You love Pinterest, right? I mean, there are tons of great ideas to find inspiration from and it’s a great way to get your business and blog out there, but do you find yourself wasting hours pinning things and drifting from DIY projects to recipes that you may never even try?
Here’s the thing – Pinterest is a great way to give your brand an identity and a personality. It helps your customers connect with you and get to know exactly who you are so you can form a bond.
But to make Pinterest an effect part of your business, you need a plan for what to do.
Use these 3 steps to help you allocate your time and still have fun + find tons of inspiration.
Step One (7 Minutes): Browse!
It’s okay to browse on Pinterest, that’s how you find new things! The problem is that you could browse for days if you didn’t put a time limit on it.
Take 5 minutes to scroll through your stream and repin things you’re loving right now. Make sure you stick to the time limit you allocate though, and then move on.
Step Two (2 to 3 Minutes): Pin from Your Blog
The way that Pinterest can drive traffic to your website is by having the images from your site pinned on Pinterest and linked back to your post or product page.
Take the next few minutes to pin images from your website. Add a description that will make people want to learn more – use the same formulas you use to create catchy blog headlines.
Step Three (5 Minutes): Research for Your Posts
Use the remaining 4 or 5 minutes to find inspiration for your blog.
For Oh, What Love and a few other websites, I create inspiration boards from curated content, so this is the time I use to search for ideas for upcoming boards.
Use the search bar at top left for your topic, or browse your favorite pinners boards to see if they’ve got some images you can use.
There are a few rules of the road when you do this part.
1. ALWAYS link to the original source on any image you use.
2. If you click on an images on Pinterest and it links to a tumblr account or has a broken link, pull the image onto your desktop and go to either tineye.com or images.google.com, upload the picture and look for the original source there.
Giving proper credit is SO important!
If you don’t need to do this step, you can spend this time browsing a bit more.
So there you have it!
15 minutes is all you need on Pinterest, and you’re having fun + promoting your work.
Is Pinterest a time-suck for you? Let us know your tactics for staying on track while you’re on Pinterest in the comments!
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Julia A.
I find that it really helps for me (outside of repining things in my most recent feed), to pick a specific board or two for the day. If I pair that with a specific time frame I feel like I’ve spent my time wisely.
Later today my plan is to pin for my ‘Places to go’ and ‘Handmade awesomeness’ boards.
DeAnne
What’s the problem with a link to tumblr?
createconnect
DeAnne, a link to tumblr doesn’t give the link to the ACTUAL source, which means the person that created that photo, styled it, etc. doesn’t get the credit for it – the person who found it does. An awesome site to learn more about this is http://www.linkwithlove.org
Jaclyn
Great advice about timing, it’s so easy to lose hours!!
Hillary Butler {Fine Art}
Katrina & Mariah- thank you so much for this amazing time management tip- Heaven knows I need all the help I can get!! I love your emails with all of this great advice and tips for we SB folks- y’all are the BEST!!