Using a scheduling app for Pinterest is key.  I tried doing it myself, and it was extremely time consuming.  I had a secret board where I pinned all my pins. Then, I had a reminder on my phone so I could pin multiple times a day.  When the reminder would go off, I would pin a handful of random pins to my public boards. But, what was most time consuming, was pinning each individual pin to the secret board.  So, when I found Tailwinds, it was amazing! I was able to reduce the time I spent pinning, pin more, and grow my traffic like crazy!

Signing Up

Tailwind does such a great job of walking you through signing up for Tailwind that I am not going to go into all of it here.  You will want to follow their tutorials to set up your profile and pinning schedule.  I suggest starting small at 5 pins a day. Once you get into the rhythm of scheduling your pins, you can increase your scheduled pins.

 

Install The Plugin

After you sign up, the first thing you must, must do is install the plugin.  This is the game-changer that cut my pinning time down by so much I cannot even count.  The plugin will allow you to go to your blog post and schedule literally all of the images from you post at one time.

1. Go to your published blog post.
2. Click the plugin icon.
3. Select the images to pin.
4. Click “Schedule”
5. Type and select a board under “Add Board to All”
6. Click Schedule All to add to your queue or Save for Later to add to drafts.

It is honestly that simple!  That is all you need to get started.  But, if you are like me, and want to jump in the deep end, keep reading.  I am going to show you all my advanced tips for using Tailwind to absolutely kill it in the Pinterest game.

 

Pin to Multiple Boards

Do you have multiple boards a majority of your pins can go to?  If not, you should! This is literally what Pinterest is made for.  You should have at least one board of solely your own content and them multiple boards with a mix of content from you and others.  Not every pin will go to multiple boards, but many of them do.

In the example below, the image is scheduled for my sole content board PMA Weddings and the inspiration boards of Wedding Couples Inspiration, Wedding Inspo – Desert Weddings, and Arizona Wedding Venues.  If you are a food blogger your boards may be Two Peas In a Pod Recipes, Quick Dinner Recipes, Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes. For more ideas on creating check out my post on Pinterest board topics for your business.

To add multiple boards, you just click under the image where it says “Click to Add More Boards!”.  Just type in then select your board. Done.

 

Pin Description and Hashtags/Keywords

This could be a post all on its own.  Seriously. I am just going to give a quick overview here and if you want more info on what exactly to post here, check out my article on SEO for Pinterest.  

This section is going to pre-populate with the alt-text for your image.  If you are not adding alt text currently, get on it! I always add additional long-tail keywords in the description to help me show up in various searches.  You want to make sure to use a combination of local long-tail keywords and inspirational long-tail keywords.

I keep a word document of keywords that my potential clients will be using to do searches in Pinterest.  For a post with multiple images, I will use the same handful of keywords that apply to the entire post (all images) and then various keywords for each image.  Here is an example of the different keywords I would add to the description:

• Keywords for All Images: Rainy Downtown Flagstaff Wedding | Flagstaff AZ Wedding Photographer | Northern Arizona Wedding | Outdoor Wedding
• Keywords Specific to one Image: Bridal Party Outfit Inspiration | Bridesmaids Attire | Burgundy Bridesmaids Dresses

Simply copy and paste these keywords into the pin description along with your pre-filled alt-text.  You have a limit of 500 characters, so don’t go too crazy. A handful of keywords will be sufficient.

 

 

Use Interval vs Shuffle Queue

When pinning to multiple boards, you don’t want the pin to show up multiple times in a row.  That kind of defeats the purpose of pinning to multiple boards to increase the longevity of your pin.  So you have two options to prevent this, both of which I use depending on the time of year.

• Intervals – This will set a specific amount of time between the posts.  I like to use this during the slower parts of my year where I am not pinning as much.  I may only have one month of content in my queue.
  • Click “Use Interval” at the bottom on the pin.  
  • Set the minimum time period between each pin.  Depending on how much content I have scheduled, I generally like to use somewhere around 14 days.  
  • Choose open time slots, optimized, or exact.  I suggest open time slots or optimized.
  • You will then see the schedule preview below.  If you are into it, click set interval.

• Shuffle Queue – I like using this during my busiest seasons.  Not only because it saves me time from having to set intervals for most of the posts, but I get a wider variety of posts in my queue.  I use this when I have over a month of pins in my queue.
  • Login to Tailwind
  • Go to your Scheduled Pins under Publisher
  • On the Right, above your queue, click “Shuffle”
  • Click “Yes, Shuffle My Queue”.  That’s it, your done!

 

Tribes & Smart Loop

First, let’s talk about what Tribes and Smart Loop are.  

Tribes are a place where you can connect with other Pinners with similar interests.  You can submit your pins to the tribe for others to pin and you can pin there content in return.  It is a really cool feature that helps everyone get their content to more people!

Smart Loop is a feature where you can re-pin your most popular content over and over again with one click.  This is helpful for content that has gone ‘viral’ or that you anticipate going ‘viral’. It is also useful for popular posts that direct to an opt-in for your email list.  This will keep the post fresh in Pinterest feeds and help you continually get new subscribers.

You will need to join a few tribes and set-up a smart loop before you are able to use these features while scheduling your pins.  

To add to Tribes, just click “Add To Tribes”, check mark the tribes you want to submit to, and click “Add to Tribe”.

To add to your Smart Loop, just click “Add to Smart Loop”, checkbox the Smart Loop you want to add to, and click “Add to Loop”.

 

Get Tailwinds, Like Yesterday

Are you sold?  Not surprised, this was a game changer for me!  Use this link to get a signup bonus credit!  If you have already signed up for Tailwinds, get on it!  Pin your heart out and let me know in the comments what your results are!