The biggest challenge for most bloggers is that they are juggling too many balls at the same time and there is not enough time to get everything done.
In life, in general many of us want bigger, better, faster results with less effort.
I wish that were true about losing weight…ha ha.
So here’s the thing, if you want to have massive success on Pinterest you need to think about mastering the basics first and then expanding to the more advanced tactics. Doing each step right is better than doing too many things fast.
Use this checklist to help you master one of the basics of Pinterest success… blogging.
Step 1: Identify who your target audience is.
Demographics; age, gender, location, interests etc. If you don’t know who you are talking to, then how do you know they’d be interested in what you have to say?
If you don’t make the time to figure this out then you’ll simply attract the wrong audience.
Step 2: Don’t be all things to all people.
Today I’m going to challenge you to think about your niche in a way that makes you stand out. This is not an option, this is mandatory if you want your audience to pay attention to what you have to say. Be an expert in something…and hopefully you’re one of the early adopters.
Your ultimate goal is to be known as the go-to person when it comes to getting information on a specific topic. When you position yourself as an expert you will get more followers, increase your engagement, and grow your business. This is one of the reasons why I have a thriving business. I decided early on that I wanted to become a Pinterest expert. I decided that my team and I weren’t going to do Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and all the other socials. Pinterest marketing is our niche and will always be just that.
For example; there are a ton of food bloggers on Pinterest. If you specialize in desserts, what kinds of desserts? How will you be different from others who blogs about desserts? How do you know if what you write about is something people are looking for?
Well guess what? You can use Pinterest’s Guided Search Tool to help you with that. For example, when I type “desserts” in the Pinterest search engine Pinterest will reveal the most popular keywords in the Guided Search Tool starting with “easy”, “healthy”, “recipes”, “Fall”, and so forth. While these topics may be popular it also means that’s there is a TON of competition on Pinterest for this content. So, what now? Since every business is unique this is where I help bloggers decipher how to find their niche.
Step 3: How to create a killer content strategy for your blog
The biggest mistake I see bloggers making on Pinterest is that they have no strategy. They just wing it and think voila…I’m done.
What you need to do is figure out what problems you need to solve so your readers love you to pieces and come back for more. Ask yourself “am I creating content that connect with my target audience – solves their most pressing problems”? One of the easiest ways to find out is to ask your readers—plain and simple, right?
Pinterest is a unique platform and people go there looking for help so it only makes sense to create posts that your target audience will find relevant, interesting, informative, HELPFUL and ultimately content they will take action on. If my audience reads my posts but they’re not taking action on it then I’ve failed. (Meaning I haven’t helped them)
If you’re still not sure what to write about Pinterest is great for gathering market intelligence. Use the Guided Search Tool again. The screenshot below reveals the most popular content people are looking for on Pinterest when they search for “desserts”. It appears that “easy, healthy, yummy, no bake recipes for fall are really popular”.
PINTEREST EXPERT ACTIONABLE TIP:
The keywords change especially if the content is seasonal. Remember that Pinterest users are trend seekers and they will search for ideas on Pinterest months before the actual holiday or event. Focus in the beginning with evergreen content so that they can go viral all year round. For example, you can start a blog on “Easy and Healthy No Bake Dessert Recipes” instead of doing a blog on “Fall Desserts”.
Step 4: How do you produce awesome content for Pinterest when your time is limited?
How can you turn that one blog post into five or more? Let’s assume at this point that you’ve figured out your content so the most obvious next step is to create a content calendar. Blogging requires you to be organized. You need to do the following every time:
- Create five blog titles for each blog posts.
- Use the Guided Search Tool by leveraging the top keywords.
- Use CoSchedule to write great headlines.
- Create five Pinterest images and add text overlay for your blog title.
- Create an infographic for your blog post.
The good thing about creating different blog titles is that it is like doing a split-test because you’ll see what your audience engages with the most. But more importantly having more images on Pinterest will drive more people back to your website. More clicks = more sales. Like I said, there is so much competition on Pinterest that it is vital you create original images that lead back to your site. One image per blog post isn’t going to cut it.
In my Pinterest Marketing Audit and Strategy Guide I go on to explain the different ways you can repurpose your content so you get more clicks by doing less. HINT: There are certain types of images that rock on Pinterest. Your visual assets are crucial to your success. You need to know this if you want to boost engagement. What’s the good news? You don’t need to be a graphic artist or have design skills.
In summary, you have learned:
- The importance of identifying your target audience.
- Choose a niche.
- How to find the most popular topics on Pinterest.
- Balancing your blog posts by writing evergreen content and trending topics.
- Being helpful and solving problems is critical to your success.
- How to get more clicks with one blog through visuals like infographics.
- How to use the Guided Search tool to determine what blog topics to write about.
- How to create great headlines with CoSchedule’s tool.
Blogging isn’t an easy business, and there are a lot of potential snags that can undermine your success. Leveraging the power of these seven proven steps will help set you apart from your competition, help you to build relationships and get more visits to your blog. Remember, it cost less to do things right than to do them over.
A version of this post was first published on Integrated Marketing Association.
Power influencer and social media strategist Anna Bennett is the owner of White Glove Social Media and co-founder of True North Marketing. As a Pinterest expert, she helps businesses supercharge traffic and sales growth with Pinterest. Anna is one of Pinterest’s Business Experts chosen by Pinterest themselves.
Her three decades of experience in retail operations and business coaching is the rock solid foundation for her dynamic marketing and training services. Anna is the author of Pinterest Marketing For Business Master Online Course and How To Become A Pinterest Account Manager and has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Investor’s Business Daily, American Marketing Association, and several other publications. She has quickly taken the lead in the competitive and rapidly changing world of social media marketing and in 2014, Sean Gardner, bestselling author and Forbes #1 Social Media Power Influencer, praised Anna as a well respected Pinterest expert and predicted that “as Pinterest grows and becomes a monster platform” audiences should “look to see her name even more.”
In 2012, Anna decided to combine her years of success as a business owner and coach with one of the fastest growing social media platforms: Pinterest. The result? White Glove Social Media Marketing. Under Anna’s scrupulous direction, business owners, marketers, bloggers, and entrepreneurs have learned to harness Pinterest’s phenomenal marketing potential. As a certified social media strategist and Pinterest Expert, Anna uses her superpowers–speed, attention to detail, delivering customer ROI, and a knack for finding humor in everything–to ensure every client receives white glove treatment.
Before bursting onto the social media scene, Anna dazzled as an international beauty pageant winner, instructed for John Casablancas International Modeling & Talent Agency, won the national retail president’s club sales award (twice!), owned and operated a best-in-class luxury day spa, offered consulting, and coaching to spa owners, and even developed her own line of cosmetics. In 2012, she obtained her certified social media marketing strategist designation through InstantETraining, based in Chicago.
It is her background as a personal development seminar leader for Brian Tracy’s network, however, that Anna credits as the secret sauce behind her energy and drive. That experience led to the development of her “white glove” business philosophy, which strives for precision, thoroughness, and attention to even the smallest detail.
In real life, Anna is a loving wife, lifelong learner, interior decorating aficionado, obsessive crafter, tennis and golf nut, unwilling angler (she will never go deep sea fishing again!), and enthusiastic NFL fan (go Seahawks!). Her goal is to help you create, improve or integrate the power of Pinterest to grow your business bigger, faster and to have some fun along the way.