what I gained from Pinterest in 2021 and my strategy for 2022

In my previous post I wrote about the Pinterest experiment that I started in July 2021, the numbers, my approach and the tools I use. In this post, I want to explore a bit more what I gained from Pinterest in 2021 (aside for the numbers) and what my strategy for 2022 is. 

what I gained from Pinterest

Primarily, what I’ve gained from Pinterest is a sense of space. I love scheduling: I’m a planner at heart, and being able to schedule pins and then not think about them rocks my world. This also means that when I take a break from my business, the pins just keep going. 

I also feel like the terms of engagement, for lack of a better phrase, are much clearer for me on Pinterest. 

On Instagram, I’m often wavering between many different things: creating a community, connecting with people, sharing about my business and selling. This combination sits uncomfortably with me–and I think this is also the reason why many people struggle with Instagram.

Added to that is that apart from the shop-feature for product-based businesses, Instagram’s refusal to let users click-through to a site from posts demonstrates how much they don’t want you to sell on Instagram. At the same time, we’re told that we need to ‘sell’ on Instagram. Confusing. 

On Pinterest, on the other hand, people come for inspiration, not connection. This makes it much easier for me to pin. I pin things that I think will be of use to other small business owners, such as blog posts, (free) resources and my newsletter. 

offering value

Knowing that I’m offering something of value also means that I don’t feel ‘bad’ about the strategy of essentially pinning the same thing to various boards (with tweaks, see my previous post). I’m not ‘cheating’ or misleading: I’m making it possible for more small business owners to access valuable content. This mindset shift has been another key thing that I’ve gained from Pinterest in 2021.

In practical terms, I’ve seen most success with my lead magnets when it comes to newsletter sign-ups. This makes 100% sense, and means that I’ll be focusing a bit more on that in 2022. 

Finally: what also really helps me is that I don’t care whether my Pinterest boards are ‘pretty’. I don’t ‘curate’ my boards in the traditional sense. From what I’ve learned, curating boards was more an early days Pinterest-thing than it is now. Boards are now much more functional. Consequently, I see Pinterest less as a showroom, and more as a functional tool. 

Pinterest feels like slow and gentle marketing to me.

Because Pinterest feels much much like slow and gentle marketing to me than Instagram, I feel more relaxed. My advice would be to not worry if you start off with very little pinning. As I’ve noticed, some pinning is more than none and makes a difference already. As with all kinds of marketing, your strategy needs to work for you. If it makes you feel overwhelmed, scale down, tweak your strategy, take a break. It needs to serve you, your life and your business. 

Do you want more support creating a marketing strategy that is non-icky, gentle and fits your life + business?

I can help! 
In a one-off session or a package of four, I can help you get clear on your goals for marketing your business, create a sustainable + achievable plan and set gentle goals. Together, we’ll create a business that truly nourishes you.

my strategy for 2022

continue as I’m going

I’m happy with how things are going, and I’m going to continue with the strategy that I’ve developed. 

‘always’be pinning lead magnets

This is something that I became aware of a little late. I realised that my marketing resource was the most successful of my lead magnets/free resources on Pinterest, and that with some frequency people were signing up to my newsletter for this resource. Then I realised that one of the reasons people were only subscribing through this lead magnet was because it’s the only lead magnet I pinned. 🤦🏼‍♀️

For 2022, my plan is to ‘always’ be pinning a lead magnet. I put always between quotation marks, because this does not mean that I’m going to be pinning lead magnets every day, and maybe not even every week (though I might work towards that). My aim is that there are always  some lead magnets in my queue spanning 2-2 1/2 months. Given the evergreen nature of Pinterest, there is also no need to be always pinning new things.

driving more newsletter subscriptions

As I mentioned, my lead magnets seem to be most effective here, so I’m going to continue to grow my newsletter list like this. 

pinning more for 1:1

In 2022, I want to start making a more substantial income with my 1:1 mentoring for small business owners. I’m brainstorming explicit ways in which I can share about the 1:1 mentoring in my pins. Right now, I mention the 1:1 in blogposts and in the lead magnets, but I want to become more explicit with this in my pins as well.  

ads

I experimented a bit with ads in 2021. I might do the same in 2022, though I need some more help around this (know anyone who’s brilliant at Pinterest ads? Do let me know!). 

planning

Initially, I had ‘Pinterest-days’: days when it’d spend an hour or more pinning and scheduling. As I’ve moved away from a strict to-do list towards more of a project-based list (something I’ll write about in the future), I’ve let that go. Now, I know that there are moments when I feel more like writing and more like pinning. I lean into that.

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As I’m spending less and less time on Instagram (right now, I’ve been off the app for 3+ months), I’m happy to be spending my time elsewhere. In a place where I feel like I have room for experimentation, I don’t need to be ‘on’ all the time and where I see results more quickly. 

Having said that, it does take around 6 months to see a difference with Pinterest, and I think we all need to find a system that works for us. But if you’re looking to tweak or rebuild your marketing strategy, I’d recommend you look into Pinterest as well. When I look back at what I’ve gained from Pinterest in just a few months, I’d say it’s definitely worth it.

As always, I’m happy to help you create a business that nourishes you, including a marketing strategy that is feasible and non-icky. Find out more about 1:1 mentoring here.

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