I'm sure it's no surprise that Pinterest is the leading driver of views to blogs for most people these days - far outweighing Google, Facebook and any other means.
So I wanted to increase my Pinterest followers to get more exposure for the pins from my blog (hoping this would convert into more repins) and also for stats for my media kit.
My followers were at 299 as of March 1st and by March 31st my followers were at 736 and continuing to grow. For some larger blogs these numbers may seem slightly pitiful but hopefully smaller blogs and people just starting out can relate, and find this information useful.
*update my followers are now more than 16 thousand as of Jan. 21, 2021. Scroll to the end of the post for more info, and my latest post!
So how did I accomplish this?
Follow Other Pinners
A couple of ways but the main way was to follow other Pinterest users who have a high follow back rate - and then following their followers.
How can you tell if someone on Pinterest is likely to follow you back? By looking at their following vs. follower stats. I mentioned a similar method for Twitter which was also successful for me.
If someone's following rate is higher than their followers rate they are much more likely to follow you. Also I check out the followers of recent people I have added - it means these people are active on Pinterest and also are likely to follow you back.
I also add people who have repined my pins from my own blog because they have similar interests and also like the content of my pins so if they become my followers they may repin more in the future.
Adding Sidebar Widgets
Another way I have gained followers is by adding a widget of all my pins to my blog sidebar that looks like this...
Incorporating Related Boards in your Posts
I have also added widgets of related boards into my blog posts for instance I wrote a blog post about How to make a Pinterest Worthy Image for Free - and included a widget of one of my boards with a collection of free backgrounds and fonts and that board received a ton of followers and some people followed all my boards. I also added a St. Patrick's Day or Easter board to a post I wrote about kids crafts for the holidays.
Create your Own Group Boards
And the last method is to create a group Pinterest board as people have to follow your boards in order to join and be able to pin to your board.
I have gained a few followers from my group boards as well as they have liked most of my content.
You can join my Favourite Blogging Tips here:
You can also add your own Pinterest Group Boards to the Pinterest Group Board Directory, so people are more likely to find them.
Did you have any free ways to gain Pinterest followers I would love to hear them. Also if you follow me on Pinterest and leave a link to your Pinterest account in the comments I will follow you back. =)
A lot of the above methods still ring true 5 years later! - group boards, Pinterest social media icons and Pinterest widgets are great for getting followers, and are all free. And check out my latest post on how I gained now over 6 million views:
