5 Ways Authors Can Significantly Boost Their Pinterest Traffic

About four months ago, I decided to adjust which social media outlets I was going to focus on to connect with my ideal reader. Like many of you, I’ve been frustrated with Facebook and wanted to take a new approach. This included a more concentrated effort towards Pinterest. 

On a personal note, I loooove Pinterest! But how we personally use Pinterest is very different than how we use it as an author trying to connect with readers. If you haven’t read my posts on how to promote your book using Pinterest or 10 powerful ways to attract new readers using Pinterest, I’d encourage you to check those out. 

But I wanted to go a bit deeper with you and share some very practical and powerful ways to actually boost your Pinterest traffic to see some significant results. This is what I have done with our business and I’ve seen amazing results. And I hope you do as well! 

1. Schedule Pins Through BoardBooster

I have a feeling that pinning and re-pinning consistently might be the biggest struggle many of us face when it comes to actually seeing results on Pinterest. I know that was one of my big holdups. Every few weeks (or months) I would pin and re-pin a ton of content on Pinterest all at once and then it would be crickets for weeks. Sound familiar? 

And here’s the thing - these pinning sprees can be very annoying to our followers. They flood their timelines with a bunch pins from the same person followed by long periods of silence. This approach isn’t getting us anywhere. 

But, praises be, we have a solution. There is a service called Tailwind, which is a pin scheduling site. In a nutshell, it creates secret boards that you load up with pins and Tailwind shares those pins on corresponding boards at a specified time. So your pins are spaced out evenly and consistently. You load up your secret boards with content (both your own pins and re-pins) and Tailwind posts them. 

This site does a lot more than just schedule pins, but the scheduling feature has been my favorite by and far. They have plans starting at $15 per month and the investment is certainly worth it.  

2. Pin More Content From Your Blog

I’ve talked with many authors who are under the impression that they can simply re-pin content on Pinterest to increase the number of people that are following their page. Well, that’s only partly true. Pinterest is a fantastic way to not only connect with new readers but also to drive traffic to your own website. 

But a mistake that’s often made (I admit, I did it too!) is only sharing our blog posts an afterthought or not at all. We focus so much on re-pinning content that we overlook our own content that can drive people back to our website. This is another major reason to create consistent blog content. 

Here’s the thing: we can’t just pin our blog posts once and leave the rest to fate. They have to be pinned multiple times with a decent amount of time between pins. If you only share that pin once, you’ll only have that one opportunity for your followers to see it. And chances are many of your followers won’t see it because they won’t be online at the same time that your pin posts. 

You can fix this by scheduling your pins on BoardBooster multiple times leaving intervals of time between repeat pins. And make sure to share other people's pins along the way. The best approach is to share a healthy balance of your own pins and re-pins that you find on Pinterest. 

This is, hands down, the best way to boost your Pinterest following AND increase your website's traffic.

3. Create Better Images 

There’s no way around it - images are the key to seeing success on Pinterest. If you were to go through your feed, there are pins that catch your eye and those you glance past. Take note of what images stand out to you - pay attention to the styling, the composition, the words used in the pin, and what aspects of it pull you in. Make a list of those characteristics and be mindful of putting them into the images you create. 

The great thing is that there is an amazing tool that we’ve talked about before called Canva that will help you easily create fabulous images that will stand out.

4. Follow Relevant Boards

You can’t just sit back and wait for people to follow you or magically find your board. You have to make the first move. You can find and follow relevant people and organizations by using the search tool on Pinterest and typing in keywords. 

For example, let’s say you want to connect with other authors in your genre. Simply type that into the search bar (like Romantic Suspense Authors) and pins, boards, and Pinners surrounding those terms will pop up. If you find other Romantic Suspense authors, see who is following them and start following those boards. Chances are if they are fans of that author they will be fans of yours as well! 

5. Be Active

Being active on Pinterst is more than just pinning and re-pinning. With tools like BoardBooster we can fall into the “set it and forget it” mindset and miss the most important purpose of social media - the engagement. Take a few minutes every day or every few days to leave comments on pins in order to be more intentional in making connections. Get to know the people your connecting with. 

Be intentional with your pins - don’t just pin to fill a quota. Focus on creating and sharing quality content that speaks directly to your ideal reader. Follow these steps and you will see a significant boost! 

If you want to go a step further and get all of the tools, resources, and help that you need to market your book, grow on social media, and sell more books - join The Author Circle membership!