Guest Blogger: Beth Hayden
More and more artists are jumping into the world of Pinterest every day. If you're one of them, and if you're like the new pinners I know, you'll inevitably start wondering, “How do I get more Pinterest followers?”
Building a Pinterest following takes time, so you’ll need patience. These five suggestions should get you started.
1. Pin regularly from unique sources.
If you pin a couple of meaningful things a day, you will get more followers. As your content gets repinned and liked by other users, some of them will notice your profile and follow you.
If your art business has target audience (women, gardeners, brides, golfers) then you should be pinning some content that appeals to that target demographic. Consider your customer when you’re pinning, and pin content that customer would enjoy.
Think entertaining, educational and interesting content.
While NOT all of your content has to appeal to your target audience (some of your pins will just be fun or beautiful stuff that you enjoy), it will help you attract more customers and get more followers if you pin stuff that attracts your target clientele.
Make sure you’ve downloaded the Pinterest bookmarklet for your browser, which allows you to pin from any Web page.
Did you know that 85% of the pins on Pinterest are repinned from within another pinboard? This is where you can outshine other Pinterest users who don't know better. You will grow your following faster by introducing content from additional websites and blogs instead of just recycling other people’s pins.
2. Comment on pins.
The fact that there are very few comments in the Pinterest world means that comments stand out, which is exactly what you want.
When you post thoughtful comments on a pin, they continually travel around Pinterest with that pin. That can lead to clicks on your profile. If your comments are valuable and your pinboards are intriguing, lots of people will decide to follow you.
Target people who share your audience and comment on their pins. Add compelling discussion points or conversation starters instead of just saying, “Nice image!” or “I love this!”
3. Join collaborative boards.
If you’ve been on Pinterest for a while, you may be starting to get invitations to join collaborative boards. That means someone has started a group board that multiple people are pinning to, and they’d like you to join in on the fun.
Here’s the secret few people know: collaborative boards are an amazing way to build your following. Every time you pin to a collaborative board, that pin goes out to every follower of every Pinterest user who co-pins on that board, which puts you in front of a potentially HUGE audience!
So if you get invited to pin on a group board, and the topic of the board is interesting to you, say Yes!
If you’re not getting invitations yet, start your own collaborative board, and invite your favorite pinners to join you in pinning to it. Be creative and fun with your board topics, so more people will decide to join you in pinning to it.
4. Follow other pinners.
Try to follow 5-10 people or more every week. A substantial portion of those folks will follow you back.
Follow your target customers, other artists, art magazines, potential collectors, curators, and galleries. Following lots of people makes Pinterest more enjoyable anyway.
5. Regularly tell your blog readers and email subscribers that you’re on Pinterest.
If you write a blog (and I really hope you do), remind your readers that you’re on Pinterest from time to time and give examples of what you pin.
If you publish an email newsletter, make sure to let your subscribers know that you’re on Pinterest, too. You may want to add an “I’m on Pinterest!” button to the bottom of each of your newsletters.
Key Takeaway
The key to developing a significant Pinterest presence is taking small, consistent steps. Even putting in ten minutes a day will yield BIG results.
Don't forget that I said you need patience. A larger following will evolve but, like all good things that are worthwhile, it's a process.
Use these techniques and watch your following grow!
Guest blogger Beth Hayden is a social media expert and author of Pinfluence: The Complete Guide to Marketing Your Business with Pinterest.
12 thoughts on “5 Ways for Artists to Get More Pinterest Followers”
you’re absolutely right, the more i consistently pin the more followers i am getting! i did’t know about #3…thanks for that info!!!
You’ve welcome, Kathryn! Have fun with Pinterest! 🙂
Nice article, Beth – I’ll be taking your advice on board and hopefully it will help! :o) – Jay
You’re welcome, Jay! Thanks for stopping by!
Hello Ms. Hayden,
First know that I do not want this comment to be taken negatively. I do not agree with #3 collaborative boards, unless it is a small collaboration, with the creator of the board being trustworthy. The massive group boards on Pinterest are awful. I avoid them at all costs. I almost don’t agree with commenting, but the recent changes have made it somewhat easier to manage. I have been using Pinterest for about 2 years. I have 19,000 followers. (I really don’t know why)
Hi there – can you say more about why you think the collaborative boards are awful, and why you steer away from commenting? Are you saying you don’t like comments on your own pins, or that you don’t comment on other people’s pins (or both)?
Hello again – will be glad to (for what it is worth :)) In regard to the collaborative boards – Some (many) are not collaborative – The creator of the board just wants followers and invites anyone to pin and, of course, follow that board. One board can have 100,000 followers and 1000 contributors and 50,000 pins.(numbers are just examples, but not inaccurate). All on one board. I never follow or accept invitations from these types of boards. I think you can see where that leads.
In regard to comments – the recent changes do make it easier, but if I pinned something two years ago, I am not going to know someone commented on it two days ago. I don’t mean to be rude to the person – I just don’t know they commented. I do see a trend with comments. Some, I’m sure, are to provoke a response and get the pin to go viral or at least to the popular page, but, I do believe the changes will help with that a great deal. Again, please know that I am not trying to be argumentative or negative, and appreciate your writing on this subject.
Interesting! That definitely hasn’t been my experience with collaborative boards. Each of the group boards that I’ve been invited to in the last week each have less than 200 people on them…and I have seen it be an amazing way to boost the number of followers that you get. Bummer that your experience has been so negative. Sorry to hear that! Seems like you’re doing quite well with Pinterest without needing group boards, anyway! Thanks for joining in to this conversation.
No problem. Please note – I did not mean to imply any negativity and the key word is collaborative. And – Yes I did check your boards and the boards associated with this site. Thank you for allowing me to join this conversation.
Great article Beth. Thank you for sharing these handy tips for using Pinterest effectively. I have been quite a fan of Pinterest since the time I have started using it. Your advice is going to be very helpful and I am going to be a little more consistent in pinning.
Thanks Beth for sharing, I will certainly take the tips on board. I have been pinning now for a couple of months and have managed to pick up some followers and I have been content to take it at the pace it has been going. However I have just added the Pinterest button to my blog, and will now start to comment when appropriate. So thanks again for you very helpful blog
great post, beth! thanks.
cheers, dana
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