How to Get Pinterest Followers: 20+ Strategies for Success

Short Summary:

• Pinterest is a valuable platform for brand marketing, offering benefits such as organic search power and increased content shelf life.
• Enhance website traffic with rich Pins that provide more information about your products or content.
• To gain Pinterest followers, understand your audience, discover popular trends, join relevant group boards, and use beautiful visuals.
• Include the Pinterest Save button on your website to encourage sharing.
• Verify your website with Pinterest to access analytics and improve visibility.
• Use Pincodes to connect offline materials to your Pinterest profile.
• Use a Pinterest Business Account for access to analytics and advertising options.
• Don’t buy Pinterest followers as it can harm your credibility and engagement.

Why Should You Build a Following on Pinterest?

Pinterest, often pigeonholed as just a mood board or creative outlet, is an untapped goldmine for brand marketing. 

While most are familiar with its aesthetics and DIY inspirations, fewer grasp its true potential for brand building and customer engagement. Delving deeper into Pinterest’s less obvious benefits may just convince you to pin your brand’s future on this platform.

Here are the benefits of growing your Pinterest page: 

1. Unlock organic search power
2. Increase content shelf Life
3. Stay on top of trends and monitor purchase intent
4. Establish yourself as an expert
5. Build a community through shared aesthetics
6. Enhance website traffic with rich Pins

1. Unlock Organic Search Power

Pinterest operates like a visual search engine. When Pinterest users search for specific keywords or phrases, Pinterest displays relevant Pins and allows brands like you to target specific audiences with ease.

Example: Imagine you’re a local pottery shop. Your unique designs might be drowned out on platforms like Instagram amidst a sea of content. However, on Pinterest, your pottery Pins can surface when users search for ‘unique pottery designs’, ‘ceramic gifts’, or ‘handmade mugs’. Over time, this boosts your visibility without you spending a dime on ads.

2. Increase Content Shelf Life

Unlike other social platforms where content gets buried quickly, Pins on Pinterest can keep resurfacing as they get repinned, long after they were originally posted.

Example: A tweet’s lifespan is minutes, an Instagram post’s is hours, but a Pinterest pin’s life can extend to months, even years. This means your summer collection from two years ago could still be driving sales today.

3. Stay on Top of Trends and Monitor Purchase Intent

Pinterest’s analytics and the popular section allow brands to see trending Pins and topics in real-time. Plus, Pinterest users often pin items they aspire to purchase or integrate into their lives. By analyzing engagement metrics and interactions, brands can gauge purchase intent.

Example: Let’s say you’re a fashion brand. By observing which Pins are gaining traction, you can forecast upcoming trends, helping you stay ahead of the curve. Spotting a sudden spike in, say, ‘pleated skirts’ can clue you in on what to stock next. 

4. Establish Yourself as an Expert

Pinterest is not just about pretty pictures; it’s about value. Users look for actionable content like DIYs, recipes, and tutorials.

Example: If you sell gourmet cooking ingredients, you can pin not just images of the ingredients, but also recipes or tutorials on how to use them. This not only showcases your product but also educates and engages potential customers.

5. Build a Community Through Shared Aesthetics

Boards allow users and brands to curate specific aesthetics or themes, creating niches and communities.

Example: Brands can gain dedicated followers who share their aesthetic vision. A handmade jewelry brand, for instance, can curate boards not just of their products, but also of fashion, art, and places that resonate with their design philosophy. This deepens the bond with followers who share that vision.

6. Enhance Website Traffic with Rich Pins

Rich Pins pull metadata directly from your website, providing users with more information about the pin and prompting them to click through for more details.

Example: ‘Rich Pins’ provide more context about an idea because they show extra information directly on the pin. For a brand selling organic teas, a Rich Pin can detail the ingredients, brewing time, or health benefits. This not only provides value to users but also directs them back to the brand’s website to streamline purchases.

Pretty impressive, right? And these are just a few of the things a well-built Pinterest presence can do for you and your business. Enough with the “why” – it’s time to delve into the “how” of it all.

How to Get Pinterest Followers: 20+ Proven Ways

We did our research on how to get followers on Pinterest, so you don’t have to. 

Here are over 20 things to take into consideration when on a journey to gain Pinterest followers:

1. Understand Your Pinterest Audience

Sometimes, the audience you target on Pinterest and other channels will overlap. Other times, it may be somewhat different, or maybe only a portion of your audience. 

For a clearer understanding of who’s likely to engage with your Pinterest content, consider the following demographic insights from Data Portal:

• The U.S. boasts over 90.1 million active Pinterest enthusiasts.
• Analyzing gender distribution:
  • Women constitute 79.5% of global Pinterest users.
  • Men make up 17.6%.
  • An additional 2.9% identify as ‘unspecified’.
• A breakdown by age reveals:
  • 18 to 24-year-olds: 71.6 million (representing 27.0% of Pinterest’s ad audience).
  • 25 to 34-year-olds: 81.9 million (30.9%).
  • 35 to 44-year-olds: 41.3 million (15.8%).
  • 45 to 54-year-olds: 27.1 million (10.4%).
  • 55 to 64-year-olds: 22.9 million (8.7%).
  • Those aged 65 and above: 11.4 million (4.3%).

Now that you have a general idea about Pinterest users, it’s time to conduct your own research for a more targeted marketing approach.

Here’s how brands can truly understand their Pinterest audience in three steps:

• Deep dive with Pinterest Analytics Pro: While Pinterest’s standard analytics provides general insights, Pinterest Analytics Pro (available to Pinterest business accounts) goes a step further. It uncovers deeper metrics such as your audience’s other interests, which can be vital.

• Use audience insights for lookalike audiences: Pinterest allows brands to create “lookalike” audiences — users who share characteristics with your existing followers but haven’t interacted with your brand yet. 

• Perform keyword cluster analysis: This involves grouping the frequently used keywords by your audience into clusters to understand the broader themes they’re interested in.

2. Discover What’s Popular

Browse Pinterest Trends to see what’s already working well on Pinterest. Take notes, look for patterns, and think about how you may incorporate these concepts into your own material.

Pinterest Trends provides the following information:

• Top search terms: Recognize the hot topics by viewing the topmost search terms, helping you align with current interests.
• Search volume dynamics: By observing how search volume shifts over various periods, you can pinpoint emerging trends or recognize seasonal patterns.
• Associated search terms: Viewing terms that are frequently searched in conjunction with primary terms enables you to craft encompassing pins that span a broader topic range.
• Dominant Pins: Identifying the standout pins for each search term provides a benchmark, aiding in designing pins that capture your target audience’s attention.
• Popularity peaks: Understanding when a term is at its zenith aids in optimally timing your pins for the best visibility.
• User demographics: By discerning the age, gender, and passions of searchers, you can tailor your pins to cater to the right crowd.
• Geographic insights: Determining the regions most invested in certain terms lets you geographically target your pins for enhanced relevance.

3. Join Relevant Group Boards

If you want to promote your business on Pinterest, you should start by finding the most popular boards in your industry. Occasionally, the board administrator will add join instructions in the group description. If not, send a message to the board moderator. Typically, their name will appear top of the list of the board’s followers.

4. Use Beautiful Visuals

Pinterest is a highly visual platform. Most users are on the lookout for aesthetic inspiration – outfit ideas, how to decorate their bedrooms, photography tips, etc. 

In comparison to Twitter content, for example, where your words are what make or break your post, your Pinterest board should be all about aesthetically pleasing visuals. Don’t hesitate to draw inspiration from what is already trending on Pinterest in your field.

5. Keep Your Content Fresh and Unique

If there’s one thing Pinterest loves, it’s originality. Pinners are on the lookout for inspiration and new ideas. Unique Pins will attract their attention and spike their interest in your Boards. Keep your posts fresh and embrace your creativity when creating pins.

Here are 4 ways to create original Pinterest content:

• Collaborations with niche artists: Partner with up-and-coming artists in fields like hand lettering, digital painting, or 3D art. Let them interpret your brand in their style for Pins that are both unique and visually captivating.
• Blend multiple mediums: Create Pins that blend photography with sketches, watercolor backgrounds, or digital art overlays. This mishmash can lead to Pins that are hard to replicate and look distinct.
• Localized content: If your brand has a presence in multiple regions or countries, create Pins tailored to each locale. Local festivals, sayings, or landscapes can inspire such content, making them relatable to a specific audience while standing out globally.
• Involve your audience in creation: Use tools like polls or Q&As on other platforms to gather ideas, then turn those into Pins. If someone suggests a ‘night-time look’ for your makeup product, design a Pin around that. It directly caters to what your audience wants, making it inherently unique.

6. Include Detailed Descriptions

Yes, we said Pinterest is mostly about visuals. That doesn’t mean your descriptions hold 0 power. 

A captivating caption is necessary to keep readers engaged with your post after they’ve seen the image. Give information that will make consumers more interested in your content and get them to visit your website. The standard, one-sentence summary won’t cut it here.

Here’s what are the main components of a Pin description:

• Relevant keywords: Using high intent keywords naturally within your description can increase the chances of your Pin appearing in search results, which leads to more organic traffic.
• Clear call-to-action (CTA): Whether you want viewers to visit your website, read a blog post, or check out a product, a compelling CTA is crucial. For instance, phrases like “Click to discover more” or “Find out how” can inspire action.
• Product information: A Product Pin might display the price and availability of a product, aside from other features and characteristics. This added layer of information can drive more specific and purposeful engagement from pinners.
• Content hooks: While the visual is key, a catchy caption can add value, provide context, and further engage the viewer. A question, intriguing statement, or a hint of humor can pique a user’s interest.

Not everybody is a copywriter, and that is totally fine. SocialBee’s AI Post Generator can be a trusty friend when it comes to generating great descriptions for your Pins.  

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Explore our collection of Pinterest-inspired AI prompts and use them to craft engaging titles, descriptions, and ideas for your next Pins.