Today’s podcast is going to be all about how to use hashtags on Pinterest. I been fielding a ton of questions about hashtags over the last year. Some of you are still confused about how they work and some of you are just pretending they don’t exist because that feels easier.

 

Smart Fun DIY

I have Jennifer Priest of the craft blog  Smart Fun DIY on the podcast with me today, who I met briefly at Social Media Marketing last year. I also recently heard her talking about hashtags on Leslie Samuel’s podcast.

Jennifer claims to be the least tech-savvy person in blog land. She started out as a crafter and taught scrapbooking classes. She entered the world of email marketing in 2001 when she started selling products on eBay.

In 2007, she started her blog and really dove into learning and testing mode. In 2009, she landed her first social media strategy consulting job. Currently she provides social media strategy services for craft/handmade companies in addition to blogging.

She started taking Pinterest seriously in 2015. Prior to that, she wasn’t using it as a marketing tool.

Jennifer got really excited about hashtags when she was doing some research and experimentation on the results that her clients were getting. Hashtags seemed to act like a really powerful SEO-type signal, informing Pinterest of what type of content is being shared and where the content should be shared.

How to Use Hashtags on Pinterest: Q & A

How many hashtags should you use and where should you use them?

UPDATED NOVEMBER 2019:  In the podcast, Jennifer mentions that her rule of thumb is to add as many relevant hashtags as you can (up to 20). While that was a best practice at the time, current best practice is now to add a few relevant hashtags to your Pin descriptions. Focus on quality over quantity. While Pinterest doesn’t limit the number of hashtags on a Pin, descriptions that feel spammy will do little to add to the Pinner’s user experience. Less is more! Just ask Pinterest.

You do have a 500 character limit in your Pinterest description, so you can’t go too crazy. Generate a set of keywords you can use as hashtags.

Always put hashtags at the end of the pin description. Users are accustomed to reading the description and then seeing the hashtags at the end. Your description should be easy to read.

We recommend using a branded hashtag (for me it’s #simplepinpodcast) at the beginning of your hashtag list so that people can click on it and see all of the pins you’ve posted on Pinterest. It’s a great way to get more exposure.

You can use hashtags in board names as well. Jennifer hasn’t been able to replicate this recently but what she discovered early in the game was that putting hashtags in board names boosted the performance of those boards in searches.

Go ahead and test out using one relevant hashtag at the end of your board name!

Related: How to Clean Up Pinterest Boards

How specific do our hashtags need to be?

Jennifer’s best advise is to use a mix of broad and specific hashtags. The broad hashtags will help you show up in the search feed and will show up chronologically. Using specific hashtags will help you show up when someone searches for something specific. For example, dinner recipes could serve as a broader hashtag while chicken and rice could be used as a more fine-tuned hashtag.

Use Pinterest to discover what keyword people search for to f...

I’d like to start off today by just saying thank you to those of you who tune into the podcast or read these show notes each week. If you are new here, today I am not going to be talking about Pinterest, but diving into some of my personal life. If you’re not quiteContinue reading

I’d like to start off today by just saying thank you to those of you who tune into the podcast or read these show notes each week. If you are new here, today I am not going to be talking about Pinterest, but diving into some of my personal life. If you’re not quite ready for that, go back and check out episode 100 of the podcast. You’ll find the top ten Simple Pin podcast episodes there and that should keep you occupied for a while.

Note –>  If you’re moved to donate to children in foster care, Simple Pin is hosting a campaign with Together We Rise to raise $10,000. Consider giving here. The campaign ends December 3, 2019

You may have listened to episode 27, The Simple Pin Story, which talks all about how I got started and episode 62, where I talk about building a team. If you haven’t, those are two good ones to listen to that will help you understand a little more about Simple Pin and who I am as a business owner.

For this episode, I’m going to talk about something really personal: what’s been happening behind the scenes while SPM has grown tremendously. At times it’s felt as if SPM had a life of its own to help sustain our family during what have been some of the saddest times in our life. I’ve hinted at it a few times in our newsletter, but today I want to share the whole story with you. (Because this is public, I’m not going to use the little girl’s name who this really involves, but will just refer to her as ‘Baby Girl’).

The Start of Simple Pin and Life Transitions

I first had the idea of starting Simple Pin in 2014. When I talk about the business and how it has grown, I usually reference two events:

* my daughter being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes about nine months after starting Simple Pin

* (about four months later) when we decided to grow Simple Pin into a full-fledged company and not just a side hustle.

That defines 2014 but it doesn’t share what happened next.

In May of 2015, I had 8 part-time team members. We had finally adjusted to life with a diabetic and we were doing well. We were about to make yet another change and switch my daughter to an insulin pump. If you know me in real life, you know that the way to throw a wrench into my life is to switch up what’s normal for me. I’m not fond of transition. We were able to make the transition to the pump smoothly, thanks to the amazing people that we know in the diabetic community.

Our Fostering Story

Finding Out About Baby Girl

A few weeks later, we were at a friend’s house, discussing transitions in life. They knew all about change because they had recently started fostering two children. I knew that fostering wasn’t easy. Having kids enter your family can be messy – it’s tough, heart-work, and every day can feel like swimming upstream. All of a sudden, my struggles with change in my daughter’s diabetes seemed petty. This family was doing deep community work.

In the middle of the conversation, one of the foster children mentioned to me that their mom was pregnant with baby #8. These kids had come from a pretty horrible situation and I just remember thinking,

Could there be any worse situation to bring a child into this world?

As I left that day and was driving home, I heard a voice. For me, as a part of the Christian community, that voice is always the Lord. And the voice clearly said,

You should foster that baby.

I can remember the exact spot I was at when I heard that and my response was,

Perhaps you’ve never bought a Pinterest course. Or maybe you’ve purchased ten of them! Before you purchase another one, I’d like to share a set of criteria that you can use to evaluate whether that course is worth the money.   This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through theseContinue reading

Perhaps you’ve never bought a Pinterest course. Or maybe you’ve purchased ten of them! Before you purchase another one, I’d like to share a set of criteria that you can use to evaluate whether that course is worth the money.

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

On today’s podcast, I’m interviewing Melissa Culbertson of Blog Clarity. She has created a series of courses to help online business owners grow their business authentically, through great content and smart marketing. Her blog is her “side hustle” and her passion. She’s been in the marketing world for over 18 years. She’s currently the assistant manager of brand engagement with digital (meaning she gets to work with a content strategy for social media) for Burt’s Bees!

I first found out about Melissa in 2013 when I needed help figuring out Pinterest. Her Pinning Perfect course was so easy to use and it really propelled me to a knowledge of how to effectively use Pinterest. That turned into building a Pinterest marketing business, a podcast and now our Pinterest marketing membership, the Simple Pin Collective. 

Use these criteria listed below to help you decide when to purchase a course or enroll in a membership. 

Knowing the Why Behind Purchasing a Pinterest Course

One of the reasons I wanted to do this episode was because I always get asked about great Pinterest courses. For a lot of people, they’ve purchased multiple courses, but feel like they haven’t hit the jackpot yet. Others just don’t like using Pinterest and are confused by how it works. I want this episode to be a great resource and guide so that you can understand the why behind buying a Pinterest course.

# 1 – Course Updates

The first factor to consider when selecting a great Pinterest course thing how often the course is updated. In my opinion, this is the most important consideration. We all know that social media changes so fast and the best practices of 2013 won’t work today. Because of that, frequent, regular course updates are vital. And make sure that you have access to the updates as part of the initial purchase instead of having to purchase each new update.

Your Go To Pinterest course should be updated at least every six months. Also, the course creator should inform students (via email, a Facebook group, etc…) of all minor changes. It’s also important to look at the FAQ page or the product description for the course to find out what tools they focus on within the course. Email the course creator to find out what Pinterest scheduler they use. 

# 2 – No Promise of Quick Results

We all know that you can’t publish a blog post and expect to be ranking the very next day, or even a week later. It usually takes 3-6 months to see results on Pinterest. You might see a sales page that promises millions of page views in a short amount of time, but that’s just not how it usually works.

Slow and steady wins the race on Pinterest. On Facebook and Instagram, you get some instant gratification with those likes, but with Pinterest, you’re waiting on traffic. And that takes time. If you come across a sales page that promises quick results, proceed with caution. After being in the Pinterest game for 5+ years, we know that it’s rare for someone to explode on day one.

Related: Pinterest is not F...

August is almost here (unbelievable, I know). So it’s time to talk August Pinterest trends. Every month, I tell you what to be pinning that month. Why do I do that? Because Pinterest is very search-based, according to seasons and months, so you want to be tapping into that so that you can capture thatContinue reading