Today I’m sharing my favourite Pinterest marketing tools and resources that I use and recommend in my business.
Please note that some of these links are affiliate links, which means if you click on them and then go on to make a purchase I’ll receive a small commission. (Thank you for your support if you do choose to use one of these links). I only recommend products that I have used or have experience with for my business.
- Tailwind (Pinterest Scheduling Tool)
- Simple Pin Media (Pinterest Strategy Resources)
- Applecart Lane (Pinterest Image Design Resources)
- Ivory Mix (Stock Photo + Pinterest Design Resources)
- Canva (Pinterest Image Design Tool)
- Google Analytics (Website Analytics Tool)
- Kristie Hill’s Pinterest Analytics Dashboard (Pinterest Analytics Tool)
- Grow (Wordpress plugin)
- Milotree (Pinterest Growth Tool)
- Nadalie Bardo (Pinterest Image Design Resources)
- Kate Doster (Email Marketing Resources)
- Bluchic (Email Marketing + Design)
Bonus Resource - Beginners Guide to Setting up Pinterest
Tailwind
Tailwind is hands down one of my favourite and most used business tools. The scheduling functions not only save so much time, but also makes it easy to visualise your pinning schedule and ensure that you are following Pinterest best practices in terms of regular, consistent and non-spamming pinning.
But Tailwind is more than just a scheduling tool - you also get access to Tailwind Tribes and Tailwind Create. Tribes are basically a collaboration tool. Each tribe is a place for content creators from a similar niche or topic to come together and share each other's content. This can be a powerful way to reach a greater audience on Pinterest. Tailwind Create is a new and very ingenious feature that allows you to easily and quickly create professional quality pin images.
If you want to try Tailwind for free, they offer a free trial for your first 100 pins. There is no time limit on the free trial period - it expires after you have scheduled 100 pins….whether that’s 3 weeks or 3 months. And yes, you can also access the Tribes function on the free trial.
Simple Pin Media
Simple Pin Media is a Pinterest management company in the US and one of my go to sources for all things Pinterest - in particular Pinterest strategy and current best practices. I have been a long time, regular listener to the Simple Pin Media podcast by Kate Ahl, and am a current member of the Simple Pin Collective which is a membership based program to learn all about Pinterest (it’s great for all levels - from beginner to advanced Pinterest users).
Simple Pin have some great free resources available, including their Pinterest Planner Guide, which is really helpful for planning ahead so that you can keep your pins in line with seasonal moments and trending searches throughout the year. Their Pinterest Image Guide is a free “roadmap” on how to create beautiful Pinterest images that convert!
Applecart Lane
Applecart Lane is one of my long term favourite go-to places for pin design tips and tricks. Kristin from Applecart Lane has a really helpful, free training which teaches a 5 step process for creating stand out Pinterest images. This is a great blog post about creating video pins which I’d also recommend checking out. The Pinterest algorithm loves video pins and they are definitely worth experimenting with!
There are also a range of editable Canva Pinterest templates in the Applecart Lane store which can be a great starting point for creating pins (there is even a Canva Pinterest template subscription where you get 3 new templates delivered each month - for a super affordable price).
Ivory Mix
Ivorymix is a subscription based stock photo + social media template membership. As a VIP member you get access to the huge library full of feminine stock images, editable Canva templates (including Pinterest templates), business trainings and many other resources. New stock photos, templates + resources are released each month too, so it is really great value.
Alternatively you can purchase specific photo collections or templates direct from the store. The website is really well organised and you can search by category, colour, product type. For example if you specifically wanted Health + Fitness related stock photos , or Gold and Metallic coloured photos, you can easily discover the relevant collections.
Canva
Canva is a pretty well known tool in the small business space...... but just in case you haven’t heard of it - Canva is an easy to use design and publishing tool. It is a fantastic tool for creating graphics for social media (including Pinterest), and another one of my most used business tools. And it’s an Aussie company too!
There is a free version which you can use (for as long as you want) which is still pretty powerful and gives access to a range of stock images, fonts, filters and other resources. There is also a paid version which gives access to additional functions and resources. I used the free version for quite some time when I first started in my business before upgrading, and I definitely recommend trying it out if you haven’t before.
Google Analytics
Another tool that I use a LOT is Google Analytics. Whilst Pinterest does provide some useful analytics for business accounts, the Pinterest stats can sometimes fluctuate and/or have a lag time for updates. I highly recommend also setting up Google Analytics for an accurate, real time view of your Pinterest traffic.
And if navigating through the Google Analytics data seems a bit daunting for you then I’d highly recommend installing Kristie Hill’s Pinterest dashboard. The dashboard pulls all the necessary data from google analytics and presents it in a more simplified and visually appealing report. You can easily view important data such as website visitors from Pinterest and the top landing pages that pinners visit etc.
Grow
Grow is a social sharing plugin for Wordpress with a number of different features. The main (premium) feature that is relevant for Pinterest however, is the ability to control how your content is shared from your website to Pinterest.
If one of your website visitors decided to save a particular blog post (or product/other form of content) to their Pinterest board via the Save button, you can specify the pin description and pin image that is able to be saved. This means that you can ensure that a Pinterest friendly (ie SEO rich) description is used, and only Pinterest friendly images (rather than any image from the page) can be saved. Note that you do need to be using the pro version of the plug in to access this specific feature.
Milotree
This one isn’t just for Pinterest -it is great for growing your followers on any of your platforms. Milotree is a really simple, but highly effective pop up app that will help convert your website visitors into followers. (And these are the best, most engaged social media followers to have. They are people who have already been on your website, seen your content, and loved it)
It’s super easy to set up, is mobile friendly, GDPR compliant and pretty non-intrusive. (If you want to see what the pop-up looks like you can head over to my website and you will likely trigger the pop up. Don’t forget to hit follow while you are there!) Milotree is a low cost, paid tool but you can also try it out first with a free 30 day trial.
Nadalie Bardo
Another fantastic option for pin design resources is Nadalie Bardo.
If you want access to some Canva templates to get you started she has a few options. For still pin images, the Pin Template Starter Kit will give you 20 editable pin templates. If you want to create video pins then the Video Pin Starter Kit is a great option as it includes a video pins masterclass as well as 20 editable templates.
Alternatively, if you want to learn how to DIY your pin images the Next level Pin Designs Course is a more in depth training which teaches you the elements of great pin design.
[Use the code BLACKFRIDAY to get 50% off all courses and templates between 20-30 November 2020 PST time]
Kate Doster
Email marketing is an important part of a Pinterest marketing funnel. A common goal for businesses and bloggers using Pinterest is email list growth. After driving traffic to your website via Pinterest, you will need to have a system in place to collect email addresses so that you can nurture your new audience members.
Kate Doster is an email marketing guru and has a lot of great tips and resources available, especially around what content to send your email list. This blog post 6 Things to Send Your Email List is a great example, as is her free Weekly Newsletter Planner with 2 years worth of ideas.
Bluchic
Continuing on with the topic of email marketing, having a great lead magnet (or opt-in) is a highly effective way to capture email addresses from your website visitors. If you don’t have the time or skills to design a lead magnet from scratch, then these Lead Magnet Canva Templates are a great option.
If you are a Wordpress user, I also found these Landing Page Templates really helpful for creating specific landing pages and sales pages. When you send traffic directly to a landing page (from any platform) you want the page to be well designed and optimised for conversion. Using these templates means you don’t have to worry about the tech, you just install and then customise for your content and branding.
Beginners Guide to Setting up Pinterest for Business
If you are a Pinterest beginner then you may want to grab my free guide to help you set up your account. Having strong foundations is an important step towards success on Pinterest. This e-book will give you 26 strategic tips for how to optimise your account before you start pinning.