149: The Search Engine That Lasts: Why Pinterest Should Be Part of Your Marketing Plan
On this episode of Course Creator's MBA Podcast, Dr. Destini Copp invites Pinterest strategist, Kate Horodyski, to discuss the effectiveness of Pinterest marketing. They cover the importance of providing easy-to-access content for Pinterest users and the differences between Pinterest and Instagram in terms of the customer journey.
Kate emphasizes the need to create quality content instead of relying on group boards or other outdated techniques. They also discuss the factors businesses must consider to determine if Pinterest is the right platform for them.
A key takeaway is to prioritize easy-to-say-yes-to content that doesn't require users to give their email address right away. Tune in today!
Summary:
Pinterest is often seen as a platform for visual inspiration, DIY projects, and fashion inspiration – but it can be a powerful tool for businesses, especially those in the digital space. In this episode of the Course Creator's MBA Podcast, guest Kate Horodyski (Pinterest strategist and owner of KH Socials) shares insights and tips on how to effectively use Pinterest marketing to grow your course creation business.
Why Pinterest Marketing Matters for Course Creation
The first question you might have is: why Pinterest? According to the latest data, Pinterest has over 450 million monthly active users, and users are actively searching for inspiration, ideas, and products on the platform. Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest's user behavior and benefits have remained constant, making it a reliable source of traffic over time. As a visual search engine, Pinterest is an excellent platform for showcasing visually appealing content and driving consistent traffic to your website or course.
But to make the most of Pinterest, you need to understand how it works and how users behave on the platform. Here are some key insights from Kate's discussion:
1. Focus on easy-to-access content: One of the unique features of Pinterest is that users can discover content from various creators without necessarily knowing them. Therefore, it's essential to offer valuable, easy-to-access content that can entice users to click through. This includes blog posts, podcast episodes, YouTube videos, or freebies that address the user's search journey.
2. Embrace the slow burn: Unlike Instagram, where businesses can get immediate results and engagement, Pinterest requires a more strategic, long-term approach. It can take several months to start seeing tangible results, but the effort can pay off in the long run. Remember, Pinterest is a search engine – ranking high in your first few months is unrealistic. Instead, focus on consistency and quality over time to build organic traffic.
3. Fresh content trumps repining: In the pre-2020 era, businesses could rely on looping content and sharing a high volume of pins to increase engagement and reach. However, Pinterest has since shifted focus to quality over quantity, emphasizing fresh content and promoting more of one's content instead of repining. Kate recommends 5-10 pins a day as the recommended pin volume, and businesses should prioritize creating original content instead of relying solely on posting in tailwind communities and group boards.
How to Craft a Customer Journey on Pinterest
Once you have a grasp of how Pinterest works, the next step is to build a customer journey that can entice users to sign up for your courses or digital products. Here are some insights on crafting a successful customer journey on Pinterest:
1. Create a freebie or valuable resource: Users on Pinterest are typically looking for inspiration or guidance, and creating a freebie or resource that meets their needs can help you establish credibility and entice them to sign up for your email list. For example, if you're a health coach, you could create a free e-book with healthy recipes to offer to users.
2. Nurture the relationship: Once users sign up for your email list, you want to continue building a relationship with them. This involves regularly sending out helpful content, engaging with them, and providing value. It's crucial to prioritize easy-to-say-yes-to content that doesn't require users to give their email address right away. This way, you can gradually nurture the relationship and move them along the sales funnel.
3. Lead them to your course: Ultimately, the goal of your Pinterest marketing strategy should be to get users to sign up for your courses or digital products. This involves creating a compelling sales page, offering exclusive deals and discounts, and effectively communicating the value of your offerings. However, it's essential to do so in a way that feels authentic and non-spammy, as Pinterest users tend to be sensitive to overtly sales-y content.
In conclusion, Pinterest can be a powerful tool for course creators looking to drive consistent organic traffic and signups. By understanding how users behave on the platform and crafting a compelling customer journey, you can establish a presence on Pinterest and attract potential clients. With consistent effort and a strategic approach, Pinterest marketing can be a reliable and effective way to grow your course creation business.
Mentioned In This Episode
Where to find Kate: Website and Instagram
Kate's free gift: Beginner's Guide to Pinterest Marketing
Unlock your business potential and get on our wait list for our next online learning summit
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Transcript:
Dr. Destini Copp [00:00:02]:
And my special guest today is Kate Horodyski. Kate is a Pinterest strategist, an owner of KH Socials, a Pinterest marketing agency for bloggers And Lifestyle Brands. And Kate, I am super excited to be chatting with you today. Honestly, about one of my favorite subjects, which is Pinterest marketing. And we're gonna be talking about how to grow your business with Pinterest marketing in 2023. But before we get into all the questions I have for you, can you tell the audience just a little bit about you and how you help people?
Kate Horodyski [00:00:41]:
Hi. Thank you so much for having me on. I'm really excited to be here chatting with you today. So, yeah, I do Pinterest marketing and management for bloggers and lifestyle brands. And I initially, for years, I did Instagram and content marketing, but like you. I just absolutely love the Pinterest platform. So I switched over completely to Pinterest about 3 years ago, and, yeah, I've been working with brands on their Pinterest Management ever since.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:01:15]:
So let's jump right in and kind of set the stage and talk about who is Pinterest right for and what type of businesses should be using Pinterest to to grow their, you know, grow their brand, grow their reach.
Kate Horodyski [00:01:31]:
Sure. Yeah. So, you know, Pinterest has become really popular lately. So I have people coming to me all the time saying, like, everyone's saying I need to be on Pinterest, but I I don't really know why or I don't know if it's right for me. So there are a few different factors that you need to look at before you decide if Pinterest is right for you. 1 of the biggest is if you are online or if you're more of a brick and mortar. So Pinterest works best for online businesses because there isn't really any kind of low patient targeting. People on there are just generally looking for information, ideas, inspiration, So anyone in the online space, it's a really great fit for. The other big thing that I look at is how much content are you creating? So Pinterest requires a consistent supply of new content. You know, you can't just have, like, three blog posts up and continually be posting those. So you wanna look at if you are creating or if you have the capacity to create content on a consistent basis. This can be a lot of different things. This can be if you're a photographer, it's different photoshoots, could be YouTube videos, blog posts, podcast episodes, products of your ecommerce, But, yeah, are you are you or are you able to consistently put content out to kind of feed the Pinterest machine?
Dr. Destini Copp [00:03:09]:
And what would you say? What type of content works best? Is it is it all of those are just fine?
Kate Horodyski [00:03:16]:
What works best is something that it's really easy for the Pinterest user to say yes to. So One thing that makes Pinterest so great is that all of the searches are unbranded. So people aren't on there, say, searching for Nike Sneakers. They're searching for white sneakers. So it's great because people don't need to know you to find your content. But because they don't know you, they're likely you know, they want something free and easy. You haven't built up that like, no, and trust factor, so you need something that's super easy for them to say yes to. So, like, a blog post, a podcast episode, a YouTube video, or even a freebie. Excuse me. But yeah, free content that meets the user where they are in their search journey.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:04:13]:
So let's talk about you know, I've been using Pinterest for many years now. I think I started back maybe in I can't remember. For us from a business standpoint, maybe 2017, 2018. Mhmm. How has Pinterest changed over the years? And are there things that we may have done years ago that we shouldn't be doing today, or could you kinda walk us through that?
Kate Horodyski [00:04:36]:
Sure. Yeah. So in terms of how the user is using Pinterest, that hasn't changed. And in terms of the benefits of Pinterest that hasn't changed either. Primarily, the benefits of Pinterest are to build brand awareness and to drive website traffic. But on the marketing side and the, like, actual strategy side, a fair amount has changed. And I would say the biggest piece of that is the volume of content you're putting out. So if any of your listeners were using Pinterest back in 2017, really prior to 2020, we were doing something called looping content. So we would be pinning the same things over and over and over. and you'd be pinning a really high volume, a mix of both your content, and other people's content. So when, you know, when you are managing account prior to 2020, you might be pinning up to a 100 pins a day. because you could just regurgitate content over and over. But since then, Pinterest has gone more of, like, a quality over quantity approach. So I recommend, you know, around 5 to 10 pins a day, but it's new new content. So you're there's a more of an emphasis on fresh content rather than pinning the same thing over and over. and there's much more of an emphasis on posting your own content versus repining a bunch of content from other people.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:06:10]:
Okay. I just wanna make sure I'm clear because some of this information is new to me. I haven't kept up with this as much as I as much as I should have. So what we should be focused on now is quality over quantity. And I think that's you know, I think all of us are in the background kinda clapping our hands about that. Yeah. Did you say we should be focused on pinning 5 to 10 pins per day?
Kate Horodyski [00:06:34]:
That's the average that I recommend. It's gonna depend on how much content you have to share and how much time you wanna invest. but that's a general rule of thumb.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:06:47]:
Okay. And the other thing that you mentioned that has changed is they really want us posting and linking back to our own content rather than repinning everybody else's content.
Kate Horodyski [00:07:00]:
Exactly.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:07:01]:
Okay. So that's that's the change. That's a huge change because I know, you know, a few years ago, the tailwind communities were a big thing? And, you know, do you recommend people using those anymore, or is that kinda gone by the wayside?
Kate Horodyski [00:07:16]:
So, yeah, tailwind communities and, similarly, group boards used to be a really, really effective strategy because, like I said, repining content was a great way to to grow your account. There are still the occasional clients that I find some group boards work well for and tailwind communities. But for the most part, I don't spend a lot of time on that. You know, they can be time consuming, and They're real they're nowhere, like, as near effective as they used to be for the most part. So I would put your time more on creating your own content rather than pinning to these communities or these group boards and hoping for that to get your numbers up for you. Okay.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:08:02]:
So that's some great information. I wanna switch gears a little bit and talk about the customer journey. One of the things you mentioned a few minutes ago is that the searches on Pinterest, you know, from a user perspective, are unbranded. Can you walk us through the customer And if our goal, right, eventually, is to sell an online course or a membership or some type of digital product that we have, and that's mainly what the people are listening to this, that's what they're focused on. How should we structure the customer journey when it's coming from Pinterest?
Kate Horodyski [00:08:38]:
Sure. Yeah. So I think one thing that's really helpful to clarify is the difference between Pinterest and Instagram in terms of how the user is using the platform, and that informs the whole cut journey and customer experience on Pinterest. So if you think about Instagram from a marketing perspective, you're you're going there to, you know, build a relationship with the users. You're sharing behind the scenes. You're having conversations. And People that are on there, they're following to be engaged, to learn about you, and, yeah, it's more it is a social platform. On Pinterest, it's much more about the user. So unlike Instagram, a relationship hasn't already been built. So people are meeting you on Pinterest usually for the first time. This the benefit of this is that, you know, you can get your business in front of a whole new audience. So that's really helpful. But what you need to keep in mind in terms of the customer journey is that these people don't know you yet. Like, you haven't built that, like, no trust factor. You haven't built that relationship. So you're meeting the user at the very beginning of their customer journey. So for something like course creation or, like, a membership program, that's likely a bigger ticket item. So a user likely will come to Pinterest, come across your content, and instantly sign up for your membership program. So the Pinterest sales funnel is a super important aspect of being successful on your Pinterest marketing strategy. So, typically, what's gonna happen is someone is gonna come to Pinterest and say you have a nutrition membership program. Maybe they're searching for healthy recipes, meal prep ideas, they they have a question that they're looking for a solution for, and this is where your blog content comes in. So you're creating all of this free content that's meeting the user where they are, you know, with the question. They're looking for nutrition tips, whatever it is. And then once you get them to your site, you can start to bring them into your sales funnel. And for something like course course courses or membership programs, this will typically be getting them onto your email list, and then you can nurture them from there towards your membership program. So thinking of the user journey as they don't know you yet, they need some free content that meets them where they are in their search journey. and then kind of, like, guiding them towards a paid product down the road.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:11:40]:
So would you suggest so if they're searching, like you mentioned, like, healthy recipes, would you suggest pinning maybe one of the pins going directly to one of your free gifts or in some of the pins going to maybe some blog posts or podcast episodes. And then from there, hopefully, like, on that blog post, you have some either a pop up or some way for them to get on your email list.
Kate Horodyski [00:12:05]:
Exactly. So if you just think about how you use Pinterest yourself, like, you're probably not going to Pinterest to look for a health coach or, like, sticking with the nutrition theme or nutrition program. You're looking for, like, okay. I want some easy healthy recipes I can start incorporating. you click over, you like what you see, and then something pops up that says, you know, looking for more, here's an ebook with 10 free easy dinner recipes. And then, you know, you sign up for that, and then you're kind of, like, nurtured through their email sequence. As you get to know them, you get to to, like, like, know and trust them more, and then they can they you can be kinda guided to sign up for something later on. Yeah. So you can link to your freebies, your lead magnets, but that still requires an extra step for them to give their email address, which they might not wanna do right off the bat. So prioritizing your content strategy around super easy to say yes to content that doesn't require anything from the Pinterest user other than just a click to your website.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:13:21]:
So let's say that somebody's listen here and they're like, yes. definitely want to invest in, you know, spending time on Pinterest, growing my, you know, Pinterest account so I can, you know, eventually, build my brand, you know, expand my brand awareness and drive traffic to my website. Mhmm. How long does it take somebody to really see results from their Pinterest investment?
Kate Horodyski [00:13:48]:
So Pinterest is a slower moving platform than something like Instagram. So, you know, there's no hard and fast rules for how long it's gonna take, but it's a good, you know, 3 to 6 months before you can expect to see real tangible results. That doesn't mean you're not gonna see anything right off the bat, but it is a much slower moving platform because Pinterest is a search engine. So just like you wouldn't expect to be on the top ranking spots in Google in your 1st month or 2 of doing your SEO on your website, you likely won't be ranking high on Pinterest for the 1st few months either. Everything
Dr. Destini Copp [00:14:32]:
sorry. Go ahead. No. I was just listening. So it's like I thought, you know, more of a long term game, like, kinda like SEO when you're trying to build up your ranking to get to that first page of Google.
Kate Horodyski [00:14:42]:
Exactly. So Pinterest is a search engine just like Google. It just happens to be a visual search engine. But what Pinterest is doing anytime you post something, it's indexing your content, and it's trying to understand who you are. So it takes a little while for it to to understand you. The the upside of that is once it does understand you, the life cycle of your pins can last years. Like, one of my clients consistently, her top blog post is from 2016, but it's become so popular on Pinterest that Pinterest sees it as really high value content, so it's continuing to send it out, like, years later. So whereas an Instagram post might have a life cycle of a couple days. Pinterest can be months and years, you know, from one pin driving content. So it's a slower game, but it snowballs once it gets going.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:15:39]:
So, Kate, before we wrap it up here, do you have any last minute tips for the audience.
Kate Horodyski [00:15:47]:
I think that a step that is missed a lot, which I have touched on here, is understanding where the Pinterest user is. So you're not just throwing up content you know, with Otis strategy in place, you really need to think, like, why is someone coming to Pinterest? What are they looking for? And what high value free content can I provide for them to meet them where they are in their initial stages? And then how can I have strong final in place to keep them coming back for more.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:16:22]:
Kate, thank you so much for all of your wonderful tips here today and educated me kind of the changes on Pinterest. That was a great conversation. Can you let the audience know where they can find you? And I believe you have a free gift for them also.
Kate Horodyski [00:16:38]:
Absolutely. So you can find me online atkhsocials.com, and I'm on instagram@kh.socials. And if you go to my site, I have a free beginners guide to Pinterest Marketing. And I walk you through the 8 essential steps to getting your account set up and getting the basis of your strategy in place that you can start pinning and growing your business on Pinterest.
Dr. Destini Copp [00:17:08]:
And thank you so much, Kate. I will make sure all of those links are in the show notes so people can click on them and find you. Thank you so much. It was so great chatting with you.