Have your Pinterest stats fallen?
Pinterest is the second largest social media site with 70 million users, second only to Facebook.
Pinterest is so popular right now, marketers use it all the time.
You should too, to advertise your blog.
However, Pinterest has changed its algorithms. Your pins are not automatically put at the top of the Smart Feed like they used to be.
Consider this a follow-up post to How to Still Get Massive Blog Traffic from Pinterest .
Pinterest expert Beth Hayden explained, The point of Pinterest is to make virtual bulletin boards. Just like a real community bulletin board in a store has advertisements and business cards, your Pinterest boards advertise your blog by displaying your graphics. Pinterest is not just a collection of bulletin boards, the social media site is a very powerful way to get traffic to your blog.
The problem, according to blogger Julie Kalungi, is that Pinterest’s changes make it harder to get blog traffic from Pinterest.
Apparently, the powers-that-be over at Pinterest will not put your graphics at the top of their Smart Feed any longer like they used to. This decreased visibility obviously makes it less likely your pins will be shared which decreases the chances of people clicking on your pins and coming to your blog.
However, there are steps you can take to counteract these changes. This post will give you a three-step action plan you can follow in order to still get your pins visibility.
How to Increase Your Chances of Getting Seen at Pinterest
There are ways to be smarter than the Smart Feed and still get visibility at Pinterest.
- I never shared the reason Pinterest has made these changes. Based on what I have read, heard, and experienced, the folks over at Pinterest are no longer assuming your pins are valuable enough to share with their users. Apparently, they want to see increased user engagement.
When they see people interacting over the pin, they will make it visible to their users. My post How to Still Get Massive Blog Traffic from Pinterest  explained that I won a linky party I attended called “The Pinterest Game”. The administrators of the game kept writing to congratulate me. They were writing on my pin. I responded on the pin to thank them. In other words, we were interacting on the pin. I did end up with increased visibility.
The people in charge of the Tailwind pin scheduler explained, “The almighty Smart Feed organizes pins into cliques based on popularity… Each pin is weighted according to two different factors: Pin popularity and the activity level of the pinner that originally posted the pin.”
By commenting on people’s pins, you are showing Pinterest you are popular and active. Blogger Jaelan agrees. “This adds interaction and helps them bump to the top of the Smart Feed!”
I have started an experiment. Each time someone pins or likes one of my Pinterest pins, I will write to thank them. We will see if my Pinterest traffic rises.
- Pin your pins to your boards just like you always would. Below you will find 23 ideas for new boards. Changing up your board titles, with specific descriptions of how those boards relate to your niche, will get your Pinterest followers’ attention. Your pins may no longer be put in the Smart Feed for all to see, but your Pinterest followers will still see your pins. People searching for the keywords in your blog descriptions will find your pins as well.
The suggestions below are in addition to your blog’s Pinterest board which should appear first.
23 Pinterest Boards Every Blogger Should Have
1. Someone Pinned Me
2. Someone Clicked Me
3. Someone Commented on Me
4. Someone Liked Me
5. Infographics from your blog
6. Popular posts from your blog
7. Reblogs or blogs where your posts are featured
8. Graphics from your guest posts on others’ sites
9. Graphics from guest posts others have written for you
10. Your favorite graphics from your blog
11. Your favorite graphics from other people’s blogs You might want to use them as models for future pins. Pinners will be notified when you repin their graphics.
12. Miscellaneous I pin from places like Pinterest Pals and Viral Content Buzz. I need a place to put the pin.
13. Personal interests  This board shows your readers you are a real person.
14. Community boards (Note: All subscribers of MostlyBlogging are invited to pin to our blog’s group board. If you have subscribed and have not yet received an invitation to pin, please let me know in the comments section of this post.)
15. A vision board to keep you focused on your goals Is your goal to make money blogging? What will you do with the money? Show the graphics.
16. References Keep items for future reference. For example, I have a list of power words to use in future headlines.
17. For later reading Pinterest is a content curation site. Take advantage of it. Have a board with articles for future reading.
18. How to… Readers love How To posts. They will love your board full of How To articles.
19. Popular pins from... Which of your pins got the most repins? Put these on this board.
20. Catch all “From Friends…”, “Everything else”, and “Favorite Articles Online” are all names I’ve seen people have for these boards.
21. Holidays Put these boards at the front of your boards around holiday time.
22. Food 20% of all pinners pin food pins.
23. Interviews According to marketing expert Amanda Russell, everyone loves to read interviews. Pin graphics to your interview posts on this board.
Pins have a long shelf life; they could bring you traffic a long time from now even if you go on vacation or take a break.
These boards are in addition to the boards you already have. Pinterest has no limit to the boards you can have. Make sure Twitter or Facebook is checked.
- Attend linky parties where every pin is pinned. This will get you more visibility and help counteract the results of the changing Smart Feed. I recommend the Lou Lou Girls linky party.
Use Pinterest Boards to Get Traffic to Your Website
Make sure you combine basic Pinterest strategy combining the graphic with writing, so people will know what to expect when they click your graphic.
Making the boards will give new life to your old posts since you will get your old pins will get new visibility.
Conclusion
In conclusion, although it may be harder to get visibility at Pinterest, it is still possible.
Also, there are benefits to these changes. For examples, by interacting with bloggers who share and like your pins, you have opportunities to meet new bloggers and possibly expand your readership. You might expand your connections and find new blogs to read yourself. The same could happen when you attend new linky parties.
While it may sound juvenile to have to interact over pins in order to increase visibility at Pinterest, it is, after all, a social media site as well as a content curation site. Be social, and see if your Pinterest referral traffic rises.
Readers, please share, so other Pinterest users get ideas for new virtual boards that could bring traffic to their blogs as well as strategy to overcome Pinterest’s algorithm changes.
Can you think of any other generic Pinterest boards that could relate to all blogging niches or any other ways to increase your visibility at Pinterest? I look forward to your views.
Related Posts
 12 Best Tricks to Get More Eyeballs on Old Posts
Readers, Pinterest is my favorite social media site to write about. Here is a link to all my previous Pinterest articles if you are interested in seeing them.
https://mostlyblogging.com/?s=pinterest
Update:
Since writing the article, a company reached out to me and explained how vital Pinterest is not just for bloggers but for businesses as well. Pinterest is definitely a powerful marketing tool. The company offered us this impressive infographic:
