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

Today’s episode is a bit of a detour from the usual. As we start the year 2021, I want to provide you with some help, including working from home and business budgeting tips. My very own bookkeeper, Iyanna from Lovely Financials, is here with me this week. to talk about how to budget in your business after an unusual year (and NO YEAR has been quite as unusual as the one we just finished). Iyanna and I have been working together since 2018. She started doing my bookkeeping during a period of transition in my business – I was way in over my head and desperately needed help. A business friend introduced me to Iyanna. Hiring her has been one of the absolute best things I’ve ever done for my business.  Today, we’ll be talking about setting goals for 2021, what is most important when it comes to your business budget, and how to allocate your business dollars. We’ll cover different types of businesses and how your business type affects your budget.  During the month of February, we will be zeroing in on business foundations in The Simple Pin Collective. This is the best place for you to find a great business community that is helpful and supportive. There’s a vast collection of helpful educational resources housed in the Collective. We hope you’ll join us there.  Iyanna’s Story  Iyanna was a young mother and also a foster mom to special needs teenagers. She wanted to do something for herself and so she decided to start a blog. She was so inspired by what she uncovered in the online business world. She saw so many examples of women crushing their business goals and growing their family’s finances.  Unfortunately, she also observed a common theme across these women — they were afraid to talk about their numbers.  Iyanna invested in a course to help further her knowledge base in accounting (a subject she explored in college). She had been on the health care management track in school since she aspired to be a CFO of a hospital. Along the way, she ended up falling in love with her accounting courses.  From Bookkeeping to Business Budgeting Tips The course helped her to launch her bookkeeping business. She decided to niche down to serve online businesses since she wanted to help those women entrepreneurs to be empowered when it comes to their business numbers. Soon, her services went beyond bookkeeping. Iyanna started offering advice on how her clients could improve their financials. She also helped them to develop a budget for their businesses. As Iyanna’s business has evolved, she currently offers CFO-level support for online businesses. She takes a holistic approach to help her clients grow their business and understand their financials. Be 100% Approachable  Bookkeeping professionals are viewed by many people as condescending – they base their interactions with clients on the assumption that clients can’t understand bookkeeping methods. This is not the experience that Iyanna wants for her clients. She is an advocate for her clients and wants them to be empowered to understand their numbers so that they can make informed decisions for their business.  Iyanna’s mission is to make sure her business is 100% approachable. No matter whether someone has been blogging for years or is just starting out, making a six-figure income, or hasn’t made $100, Iyanna wants to educate her clients and help them to grow their business the way they see fit.  At the end of the day, our financials are just a picture of what actually has transpired or what can come to fruition. — Iyanna

So many of us have had to adjust to working from home with kids in the house over the past year. Let’s put Pinterest aside this week, and talk about how to make this new normal work! The Simple Pin podcast is 99% about Pinterest marketing with the occasional sidestep to address other issues that business owners face. Today is one of those special episodes. If you are wanting to deep dive into Pinterest marketing advice, then by all means listen to one of our other 222 episodes.  But if you are a parent who is staying at home with children while also working or growing a business, I want you to know I see you. And not only do I see you…I am you.  There is nothing quite like trying to work, or be a serious entrepreneur, while simultaneously helping your kids learn to use Zoom or Google Classroom. Not to mention, now you are also the P.E. teacher and lunch lady. It’s a lot, my friends.  My guest today is Gerry Spears, from Foodness Gracious (you may recall Gerry from a previous episode about visual story-telling on Pinterest).  Gerry chose to be a stay-at-home dad 10 years ago when his son was born. He is now at home with two children while also running his very successful food blog. In today’s podcast, Gerry and I are discussing the transition from full-time parent to having your kids in school all day…to the whole new world of a global pandemic and the kids unexpectedly home again all day. We then dive into some practical strategies for working at home with kids. 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. Working at Home with Kids: What It Currently Looks Like for Me Before Gerry shares his tips, I wanted to give you a sense of what it has been like for me to make some of these transitions.  My kids are currently 11, 13, and 15., They attend three different schools. When the pandemic hit, it was like my life was a spinning top. We were spinning and spinning, with no idea where we would end up. If this had happened a few months prior, it would have been much easier because as long-time listeners know, my husband was a pastor for years and he was home a whole lot more. But right as COVID hit, he took a new job back with a local business. That left me at home, running a business with 38 employees, and trying to figure out how to do online school with three kids at three different schools.  In the spring, when my children first came home, we decided that we had to do just enough to make it to summer — just enough to get through. The thing is, we live on the west coast (as does Gerry) and our kids have never had a chance to go back to school in-person.  When fall came, we knew we had to face online school full-time, which brought its own set of struggles. We had to overcome learning struggles, navigate online technology, and keep up with assignments — all the things that go along with having three students learning at home full-time.  The Importance of Communication October and November didn’t bring with them easier times. Things were tough, and we had to make a decision about how we were going to make decisions.  For our family, it all came down to communication. We had to sit down and have an honest discussion about school. We had to recognize that we were dealing with something really difficult, a situation that none of us wanted to be in.

Winter Pinterest trends is the topic of today’s discussion – using trends data to choose the right winter keywords. Let’s dig in! When it comes to Pinterest marketing, one of the most important things you can do is to use the right Pinterest keywords. Keywords are like everything else on Pinterest – some are evergreen and some are seasonal. In today’s episode, I’m going to share what keywords you should be using this winter based on the current winter Pinterest trends data. But first, if you are reading this in real-time, it’s Challenge Week here at Simple Pin. We are running a Fresh Start in 2021 Pinterest Challenge this week to help you create your Pinterest marketing plan for this year.  We will cover the topics of Pinterest images, Pinterest analytics, Pinterest keywords, and more to help you kick 2021 off to a rocking start. At the time this podcast episode goes live, we’ll be halfway through the Challenge, but it’s not too late to join us. We’re also giving away some really cool stuff!  Head on over to Simple Pin to join the Pinterest Challenge, or sign up for the waitlist and join us in April for round two. We launched a Pinterest Keyword Guide late last year to help you with keywords all year. If you don’t have yours yet, be sure to go grab it now.   Why Do We Need Keywords on Pinterest? Before we discuss which keywords you should be using on Pinterest this winter, we have to start at the beginning with the question, why do we even need Pinterest keywords? In 2014, Pinterest switched from a chronological feed (where you saw everything the people you follow posted in chronological order) to what’s called a smart feed. And while it had everyone up in arms for a while, it was the right decision. Pinterest was trying to deliver the content that the pinner desired. It resulted in a home feed that was smart — one that took into consideration what the pinner was searching for, the pins they had saved to their boards, the Pinterest boards they had created, and their projected interests based on that information.   Over the past six years, Pinterest has continued to update the smart feed algorithm to include story pins, video pins, and interests. They know your pinning habits and serve up your content accordingly.  Seasonal Trends on Pinterest I’ve spoken before about seasonality on Pinterest. As a Pinterest marketer, it is something you must understand. Pinners use Pinterest in distinct ways based on the season. season. If you want your seasonal content to be shown to them, you have to use the right keywords.  The Pinterest user searches for terms like fall, spring, winter, and summer when they perform keyword searches on the platform, especially when it comes to the following niches: * fashion * crafts * decorating * recipes If you have older pins that you could add some seasonal keywords to,

We’re starting off the new year by drilling down into a super fun niche — Pinterest marketing for interior designers! As we begin a brand new year of Pinterest marketing tips, I am excited to bring you an episode that really gives weight to the idea that anyone can market their business on Pinterest.  If you’re a professional in this field, you may wonder how Pinterest can work for your interior design business. After listening to my guest in today’s episode, you will have plenty of ideas on how to incorporate Pinterest into your business marketing plan. Mark Cutler of Mark Cutler Design joined me for this episode. He shares his (awesome) story of how he got into design in the first place, how he learned about Pinterest at a design conference, and how that led him to join the Simple Pin Collective. He shares how he has leveraged what he learned in the Collective to become a name people turn to when they are in need of a designer.  If you want to start 2021 off strong, be sure to join us for our Pinterest Challenge. We are excited to provide you with five days of content to teach you how to master Pinterest marketing in 2021. This Challenge is totally free and will help you discover how to make Pinterest work for you this year.  I love what Mark shares in today’s episode; how he is taking what he learns from others and figuring out how to apply it to his unique business. That’s what the 5-Day Pinterest Growth Challenge is all about – helping you figure out how to use the information we share to grow your business.  If you already know you need more help than a mere 5-Day challenge, let me suggest that you head over to our Simple Pin Collective and join us. Every month, we offer teaching and training to help you maximize your Pinterest marketing and experience real growth in your business. Come see what we’re all about and join us today! The Accidental Interior Designer: Mark’s Story Mark didn’t start out in the interior design field. As a matter of fact, he attended architecture school in Australia. From there, a series of life events led to him living in New York, London, and Paris.  On his way back to Australia, he actually ended up living in Los Angeles, working for an architecture firm. One of the clients of the firm insisted on the firm handling not only the architecture but also the landscaping and the interior design for their project. Mark offered to take the lead on the interior design portion of the contract, thinking to himself, I’ve seen interior design done before. How hard can it be? And with that, he became the firm’s interior design expert. Little did he know where this path would lead next. Within the following two months, his clients included: an African dictator, Vanna White, and Jennifer Lopez’s real estate developer. Fast forward to today — Mark has owned his own interior design firm for the past  21 years. He has also been on several television shows (he even had his own show for a while). His decision early on to adopt the mantra — Sure, I can do that — has led to some amazing opportunities for him.  Market Your Business on the Platform Your Audience is On Mark created a blog a long time ago when he first started in the interior design field. It quickly became well-known in both the blogging world and the design world. His focus on the blog waxed and waned over the years as life demanded more of his time.  When Instagram came on the scene, Mark began to focus more on that platform as a marketing tool for his business.

Ready for my 2020 Pinterest marketing recap? 2020 has been a year. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that we have all been caught off-guard again and again this year.  And Pinterest is no exception; the platform has gone through many changes in 2020. So, today, as we close out this crazy year, I wanted to talk through what we saw as Pinterest marketers this past year, including the new features that were introduced and what we’ve learned.  But first, I want to let you know about a gift we have for you! For the past several years, we have offered a free Pinterest marketing planner for our people. But this year, we wanted to provide you with a way to make the most out of your Pinterest marketing using keywords. So, we created the Pinterest Keyword Planning Guide. This 18-page guide will give you hundreds of suggested keywords, along with seasonal keywords and the keywords you need for your niche.  Of course, our planner isn’t going away! So if you’ve never used it, it’s still a great tool to get you started with your Pinterest marketing. Grab your planner as well when you download your Keyword Guide! 2020 Pinterest Marketing Recap   Explosive Growth We haven’t experienced a pandemic in this country in 100 years, so we have all had to make many adjustments in our lives. Likewise, online businesses have dealt with the pandemic, for good and for bad. Over the past many months, Pinterest has experienced record numbers of users on their platform. In March, they saw more searches in a single weekend, globally, than ever before in their history.  Pinterest brought in $443 million in revenue in 2020, $60 million more than their projected revenue. And in October, monthly users jumped to over 440 million. This growth was a direct result of COVID-19, increased global adoption, a huge surge in paid ads, and users looking for IOS home screen personalization ideas.  It’s safe to say that 2020 was an amazing year for Pinterest. Let’s talk about these changes in detail and how they affected us.  Pinterest Changes and New Features in 2020 Trends– Not only did Pinterest start to provide trending search terms for the United States, but they also provided that information for the UK and Canada. This was super beneficial and incredibly helpful for Pinterest marketers. Verified Merchant Program– Pinterest launched their Shopify app which coincided with their new Verified Merchant Program. Prior to this launch, uploading catalog merchandise was a royal pain for shop owners. This app was a game-changer for them.  Video Pins– Views on video pins increased three times over the previous year. We heard over and over from our clients that they were experiencing gains in their pin views and clicks.  Monthly Breakdown of Changes March and April were great months for shop owners on Pinterest, as Pinterest made it even easier for their users to find more places to shop. And shop owners experienced a boost with the Verified Merchant Program. In May, Pinterest launched the Organize feature that includes project due dates and notes. I’ll be honest. I tried it one time for a specific project but I haven’t even thought about this feature since then. June came along and Pinterest continued building the sho...

We’re so excited to launch the 2021 Pinterest Keyword Planning Guide — our new free gift to you! If you’ve been around these parts for a while now, you know that every year we give our Simple Pin audience a special gift: our Simple Pin Pinterest Planner.  Our yearly Planner has been in circulation for five years! Can you believe it? We update it every year so you get the most relevant content and pinning strategies, as well as new ideas and tips for the upcoming year.  But this year, we wanted to give you a gift that could help you level up your game on Pinterest even more. A gift that takes into account the most critical part of any Pinterest strategy. Pinterest is a search and discovery tool. People use the platform to get ideas for future projects and to dream about how they can improve their homes, appearance, business, and life.  What do you need the most to reach those people who could be helped by the content you provide? We thought about it and we came up with what we think is the perfect answer — a Pinterest Keyword Planning Guide.  But before we talk about where you can get your copy and how to use it, I want to cover some information about Pinterest keywords so that we’re all on the same page.  A Pinterest Keyword Primer   What Are Keywords on Pinterest? Whether you’ve been using Pinterest for years or you’re brand new to using the platform for marketing, it’s important to understand Pinterest keywords and why we use them.  Keyword targeting allows you to reach certain people as they search for specific ideas on Pinterest.  Now don’t confuse keywording on Pinterest with keywording on other platforms. There is no spreadsheet of keywords or a list of hyper-specific keywords. That’s not how Pinterest works.  When a user is looking for something specific on Pinterest, they type a word or phrase into the Search bar at the top of the page. Pinterest will predict what the user is going to type and then offer up suggestions. Users can also use the Pinterest Trends feature to find what they’re looking for.  Every year, Pinterest releases the keywords that are the most popular for that year. You can sort keywords by country using the Trends tool. Where Should Pinterest Keywords Be Used? One of the most common questions I get asked is where keywords should be used on Pinterest. If you’re going to take the time to use the right keywords, you want to make sure you’re using them correctly.  The first place you want to use keywords is in the pin description itself. The pin description is used to clarify what your pin is about. You can use up to 500 characters in this description.  The next place to include Pinterest keywords is in your board names. Pinterest board names need to be specific enough for both the user and Pinterest to understand what the board is about. The board name communicates the types of pins contained within that board. Keep names to 3 to 4 words and stay away from cute or trendy phrases. Your board names should be very specific to what the board is about.  The third place to put keywords is in the board description. Aim for board descriptions to be around four sentences in length. Be sure to write naturally when creating your descriptions. Avoid sounding like a keyword robot. If you write naturally, you will attract your ideal reader AND appease the

Making sure that you have a user-friendly website that is optimized for Pinterest users can seem so scary and overwhelming.  But it’s so important! In 2020, the number of Pinterest users topped 400 million. Every day, the number of people using Pinterest and visiting websites in order to dream, plan, and do is growing. If your website holds the answer to what a user is looking for, you want to make sure that the user has a great experience when they arrive at your site. If your site is not user-friendly, the user won’t want to stick around.  Deep-Diving Into Site Optimization Andrew from NerdPress is on the podcast today. You may remember him from a few months ago when he joined me on the podcast to talk about how to make your website ADA compliant (that episode is a must-listen if you haven’t heard it yet).  Each month in The Simple Pin Collective we dive deep into a specific topic, through videos, training, live coaching calls, etc. This month we’re focusing on site optimization.  Today, Andrew is going to share some basic tips on this topic, but we will go way deeper in the Collective. If that sounds like something to focus on for your business, we’d love to have you join us in The Collective.  Andrew is the founder and CEO of NerdPress, a company that provides WordPress support and maintenance services. They currently provide support for over 400 websites. The majority of their clients are food bloggers, and Andrew himself is a former food blogger.  How to Create a User-Friendly Website for Pinterest Visitors When people talk about the topic of website optimization, it can mean many different things. We could be talking about site speed, search engine optimization, or the user interface. Think about optimization as making your website better in some way. If you are thinking about how to better serve your user, you will end up improving your site in a way that will benefit the user.  It can be easy to get caught up in making things look great and forget about the person who is visiting and what they are coming to your website for. We love the analogy of viewing your website as your online living room — when people arrive in the space your goal is to make them feel welcome. A user-friendly website will serve that purpose. If your site is cluttered and there are a bunch of things in the way that prevents the user from easily consuming the content they are seeking, they will bounce. This is particularly true if the user is coming from Pinterest and they do not have a previous relationship with you.  Be Strategic About Pop-Ups The number one thing that will cause someone to be annoyed or bounce away from your website is being greeted by a pop-up immediately after clicking over to your site — especially one that’s asking for their email address). You aren’t likely to get loyal readers if this is their experience. The user doesn’t know you yet, so they won’t be inclined to give you their email address right out of the gate. Site owners aren’t always aware that this is happening for new users. So it’s vital to check out the new user experience by visiting your site in an incognito window on a regular basis. Take a look at your plugin settings to edit your pop-up time frames. Andrew suggests adjusting your pop-up to appear when the user scrolls 75% down the page, or 30 seconds after a page is opened. Adding some humor to your pop-up and making sure it’...

If you’ve been doing Pinterest marketing for a bit and you’re ready to stick your toe into the Pinterest ads water, you’ll want to listen to today’s episode. Erin and Elysha (Simple Pin’s promoted pins team) are going to tell you what you can expect from your very first promoted pin campaign. If you’re new to Pinterest marketing, don’t jump into running ads just yet. You’re better off to start with the newsletter series we developed just for you. But if you’re ready to experiment with ads, listen up. Erin and Elysha are going to tell you everything you need to know. What to Expect from Your First Promoted Pin Campaign on Pinterest Why Are Promoted Pins on Pinterest So Important? If you‘ve never run a Pinterest ad campaign before, you might be asking the question, why should I even bother with promoted pins? What’s the benefit for me and my business? That’s a great question and one that we can definitively answer. First, Pinterest ads are important to Pinterest because it’s the way that Pinterest makes money. They will continue to push ads in order to continue to grow. More important though is the fact that Pinterest ads can be a huge help to your business. They can help you reach your goals more quickly, thereby allowing your business to grow more quickly as well. What You Need to Know Before Running Your First Promoted Pin Campaign The most important thing to know before embarking on your first campaign is to know your worth. The entire goal of using promoted pins is to increase your reach and expand your exposure. Whether you’re looking to: * increase page views * grow your email list * increase checkout conversions the bottom dollar is what really matters. Your first bit of knowledge to acquire is exactly what your CPA (cost per action) is. Elysha likes to ask, “What does it cost you to keep the lights on and the coffee pouring?” If you don’t know what your CPA is, one of the easiest ways to find out is by running a promoted pins traffic campaign (now called Consideration campaigns). You will discover how your audience interacts with your ads. This type of ad campaign also gives you a baseline for your stats. You will get an idea of what your CPA is. How Long Should You Run Your Promoted Pins Campaign? When you get ready to run your first campaign, how do you decide how long to run it, and how much to spend? Can you run an ad for a week and only spend $5 per day and expect to see success? Or do you need to go in for the long haul? Elysha doesn’t recommend running an ad for a week. Why? Because we know that on Pinterest, things take time. If you’re running a basic traffic campaign (now called consideration campaign), you really want to give yourself four weeks minimum. It takes at least two weeks before your ads even get placed well on the platform. It’s crucial to understand how the Pinterest user behaves on the platform, especially if you’re selling a product,. Typically, the user researches their need, finds the inspiration they’re looking for, and then returns to the platform later to make a purchase. If you only run a Pinterest ad campaign for a week, you aren’t giving the ad time to work.

Question: do you tend to be an early adopter of Pinterest’s new features — jumping on the bandwagon as soon as they roll out? Or do you tend to step back and let others be the guinea pigs? Over the years, we’ve seen Pinterest roll out a ton of new features. Some that come to mind include: * video pins * hashtags * communities * carousel pins and most recently, story pins. Some of these new Pinterest features are so fantastic, we include them in our regular content strategy. Other features miss the mark and disappear into the sunset. Today, we’ll make the case that early adoption of Pinterest’s new features might just pay off BIG. Beth, from Entertaining with Beth, is on the podcast today. In this episode, she makes the case that Pinterest marketing is like Vegas in that the house always wins. She believes you have to understand the game and learn how to play it smart to win. This year, Beth decided to start playing the game when it came to creating story pins, and how that decision has resulted in getting millions of pin impressions and a 241% increase in traffic to her site. Before we dive into Beth’s story… Did you know that here at SPM, we have a lot of free resources for you? We have our: * Start Guide * Promoted Pin Guide * Image Guide * the famous SPM Pinterest Planner.  These free guides are designed to serve you, no matter where you find yourself in your Pinterest marketing. Make sure you check them out.  The Benefits of Becoming an Early Adopter of Pinterest’s New Features: A Case Study   Beth is primarily a video creator. She launched her Youtube channel in 2012, creating recipe content that teaches her audience how to make quick and easy meals, as well as recipes that are great for entertaining.  She never had a blog as part of her business until she went to some blogging conferences and realized the opportunities she was missing out on. She launched her blog three years ago, and she’s been using Pinterest market during the course of that time. Beth was a guest on the SPM podcast back in episode 29, where we talked about Youtube Traffic and Pinterest, and how to make video work on Pinterest (when it was a new feature). Participating in Pinterest Story Pins Beta PRogram After a recent kitchen remodel that took months, I decided I wanted to bake something from scratch. When I opened up Pinterest, one of Beth’s story pins appeared right at the top of my feed. I emailed Beth about her story pins because I could tell she had put a lot of effort into this new Pinterest feature. Here’s what she said: These platforms are like Vegas in that the house always wins. So you just have to get smart playing the game that they want you to play in a way that benefits the you (the content creator) too. — Beth When Pinterest changed their algorithm and really focused ...

You might be scratching your head over today’s episode title. After all, what do Pinterest and email subscribers have to do with each other? Well, listen in as Kate Doster and I discuss how to turn Pinterest visitors into raving fans on your email list! Kate has been a guest on the Simple Pin podcast before. You may remember her from episode 162, when she taught us how to take our Pinterest visitors on a journey from Pinterest to Paypal in 3 minutes flat. The thing about Kate is that she has some amazing tips for getting into the mind of your customer. This is SO important because you have to be in the right frame of mind – the mind of your audience and customer – before you start creating products. Even the lead magnets you create to attract email subscribers must be developed only after getting into the mindset of the people you aim to serve. Related: Is Product Creation the Next Step in Your Business? The reason I asked Kate to come on the podcast and talk about email marketing is that we are spending the month of October in  Simple Pin Collective, digging deep into email marketing. We are getting into the nitty-gritty of how to get people from Pinterest to your website and then onto your email list.  Have you signed up for The Collective yet? If not, now is a great time to do so! You can join The Collective at any time and you can also cancel at any time. We know that business budgets can be tricky, so any time you need to take a step back, you are free to do so.    Tips for Attracting Email Subscribers Who are RAVING Fans   Hit Send on those Sales Emails One of the things I’ve been seeing lately is a divide in email marketing. On the one hand, you have folks who seem to have figured it out. They’ve got the system down and they’re killing it at email marketing. And then you have those people who can’t quite get there. They aren’t sure how to get people on their list, and when they do get somebody on it, they don’t know what to say to them. The problem is, while you care deeply about what you say to your audience, there are marketers who are completely shameless and who bombard their lists with content. They also bombard readers with their ads on social media. Related: Is Pinterest Social Media? And they will sell more products and cultivate larger email lists because of the simple fact that they don’t care what people think.  Unfortunately, because they are in people’s faces all the time, those people will likely end up buying from them if they never see what you have to offer. Kate helps people focus on how to get comfortable with selling their products (how to talk about selling AND how to stop feeling bad about it). After all, if you can’t hit SEND on a sales email, you’ll never sell anything. Connect with Potential Customers by Addressing “Yeah buts” Kate got into email copywriting because of her deep and abiding love for getting to know and working with people. She chose to create email content, landing pages, and lead magnets because of the opportunity in those areas to let her personality shine through. She explains that when it’s time to create a new lead magnet, you need to think through what you want to help your audience overcome, achieve, or do. This can literally be anything. And once you nailed down your topic, you start addressing the “yeah buts” (aka objections). For example, let’s say you are a

On the podcast this week, I am talking with my good friend, Erin Chase of $5 Dinners, about how she went about getting a million views for story pins on Pinterest.  Now, before you roll your eyes about story pins, let me say that Erin and I had a very targeted conversation on how to use story pins in an overall Pinterest marketing strategy.  We talk about: * the types of pins you should use * how to repurpose your content * what your mindset needs to be going in * why you might want to be an early adopter of story pins. We also dive into how story pins are different than Instagram Reels and TikTok, and how to get into the mind of the pinner in order to find success with story pins.  Before I jump in with Erin, let me remind you that if you head over to our website, we have a ton of free resources for you. You can download a free image guide and our Pinterest planner, plus sign up to receive our Start or Grow email series. Using Story Pins on Pinterest as Part of Your Pinterest Marketing Strategy   Early Adoption for Early Success Erin didn’t jump on the Pinterest marketing bandwagon until a full year after the platform opened. But one thing she didn’t wait on was trying Promoted pins for her business (aka Pinterest ads).  Erin worked with a business partner to try Promoted pins almost as soon as they became available – they experienced some real success with them. Erin also spearheaded several successful promoted pins campaigns on her own.  For Erin, the return on story pins has been even greater than her ad spend on promoted pins.  She’s racked up over 1 MILLION views on her story pins in a short amount of time! That’s a lot of eyeballs on her content. Early adoption is not for everyone. But for those who feel comfortable jumping into the deep end without a whole bunch of examples to follow, there can be some huge returns on that investment.  Why Jump On-Board with Pinterest Story Pins Now? When Erin first heard about story pins, she had the same reaction I imagine most of us did.  With no swipe or click-through feature, what was the point? Pinterest isn’t Instagram or Snapchat, so why bother with pins that don’t lead to clicks? Erin moved very quickly past that initial reaction.  The reason she decided to invest in story pins early on was because of what she knew had happened in the early days of Pinterest as a platform. Those who started marketing on Pinterest when it was invite-only saw their accounts grow to millions of followers fairly quickly.  Erin had seen that type of success with Facebook groups when they first came on the scene. She started a group as soon as groups became a thing. She grew several groups very quickly. So she decided to bank on the success of that same early adoption strategy with Pinterest story pins.  Pinterest made it very clear that they were going to put story pins front and center on the platform, so Erin had nothing to lose and everything to gain by going all-in, early on. How to “Hack the System” to Make It Work for You When Erin was ready to create her first story pin,

  It’s hard to believe but it’s already time to start preparing for how you’re going to handle your Pinterest marketing in 2021. Your Pinterest marketing is an investment in your business, and the truth is, Pinterest has changed. Anybody with an online business who uses Pinterest as part of their marketing plan can tell you that the way we used to do things on the platform just isn’t working as well anymore. Some things, however, have not changed. Pinterest users are still looking for evergreen solutions to their problems and you have the opportunity to provide that solution. Let’s face it — people are bored. Because of the pandemic, folks are at home more than ever and looking for something to do. They want to be inspired and encouraged. They are also looking for community, as evidenced by the gaining popularity of story pins, video pins, and the ability to comment on those pins.  If you want to see success in your Pinterest marketing in 2021, you’re going to want to invest in these five tactics now in order to set yourself up for success in the new year.    5 Smart Ways to Invest in Your Pinterest Marketing in 2021   #1. Create the Right Boards (Or Update the Ones You Have) I know that the importance of Pinterest boards has ebbed and flowed, but they are going to be more important than ever in 2021.  If you engage with story pins and create them regularly, people are going to be visiting your profile more often. At the end of story pins, the user is encouraged to check out your Pinterest profile and see what else you have to offer.  You need to decide what you want to be known for. And your boards should all be relevant to the audience you are targeting.  There was a time when best practice dictated that we create lots of boards covering a wide variety of topics. That is no longer the case. Now, it’s best to have fewer boards that highlight YOUR brand and YOUR content exclusively.  Related: How to Use Pinterest Group Boards Strategically And an important note — if you are closely connected with your brand, or you are your brand, avoid creating boards for things you love, do, or dream about. The caveat to that would be if you write about those topics.  Your goal with Pinterest marketing is to get people to your website to consume your content and purchase your products, not to get lost in your wanderlust or cute quotes board. #2. Choose the Right Keywords You can’t just put whatever you like out there on Pinterest and expect to see results. You have to choose the right Pinterest keywords to target your ideal person and audience.  Keywording on Pinterest is simply adding specific keywords from your niche that allow Pinterest’s algorithm to communicate to your users what your content is about. For example, if I search “modern farmhouse bathroom lights,” I want Pinterest to show me modern farmhouse bathroom lights, not tacos. If you are in a tight niche, you need to keyword very carefully so that your ideal customer can find your content and products. When they type into the search bar what they’re looking for, you want your content to show up and be the answer to what they need.  Related: Small Niche Marketing on Pinterest Pinterest has recently communicated that they are striving to be a platform of positivity.

 As this episode goes live, we are about to be square in the middle of Q4 for 2020. Now is the time to be focused on using Pinterest to increase sales. If you missed last week’s episode, go back and listen as it was all about increasing sales of products on Pinterest. But today, I am chatting with my friend Jessica Turner about her amazing success as an affiliate marketer. She’s sharing all kinds of affiliate marketing tips for beginners. The opportunity for you to make money through affiliate marketing is very high, especially in Q4.  Jessica Turner: A Case Study of How to Crush Affiliate Marketing   Affiliate Sales Benefit All Parties We aren’t just talking about you becoming another affiliate for a company in this episode. We are also discussing how to reach out to a brand that doesn’t currently have an affiliate program, as well as the benefits of setting up your own affiliate program for your products.  Jessica shares how she came to the realization that affiliate marketing could be a very lucrative income stream for her business. She also shares how she became the very first affiliate for a company and increased that company’s sales exponentially.  It’s important to remember that bloggers are not the only ones who benefit from affiliate marketing. The company that creates and owns the products also benefits from having affiliates. A strong affiliate program allows you to get your products in front of customers who otherwise may have never seen them.  One of the most crucial factors with any type of affiliate marketing (whether on Pinterest or any other platform) is nailing the images you share of the products. Our Pinterest image guide will help you level up your images to get ready to sell even more than you thought possible in Q4 this year. How Jessica’s Affiliate Marketing Journey Began Jessica began blogging way back in 2006 at The Mom Creative, which is now a lifestyle blog for busy moms. At that time, Jessica wasn’t even a mom yet and the blog had a different name. She eventually rebranded to The Mom Creative and has never looked back.  Jessica didn’t start blogging with the idea of it being a business; she was just having a blast sharing things she loved with other moms. In the beginning, she had no clue that blogging could be a business or even what an affiliate link was. At the end of 2010, Jessica shared a deal for a free photo canvas with her audience. For every canvas that her audience ordered, Jessica received $15. Her audience was very interested in scrapbooking and photo-keeping. She ended up making $1500 from that deal. For Jessica, it might as well have been a million dollars! Up to that point, she had been making around $12-15 per month. The affiliate commission she made on that deal was eye-opening for her. So she began to think about how she could repeat it. Expanding Affiliate Opportunities For many years, Jessica wrote for a company called Dayspring, the Christian division of Hallmark. She received product credit from Dayspring’s product line for a portion of her writing earnings. Jessica asked Dayspring to allow her to do special offers for some of the products they were selling and that she was getting as part of her pay. She was able to offer such amazing deals to her readers that they couldn’t find anywhere else that her revenue began to skyrocket.  This was the start of an organic affiliate marketing relationship — she was sharing products with her audience that she loved and used in her own home, and providing them with a great deal on those items.  And that led to her asking herself a question:

 At the time this episode airs, we are just a few short months away from the holiday season, and for Pinterest marketing, the holidays are a crucial time. If you want to work on generating more sales this year, tune into my conversation about creating a digital marketing funnel on Pinterest with Monica Froese. Monica is a regular guest here on the Simple Pin podcast and a good friend of mine. In this episode, we give you a ton of information to help you, but we also give you two very clear action items that will help you to increase your sales during the holiday season.  Creating a Pinterest Digital Marketing Funnel to Generate Sales Generating sales on Pinterest is our topic of the month inside the Simple Pin Collective. We’re diving deep into how you, as a seller of digital or physical products, can get more sales from your Pinterest traffic.  If you’d like to gain access to the Collective and reap all the benefits of the coaching calls, the mentors, the training, and the support, join us today! And because we know that circumstances change so quickly in our world, you can join and leave at any time. There is no obligation to stay and the door is always open to you.  While the months of October, November, and December are always heavy sales months, COVID-19 has changed everything. This year, people who would have never shopped online are doing exactly that.  There will be a lot of confused marketers this year, trying to figure out how to take advantage of these extra shoppers. Our goal today is to help you move from confusion to clarity. I love what Monica says about this: If you confuse, you lose [sales]. Selling to a Cold Audience on Pinterest One of the things I have learned so much about from Monica over the last few years is how to handle a cold audience. Monica loves cold audiences on Pinterest. So I asked her to share with us why that is and what she does to engage them. First, we need to define “cold audience.” When you’re talking about email marketing, a cold audience is those folks who don’t open your emails, don’t engage with your content, etc. But on Pinterest, it’s different.  Let’s look more closely at a digital marketing funnel using Pinterest. A person who clicks through one of your pins and comes to your website is not familiar with you or your brand. BUT they are actively looking for a solution that you offer. You might call this person a cold audience, but they really aren’t “cold” once they click through.  The great thing about your Pinterest audience is that they don’t have to know, like, and trust you before they’re willing to come to your site. This differentiates Pinterest from Facebook or Instagram. On Pinterest, it’s not about you; it’s about your solution to their problem.  Selling on Social Media vs. Selling on Pinterest We’ve all had the experience of looking at a product online and then when we open Facebook, we are bombarded with ads for that very product. If you aren’t familiar with marketing, that is what we call retargeting.  Retargeting ads are a primary way to make sales on social media. The only problem is, selling on social media interrupts the user’s experience on that platform. People go on the Facebook platform to catch up with their friends and family and there you are, throwing an ad in their face. Or you’re innocently scrolling your IG feed,

In this episode, I am sharing the story of one of the members of our Simple Pin Collective. If you aren’t familiar with the Collective, it’s our Pinterest marketing membership community.  Inside the Collective, you will find: * a nine-module course * live coaching calls with me * content on every Pinterest topic you could ever think of * mentors * small groups. It’s a comprehensive Pinterest marketing community.  The Collective is based on a membership model, which simply means that instead of one big sticker shock price for all that content, you pay month-to-month to receive all the benefits of the group. Are you ready to uplevel your Pinterest marketing? Just head over to Simple Pin Media and enroll today! It’s Not Always About the Numbers Today, I’m highlighting a success story from our Collective. I wanted to highlight Trona of Aye Lined on the podcast because she has a great story about how membership in the Simple Pin Collective has positively impacted her business.  I fully admit to being a numbers girl. I want to see the stats. I want to hear about actual numbers to get a sense of the changes that have taken place in your business. But that’s not at all what this episode is about.  Related: Pinterest KPIs: How to Measure Success What we’re going to share with you today is how a member found confidence in knowing she is on the right path and direction in her business.  I realized when I got finished talking to Trona that sometimes I get caught up in the metrics, and they aren’t always the best or most accurate measuring stick.  When you grow in confidence in your business, it allows you to take steps toward growth that might have scared you if you only had numbers to go off of. Collective members have so much support from the group that those steps no longer seem quite so scary.  Because of that support, Trona was able to branch out from her beauty blog to begin to serve clients in a niche that Pinterest called one of the top 100 trending niches of the year! Related: Pinterest Trends Tool Simple Pin Collective Member Spotlight: Trona   From Blogger to Pinterest Marketing Business Owner Trona started a fashion and beauty blog seven years ago where she reviewed beauty products, makeup, and skincare. The blog was growing and she was seeing a lot of success with it.  But like many of us, she couldn’t focus as much time on the blog after she had a baby. And that took a toll on her blog traffic. She looked to Instagram to try to build the traffic back up. But as we know, Instagram isn’t a great traffic driver.  Then she heard about Pinterest marketing. Initially, she didn’t see the appeal or understand how it could help her as a blogger to grow her traffic.  Around that time, she discovered the Simple Pin podcast, and she dove into the podcast and other Simple Pin content. She started experimenting. Little by little, Trona began to see growth. She decided to share with her audience what she was doing behind the scenes.  That information she shared sparked questions from her audience. She created a newsletter to answer those questions, which ultimately evolved into Trona developing a Pinterest marketing business for small business owners.  How to Run Two Successful Businesses at Once Trona didn’t set out to start a Pinterest marketing business.