One of the services I offer as Pinterest Manager is “Pinterest Account Optimization”. This is to ensure that the account is set up correctly and has all the elements necessary to see success on Pinterest. I thought I would share the process of exactly what is involved in this and the steps taken to optimize a Pinterest account.

FIRST SOME “TECHY BITS” 

The very first thing I do is check that a business account has been set up and that the website has been claimed. If the website has not been claimed, then a meta tag needs to be added to the website or an HTML file uploaded. I always check with my clients to ask if they would rather do it themselves, alternatively, I am always happy to do this on their behalf if they can grant me access to their website. For reference, Pinterest provides full instructions for most website hosts on this page:-  https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/claim-your-website. If you are still stuck then if you email them, their business support is generally very helpful. 

Whilst I am in the account area on Pinterest, it is also helpful to claim an Instagram and a Youtube account too, if you have them. Again, this is something I offer or if preferred the client can do it themselves.

The last ‘techy bit’ is to check if Rich pins have been enabled. Rich pins basically mean that additional data will be pulled from the website to be displayed on your pins – making them “rich.” Definitely something that you need to have! This is quick and simple to do and just involves checking for metadata on your site and then applying for rich pins. Usually just involves installing the “Yoast” plugin on the website to do this (if not already used). Here’s a link to the full instructions from Pinterest: https://developers.pinterest.com/docs/rich-pins/overview/?

BOARD AUDIT

Now we get into the nitty-gritty. Next, I take a close look at all the boards on the account. We want to ensure that all boards are relevant to the niche and the services offered. Any boards that are not related can be easily hidden and made secret. 

Taking the example of a destination wedding planner, obviously all boards should be related to the wedding industry. So whilst a recipe board holding all of your favorite dinner recipes might be useful to you, you don’t want it to be visible on your profile. So in this case I would hide this board and make it secret – so you can still pin to it, it just won’t show up to Pinterest viewers and the pins won’t count.

It is also important to note that you also don’t necessarily want to get too specific with board titles. For example, to have a board listed as “purple wedding flowers” you may soon run out of content for that. Initially, it might be better to have a “wedding flower” board so there’s tons of pinning potential here. When consolidating boards, what you DON’T want to do is start deleting pins – this could harm your account. Instead, Pinterest has a nifty little function to consolidate boards and delete the unwanted one, which is rather helpful! 

I make sure that there are at least 15 niche related boards that you can easily pin your content and other people’s content to. One of them should be your brand board (ie labeled your business name) and the others will all be related to your business. Taking the example of a Wedding Planner, board names suggestions include:

Wedding Dresses, Wedding Hairstyles, Wedding Food Ideas, Wedding Invitations, Wedding Planning Tips, Wedding Flowers etc..

Now if you know anything about Pinterest you will realize that keywords are the backbone of Pinterest. So it is crucial to carry out keyword research for each and every board so that each one has a keyword-rich title and description.

This can be quite time consuming but is an essential part of optimizing a Pinterest account. I personally like to keep a note of these keywords and boards on a google doc to refer back to if needed and for writing pin descriptions. 

Then I start pinning good quality pins to each of these boards to ensure that each board has 25 pins or more.

Board covers can be a personal preference. Some prefer a more cohesive look but they are not conducive to success on Pinterest. I ensure that each board has a good quality, relevant image or I can create branded board covers if desired.

It can also be helpful to apply to group boards to expand your pinning potential. For this, I take a look at competitive accounts and see which group boards they have joined. The group board description usually explains how you need to apply. I try and request to join at least 5x group boards. 

PROFILE AUDIT

I also take a look at the profile bio and update and optimize this if necessary – using a keyworded description and a CTA if possible.

It is also important to follow high-quality Pinterest accounts within your niche – So if you are in the wedding industry these would popular blog accounts such as Martha Stewart Weddings, Style Me Pretty, Grey Likes Weddings, etc plus wedding vendors such as wedding photographers, wedding venues, etc.

TAILWIND SET UP

Next, I work on setting-up a Tailwind Account (If my client doesn’t already have one). Tailwind offers a free trial which means you can schedule up to 100 pins for free after you register a new account. After this has been reached the client will need to pay for the Tailwind Plus account which is $14.99 a month or $119 for the yearly plan (with 4 months free).

Once set up, I work on setting the smart schedule (usually at 4 or 5 pins a day at the very beginning) and request to join the maximum permitted amount of tribes.

PIN TEMPLATES

Finally, I take to Canva and create 4 branded templates using the client’s fonts and brand colors that lead to a specific page/blog post on their website. I ask my clients for the hex codes and fonts of their branding in my Pinterest questionnaire when I first onboard the client so that I can match their branding style. 

There you go, the account is now ready to begin pinning consistently. As part of my Pinterest monthly management service, I do carry out maintenance and updates where necessary. New boards are created as and when I see fit, in order to grow the account.

If you have any questions about this process, I would be more than happy to help! 

Don’t have the time to optimize a Pinterest account yourself? That’s what I’m here for! Feel free to shoot me a message to book this service! 

PIN THIS FOR LATER!

**Affiliate disclosure** Some of the links in this post may result in a small commission to me should you choose to make a purchase. This won’t cost you anything additional and I promise I only suggest products I truly believe in and use myself.