Last week, I lost 1,000 Pinterest followers in one day. While that might panic most social media influencers, I didn’t bat an eye. Why? Sometimes in order to take two steps forward, you have to take ten steps back.
A week ago, I had 10,000 Pinterest followers. If you know anything about social media, it’s not easy to get that many people interested in your content. It takes a lot of hard work (and an awesome scheduling tool to keep you in front of people). When I started to work on growing my Pinterest account, it grew rapidly at first and since I was succeeding, I wrote a post on how to double your Pinterest followers. All of my tips worked (and still do), but just like Facebook the people at Pinterest like to tweak the algorithm so my growth slowed down. Since its spring cleaning time, I decided it was time to take a good look at my account and make some strategic decisions.
That’s when I lost 1,000 Pinterest followers.
How? I went in my account to delete all the ugly horizontal pins (which is interesting because two years ago my biggest re-pin was one) and anything in my top couple of boards that had little or no re-pins. It’s been pretty easy for me to figure out which boards are hot because I can see the action however, when I logged into Tailwind to really take a look, I was a little shocked.
One of my boards that had the most engagement, is a group board that I hadn’t pinned to in forever. I had been ignoring Dog Play for months, so I put that on my list to pin to every say. The others at the top, weren’t surprises.
What was a shock, were my boards that were getting no attention and no re-pins. When I got started on Pinterest, I thought more boards were better. Not so anymore. My Chickie Poo board, filled with recipes that I pinned to every day, was not getting noticed at all. How could that be?
I checked out my other fairly specific food boards and guess what? The same thing was happening. So, I made a decision. I created a new board called Dinner Recipes, moved the pins with re-pins to that board and deleted the other boards.
And, I lost 10,000 Pinterest followers.
I have to admit, I was little bummed at first, but I got over it when I logged back into Tailwind today to see that my top board is now Dinner Recipes. Why? That’s what people are searching for and since I only have great pins on it, it’s getting a little SEO juice.
And, I was even more excited to see that after taking a huge hit in followers, I am now consistently gaining again. Won’t be long until I hit 10,000 again. Right?
Want to increase your Pinterest followers? Here’s what you need to do
Clean up your boards
Go back in and get rid of all the horizontal pins. Delete all the pins that are ugly and you’re not sure why you pinned them in the first place. Then, get rid of pins on your top boards with no re-pins. I will be honest, this is a tedious job if you have a lot of pins. I did it on my phone while I watched TV to pass the time. Don’t have the time? Hire me and I’ll do it for you. Shoot me an email at itsmedebcb@gmail.com.
Move your good pins on your boards with no traffic
Create a secret board with a more general description. Then pin 10 popular pins to that board (you can’t move pins to a secret board so you’ll have to pin first). Make it public and start moving your good pins from your crappy board to your new board.
Delete the other boards
If they’re not getting any action, delete the entire board. Yes, you will lose followers but it’s short-term. In the long run, you’ll get new ones and you may get some of the lost ones back.
Start scheduling quality content
Take a look at your best boards and make sure you’re pinning to them every day. I use Tailwind to schedule all my pins. It’s easy to use and I love the analytics.
How are you growing your Pinterest?
Phyrra says
Thanks for your tips!
Phyrra recently posted…Phyrra Says Vol. 39 Apps, Books, Dose of Colors and more.
Christa says
Such great tips! I have been neglecting my Pinterest account so badly!
debcb says
Time to start paying attention. It’s one of my best traffic generators for my blog
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #61
Carrie says
I really need to set aside some time and do this- clean up my Pinterest. And yes, when you delete boards that aren’t working anymore, you lose followers. It can be cringe-worthy initially, but it does help your Pinterest growth and traffic in the long run. ๐
debcb says
I agree. After you get over the initial shock, you realize that those people weren’t engaged with your content anyway. It’s like having 5,000 Facebook fans and no one comments. Worthless.
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #61
Fatima says
Great tips. Honestly, numbers are our friends, but people make them into our enemies by saying “followers really matter.” They don’t. It’s engagement that matters most.
I recently switched up my Pinterest strategy after cleaning up my boards and it’s helped me not only get more engagement, but also organize the topics I share on my blog. It gives me a better understanding of the types of content that so well with my readers.
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debcb says
I totally agree. Engagement comes first.
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #61
TaMara says
I’ve been putting off cleaning up my Pinterest because I have SO MANY boards AND pins! I know I need to, but I also know it’s going to be a pain. Time to buckle down this weekend!
TaMara recently posted…It’s Never Too Late – Week 6
debcb says
You’ll be happy once you do. It’s like cleaning out a closet. Totally gratifying.
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #61
Toughcookiemommy says
I think it is very important to carefully monitor our social media for engagement and to weed out those who don’t reciprocate and follow back. I think you are doing a great job being proactive with your Pinterest.
debcb says
I’m proactive with my Twitter too. If I follow someone and they don’t follow back, I unfollow the next week.
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #61
Siniciliya says
I can only imagine how shocked you were to see the loss of 1K! Congrats on gaining again!
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debcb says
Yes, at first but obviously they weren’t engaged followers so in the long run, it’s not a loss.
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #61
Rose Sahetapy says
Cogratulation to you for gaining again the followers. You shared fabolous tips here. I I’ve been neglecting my Pinterest for sometimes now. I need to do some more efforts for it.
debcb says
Set aside 20 minutes a day and you’ll make some progress!
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #61
Brooke says
This is a FABULOUS Pinterest resource! You’re kickin’ butt! <3
Brooke recently posted…The Lipstick League // Week of February 29, 2016
debcb says
Not sure I’m kicking butt, but I’m trying…
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #61
Ana Marino says
Love this post! very insightful and awesome tips! I took notes and everything haha. Thank you!
xoAna
http://www.modaddicted.com
Amber NElson says
I have never really focused so much on Pinterest, but this is a great resource to get me going again.
Amber NElson recently posted…Which Animals Make Great Pets for Kids?
debcb says
I get great traffic from Pinterest. You may want to start to pay more attention to the platform.
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #61
Jennifer says
I’ve had a pinterest clean up on my blogging to do list for FAR too long! With the recent changes pinterest made, was bumped closer to the top, and after reading this, its moved to my #1 to do spot!
debcb says
You won’t be sorry once you do it. You probably have boards that no one sees. Get rid of them so your big ones get more attention!
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #61
laura londergan says
I am loving these tips. I still love Pinterest but know that I can be doing more to gain followers at a steadier pace. I do try and go in and clean up the place every few months & that totally helps ๐
Megan McCoig says
Thanks for the tips, as I’m still trying to grow my Pinterest and connect it to my blog more and more!
jill conyers says
Pinterest is my social media thing! I love the tip on moving your engaged pins to a less active board. Thanks for the tips.
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Jessica H. says
These are some really great tips! I definitely have to sit down and do some major clean up of my pins.
Jessica H. recently posted…Why It’s Important to Have a Morning Ritual
Ashley says
I think I know what I’ll be doing tonight while my husband is at the fire station! Losing followers scares the ever living crap out of me, but at the same time Pinterest has been stagnant for me lately where it used to be my top referrer. Thank you for the tips, Deb!
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debcb says
You’re welcome. I was stagnant for a while and once I cleaned things up, I started to see growth. Let me know how it works for you.
debcb recently posted…Blaming kids for their pain
Tayler Morrell says
Thanks for the tips! These are very useful. I will be focusing on Pinterest next month.
Kevin Dorman says
I spent a lot of time looking for a tool I can rely on to schedule my Pins. Lets be honest..we can’t spend our whole day on Pinterest, and if we don’t do it, we can’t make it big :-/ So the solution? A scheduler… Literally tried and tested almost every noticeable tool on the internet..got a couple of accounts banned, and then got to know about www [dot] PinPinterest [dot] com Gave it a try, and since then, haven’t looked for any other tool. Great tool, great features.
I like the way its intelligent content detection mechanism learns and pins only pins relevant to my business to my boards. I normally schedule a week’s pins on mondays and it does the rest for me. It does all the Pinterest-related operations on Auto-Pilot, so yes, it is literally my Pinterest Media Manager ๐
The ads keep coming up, so its a bit frustrating, but other than that, PinPinterest is truly the tool you’d want on your side if you want to rule Pinterest B-)