7 Reasons Why Promoted Pinterest Pins Are So Lit

Raise your hand if you’ve tried running an ad for your blog/biz at one time or another? (Meee!!!  I’m raising my hand!!!)  I’ve tried a few types of ads on different platforms, but the one that I liked the most was the promoted Pinterest pin.  Today I am going to share with you 7 reasons why promoted pins are so lit!

The thing about Pinterest is that their algorithm changes.  So back in the day when you logged into your account, you would see a feed of the most recent pins being pinned.  This meant that I could pin something right now and everyone that logged into Pinterest right now would see it sitting there, no matter who you were.  Well those days have changed and pins now appear based on criteria that the Pinterest bots are looking for  (popularity of pins, visually pleasing images- size and clarity, etc.).  Unfortunately, this isn’t always enough to get you to the top especially when you’re just starting out.  So what are you supposed to do?

Promote your pins!

Promoted pins are advertising campaigns for your pins, so you pay to play.  When Pinterest began offering promoted pins, the game totally changed.  Pinterest is in essence a HUGE search engine, and the results from search terms tend to be more relevant than results from a Google search.  This is one reason why Pinterest is so popular and why it has so many users.  As a blogger/biz owner, you can use this to your advantage!  So let me tell you why promoted pins are so lit:

 

1. Flexibility

There are three different types of campaigns that you can run, so there is flexibility depending on what your end goal is.

  • Awareness- this is when you want to raise awareness for your brand.  These pins tend to have top placement with their desired target audience.  
  • Engagement-this is when you want to get more people to engage with your pin meaning viewing a closeup, repinning or clicking it.  You pay for each type of engagement.
  • Traffic- this is when you pay a set amount per click to your site.  Basically whenever someone clicks your pin to visit your website, you pay for it.

2. Affordable

I know as a budding blogger/biz owner, lack of cashflow is a huge factor when you need to get things done.  Fortunately Pinterest makes it affordable to drive traffic to your site when organic strategies just aren’t getting you the results that you want.  You basically set your daily budget and depending on the type of campaign, you can set an amount that you pay per click, per repin or per view.  It’s all up to you and what the intent for your campaign is.  For example, for the traffic ads that I run, I only pay $.10 per click and have a $1 a day budget.

3. Longevity

When people repin a promoted pin, it stays on their board even if you stop promoting it.  A pin is a pin and it’s there fo’ life.  Some of my previous promoted pins still get some good activity even though they are no longer running on a campaign.  It’s the gift that keeps on giving!

4. Targeting

You can get very specific with the audience that you want to target.  You can choose to target a certain sex, country, city, interest, mobile device, language spoken, etc.  You can also target certain keywords in searches.  Pinterest makes it so much easier to reach your target market.  The more specific you get the more successful and relevant your engagement will be.  Remember, when you target everyone you target no one.

5. Tax Deductible

They’re tax deductible!  This is considered a marketing or advertising expense if you file business taxes.

Related: Tax Deductions For Bloggers and Creative Entrepreneurs

6. Impressions On Fleek

By running a promoted pin campaign, your pin is going to get waaayyyyy more eyes on it than through traditional means of pinning.  This is helpful when you are just starting out and you need more exposure.

7. Analytics On Point

When you have a promoted pin, the reporting that’s available to you is very helpful.  The reports tell you how many impressions there were (aka eyes on your pin), how many likes and repins and the number of clicks.  They also tell you some information about the audience that is engaging with your pin.  It tells you the percentage of pinners by gender,  their interests,  their location, etc.  This can tell you a TON about the audience that you are attracting versus the audience that you intended to attract.  Hopefully the two are in line with each other, and if not you may need to rethink your approach to target your ideal audience.

You can also compare results of different pins that you promote sort of like A/B testing.  For example, you could create two versions of a pin, promote them both and see which one gets better engagement.  You can also compare campaigns for different pins and for the ones that don't get much action, stop promoting them.


I began running ads on Pinterest in May of 2016 and have since seen a huge increase in traffic to my site as well as newsletter subscribers.  I have only promoted pins for a traffic campaign which means that I pay each time someone clicks the link in my pin and visits my site.  I’m cool with this because I created a budget of $1.00 a day and I only pay $0.10 per click (yes, ten cents!).  This is probably going to be one of the most effective ads that you could run because they can be so inexpensive, and again, because the pins are always around even when the ad is no longer running.

Here is the data for my most popular promoted pin that started on 7/1/16 and continues today:

Even if I stop promoting this pin, it will still live on nearly 2000 boards and still has plenty of opportunity to be repinned further!

Pinterest can be an awesome marketing strategy if you know how to work it.  The only requirements to run promoted pins are being in the US, UK or Canada and having a business Pinterest account (which is free).

I would love to know if you have used promoted pins in your marketing strategy and how the experience was.  Leave a comment below!


How to Maximize Your Lunch Break

Finding the time to get things done is a huge struggle that many bloggers and biz owners deal with especially if they also work a 9-5.  How are you supposed to get things done consistently if you barely have any down time?  A 9-5 sucks up 11-13 hours of your day itself when you factor in getting ready for work, commute time and actual time at the office.  You may feel defeated before you can even get started.  Well I believe that everyone has free time, even if it’s just 5 minutes, and something that every 9-5er has in common is a lunch break.  Whether it’s 15, 30 or 60 minutes, you can use it to your advantage.  Today I’m going to discuss how you can hack your lunch break if you struggle with finding the time to work on blog/biz tasks.

 

1 / PLAN: Plan out what you will do for the week in advance.

The first thing to do is plan out the days that you will complete certain tasks during a break. You may not want to use every lunch break of the week for blog/biz tasks, but either way, you still need to plan it out.  Will you watch a webinar one day then work on a blog post the other?  Will you schedule all of your tweets for the week one day and write copy for a sales page another day?  Break up the types of tasks that you can do so that you don’t get tired of doing the same things on every break.

2 / SIMPLIFY: Simplify your meal.

Bring lunch from home on the days that you plan to work on your tasks so that you don’t have to leave the office and use up your time.  You could also order lunch and pay online to minimize having to wait in line or consider office delivery (one of my personal faves).  This will enable you to make full use of your lunch break by minimizing waiting time.  If you decide to grab lunch somewhere, order in advance and work and eat inside of the restaurant.

3 / REFUEL: Eat first.

You need to give your body that brain power that was taken away during the morning work hours.  This could be the first 10 minutes of a 30 minute lunch or the first 15 minutes of 60 minute lunch.  It all depends on what you have scheduled to do with your time.  You should give yourself a few minutes to just enjoy eating though, so make sure that you are taking a true break from everything before you start working on anything.

4 / GO: Put the pedal to the metal.

Use the rest of you lunch break to work on the tasks set for the day. For a 30 min lunch, you can still eat while working on tasks for the remaining 20 minutes and for an hour lunch, dedicate the second half or so to your tasks.

 

Now that you know what to do, let me break down three break times and what to do for each:

15 minute break- this is the standard morning and afternoon break that you get if you work a 9-5 (your company may be different, but this is just a standard...adjust your time accordingly if necessary).  This is a quick break, so you can do small tasks like retweet some tweets that contained valuable info, answer a question in a Facebook group that you are a part of or jot down an idea for a blog post that you had (just a small outline of the post to expand on later).

 

30 minute lunch- ideally you already have your lunch with you, so you find a secluded spot (in your car, in an empty office, in an outdoor office dining area, etc.) and start eating.  10 minutes later you may or may not have completed your food already, but if you didn’t it’s all good, keep eating and start working.  For the next 20 minutes you could do one 10 minute task and two five minute tasks, two 10 minute task, etc.  Whatever works for you!

For a list of tasks that can be completed in 5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 minutes, click here for the free download

The process is slightly different if you decide to eat off site only in that you would ideally order your food and pay for it before clocking out so that you’re not wasting time in line.  Also consider your travel time since that obviously will take away from your break.  Everything else is the same.

 

60 minute lunch- I still suggest bringing your lunch with you (hey, saved money is always good in my book), but if not, you definitely have more time to work with.  Dedicate the first 20-30 minutes to eating and relaxing then dedicate the remaining time to working.  You could also combine these if you decide to watch an hour long webinar or listen to a podcast and eat at the same time.  There is so much that can be done in an hour lunch break, but again, planning is key.

 

Now that I have opened your eyes to the possibilities of work break maximization, I hope that you try it out!  Breaks are your time to do personal things, and when you’re in the process of building your blog/biz, using your time wisely is crucial.

 

Don’t forget to get in on this free download of tasks that can be completed in 5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 minutes!