Simple Pin Podcast: Simple ways to boost your business using Pinterest

Idea Pins are here to stay on Pinterest, so it’s time to come up with an Idea Pin content planning framework to keep yourself from burning out and feeling overwhelmed with this new form of marketing.   what is an Idea Pin? These pins were released in 2020 as a way to keep users on the platform longer. A Pinterest user tends to click off the platform when they see an idea or product they like. Idea Pins show up in the Pinterest feed, based around a product you sell, a DIY project, a recipe the pinner can make, and more. They show features of your content and how it can help the pinner. why should you use Idea Pins? Idea Pins are part of a suite of options on the platform – Pinterest ads, video pins, static or traditional pins, and Idea Pins. Using Idea Pins as part of your strategy can help you find your perfect person in a different way. Pinterest prioritizes them and is telling us they’re important, so we use them. Simple as that. How do you come up with content ideas? Enter our new free Idea Pin Content Planning Worksheet. The goal with this worksheet is to help you streamline your process and cut down on the amount of time you’re spending on Pinterest. There are 4 parts to the worksheet: * Space to brainstorm content ideas* How to categorize your ideas based on where your ideal customer is in their journey* Storyboarding space to lay out your content* Calendar pages to plan out your content RELATED: Simple Pin Framework – Inspire, Inform, Decide We used this worksheet inside our Simple Pin Collective membership to test it out and here’s what one of our members had to say: “I work full time…therefore, content creation, pins, posts, idea pins are always a struggle. Today, I spent 45 min BEFORE starting my work day to follow the steps we discussed in the monthly coaching call. I will create 1 idea pin per week. Anyway, to the fun part. I thought of 39 ideas for idea pins, some could also be new post ideas, scheduled them right away, and I came up with content ideas until the first week of November! Which is AWESOME ! I can later create holiday ideas to include for the last quarter as well. These ideas were mainly evergreen ideas. Thank you for this exercise! Made me want to jump back into this with a clearer mind!“ Grab your Idea Pin Content Planning Worksheet here. I hope this worksheet is a helpful tool and guide and I’d love to see what you come up with! Share with us in Instagram DMs or tag us @simplepinmedia. For further reading/listening: * All about the Creator Rewards Program (podcast/show notes)* How Idea Pins can grow your business and generate revenue (podcast/show notes)* Pinterest Creative Best Practices* How to create Idea Pins (Pinterest)

Pinterest released a Creator Rewards program in October 2021, and then a Creator Fund in 2022. It’s created some confusion and curiosity for all of us about what the programs are and if there’s a difference. You’ve told us you’re hungry for the details so we decided to go deep into the Pinterest Creator Rewards program and answer all your questions. We’ll talk about what it is, who is eligible, how to get access, how to get paid (and how much), and a little bit of troubleshooting. We’ll also share what people are telling us about their experience with the program. Then we’ll talk a bit about the Creator Fund, which is actually an entirely different program. What is the Creator Rewards Program? The Creator Rewards program is a way for creators to earn money for creating original Idea Pins, in response to monthly reward goals created by Pinterest. Pinterest will pay creators directly for their most inspiring, quality content and organic engagement. Simply put? If you create Idea Pins within their goals, Pinterest will pay you. Who is eligible for the program? There is quite a list of requirements and they seem to be changing a bit. Don’t miss the updates we’ve sprinkled throughout the post, as things have changed since we have even recorded this episode! You must: * Have a business account* Be 18 years or older* Have at least 1000 followers on Pinterest (UPDATE: Since recording, this has dropped to 250 followers)* Have already created at least three Idea pins (UPDATE: Since recording, it now says “at least 3 Idea Pins in the last 30 days)* Be a legal resident of, and located in, the 50 United States or the District of Columbia (UPDATED)* Have 150 saves of your published pins in the last 30 days (NEW)* Create original content If you haven’t turned your Pinterest account into a business account yet, please do it today. Besides being against the terms of service to run your business through a personal account, you get so much more that you need for your business. Here’s the big one – you have to be located in the United States. The program is in beta right now, so it hasn’t been released internationally. I think we will see it expanded by quarter 3 or 4 of this year. IMPORTANT UPDATES: New requirements say you can’t use the content you have pinned to Pinterest before, so creating Idea Pins with old blog post content won’t work (hopefully they aren’t strict with this one, but we don’t know yet). From the Creator Rewards page: “Eligible User Content must be (i) wholly original; (ii) must not have been previously published on Pinterest or submitted for any other program/promotion;“ From one of our Simple Pin Collective members: “Before it said it must not have been previously published elsewhere. This is so good because the payment is still low, but now we can repurpose content from other platforms, so it will be less time-consuming!” How Do You Get Access? To find the Creator Rewards program, you will have to use your phone or tablet. It’s only accessible on mobile devices. Note that you also have to have the Pinterest app version 9.33 or higher. If you aren’t seeing the Creator hub on your mobile, make sure you have updated your Pinterest app.

Pinterest ads can be hard to master on your own. They’re even harder when you’re making mistakes over and over. The great news is we’re here to break down some common mistakes we see with Pinterest ads, give you some simple fixes and share best practices, and get you pointed in the right direction. Erin, our Director of Pinterest Ads Management, has been learning everything she can about Pinterest ads since we created this department back in 2018. A bit of fun history for you: Erin started with Pinterest ads as a result of my “dishwasher moment”. I was loading dishes and feeling angsty about the moving target of Pinterest ads. As I was closing my dishwasher the solution clicked. “Why am I doing this? This is not my wheelhouse. I don’t need to be deep into the weeds. I can task someone else to take this on and let them run with it”. We have several other podcasts where Erin and I have discussed Pinterest ads, but I wanted to do something different and focus on the mistakes Erin sees people making on a regular basis. First, I want you to know that we believe in a fully diversified ad strategy. There is room for ads on many different platforms including Pinterest. Each platform brings a different audience and an opportunity that can be important for your business. Let’s dive into the three big mistakes we see being made with Pinterest ads. pinterest ads best practices and mistakes to avoid Erin says that people make lots of mistakes with Pinterest ads, but she doesn’t mean that negatively. Ad campaigns can be complicated and we’ve all made mistakes with them. People try to come from other platforms and approach Pinterest in the same way. They think having run Facebook ads, Google ads, or Instagram ads means Pinterest ads will be a no-brainer. “Pinterest ads are so different. There’s an important mindset shift you need to make. Ads just don’t work the same on the Pinterest platform.” But let’s not get down on ourselves because we’ve made mistakes. Mistakes are an opportunity to learn and grow, so let’s talk about the three most common things we see. When we talk about Pinterest ads, we can’t forget all the things we know about Pinterest as a whole. Remember, Pinterest is all about search and discovery. Pinners are often looking for inspiration for the future. You won’t see traffic results right away. “People use Pinterest to plan for moments in their life, events that are happening, and projects around their home.” That holds with ad campaigns, especially if it’s your first time running ads on Pinterest. People are engaging and saving, but they don’t always buy right away. They’re in the planning mode. You won’t see conversions right away. Losing the focus of the Pinners’ motivation leads to the first of our most common mistakes: Setting Unrealistic Time Expectations Pinterest marketing is a slow burn. Erin says you need to plan a minimum of two to four months for an ad campaign. If you stop three weeks in on a campaign, you won’t get accurate and effective actionable results. Erin encourages you to think of the first month as the data-gathering phase. The second month your conversions will begin to come through, and by the third month you will begin to see a return on ads that are working well. In the fourth month, you can begin scaling to optimize your results. As a business owner,

Have you ever wondered what steps you need to take before diving into Pinterest ads? Not just the technical details, but the planning, the mindset, the prep work and education. Is advertising on Pinterest even worth it? Today on the podcast, I’m chatting with Amanda McKinney. Amanda is a marketing coach for yoga teachers. If you just thought to yourself “WHOA, that’s super niched down and specific”, she says she hears that all the time. But she loves it because that’s one of the marketing elements she teaches! Her goal is to “help yoga teachers find the tools and confidence within themselves to grow a thriving yoga business”. Her ideal person has gone through yoga teacher training, but is having a hard time wrapping their head around growing their business. In yoga teacher training, you’re taught how to teach yoga (good!), but not how to market your business, do accounting, or sell your “product”. Amanda wants her yoga teachers to understand that marketing doesn’t have to be salesy, that it can be fun! Both she and I have seen over and over that marketing can often get shoved to the bottom of the list for many business owners. And Amanda wants that to change! IS ADVERTISING ON PINTEREST WORTH IT? In this episode, we talk about how Amanda plans by quarter, why it matters how you’re wired, and how it plays out when you’re investing in ads. WHAT TYPE OF PRODUCT? Her main product right now is her paid membership for yoga teachers. When she started her membership, she had zero content. The membership didn’t even have a name! She asked for some founding members to join her and help her create a membership that THEY needed, not what she thought they would need. She hoped for 5 founding members, and she wound up with 37! “I had an idea, but I wanted to make it theirs, not mine”. — Amanda McKinney She originally thought the membership would be a hub for content and videos they could watch. But she quickly realized along the way that yoga teachers were lonely in growing their business and the community of the membership has become the biggest part. A digital course just doesn’t provide that community element. RELATED: How one Simple Pin Collective member found confidence in the community HOW AMANDA GOT STARTED ON PINTEREST Amanda first started by hiring a virtual assistant who ended up having some experience with Pinterest. Her VA suggested doing some basic pins for her blog post, and she was so grateful because as a business owner, she was juggling so many things. After her VA left, Amanda quit keeping up with Pinterest. But even with that, she found that people were still finding her website from old pins month over month. She started thinking that maybe she should put her time and energy into running ads, instead of trying to figure out an organic Pinterest strategy. She mentioned that she really resonated with how we teach at Simple Pin, so signed up for the Ads Society membership to start learning about ads. where and how to learn pinterest ads Amanda felt like she really needed to spend some time to learn ads, to feel comfortable with what she wanted to promote, to ask herself whether she was ready to commit the tim...

Are you ready to scale your business by hiring a team? Hiring can be a sticky point for business owners. What if… * You hire the wrong person? * This person doesn’t fit your business? * You spend too much money on the person? This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Click here to read my full disclosure policy. Abbey Ashley of Virtual Savvy has created a solution for businesses to hire freelancers that are a great match, but also propels their business forward. She also specializes in teaching people the skills they need to be hire-able. In this episode, Abbey and I talk about how she got started in the digital marketing space, how she hired her first contractors, where she thinks the future of online marketing is headed, and much more! WHERE DID IT ALL START? In the beginning, Abbey started a virtual assistant business and was forced into hiring subcontractors because she was about to have a baby. She called it a “literal ticking time bomb”, because she needed people to be trained and ready to help out when she had her baby. Abbey then went on to develop an online course to teach others how to create their own at-home virtual assistant business using her systems and processes that had been proven to work so well. She THEN went on to hire a team to support the course development and management. She constantly asked the question: How do I become the CEO and true visionary of my business? I asked her why she thought she was so willing and able to jump in and hire in the beginning, where many people are afraid to take the leap. I mentioned that people in my audience find themselves worried about spending money on people and not having enough for themselves. hiring for what you need to scale your business Abbey says she is big on leaning into her strengths – she says her strengths are really strong and weaknesses are really weak so she NEEDS others to fill in the gaps. She also recommends taking tests like the Strength Finder and Kolbe to identify areas where you may need help and hire for that. Finding clients for Abbey was easy, but the execution and fulfillment was not her strong suit. She brought in people to execute what she needed, she would approve, and then send off to the clients. Her initial hires were personal connections – for example: she knew someone who did graphics for a band in college, her sister was really good at writing. This helped remove the initial fear because she was already in relationship with these people. RELATED: Why and when to hire a Pinterest account manager knowing your numbers is important Abbey also recommends researching what percentage of your income/hourly rate should be going towards hiring. In the beginning, she ended up increasing her rates to be able to hire. She said it all depends on your niche, the type of services you offer, what your outgoing expenses are, what you value in your business. But the most important thing is to know YOUR numbers. Then you can figure out percentages and set your budget.

There is an art to navigating how and when to post products, and how to increase sales on Pinterest. Today we’re looking at that from the perspective of selling Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) products on Pinterest. My guest today is Amy, our team TPT specialist. She’s going to share her best tips and tricks for marketing your TPT products on Pinterest. selling tpt products on pinterest Let’s dive in with Amy’s best tips and advice! Amy works with all of our TPT accounts, as well as leads the account specialists who manage those accounts. I asked her to share the story of how she saw the potential for serving TPT sellers that were coming to us when, as a team, we were feeling ready to give up. Here’s the story from her perspective: “I remember one of the Simple Pin leadership retreats a couple of years ago, we were talking about our challenges dealing with TPT sellers’ Pinterest accounts. We just really felt like we had hit a wall and weren’t able to serve them the way we wanted to.As a former elementary teacher, I just felt like there’s so many great teachers out there. We’ve got to find a way to serve them. I kind of took our team frustration as a personal challenge. So our team services director tasked me with the job of figuring this out.It’s been really exciting to learn about it and to move us forward from where we were to get us started working well with TPT sellers.” It was such a gift to have Amy rise to the occasion, because I think the rest of us were saying if we can’t do it well then we really don’t want to do it at all. It’s what we strive for here at Simple Pin. We were on the verge of giving up because we never want somebody to have a negative experience with our services or to feel like we don’t “get” them and their business. That’s a very important part of how we serve our clients. But Amy stepped in and said, “No, wait! I get their brain.” What a gift it has been to have Amy’s teacher background on our team. She knows how teachers work and can speak their language. Let’s talk about what Amy has discovered by digging into TPT on Pinterest. The Biggest Hurdle for Our TPT Clients The biggest hurdle has been the TPT mindset, Amy believes. In the world of marketing on the actual TPT platform, their push is to inform the audience – the purchasers – about the product they will receive. The push is to put all of the details in your listing and on your cover images. TPT wants you to show those resources. That makes perfect sense on their platform. If I’m a teacher and I’m looking for something to use in my classroom, I want to know exactly what I’m buying. I want to know I’m using my resources wisely. It needs to make sense to me and the way I teach. I want to know that I can pick it up and use it in my classroom tomorrow. RELATED: Pinterest for Business Mindset Why Doesn’t the TPT Website Marketing Format Work on Pinterest? That marketing format just doesn’t work on Pinterest and here’s why. People on Pinterest are scrolling through fairly quickly. They’re not going to stop and read an entire product listing that shows all the pages of a resource someone has created. Shifting that mindset has been the biggest hurdle in helping teachers understand tha...

It’s that time of year! Time to dust off the cobwebs from your Pinterest boards and clean up your account.  We’ve covered this topic a few times but it’s always a good refresher. If you have your Pinterest account to a place where you want it to be, you’re good. But if you haven’t cleaned up your Pinterest account in awhile, buzz through these quick tips to make sure you’re not missing anything.  It’s always a good idea to do a quick audit of your profile and boards from time to time, to make sure everything you have on there is still relevant to your brand. how to audit your pinterest profile and boards This is going to sound odd, but I always like to start with this: Why are you using Pinterest and what are your goals in using the platform? Take at least 15 minutes and write out your strategy statement if you haven’t already. This is a helpful guide for why marketing on the platform makes sense for YOUR brand. When traffic has its ups and downs, this will help you stay focused on what’s important. Then think of the metrics that are going to guide you (clicks, saves, impressions, followers, etc). Pick the top 3 you want to keep as your guide as you clean up your Pinterest account and audit your boards. RELATED: How to evaluate your Pinterest marketing strategy Now let’s move to the technical part. ​​STEP 1: PINTEREST PROFILE review Take a quick glance at your boards. Do they still reflect your mission or niche? Does your profile picture, description, and overall boards still communicate your message? If not, make a few changes. NOTE: You can no longer use a video at the top of your header. Pinterest is removing the ability for them to play, so just use a static image.  STEP 2: MOVING & RE-TITLING BOARDS Retitle your boards if needed and make sure your board descriptions are really clear. Move any personal boards or boards that don’t fit your niche to secret, so Pinterest doesn’t get confused as to what your brand is about. STEP 3: assess GROUP BOARD EFFECTIVENESS I asked my team the annual question: Are the group boards your client is on getting good engagement? Some said maybe 1-2 were in their top performing boards, but most people didn’t feel like they needed them. So if you have a group board that doesn’t seem worth it OR you don’t have a board like that on your own account – ditch it and create your own.  BONUS TIP: DON’T DELETE PINS! We’ve talked about this a lot before, and it used to be recommended as a strategy to get more traffic, but we’ve just never seen it play out. We still don’t recommend it as a consistent practice, because it just doesn’t seem to be worth your time. We’d love to hear from you! Do you regularly “spring clean” your Pinterest account or did we miss a step that you like to take? Leave a comment here on the blog post or send us a DM on Instagram! For Further Listening/Reading: * What to pin in April (podcast)*

Pinterest hosted a recorded call on March 10th to announce some new features coming to Pinterest. Think of it a bit like a “summit”. This is the second time they’ve done this and it’s called Pinterest Presents. Check out the 2022 updates and highlights below! pinterest presents 2022 updates Here’s a quick breakdown: There was a lot of conversation around how Pinterest is different from other social media brands. They’re wanting to be (and proving to be) a place to escape negativity. They want to challenge the status quo of “social media” by being a place that’s all about YOU, instead of comparison to others. They’ve rolled out compassionate search for those seeking mental health support, didn’t monetize ads around Covid-related products or information, and shared the quote “old ways open new doors”. There was also a lot of conversation around content creators and their partnership with Pinterest. It sounds like it will be easier than ever for brands and creators to connect with partnership opportunities. Be sure to check out their Idea Ads with paid partnerships for more information! What else is Pinterest focusing on? They’ve been telling us for awhile that they’re heavily investing in shopping on Pinterest and new e-commerce features. Pinterest says that shopping on the platform is all about YOUR taste and values, not based on what others are doing or what’s super trendy. They say Pinterest users are often searching for brands that align with their values, so they’re rolling out a feature called “merchant details” which allows merchants to share their values at the top of their profile. A few other features they’re rolling out: * Your Shop – This will be a unique experience tailored to you, catered to you and what you search for* Checkout on Pinterest (beta) – Users will be able to purchase without ever leaving the app* API for Shopping – This sounds similar to the Verified Merchant Program, but we don’t know much else yet They also mentioned that the Pinterest Trends tool has expanded to include search filters! Keep in mind that many of these features are either brand new, in beta, or haven’t been rolled out to everyone yet. We’d love to hear from you! Have you watched the Pinterest Presents recording? If you haven’t, you can watch here. They have it really well segmented out by time stamp and category. Do you have any of the new features they’re talking about? Let us know in the comments or send us a DM on Instagram! For Further Listening/Reading: * Pinterest Predicts 2022 – Pinterest’s specific report or listen to our podcast episode detailing what’s in the report* Simple Pin podcast episode on Pinterest Trends* Pinterest Business Community (the “PBC”)* Listen t...

Pinterest TV? What’s that? I hear this all the time when I mention this new feature launched by Pinterest in late 2021. It seems a little “outside the box” for the platform. One of Pinterest’s special creators, Isabelle Dias, recently talked with me about what Pinterest TV is and how it can help your business grow.  I must admit that I was kind of a Pinterest TV critic, but Isabelle has changed my outlook about this cool new Pinterest eCommerce marketing tool. I hope that by the end of this episode, you will also see its potential to be leveraged in a way that is different than any other live format.  Pinterest TV is NOT like Instagram Live or Facebook Live. It is unique! Related: Pinterest vs. Instagram for Marketing Your Business & The Transition from Facebook Marketing to Pinterest Marketing Introducing Pinterest TV: The Next Big Pinterest eCommerce Tool Meet Pinterest TV Creator Isabelle Dias Isabelle Dias is a personal development specialist turned content creator. She has worked with digital marketing her entire professional life. She was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but currently lives in New Jersey with her husband.  Isabelle majored in social communication and marketing where she used Pinterest all the time. It was a huge educational tool for her that she carried into her professional life as a consultant in Brazil and now as a content creator here in the U.S..  We hear a lot about Pinterest expanding globally, especially the push into South America. Isabelle says Pinterest is big in South America. In fact, according to Pinterest’s Global Head of Sales, Brazil is one of Pinterest’s largest markets outside of the US. Isabelle says that idea pins are still new in Brazil. Pinners and creators there are just becoming familiar with that feature, but it was idea pins that provided her the opportunity she has now with Pinterest TV. Isabelle was hand-selected by Pinterest as a special creator for the Pinterest TV feature so she has an inside track on what this emerging product is and how it works. What is Pinterest TV? Simply put, Pinterest TV is live, original, shoppable episodes featuring creators and brands right on Pinterest. Every week, they have new episodes on Pinterest TV that are recorded and available for pinners on demand. Users can even save episodes and rewatch them later.  Isabelle likens Pinterest TV to QVC.  Pinterest TV, or Pinterest Live as it is often referred to, is an exciting new way for pinners to be online with a live person and buy featured products right from the Pinterest platform. Isabelle thinks it is an amazing feature for people who have products to sell, especially if they are physical products. 

Pinterest has a community dedicated to creators called the Pinterest Business Community that provides a feedback forum for both creators and Pinterest to connect on issues and new products to help creators grow. One of their latest programs is Pinterest Pioneers. It highlights top contributors that will be helpful to creators in leading and modeling the best business tactics. pinterest pioneers and the pinterest business community Michael Bliss is one of the Pinterest Pioneers inside the Pinterest Business Community, and in this episode, he shares with us his experience and how he got connected with the PBC, the growth he’s seen on Pinterest, what gets him excited about helping other creators on Pinterest, and more! RELATED: What does it mean to be a Pinterest creator? Michael shares his very personal experience in using Pinterest as a safe place to feel positive and to help him combat his depression and anxiety. It’s a deeply inspiring, heartfelt, and vulnerable story, and it almost brought me to tears a few times. I love his outlook and perspective on the platform, how he focuses back time and time again on WHY he’s using the platform, and how he just finds Pinterest to be fun. Looking for more from Michael? Check out his Pinterest profile here or his website here. Further Listening/Reading: * Pinterest Q4 Earnings Report* Pinterest Marketing Predictions for 2022* Is Pinterest social media?* Spring Trends on Pinterest: Keywords you should be using now

Decorating your home just got easier – introducing Pinterest Try On for Home Decor! Pinterest recently released a new feature in the US market called Try On for Home Decor. This feature enables users to take a picture of their space and fill it with potential products to buy. Learn more about how this works and how it could potentially affect your marketing strategy.  New Feature Alert: Pinterest Try On for Home Decor Pinterest recently announced Try On for Home Decor  – a new way for pinners to shop for home decor items using augmented reality. Pinners can now try before they buy by virtually viewing items in their home using the Pinterest Lens camera.  The goal of this new Pinterest ecommerce feature is to bring a new experience that will help pinners better visualize items in their home and seamlessly move them from inspiration to realization.  Sounds dreamy to me, especially since I am decor-challenged.  The new feature is similar to the previously launched Try On for Lipstick and Eyeshadow feature. This feature works just like Try On for Home Decor. Within the Pinterest app, you are literally able to virtually “try on” certain shades of lipstick, blush, etc. It’s really kind of fun to try out some crazy colors without having to buy! The virtual home decor experience is launching live on more than 80,000 shoppable pins, while the beauty feature is currently only available across 14,000 shoppable pins. We’re not totally sure why there is such a difference in the number of shoppable pins. If I had to guess, it probably has to do with the fact that people are much more likely to buy home decor online than they are makeup. I need a professional to give me advice for makeup. I’m not sure I trust myself. Plus, you can return home decor. You can’t return a lipstick you’ve tried at home. Augmented reality features have been super successful for Pinterest, which is likely why they chose to invest in the new Pinterest Try On feature. Another Boost for Pinterest eCommerce Here are some stats Pinterest is reporting: * Pinterest Lens camera searches have increased by 126% year-over-year* Try on for Beauty usage has increased 28% for Gen Z and 33% for Millenials* Pinners are 5x more likely to purchase from Try On-enabled pins than standard pins. Jeremy King, SVP of Engineering for Pinterest, states: Since the pandemic began, we’re seeing more digitally savvy shoppers than ever before, as millions of people now expect virtual and mobile options to try before they buy, see personalized recommendations, and gather information as part of their decision making process. These behaviors are happening across Pinterest every day, which is why we’re continuing to advance technologies like AR Try On and make Pinterest a full funnel shopping destination that takes people from inspiration to purchase anywhere in the app. Let me break this down – Pinterest is seeing online sales increase (as is every other platform out there). So then how does Pinterest enable users to try something before they buy without having to go into the store?

Diving into the Pinterest earning reports is a great way to find out about the health of the company, future direction hints and more. Stock reports aren’t that fun to read, but you do get a little sneak peek into where the company is headed and what their goals are. Before we dive in, let’s set a reminder of Pinterest’s mission: Our mission is to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love Opening words from the Pinterest Q4 earnings report: “Pinterest is where over 400 million people around the world go to get inspiration to live their best lives. They come to discover and bring to life ideas for their daily activities like cooking dinner or deciding what to wear; for major commitments like remodeling a house or training for a marathon; for ongoing passions like gardening or fashion; and for milestone events like planning a wedding or a dream vacation. Our users (who we call Pinners) often don’t have the words to describe what they want, but they know it when they see it. Images and video can communicate concepts that are impossible to describe with words. On Pinterest, people discover inspiring and personalized visual content, which we call Pins. Pins are created when Pinners, creators and businesses make new content for or save existing web content to our platform. Pins are saved and organized into collections, which we call boards and sections. Browsing and saving visual ideas on our service helps Pinners imagine what their future could look like, which propels them from inspiration to action. Pinterest is the productivity tool for planning your dreams. Dreaming and productivity may seem like polar opposites, but on Pinterest, inspiration enables action and dreams become reality. Visualizing the future helps bring it to life. In this way, Pinterest is unique. Most consumer internet companies are either tools (search, ecommerce) or media (newsfeeds, video, social networks). Pinterest is not a pure media channel; it is a mediarich utility. Pinterest is also unique because we’ve designed it to be an inspiring platform, that we foster through our policies and product development — for example, Pinterest has banned political and weight loss ads, developed inclusive beauty search functionality and launched compassionate search for Pinners seeking mental health support. This work is foundational to our mission because we believe people are less likely to imagine their future and bring it to life when they feel self-conscious, excluded, or unhappy. It also creates value for businesses and brands on the platform (including our advertising partners), who have the opportunity to showcase their products and services in an inspiring environment that we believe is conducive to building an emotional connection with consumers. Pinners can choose between two different Home Feed experiences: Browse or Watch. The “Browse” tab is Pinterest’s traditional inspiration feed (consisting of a two column grid featuring a variety of Standard, Video, Product and Idea Pins), while the “Watch” tab is an immersive feed of full-screen, auto-playing Idea Pins.” Okay, we’ve set the stage for the investors to understand what Pinterest is. Next came the… Letter to Shareholders – basically a pretty slideshow to get the investors excited A summary of what’s included:

Pinterest vs Instagram – yes, they both are effective marketing platforms for your business. But it’s important to understand that they serve very different functions. There are so many social media platforms out there to choose from when it comes to marketing your business. We see a lot of people coming from Instagram when they begin marketing on Pinterest. They know how to market on Instagram so they attempt to apply that same approach on Pinterest. The problem is that the two platforms operate very differently So what are the major differences when it comes to Pinterest vs Instagram? Let’s chat about the purpose of each platform, break down the audience characteristics, and learn how to leverage both platforms in different ways for your business.  Pinterest vs Instagram for Marketing Your Business Platform Users As of Q4 in 2021, Pinterest had 444 million monthly active users worldwide, with 89 million from the U.S. Pew Research found that Pinterest ranked fourth in audience size after YouTube, Facebook and Instagram in 2021 with 38% of US adults claiming to have used Pinterest. Usage on Pinterest here in the U.S. is higher than LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, WhatsApp, Nextdoor, and Reddit.  Instagram has confirmed that they have over 1.22 billion monthly active users, but it’s rumored to be more like 2 billion monthly users.  The audience size across the two platforms is considerably different. Instagram completely blows Pinterest out of the water when it comes to the number of users. Let’s look at the user characteristics for each platform. First, it’s interesting to note that there is a gender divide for both platforms with women outranking men.  Women have always outranked men on Pinterest, but the gap may be narrowing a bit with 60% of Pinterest users being women.  Every year I see Pinterest saying men are the fastest growing demographic. I’m not sure what the starting comparison number for male Pinners was, but they say that number has grown by 50%. We do know that Pinterest is making another push to increase the number of men on their platform in 2022. Stats on the gender gap for Instagram are slightly different. Fifty-one percent of Instagram users are female and 49% are male. Pinterest is not a platform people visit multiple times a day. According to Cast From Clay, only 4% of Pinterest users in the U.S. and 8% in the U.K., use Pinterest multiple times in a day. Those percentages are low compared to Instagram users (who spend an average of 30 minutes a day on the platform). Pinterest refers to people who use the platform three to five times or more each day as Power Pinners. Power Pinners are considered by some “the people to follow” because their huge number of followers can greatly enhance your user experience.

Do men use Pinterest? It’s the question I’ve been asked every year since I started Pinterest marketing. But this year, 2022, it’s about to get real. Pinterest is putting real effort behind getting more men to use the platform. Recent Pinterest research has shown that men have big plans for the year… and they’re willing to spend more to bring those plans to life. In fact, 75% of men in the study are planning to spend more to bring their goals to fruition, and they’ve stated that they’re more excited about their plans for 2022 (compared to previous years). Men have set a variety of goals for the new year – for instance: * Finding more activities to do with family (60%)* Seeing more movies in theaters (55%)* Eating out more often (55%)* Hosting more parties at their house (50%)* Making large purchases – like buying a new car (30%) how to market to men on pinterest It’s important to reach men early – during their planning phase. The study showed that men convert quicker in their purchases, so make sure you’re sharing content that helps them make a quick, confident decision. Men are also premium shoppers, meaning they’re willing to spend a bit more to get what they want faster or to buy a brand they recognize. They also appreciate platforms like Pinterest that help them cut through the internet clutter. 80% of men on Pinterest agree that shopping on the platform leads them to something unexpected that surprises and delights them. Use these tips to reach more men on Pinterest: * Surround important moments for greater impact* Highlight new products* Incorporate emerging and timely trends For more tips and a deeper dive on how to reach men on the platform, make sure to give the podcast episode a listen! We would love to hear from you. Are men a part of your target audience? If not, do you plan to use some of these tips to engage with them even more? Let us know by sending us a DM on Instagram. We always love to hear from you! Resources and Further Listening/Reading * Leave a review for the Simple Pin Podcast* Simple Pin Services – Book a free discovery call!* Pinterest Predicts 2022* Simple Pin Marketing Predictions for 2022* Solo Stove

As Pinterest changes, we keep hearing from bloggers that Pinterest doesn’t care about them. This also coincides with all the changes across digital marketing in general, which includes more time keeping users on the platform. Is it that Pinterest doesn’t care about bloggers or more that they are trying to remain relevant to the digital marketing environment and what Gen Z is looking for as the emerging digital generation? Does pinterest still work for bloggers? What are we seeing bloggers say? * They are frustrated with not being considered eCommerce since they don’t sell stuff* The “new” Pinterest is making their traffic drop because they’re prioritizing Idea Pins that don’t link* They want to quit Pinterest because it’s much harder. What are they supposed to do?* Does Pinterest even care about bloggers?* They’re no longer going to create free content for Pinterest. So why did we want to record this to address this episode? Pinterest implemented a lot of changes last year. Yes, it does seem more difficult for bloggers, however Pinterest wants this “new” Pinterest to work. We’ve seen creators work with Pinterest in these changes (who are bloggers, not eCommerce) and see reward! Times are changing – we have to be everywhere. Marketing is harder and more exhausting than it used to be. Pinterest was a place that felt easier and now it feels harder. Pinterest is keeping up with the flow of change. They see the writing on the wall of short form video and consumer habit.  There’s no way around this change. We understand and see it but…. this is how we see it changing and how it can be an advantage to your business.  tips for using pinterest marketing as a blogger Diversify your income stream. No longer can we, as pure bloggers, expect to generate income solely from our websites.  Think Gen Z. Where are they? How are they learning? As teens and young adults, we searched Pinterest for a “how-to” and then clicked on the pin for more. Have you been on Tik Tok? We’re literally learning from the app. We’ve heard young ones say many times, “I learned this ____ on Tik Tok.  Think about income into your business in a new way – We need to start seeing these platforms as another way to “get paid”.  (see: Pinterest Creator Rewards) We also need to see (and use) the platform for brand awareness, authority building, AND traffic driver… yes, “regular” pins still work. Don’t give up on regular pins, or on your audience who is still over there. Last, really think about why you want to use Pinterest. How is it important to your brand awareness, income stream, and business growth.  In reality, we should do this with all the platforms we choose to use. Then we know why we’re using it.  Pinterest isn’t going back to the way it was before. There isn’t a platform out there that will ever stay the same. They are going to make changes and adjust based on where they see the industry going. That’s the same thing you have to do for your business.  We’d love to hear from you! What are your thoughts here? Leave a comment on this post or DM us on Instagram. For Further Listening/Reading: