Pinterest now attracts 150 million people per month. Its growth even supersedes traditional social network success stories -- millennial use of Pinterest in particular has increased more than any other social network, even Snapchat.
It makes sense, then, why you want to increase your followers on Pinterest. The popularity of the platform makes it a good site to increase brand awareness -- additionally, Pinterest users are particularly receptive to branded content. In fact, 78% of Pinterest users welcome content from brands.
But the popularity of Pinterest means it's a crowded space, and the task of increasing followers can feel daunting. You might even be tempted to buy Pinterest followers -- we'll explain how to do this later (and why it's a bad idea).
Fortunately, there are tactics you can implement right now to increase your real follower count on Pinterest. Here, we're going to dive into everything you need to know to grow your Pinterest audience today.
How to Get Followers on Pinterest
- Post original images.
- Use keywords and hashtags.
- Be active and engaged on Pinterest.
- Follow other users.
- Add a Pinterest follow button to your newsletter or website.
- Use Pinterest sections.
- Promote your pins.
1. Post original images.
Over 80% of pins are re-pins -- which means it's critical you stand out by creating original content for your brand. Try posting original infographics, graphics, or photos that reflect your brand's message. Additionally, when you do re-pin, make sure you're re-pinning content that aligns well with your own brand.
2. Use keywords and hashtags.
Pinterest users typically find brands through hashtags and searches, so it's important you include both in your descriptions and images. Additionally, Pinterest's hashtag help page states, "If you have a business account, adding hashtags to the organic instances of your Promoted content can help distribute your content in those feeds." Pinterest recommends no more than 20 hashtags per pin.
When adding a hashtag to your description, it's critical you remain specific and descriptive. This ensures the highest chance that your pin will match a user's true search intent. For instance, let's say you have a pin for healthy dinner recipes. Using the hashtag #healthyrecipes is better than simply inputting #healthy -- while more users likely search #healthy, those users are not necessarily looking for recipes. #Healthyrecipes helps you reach a more targeted audience.
3. Be active and engaged on Pinterest.
Like any social media site, Pinterest favors active accounts. This includes ensuring you pin on a regular basis, manually pin other people's pin, and follow other boards. If you have trouble keeping up with your Pinterest activity, try using a tool like Tailwind, which allows you to schedule your Pinterest pins ahead of time.
One pin can drive up to two page visits and six page views. So it's vital you re-pin, often. Consider going to the "Explore" and "Trending" pages, and re-pinning from there. The more you re-pin and engage with other boards, the more likely you are to increase your reach.
4. Follow other users.
If someone is following a business with similar content to yours, chances are, they'd be a good follower for you, as well. Take some time to research competitors' and follow their followers -- if your content is up-to-par, they'll more than likely follow you back.
Alternatively, perhaps there are businesses with products or services that work well in conjunction with your own. For instance, let's say you're an interior designer, and you find a company that sells handmade furniture on Pinterest. You might follow some of their followers, since their followers are likely interested in either decorating or sprucing up their home.
5. Add a Pinterest follow button to your newsletter or website.
You can likely increase traffic to your Pinterest account if you embed a Pinterest follow button in an email newsletter, or on your website. Since traffic to your site, or subscribers to your newsletter, are probably already interested in your product or services, they're a strong audience to target.
Plus, depending on where they are in their buyer's journey, your Pinterest account might actually help them decide whether your business is the right fit for them.
6. Use Pinterest sections.
Pinterest sections are similar to H2 sections of your blog posts -- they enable you to organize your full Pinterest board into categories, so users can more easily find exactly what they're looking for.
For instance, take a look at Twins Mommy Blog's board:
While the full board is about "Starting a Blog", it's then divided into five sections, including how to make money blogging, and blog traffic tips. A user might only check out the make money section, and re-pin that content without needing to see or re-pin the rest of the board.
Sections, then, make your individual content more likely to be found and re-pinned.
7. Promote your pins.
If you have a business account on Pinterest, you could consider putting money behind a pin to increase visibility and reach -- similar to paying for an ad on Facebook.
For instance, take a look at what I see when I type "travel" into Pinterest:
One of the first pins, prominently displayed under the search term "Travel", is Wikibuy's promoted "How to Travel Like a Pro" pin. Promoted pins have been proven successful -- in fact, 50% of Pinterest users have made a purchase after seeing a Promoted pin, and Promoted pins are re-pinned an average of 11 times.
For increased visibility and reach, then, why not?
Buying Pinterest Followers
There are tools you can use to buy Pinterest followers -- such as Best Social Plan, which allows you to buy 1,000 followers for $15, or 4,000 followers for $60.
Buying Pinterest followers essentially means you're buying fake accounts to increase the number of followers you have, which will make it look like your business is popular on Pinterest. This can be tempting -- why do the hard work of cultivating a following, when you can pay less than $20 for 1,000 followers, instantly?
Unfortunately, however, buying followers does more harm than good. First off, your company could be banned from the site if Pinterest figures out you've bought followers, since it's against their guidelines.
Additionally, increasing your follower count can actually harm your success on Pinterest, since Pinterest's algorithm doesn't just measure follower count -- it also measures engagement metrics.
For instance, let's say you have 100 real followers, and 1,000 fake ones. You post a pin that is re-pinned 10 times. Out of your real followers, that's 10% -- an incredibly good engagement number. But Pinterest calculates 10 re-pins out of 1,100 -- which is less than one percent.
Ultimately, more followers could decrease your engagement metrics, which will make both Pinterest and your real followers believe your content isn't actually that good.
Finally, buying followers is a bad idea because, simply put, those fake followers will never become real customers. You will become much more successful on the platform if you take the time and resources you would've dedicated to buying followers, and use it instead to implement some of the strategies listed above.
Ultimately, it's critical you work diligently to find and engage with real people -- because only real people can help you figure out what your potential future customers expect and prefer from their online content.
How to Delete Followers on Pinterest
You can't delete followers on Pinterest, but you can block users so they can't see your content or engage with your pins. To do this, navigate to the profile of the follower you wish to block, and click the flag icon. Then, click the "Block" button. The user will be blocked without warning.
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