For the past 6 weeks, we have been deep diving into blogging and content strategy know how and today we are going to talk about one of my favorite topics: Pinterest (and how to grow your email list for free!). Spending a lot of time and effort on creating quality content isn’t going to be very helpful if it doesn’t get in front of the people who would value it, right? That is where my little friend Pinterest comes in. Pinterest has been a pivotal component of my marketing strategy for reaching new targeted customers and engaging them effectively by sending them to my most helpful content (aka my blog!).

But what you may not realize is that Pinterest has been a HUGE part of my strategy to grow my email list… for free. (Free meaning: I’ve never paid to advertise on Pinterest or boost my pins.) And if you look at marketing as a pyramid, imagine your email list at the tippy top. Your email list can be one of your most powerful assets in the life and growth of your business long term. And Pinterest is a gold mine for helping you grow it!

How?

Well, I’ve invited my online (yet hopefully IRL SOON!) friend, Vanessa Kynes, a Pinterest Marketing Strategist for Creatives, to break it down for us! This girl is the real Pinterest deal, so you’ll want to pull out that notepad and gold pen now. Let’s do this!

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Pinterest is a powerful way to generate traffic and grow your email list. Learn how to grow your email list with Pinterest in five easy steps!

Hi! I’m Vanessa Kynes and I am a Pinterest marketing strategist for creative small businesses. I have the dream job of getting strategic with the creative’s BFF: Pinterest! I help creative businesses develop Pinterest marketing strategies to grow their visibility and drive traffic to their website using Pinterest. You can find me blogging about Pinterest tips and traffic-generating strategies at vanessakynes.com.

It’s no surprise that Megan is a huge fan of Pinterest for driving traffic to her site, but did you know Pinterest is also a powerful way to grow your email list? Pinterest has over 200 million users, 1 billion searches a month, with primarily, female users between the ages of 25-45. As a visual search engine, Pinterest isn’t about connecting socially—it’s about purpose and planning.

As a service or product based business, you can strategically use Pinterest to grow your email list with by creating opt-ins your audience will love. By providing valuable content for free, your list will grow exponentially!

Step one:

Create a valuable opt-in your audience will love—it could be a graphic, checklist, or e-guide that solves a pain point for your target audience.

Step Two:

Set up your opt-in delivery method through your email marketing service provider like Mailchimp or Convertkit.

Step Three:

Create several pins that lead back to either an opt-in landing page or blog post where you make your irresistible offer! I like to make at least two pins per blog post. Why? By having two different pins with different call-to-actions, I double my opportunity to attract my intended audience. Pinterest’s preferred image size is 600 x 900 px, but you can go up to 600 x 1500 px. Not a graphic designer? Use tools like Canva or templates to help you create beautiful pins!

Don’t forget text overlay on your images enticing the pinner. Pins with call-to-actions get more click-throughs back to your site.

Step Four:

Once you have your pins designed and optimized on your blog, craft a keyword-rich description for the pins. Use a conversational tone, such as, “Looking for tips on x? In this blog post, I’m sharing about Y and Z.” You can also include hashtags following the description. Utilize keywords closely associated with your content. And, don’t forget to add these descriptions to your images in ALT tags!

Related: How to Format a Blog Post in WordPress for Maximum Results

Step Five:

Pin it, girl! The next step is pinning your opt-in pins to both your personal board (that contains all of your content) and other niche related boards where your content relates.

Bonus

Automate your strategy using a Pinterest scheduler like Tailwind.

Related: The Best Tools for Blogging Success You Need Now

By creating pins that lead to your opt-in landing page or regular blog posts (don’t forget that call-to-action in each blog post asking readers to subscribe), you’ll watch your email list grow exponentially! Nurture your list by writing to them regularly and giving them value! You’ll create a loyal tribe.

And that’s it! Pinterest has the power to take one piece of content and exponentially create visibility across the platform of active pinners. If you are interested in hearing more Pinterest tips from me, you can subscribe to my email where you’ll receive my Free Pinterest Start-Up Guide.

Thank you so much to Megan, my host!

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See? Told ya she was good! Thank you, Vanessa, for sharing your insight!