YES! You read that correctly! Just 30 minutes a week and I pin every day! How do I do it you ask?
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on a link AND purchase, I get compensated.
I use an app/site called Tailwind. While I have only used Tailwind for about 1 week (maybe 2 by the time I post this), I fell in love with it IMMEDIATELY!
Why I Decided to Automate
If you are reading this and have a blog, most likely you binge on blogging tips whenever you have any free time.
Shameless plug: My favorite right now is Blog Like A Boss by my homegirl LaLa!
I have read/heard over and over again that you should automate as much as possible to decrease the burden of the ever growing need to be active on social media and the struggle to balance it with everything else going on in life.
Being a craft blogger, Pinterest, along with Instagram, is one of the more significant social media platforms for that niche. Crafting is very visual and people want to SEE what you made, not read words in plain text. It can also be the most time consuming, trying to remember each day to log on, search for pins, think of new boards needed, and pin content.
Another struggle is that when I have to log on every day, usually I run into the SAME pins I just saw the day before and have to try even harder to find new pins.
I work full-time, am involved in several professional organizations, am involved in my church and various other activities, not to mention I have a blog to create content for, and social media to maintain! Oh and sleep...I do that too. I don't have the time to be on Pinterest seven days a week!
Once I got back into Pinterest, it just got overwhelming so I was vulnerable and needed to try something different. I don't even know how I came across Tailwind, but they were offering a free trial and who doesn't love a free trial!
How it Works
Now I am just getting my feet wet so I am not an expert on ALL of the functionality, but the main benefit for me is the ability to schedule my pins. Tailwind uses their fancy system to calculate the optimum times for you to pin and creates "time slots" (pictured below). You can also add their additional suggested time slots, and your own custom time slots. So far, I only use their pre-filled ones and suggested ones, I haven't added any of my own though I plan to since I read the ideal amount of pins per day is 10 or something like that (probably less).
With your time slots ready, the rest, if you just use the bare minimum features, is business as usual. I simply block out some time, get on Pinterest, and start scheduling using the Chrome Extension button (pictured below). It allows you to pin right away, just like normal, pin at a specific time, or pin at the next available timeslot. Since I only pin through the next Sunday night, I stop once I have everything filled in (also pictured below).
My absolute favorite feature is the shuffle feature! Say you categorized your pinning. Started with wedding cards, pinned about 5 of those, then perhaps 6 birthday cards, and then another 5 baby cards. If you let them fall into your queue in order, they will be lumped together, all wedding cards back to back, etc. With "Shuffle Queue", once you hit the button, all pins will be shuffled, as long as you didn't specify a time (you can see the ones pictured above with locks in the bottom right corner) and it will mix them up so that they aren't all lumped together. Also, say you still want to reorder a few pins, you can manually move the pins around to different time slots.
Brief intermission...are you following me on Pinterest? If not go ahead and click the picture below and it will open up a new window so you can get back to reading and it will be there waiting for you!
Why I LOVE Tailwind
1. As I mentioned above, I don't have time to be on Pinterest every day pinning. With Tailwind I picked a day, Sunday, and I sit for 30 minutes and just pin to various boards until all of my slots are filled. Now, unless I want to, because I have free time, or I need to pin my blog post, I don't HAVE to log on. I currently schedule the following Monday through Sunday night on Sunday. Why this was especially exciting for me recently is because I was going out of town for 5 days and didn't want that pressure of having to find time to pin. I didn't have to worry because it was all scheduled out until I got back! Don't get me wrong, I love Pinterest, but sometimes life just happens and you don't have the time all the time.
2. It also allows you to pin to multiple boards at once AND schedule it to post each one at different times using "Intervals". For example, my card pictured above, I needed to pin that to two boards, my Handmade Cards board, and my Blog Posts board. With Tailwind, I am able to schedule it to pin to the Handmade Cards board in the next available slot or at a specific time and then to the Blog Posts board at a later time, to spread it out. One and done, love it!
3. It has the ability to post to Twitter (and Facebook, but I don't use that yet) when it publishes and the post is so fresh looking (pictured below). I plan to check the statistics to see if I get any increased traffic to my Pinterest profile through this. I just love it.
A Few Other Features
- Ability to upload pins directly from the site/app.
- Ability to link your Instagram Account (in Beta testing) and schedule pins from your IG posts! I have done this a few times for my Planner Spreads and I love it. It pulls in all of the text from your IG post with it.
- Weekly Summary, Insights, and Statistics on your pin and board activity and engagement.
- Google Analytics integration.
As I mentioned, I just got back into the Pinterest game and Tailwind has definitely made my reentry a lot smoother. I now pay for Tailwind (out of my own pocket) because I couldn't part ways after my free trial. I am doing the $15/mo basic package, but will switch to the $119/yr plan soon so I don't have to worry about another monthly bill and it saves money. There are many more features of Tailwind available and I intend to explore them all! I will definitely come back to share my experiences.
What Pinterest scheduling tools do you use? If you use Tailwind, how do you like it? Leave a comment below and let me know!
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