How to Get Pinterest Followers

It’s the question on even the most cavalier marketer’s mind – how do I get Pinterest followers??  While there might not be a “get rich quick” scheme for gaining quality Pinterest followers, in this post we’ve outlined a few of the great ways to grow your profile.

As sophisticated as many social marketers want to sound, social media always seems to boil down to one major thing – gaining more followers. The more followers you have, the more users will see, share and interact with your content, the bigger your ROI on the platform. And, of course, Pinterest is no different. While there are websites out there that promise to give you 1,000+ followers for a price, those tend to buy you 1,000+ zombie accounts that do nothing but raise your follower count. But never fear – there are ways to get real Pinterest followers in your target market! However, like all good things, earning great followers takes a bit of time and effort.

Share great content

Pinterest is a self-described visual bookmarking tool, so it’s a no-brainer that you need to share beautiful, eye-catching content. The visual nature of Pinterest makes it a perfect platform for, say, photographers and artists to display their wares. However, even if your company isn’t visual by nature, there are plenty of ways to make your non-visual brand pop.

Both visual and non-visual brands must remember to share a variety of content on Pinterest – not just their own. As we just mentioned, Pinterest is a visual bookmarking tool, not a catalog. To find some great content and great users to follow, just do a Pinterest search for important keywords to your company. For example, Tailwind could do a search for “social media marketing” and a plethora of amazing pins, boards and users pop up.

By sharing great content, users will choose to follow you because you are their source for great visual bookmarks.

Understand Your Audience

To get Pinterest followers you must first understand who it is you’re trying to target. Sure, a company like Lowe’s seems like the perfect place for a manly-man to get his paws on some new power tools, but their wildly popular Pinterest account is selling to a different audience:

From their tailgating party-inspired board to their board of vines showing 6 second tricks, it’s obvious that Lowe’s knows how to encompass all thing home improvement. Lowe’s understands that users on Pinterest might love a beautiful fall-inspired centerpiece just as much as a high-powered drill, which proves just how well they know their audience.

So how can you have a Lowe’s level understanding of your audience? Well Pinterest’s own analytics is a great place to start. To gain access, you will need a verified business account, then visit analytics.pinterest.com.

The “Your Audience” section gives you a peak into the demographics and interests of your audience. According to our Pinterest analytics, the Tailwind audience consists of largely English-speaking, American women found near Los Angeles and New York City.

Our audience tends to be interested in quotes, social media and looking great. Pinterest’s analytics also shows you what boards and brands your audience would be most interested in, so it’s smart to check out what’s going well with those accounts.

After you understand what your audience’s interests are, it’s time to recognize what proprietary content is resonating with users. Your Tailwind account will show you what images, words and users are really connecting with your brand.

Once you see what’s working, you can change what’s not working and entice new followers with even greater ease.

Make friends with influencers

Influencers are an amazing – and often untapped – resource in gaining Pinterest followers. They’re the ones who naturally gained hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of followers by curating amazing profiles. However, not all influencers are created equal. For example, a women’s clothing line would have much better luck partnering with someone like Jennifer Fishkind and her 3.6 million followers as opposed to Mike Catalonian and his 4.5 million followers. Why? By looking at the Tailwind dashboard, we can see that Jennifer is most influential in woman’s fashion, while Mike is influential in travel:

By partnering with the right influencers, your brand will get more exposure and other users will see that the influencer they love views you as a source of great content. Who wouldn’t want to follow you after that?

Interact with others

Just like you don’t want zombie followers, your fans don’t want you to be the pinning dead either. A truly great way to get engaged Pinterest followers is to interact with them. While repinning, liking and commenting on others’ content might seem obvious, plenty of brands forget to do it. By doing this you’re letting them know you’re paying attention and that you’re interested in what they’re sharing. You can even take the interaction off Pinterest by sending a user a shout out on Twitter (many users have their Twitter account linked) telling them how much you enjoyed their profile. As we’ve said before, social media is about being social so get out there and share the love!