Well, welcome back to another episode of the Martha Raider Show. Today. I have a very special guest with me. I have known Nicole for quite some time and she's been hanging out with me in my business since I was doing teachers pay teachers, which seems like decades ago now at this point. But it was really just a few years. But her most recent role that she saves my sanity with is she is my Pinterest expert. I love the idea of Pinterest. I love the fact that I can go there and search it like Google, but I also don't have the patience to be up to date on all the amazing things. And so I've completely turned my Pinterest over to Nicole. So I'm gonna let her introduce herself here and then we're gonna dive into all of the knowledge inside her amazing brain. So, go ahead. All right. Well, thanks for having me on your show. Um My name is Nicole and I do run Pinterest Accounts and I also still do video marketing um for teacher sellers, but I have expanded my reach with Pinterest clients.

Um I fell in love with the platform as I was creating video pins for them. And since it shifted significantly from the old practices, I really have dug deep into the new way of Pinterest marketing and it's actually super fun and I love all the behind the scenes data that I get to do um to help other accounts thrive. Oh, I love that. And so you do still do the, the video marketing, you said yes, but I'm interested because for me, I, I hopped on Pinterest like early trending, like I'm talking like 15 years ago, like I was still working at the after school program that I worked at in college. Like that's how long I've been on Pinterest and I've loved it. There has not been a time where I haven't used Pinterest, but when it comes to marketing your business and getting yourself out there and bringing in leads and selling products on there and things, what type of content is working best currently on Pinterest?

Um So Pinterest are your cold leads? So you want to provide them with a lot of value and free tools. Um And that is going to drive traffic to your website and bring them into your funnel, but you need to like build a relationship with them through Pinterest marketing by providing all of that free value. Yes. So for me, a lot of the things that we pin are my blog posts and podcast episodes, different things like that where people can come and kind of get to know my personality and there's, there's definite strategy behind that. It's not just to push my website to get people there. I mean, it is, but it's to also build that relationship because it's really hard to build a relationship with people that you don't actually get to physically talk to or introduce yourself to. Especially on Pinterest, 90 like 7% of searches are unbranded. So like nobody's going there and searching Home Depot vanities, they're just searching what they need.

And so you need to stand out against everybody else and provide that value. Yes, absolutely. What? Um So I know that one of the things that you've helped me with is really maximizing my profile. And why is that so important? First off that they have their profile ready to go when they start pushing pins out into the world? Well, part of your profile is um claiming your domain which enables rich pins, which is huge for marketing purposes. It gives you that extra data that we're looking for. And it also lets Pinterest know that like you're legit and then they'll show your pins more frequently than if you didn't claim your domain. Um And also like adding your bio and telling people who you are about. So if someone finds your pin and they're like, I've never seen her before, who is she? They're gonna go to your profile kind of read who you are. And also you want keywords in there. Um So that they like and so that they know what you're pinning and that you can target your ideal audience.

Yes. So, so many things came up while you were talking about that inside my brain because a DH D and it was like pinging everywhere. So what you're saying is that we need to optimize our profiles with the keywords that we want to be known for when I search Pinterest and it gives me like look alike pins. So like say I'm looking for mom outfits for summer or something like that, it's bringing in everybody. So if you're a clothing brand who or a boutique that's looking to get your stuff out there, it's bringing in pins from all over. So if you have your domain listed on there, it knows you're legit because we've all done that where it's like show me similar pins and you click on it and then you end up on like some shady website that's like if you buy three things, you'll get it for 99 cents. So or you know, whatever ridiculous thing. And so by doing all of these things, it's showing Pinterest that you're not a scammer that you are legitimately showing up working for the better good of people and your audience.

And in return, they reward you with putting you in front of more eyeballs. They put you on more phones, more computers and say here, look at this, she's legit ready to go then when they click on you because they're like, I wanna make sure this is the real deal and she's not just like taking pins from other people because we've also all seen that where the same pin pops up 1000 times. But then when they get to your profile, they need to be able to see your personality and you and what you stand for. And that's kind of that piece that like slowly draws them in. So it's like you give them a little value, they say, ok, I'm here for it. They dive a little deeper and then all of a sudden that trust is starting to form. Yeah, Pinterest is like the beginning of your marketing funnel. Yes. Ok. So I actually have never talked about funnels on my, on my podcast before. So for people who think like, I have no idea what funnel is basically, what you want is that you think of a funnel as being big at the top and you're bringing people in, you're bringing your ideal client in.

Like for me, it is business owners who own product based websites that are looking to grow or scale their business. So I am trying to pull any woman in that fits that category and I want to bring them in and then as they build trust with me, they move further down the funnel and eventually, then that leads them to purchasing one of my coaching packages. So I have smaller things in between that they can pack it, you know, they can purchase and I package different pieces for them as they go, that continues to build that relationship and build that trust. But that's what we're talking about. When we say the word funnel. I, when I think of a funnel, I'm like, yeah, that's how I get my bath salts in the tubes. I know. Oh, gosh. Too funny. So I, I just have a feeling that most of my listeners, Pinterest is one of those things on the list of things they would love to do, but they just have not pulled the trigger because they're so lost and so confused. So if they go ahead and they jump in, they get started, they optimize their account, they claim their website, they do all these things.

How do they know if they're having success with Pinterest? Like what are some things that you use to measure success on Pinterest? Well, I use Pinterest Analytics and also Google analytics, but there was a big glitch on May 26th with that. So your Google analytics will be very different. It's pulling in Pinterest as direct traffic rather than Pinterest traffic. Um So I would check your Pinterest analytics. Um What you would do is you would go to your like claim domain. So you can see how many clicks are going to you. So if you pin someone else's pin, that data would be part of your analytics unless you filter by your domain. Um And what I look for the most is saves because that shows intent and then outbound clicks because that's showing traffic to your website. Yes. And honestly, I have found Pinterest analytics to be some of the easiest to like look through and decipher because I can pull up a pin that, you know, has been on there for a while.

And I it'll tell me right on top of it, how many outbound clicks it has or how many people have saved it. And so I can look at specific pins on there, but I can also go to my dashboard and kind of see the full scale of how everything's doing overall. Is there a way um that you can like track your success at all? Like, so how, how do you do that because you do it for me and I would love for you to share, share with my listeners a little bit more about that because, you know, once you dive in, you don't want to be spending time on things that you don't see a, a return from. But Pinterest is like the slow game. And so I don't want people to like give up right away because they pin five pins and they're like, wait a minute, she told me I was gonna get more traffic from this. So how, how do they go about tracking that and any tips you have for those beginning stages that they are slow growing at the beginning.

Yeah, so it takes a good like 6 to 9 months before you'll really see your efforts pay off. Um So I just use like a simple Google sheets spreadsheet thing to track it month by month. I track saves outbound clicks and impressions just to see if what is working was not working. Um And then you can also compare from year to year and season to season. Um because like during Christmas time, you might have one Christmas spin that just goes soaring high and then the next month it drops off. So just taking note that like Christmas was higher because you have seasonal content whereas January is the fall of that. Yes. OK. So that brought another question. So I'm gonna put you on the spot with this one. How far in advance should they be pinning seasonal content? Because you don't want to go in right now and start pinning fourth of July stuff or summer stuff because you've already missed that boat. So what should they be planning right now if they're getting started on Pinterest?

Um So I've been doing an experiment with some of my clients, I've actually already started pinning Christmas stuff in April and just to see um how that grows by the time December comes. And so I'm gonna be pinning holiday stuff from April like, OK, so if it's Christmas, I'll be pinning Christmas stuff from April till December. Um So Pinterest is a slow burn. So they take a really long time to read your pin and read your description and put it in the right category. Um That's why it takes about 6 to 9 months, but they are trying to update that and make it go faster. Um So I've actually jumped on some trends late in the game and right now it's my number one ranking pin. Um It was a growing trend that I just dove all in for and now it's my top pin. So um it just kind of depends on if you're targeting correctly. Um If your keywords are there and if your boards matter a lot too.

OK. So this also brought up another question because it is a slow game here and you're already pinning for December. I think it's important that we differentiate this social media from all the other social media platforms other than maybe youtube, your effort lasts so much longer on Pinterest than it does on Instagram or tiktok. You post a reel and you might maybe if it does really, really well, it'll last a couple of weeks, you know, you might bring in some traffic from it or gain some follows and stuff, but Pinterest your content kind of lives for, for quite a long shelf life, doesn't it? Yeah. So a pin can last like one pin can last like five years pretty much, which, so when you look at where you're putting your effort, like you might not see an immediate kickback in financial support from your Pinterest pins or website traffic or product purchases, things like that.

But in the long haul, your pin shelf life is infinitely longer than any other piece of content that you're going to put out on any social media platform. So winner, winner, well on Pinterest is really low maintenance. Like on social media, you post something you have to engage with other people. You have to go to the hashtags and like everybody else's post or whatever. But with Pinterest, you don't have to engage with anybody. Yes, it's kind of a hands off thing. You create the pins, we schedule the pins, you know, make sure that the descriptions are keyword rich, do all of those things, you know, and then it's kind of like, I always think of it as like a mommy bird, like you just kind of shove them out of the nest and it's like, OK, see you later. Let's see how you do pretty much. I like that analogy. You might use that. Yeah. Yeah, I'm full of, I'm full of them. Let me tell you, you need a good one. Oh my gosh. So are there um any tools that you suggest starting off with?

I know that um there's lots of different things that people can do to find key words, you know, do the research, do the things. But if you had to say like one tool that you suggest people should have to help be more successful at Pinterest. What would it be? I would say Pinterest trends because that supplies you with keywords. It tells you when people are starting to search um that keyword uh from like the previous year. So you can see when you need to start pinning things and how early you need to start pinning things. And um you can also find related keywords from just searching one ill shell related terms and you can use those keywords as part of your descriptions and your boards titles too. Yes, I love that. I, when I teach people how to start their Etsy stores, like we talk about a lot about like what software, like if you were gonna pay for one thing, what would it be?

And it would be like, spend the $5 on E Rink, like, you know, like just spend the $5 a month because this two is going to, you know, optimize your account so much faster. And so I love that, that's what um your suggestion was. Go ahead and tell him one more time what it's called, Pinterest Trends and it's free. So you don't even have to pay your five bucks. See, amazing. We are gonna, people are gonna just be like Pinterest Gurus by the end of this. No, I'm just kidding. I do have to say in the years that I've known you like the amount of time and effort and work that you've put into staying up to date on Pinterest, taking courses and learning everything you possibly can about Pinterest. Like for me, it was an absolute no brainer when Pinterest became a goal of mine to that, that would be one of the first things that I hired out. It does take a lot of time. There's a lot of little things that Pinterest um uses and tools that you can incorporate into your overall strategy.

But I love to learn. So like learning how to perfect my craft just like is, I don't know, makes me thrive and excited every day. So I like to learn. Oh, I love that. So the next question is then if they're listening and they're like, yeah, OK. I this is something I want to know more about where can they come and connect with you and find you and learn from you. Well, I have two ways. Um You can come to my Instagram, which is Timber Pin media, um Timber Pin because I live in the mountains and I love it here. Um And you can join my 10 day Pinterest marketing challenge. So every day I'll email you a challenge of the day and uh you can set up your account for success. Uh I love that I will put links to those down below in the show notes. So make sure that you go and at least sign up for her challenge because I have a feeling that if you're even in the back of your mind, you're like, hm, maybe Pinterest is a thing for me and I should get on that trend.

Yeah, that's definitely the place to start. So any advice that you have, like if you could only tell them one more thing, what would it be about running their Pinterest accounts? I would say people miss board descriptions a lot which is hurting their growth. So as you create new boards or update boards, make sure each one has a good description of what you're going to pin there because those keywords from your board descriptions also help your pins thrive. Uh Yes, there's so many working pieces to all the things, but I definitely appreciate the fact that once you kind of get it up and going, you can roll with it, then, then you can just pin the pins that you need to pin and go from there. So take it slow start with, you know, one board or five boards, you know, make it manageable. Don't think you have to go all in and overall haul your entire Pinter all at once would be my life coaching uh advice on that.

Oh, gosh. So I would also love for you to share like a fun fact about you just so that people can get to know you because you've shared the value. But now it's time for them to be like Yeah. Ok. I like this girl because I need everybody to know the Nicole that I know. Oh, gosh, I don't know. Right now I'm making bread. Yes. Ok. So I will share this with, with our listeners. So I asked her if we could move the time by half an hour of when we were going to record this episode. And she's like, well, honestly, it depends on my bread schedule. Yeah. It smells really good. And I don't know, how many hours are we a part? Like 12? Are we that far? I don't know, nine something like that. It's, it's like a decent drive, but I, she almost tempted me to come out and help her paint her new house that they're building this weekend with um bread and pizza was what she was bribing me with it. But, oh, and donuts. Yeah, that was the other thing that was, that was the other one that got me and I know you like Mountain Dew.

If you come, I'll get you some. Oh my gosh. I love it. Well, Nicole, thank you so much for being here today. I as always just love every conversation that we get to have and I am sure that my audience will be seeing more of you because I love to Sprinkle in your knowledge of goodness all over, including inside my membership. There is a training video that Nicole has graciously allowed me to post inside there. So if you want to learn more from Nicole. You can also get her inside of there. Yeah. Thanks for having me on. Oh, absolutely. All right. Thank you for joining us for this episode. I hope that this has your Pinterest wheels turning and that you are ready to dive in because it has definitely been a game changer for my website and my blog and hopefully soon to be my products as well. But until next time I'm gonna be here cheering you on.