Revamp Your Pinterest

Now that you know the most common mistakes, it’s time to revamp your Pinterest. I know Pinterest can be really confusing. Even if you’ve been using it for a while, treating your Pinterest as a part of your blog marketing strategy takes some training.

Luckily, I’ve got you covered. I created a free 3-day email course to help you optimize your Pinterest from the ground up! I should totally be charging for this, but I’m so tired of seeing these mistakes above that I’d love for as many people to take this as possible.

What’s in it for you?

• Step-by-step tips for optimizing your profile with niche keywords
• How to find the best group boards and apply quickly
• Actionable Pinterest posting schedule to rapidly increase your pageviews

You don’t need anything fancy to get started, just a Pinterest account and a blog. From there, you’ll be posting viral pins in no time. Sign up below to get started!

Thanks for reading these Pinterest mistakes your blog might be making. Pinterest might be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be that way. As a self-proclaimed Pinterest pro that uses the platform to make a living from home, I can confidently say it’s simpler than you think.

How do you use Pinterest for your blog? What are you struggling with in 2019? Let’s overcome these challenges together!