Simple Pin Podcast: Simple ways to boost your business using Pinterest Kate Ahl

The moment Pinterest came on the scene marketers have been trying to crack the code to getting more exposure and traffic. Frankly, this is how all social media and search platforms work. We want to be successful, drive traffic to our website or make more sales. Makes sense, that’s how you grow a business.







But what happens when you get to that place where you’re chasing all the advice, but not making progress. You’re stuck on the hamster wheel of searching for the “golden ticket” and it’s just not happening.







That’s when it hit me the other morning…







Pinterest marketing advice is like dieting advice.







Someone always has a method, system, structure or THE answer.







Before we dive in…







I do want to tell you about our Simple Pin Ads Society.  It’s our membership community that’s designed to guide you through the ins and outs of how to advertise on Pinterest.







Through live coaching calls, workshops, and an exclusive membership forum, you will have all the tools you need at your fingertips to build, start, and run Pinterest ad campaigns for you or your clients.







The Ads Society is only open for new members to join a few times per year and it’s open now! You only have until Tuesday February 1st to join before the membership closes again. Don’t wait to grab your spot! 















PINTEREST MARKETING ADVICE to PLAY THE LONG GAME







First, knowing your “why”.







What do you want your Pinterest marketing to do for your business? Traffic, impressions, low ad costs, sales, followers, etc. There are a lot of options, none of them are wrong. Whatever you choose is what’s best for your business.







The same goes for dieting. Do you want to change your food habits, lose weight, tone up, slim down quick, join a body positivity movement? The options for why you choose a method are endless.







Pick your goal and find the person or method who is going to help you reach it.







What else?







There are no quick fixes in Pinterest marketing OR dieting.







And lastly, once you know your why and you’ve pushed aside all the quick fixes, follow the metrics that tell you you’re on the right path.







If you only looked at one metric, you will miss all the rest of the wins and the reason you’re doing what you’re doing.







Online marketing for your business is not easy. It’s a really exhausting game at times. The only way to counteract that is to know why you’re using a platform, how much time you’re going to invest in it, and what your Key Performance Indicators are that are going to let you know if you’re hitting the mark or not.







And time….it all takes time to see growth and movement. That’s the HARDEST part of getting in shape, just like Pinterest marketing.















My commitment to you is to be your coach, guide, educator and mentor when it comes to Pinterest marketing. To do everything I can with integrity to help you reach your goals, to cheerlead when it’s really tough, and to help you evaluate when you can’t see a way forward.







If that’s what you need in a Pinterest marketing company then you’ve listened to the right podcast. Take the next step, if you haven’t already, and sign up for our weekly email list a href="htt...

Content marketing can feel laborious and intensive, especially for shop owners. But there are productivity hacks and tools to help with e-commerce content marketing that not only serve your end buyer but also help you find new customers without spending too much time on content creation.







Today, Ashley Alderson from The Boutique Hub, shares a great behind-the-scenes story about growing her business and weaves in six quick, actionable, and valuable tips for creating a manageable ecommerce content marketing strategy.















Ashley is the founder and CEO at The Boutique Hub, a membership that brings together all the resources boutique owners need in a community of over 7,000 members from the United States and eight other countries. It is the largest global connection point in the world for boutique owners. 







How The Boutique Hub Came to Be







Her business is great success story to share. But it sometimes seems like every good business success story starts with a failure — Ashley’s is no exception. 







Ashley grew up in North Dakota (not exactly the fashion mecca of the world) and had a love for fashion. Rodeo was a big part of her life and as she traveled to rodeos she discovered boutiques in all the cute towns she visited. The idea grew in her mind that she wanted to be able to shop these cute stores in one central place.







I felt like fashion was so New York or LA and believed the rest of us in this  world deserve to feel beautiful and have unique things too.— Ashley







The idea for the Boutique Hub became Ashley’s answer to the “What about us?” question. It started as an online shopping mall for boutiques and then took off from there. 







While building her online shopping mall of boutiques, Ashley talked to boutique owners and found what they needed more than anything was a community where someone could help them see the forest through the trees and be a voice for the industry. 







She noted that at that time, it was such a dog-eat-dog world and the concept of community did not exist. She thought to herself, “there’s got to be a better way to do this.”







So The Boutique Hub evolved from that online shopping mall. Ashley launched it with the motto of community over competition. It resonated with people because they needed connection more than they needed anything else.







Getting Defrauded







Unfortunately, we all make mistakes and when Ashley made this pivot to a new idea, she met a real pain point in her journey. While she was building her membership in The Boutique, Ashley met a guy on Twitter who seemed to be building something very similar to what she was trying to do. 







Imposter syndrome was hitting her hard at this time. She was questioning “Who am I to launch a startup and build a membership? What do I know?” So, having a shared vision, it seemed natural to partner with this guy. 







They teamed up and he convinced Ashley to give him a majority share of the company, change the name, and add him to her bank account. Ashley already had an initial version of The Boutique Hub established with a healthy list of clients. He convinced her to merge her list with his.







It all seemed great until she discovered his client list was nonexistent. He kept putting Ashley off, telling her the legal papers are in the mail and they would get everything finalized soon. But those papers never came. 

As the landscape for ads has changed drastically in the online world, business owners are wondering where to put their ad dollars next, especially with iOS updates and increasing costs. Pinterest is a good choice, but people are confused about how Pinterest fits into their overall marketing plan. They want to know how Pinterest ads in 2022 will work. 







Our SPM Promoted Pins Director, Erin, is here to help us break down where we think Pinterest Ads in 2022 are headed. She makes a strong case for why you should diversify your ad dollars by investing in Pinterest ads (aka promoted pins) for your business. 







Erin is an amazing member of our Simple Pin team. She has figured out how Pinterest ads will work for many different types of businesses. I’ll let her tell you more about her role here at Simple Pin and then walk you through what she has learned.







Erin started with Simple Pin Media six years ago managing organic clients and then shifted over to the paid side of advertising on Pinterest. In the past year, she spearheaded the launch of our Simple Pin Ads Society, a membership where we teach VAs, Pinterest marketers, and business owners how to run ads on Pinterest. 







Take it away Erin!















Pinterest Ads in 2022: What You Need to Know







Looking into 2022 has been very exciting for me. I feel excited about the future of Pinterest ads so let’s chat a bit about whether Pinterest ads in 2022 are a good idea. 







Spoiler Alert – the answer is 1000% YES!







Back when Pinterest went public, we warned that this free train we’ve been riding for 10 years won’t be free forever. The time has come. It’s time to buy your ticket!







Up until this past summer, I was heavily involved in both paid and organic Pinterest strategies/management. During that time, I began to see a shift — especially with accounts that focused on both paid and organic advertising on Pinterest. 







We also started to see traffic dip for accounts utilizing a strictly organic marketing strategy. But we also observed that the traffic for accounts that incorporated both an organic and paid ads component  was growing. 







We know that when organic pins are posted on Pinterest, they are first seen by all of your followers. Then they are shown to customers who behave like your followers. 







When you use paid media targeting, pins reach people way beyond your core audience. That results in a high potential for finding more people who will love the product you are offering and are ready to convert.







Pinterest Conversion Insights







A couple of years ago, Pinterest launched Conversion Insights. When that happened, I knew that moving forward with Pinterest would mean we needed both a good paid and organic strategy. 







Conversion Insights is a tool that integrates organic and paid conversion reporting all in one area. It’s still in beta, but from what I can tell with clients that we’re working with right now, it’s fairly accurate. 

Let’s talk about Pinterest marketing predictions for 2022.







There’s no doubt that since 2020, Pinterest has changed. We have a push for more shopping features as well as keeping people on the platform longer. 







I would label 2021 as the year Pinterest changed and 2022 as the year we see how pinners will adapt to the change. 















PINTEREST MARKETING PREDICTIONS FOR 2022







So what does Simple Pin Media predict will be important on Pinterest in 2022?







* E-commerce sellers especially will need a healthy balance between organic and paid ads.* Idea Pins will continue to be important for organic traffic – helping to build up engagement, impressions and followers.* Idea Pins will elevate income for bloggers with affiliate opportunities, which allows people to make more money off their affiliate sales in a way we haven’t see before on Pinterest. * To follow up on this monetization strategy, the Creators Hub for earning money from Pinterest will become lucrative. Which means a slight shift towards more influencer-based marketing, but with more of a Pinterest twist. Not so “in the moment” like we see on Instagram, but products or tools we use long-term. More evergreen. * You’re going to have to get in front of the camera to record video, which is something you’re not used to with Pinterest marketing.* Video Pins are going to gain traction.







Predictions I’m unsure about as we head into the new year:







—> Pinterest TV will either live or die. I’m not sure how people are going to take to this, so the jury is still out. 







—> Pinterest Takes…I’m still not sure about this one. 















How the pinner will adapt to all this change is still on the table. I believe Pinterest has a plan to train pinners how to shop on Pinterest, so jumping on the Idea Pin creation train will be good for creators as the pinners “catch-on” in the coming year. 







Tell us your thoughts on these predictions and share yours with us on Instagram — @simplepinmedia. 







For Further Listening/Reading:







* How Pinterest’s Goals for 2021 Should Influence Your Marketing Strategy* Is Pinterest Still Relevant?* Pinterest Video Pins Creation Tools* Pre-made Canva pin templates (with bonus Idea Pin template offer)* Creative Best Practices straight from Pinterest











Let’s talk about Pinterest marketing predictions for 2022.







There’s no doubt that since 2020, Pinterest has changed. We have a push for more shopping features as well as keeping people on the platform longer. 







I would label 2021 as the year Pinterest changed and 2022 as the year we see how pinners will adapt to the change. 















PINTEREST MARKETING PREDICTIONS FOR 2022







So what does Simple Pin Media predict will be important on Pinterest in 2022?

Is your Pinterest marketing serving your business in the way you had hoped? I figured since it’s mid-December, it’s a great time to talk about how to evaluate your Pinterest marketing strategy. 







I’ve had a lot of frantic emails and DMs on Instagram from people who are worried about all their Pinterest statistics (e.g., monthly viewers, followers, etc.) Let’s chat about key performance indicators for Pinterest marketing as it relates to your business. I’ll give you a framework to evaluate your Pinterest marketing strategy and plan your direction for 2022.







I’m going to walk you through the framework we use here at Simple Pin when we’re trying to figure out if something is worth the continued investment for our business (aka ROI). 







We ask a set of key questions and look at analytics to answer them. 















evaluate your pinterest marketing strategy: 3 questions to ask yourself







Let’s get started with the first of three essential questions that guide my thoughts while I’m evaluating the past year.







1. Why is Pinterest an important part of marketing my business? 







There are some important things to consider with this question.







First — what goal does Pinterest help you reach in your business? Is it:







* product sales?* email conversions?* traffic?* affiliate sales?







List all of your goals and then circle the top three that you think Pinterest helps you reach.







Second — remember that Pinterest is a search and discovery network that requires a long-term investment for marketing. You might be looking for new buyers, new readers, and people to start following you on other channels. Keep in mind that it’s more like Google and Youtube in the marketing sense.







For me, Pinterest marketing serves our beginner Pinterest marketer avatar. These are people who are curious about Pinterest marketing. They want to know the “how-tos”. 







Related: The Pinterest Tutorials Hub: A Collection of “How To” Posts







I am very clear about my Pinterest marketing goals. My goal with Pinterest is not to gain clients. We don’t get clients through Pinterest.  Part of that is because we haven’t targeted clients on Pinterest. Our clients find us primarily on Google.







Pinterest brings to Simple Pin the people who are going to read our blog, listen to the Simple Pin podcast, or who will eventually want to join the Simple Pin Collective. So our goal with Pinterest are to use it for educating marketers who are new to the Pinterest platform. It serves us by driving traffic and attracting email subscribers. 







Once you know why Pinterest is important to you, it’s time to answer the second question.







2. What are youR key performance indicators (KPIs)? 

Have you found yourself asking the question “Is Pinterest still relevant for my business?” You’re not alone. Let’s go there.







There’s no doubt that Pinterest has changed. Marketers see it and so do pinners. 







Let’s walk through a little bit of history on Pinterest and talk about what’s working right now as the platform iterates itself into Pinterest 2.0.







I recently hosted a live training about what’s working on Pinterest right now. It was designed to answer a pressing question that is currently on the minds of many Pinterest marketers:







Is Pinterest still relevant?







I think it is. Let’s talk about the 3 things that are working right now on Pinterest.















For Pinterest marketing,  the goal is to get in front of the dreamers, the planners, and the people who will connect with what you have. It’s all about connecting with the searchers looking for their best life without all the noise. 







Pinterest is the outlier among the social media marketing tools. 







Related: The Transition from Facebook Marketing to Pinterest Marketing







Facebook is for groups, heated discussion, and reminders that it’s someone’s birthday. 







TikTok is great for dancing, engagement, and I’m not really sure what else since I’m still trying to avoid it. 







Pinterest is for the introvert and person searching for an answer to their problem. It’s a search and discovery network whose reason for existing is to promote ideas and products for those looking to be inspired. Platform users spend a long time planning and searching before they actually make a purchase (at least three months).







This recent quote from Pinterest sums it up perfectly:







Your customer isn’t coming to Pinterest to hunt for likes, or see what everybody else is doing. They’re looking to find what they actually love.— Pinterest







In a recent article on the Pinterest business blog, Pinterest said that people who use Pinterest weekly are 7x more likely to say it’s the most influential platform in their purchase journey vs. social media platforms.. Furthermore, shoppers on Pinterest have 85% bigger baskets than shoppers on other platforms and they spend twice as much per month. 







I don’t know about you but I’m happy to help you figure out how to be part of that spend. 







In the golden days of Pinterest, you would pin a beautiful image to your board, keyword the pin description, and then share it across several Pinterest boards. Then you would sit back and watch your traffic grow (as well as your ad revenue, email list, and product sales). 







It was a simple platform with a beautifully orchestrated plan for marketing that resulted in great traffic. 







When the pandemic hit in 2020, a surge of people flooded the platform, growing it to over 400 million users worldwide. Those sourdough bread recipes were being pinned faster than teenagers checking Snapchat. We could see the clicks rising and the businesses being positively impacted.