Episode 2: 10 Ways to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Business (In Just Minutes A Day)

08/28/14 • 28 min

This Week’s Episode

Whether you’ve struggled to maintain a presence on Pinterest without indulging in hours of procrastination, or if you just haven’t dived into Pinterest yet, this episode has 10 great tips for staying active on Pinterest in just minutes a day.

10 Ways to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Business (in Just Minutes a Day)

Establish a small number of pins per day
Pin as you’d like to be pinned (The Golden Rule)
Alternate between pinning new content from other websites and re-pinning
Use “Also on” to find new people and boards to follow
Join group boards
Refresh your boards periodically
Use secret boards
Convert to a business account
Take better pictures
Make it easy for people to find you if the Pin gets separated from the link

Following these 10 tips takes just a few minutes a day, but allows you to grow a following on interest and engage with your fans and colleagues.

1) Establish a small number of pins per day

Pick a number of pins (5, 10, or 15, depending on your schedule) that you will commit to each day. Pin binges are still ok – in moderation! – but approach your visits to Pinterest with your target goal in mind and leave when you’ve reached it.

If it’s too difficult to visit the Pinterest website without getting lost in the visual beauty, rely on a Pin It button in your browser. You can find instructions for adding the button to various browsers here.

2) Pin as you’d like to be pinned (The Golden Rule)

When pinning content, be sure to include the source in your text. When re-pinning, this may require a visit to the original link to get information that the first pinner didn’t include. Share enough information in the description to make the original material sound interesting and to encourage people to click through to the original post. Don’t copy and paste so much information that visiting the original source is no longer necessary.

3) Alternate between pinning new content from other websites and re-pinning

Re-pinning is a great way to engage with your Pinterest community and meet new (to you) pinners. It also adds diversity to your Pinterest content since you may not be exposed to the same websites as someone else. It can also prevent you from being spammy and pinning too much of your own content.

To stay within my number of pins per day, I alternate, focusing on pinning new content on some days and only re-pinning content on other days.

4) Use “Also on” to find new people and boards to follow

After pinning content that is already on Pinterest, the Also on screen will pop up.

It’s a great way to find new pinners with similar interests. You can grow your followers, find great content to re-pin, and engage with other pinners. I especially checking out boards that have the same content I’ve pinned organized differently. For example, they’ve pinned the same pattern I have on a crochet board to a photography board. I can usually find interesting information to diversify my pins that way.

5) Join group boards

Group boards can be a great way to engage with other pinners or cross-promote content with other businesses. PinGroupie allows you to search for group boards in different categories and sort them based on several different factors. You can also find group boards through Also On, or be invited to join based on your pins. Be sure to follow the guidelines established by the group (usually listed on the group’s board in the description) about how often and what type of content can be pinned.

Once you join a group, the board will appear as an option in your drop down menu as you pin new content.

6) Refresh your boards periodically

You can refresh your boards by reordering them, splitting larger boards into multiple smaller boards, and/or optimizing your board titles and keywords.

Feature your own content prominently at the top if you have a lot of boards, since most people won’t scroll all the way down. (Also, most mobile devices only display the first two boards on the screen.) As you add new boards, these automatically move to the bottom of your list, so refreshing periodically is a great way to make sure the most important content for your business right now is at the top.

You can find instructions for adding, editing, deleting, and reordering boards on a variety of devices on Pinterest here.

7) Use secret boards

Secret boards are a great way to pin content privately. Secret boards can be converted to public boards, and can be shared with collaborators.

There are three great reasons for usin...

This Week’s Episode

10 Ways to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Business (in Just Minutes a Day)

Establish a small number of pins per day
Pin as you’d like to be pinned (The Golden Rule)
Alternate between pinning new content from other websites and re-pinning
Use “Also on” to find new people and boards to follow
Join group boards
Refresh your boards periodically
Use secret boards
Convert to a business account
Take better pictures
Make it easy for people to find you if the Pin gets separated from the link

Following these 10 tips takes just a few minutes a day, but allows you to grow a following on interest and engage with your fans and colleagues.

1) Establish a small number of pins per day

2) Pin as you’d like to be pinned (The Golden Rule)

3) Alternate between pinning new content from other websites and re-pinning

To stay within my number of pins per day, I alternate, focusing on pinning new content on some days and only re-pinning content on other days.

4) Use “Also on” to find new people and boards to follow

After pinning content that is already on Pinterest, the Also on screen will pop up.

5) Join group boards

Once you join a group, the board will appear as an option in your drop down menu as you pin new content.

6) Refresh your boards periodically

You can refresh your boards by reordering them, splitting larger boards into multiple smaller boards, and/or optimizing your board titles and keywords.

You can find instructions for adding, editing, deleting, and reordering boards on a variety of devices on Pinterest here.

7) Use secret boards

Secret boards are a great way to pin content privately. Secret boards can be converted to public boards, and can be shared with collaborators.

There are three great reasons for usin...

Previous Episode

Episode 1: How to Identify the Right Magazines to Target for Your Article, Tutorial, or Design Submission

Welcome to the first episode of the Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show, hosted by Marie Segares.

About The Show

This podcast is focused on the unique challenges and joys of being a creative indie business owner in the yarn industry. Whether you’re a crochet or knitting designer, blogger, maker, podcaster, publisher, tech editor, or author; or a yarn spinner or dyer; or you make crochet hooks or knitting needles or accessories; this show will be all about how you can grow your business while hopefully staying productive, creative, and sane! The Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show format combines solo shows and interviews.

About This Episode

This week’s episode is about how to identify the right magazines to target for article, design, and tutorial submissions. The publishing industry has changed so much in the last few years and you may not be thinking about submitting to magazines anymore. There are a lot of reasons you might want to periodically revisit whether submitting proposals to magazines is a good fit for your business, and if it is, which magazines make the most sense for you to consider as possible publishers.

This episode originally included a downloadable chart with crochet and knitting magazines, but since it first aired in 2014, many things have changed. Create your own list by visiting each magazine's website and searching for design guidelines, submissions, or editorial calendar. When proposal guidelines aren’t posted, you can reach out to the contact email and ask to join a proposal call list and/or to submit an unsolicited proposal.

Another great source for current magazine calls for proposals is the Designers group on Ravelry.

Identify the Right Magazines to Target for Your Article, Tutorial, or Design Submission: 10 Factors to Consider

Distribution Channels and Customer Base
Magazine’s Overall Aesthetic
Editorial Calendar, Mood Board, and/or Call for Proposals
Submission and Pre-Publication Process and the Publication Supports Available
Compensation
The Team
Copyright and Exclusivity Terms
Confidentiality/Pre-Publication Social Media Policies
Deadline/Timeline for Current and Near Future Issues
Cost of Submission

Considering these factors helps you decide if a particular magazine is a good fit with you values, your business goals, and your current schedule. It should also lead to a higher acceptance rate since you aren’t targeting magazines that don’t fit your style, and more satisfaction with the terms of your publishing agreement.

1) Distribution Channels and Customer Base

Print magazines are available in local yarn shops (LYS), book stores, grocery stores, big box stores, and other places an indie may have a hard time accessing. Digital magazines may be available on a particular platform that you aren’t working with already. The magazine may expose you to a different (or larger) audience than those who have already been introduced to your work. You may choose a magazine that reaches your existing audience to reinforce your presence among future customers.

2) Magazine’s Overall Aesthetic

Besides the magazine’s website, blog, or Facebook page, Ravelry is a good source for looking through past issues. Some questions to ask to see if the magazine is the right fit for your business are:

How does the overall aesthetic of the magazine connect with your (current or future) work?
What type of yarn is used? (Large vs. indie brands, fiber types, weights, price points.)
How do you feel about the styling, photography, and layout?
What types of projects and articles are featured?
What skill level(s) are targeted?

3) Editorial Calendar, Mood Board, and/or Call for Proposals

Do you feel inspired to propose something in response to a mood board or posted call for proposals? If not, you may want to target this magazine at another time. When mood boards or call information isn’t publicly available, try to find out about the editorial calendar so you can submit proposals that are timely.

4) Submission and Pre-Publication Process and the Publication Supports Available

Are you pitching an idea and then moving forward if it is approved by the editorial team? Or, are you sending in the completed content (the complete article or tutorial with photos, or the pattern with photographs of a completed sample) as the proposal?

What types of publication supports are available? Some examples include:

Editing and tech editing,
Styling and photography,
Pattern layout and formatting,
Content curation,
Yarn (who selects the yarn, who arranges for yarn support),
Prom...

Next Episode

Episode 3: 8 Tips for Organizing Your First Pattern Test

This Week’s Episode

Are you considering organizing your first pattern test? Even though this topic is aimed at designers, there are many other indie yarn-related businesses that might want to do a market test for a new physical or digital product who might find these tips helpful.

8 Tips for Organizing Your First Pattern Test

Decide what you want from the pattern test
Choose the right online or offline setting(s)
Format your pattern
Set the guidelines
Create a survey
Incentivize your testers.
Organize and use your feedback
Track the test

It goes without saying that you’ll need to be available to your testers during a pattern test. In addition, these 8 tips will help you to organize (and enjoy! and get a lot out of!) your first pattern test.

1) Decide what you want from a pattern test

Most designers have several goals in mind when conducting a pattern test. Knowing what’s important to you will help you set the test up in a way that gets you the feedback you want.

Some reasons for testing are:

Editing – If you’re relying on testers instead of a tech editor, be sure to select testers who have specific skills (e.g., copyeditors, proofreaders, mathematicians, etc.). Of course, having another designer or even a tech editor participate would be ideal. Relying on testers to edit patterns can be tricky, as many people aren’t as detail oriented as a tech editor would be while working on a pattern.
Market testing – You can find out a lot about how you describe the pattern, your pattern format, and your photography from your testers to make improvements before launch. You may also be targeting a specific market (e.g., beginners) to see if the pattern is written at the right level. You can also use a test to decide what kind of additional resources (such as tutorials) to include based on what your testers struggle with.
Building buzz – Having completed projects for your pattern when it’s released provide a form of social proof that the pattern “works.” You might also have a pattern that isn’t very successful, and adding more projects can increase the level of interest. Think about how to motivate testers for an existing pattern (especially if it’s available for free). You may want to retool it by offering different sizes, more customization options, or additional tutorials or educational resources, which may motivate people to try an already available pattern.
More or better pictures – Getting pictures in different sizes or better pictures for your pattern release. Choose testers who have great project photography, bloggers with great pictures, or local testers where you can photograph their samples. Don’t forget to get permission to use their photos BEFORE the test to avoid disappointment.
Growing or engaging with your community – You can find new fans by allowing them to try out some patterns for free. Existing fans might be excited to be invited to a secret test or to access a new pattern before release. Balance your options for engaging your community – is testing the best way, or should you consider a knit- or crochet-along?

Based on your goals for the test, you can organize it so that you can get what you want from it.

2) Choose the right online or offline setting(s)

Offline testing is a great option if you want to grow your local community of fans or to photograph testers’ samples in different sizes or colors. Some places to recruit offline testers are:

Local crochet or knitting guilds, such as chapters of the Crochet Guild of America or guilds of The Knitting Guild Association.
Local meetups, which you can find on MeetUp.com or through location-specific Ravelry groups.
Crochet/knit night at your local yarn shop.
Through referrals from existing students or friends/family who crochet or knit.

Online testing can allow you to recruit from a large pool of testers from all over the world! You can find pattern testers online through:

Posts on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or Ravelry group.
Online groups or forums for specialty projects/techniques, including groups on Ravelry, Facebook, Yahoo Groups, and Crochetville and Knitter’s Review forums,
Ravelry’s many free pattern testing groups. Each has it’s...