Created in 2010, Pinterest is defined as a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more. Just as other platforms have, Pinterest has gone through a series of phases and continues to constantly change. These updates and changes are important to be aware of when trying to grow your audience. The following are 5 ways to grow your Pinterest following.

Get Pinning!

As with other social media platforms, it's important to stay engaged. Pinning on a regular basis will help prioritize your pins and show followers that you are engaged and interesting.

Pinning your own content isn't the only beneficial thing to do. Pinning other people's content will also help with your engagement, so get on the explore page and find relevant content!

Hashtags Help

Hashtags are used on Pinterest to help target audiences and cater your posts to those that may be searching for it. Using hashtags that are relevant to your post and are simplistic yet descriptive will help your posts be seen.

When looking to include hashtags in a post you can find popular options when you begin to actually construct the caption. As you start to type a hashtag idea popular options and suggestions will appear for you to choose from.

Good Pictures Only

For an app that is almost completely visual and relies on the interest and attractiveness of a photo, good photos are a must. According to Social Media Examiner the following five types of Pinterest picture posts perform the best:

In-Use Products: Rather than simply posting a cup that you may be trying to sell, instead create a scene that shows the product in use. For example filling the cup with a delicious smoothie by the pool might be a great way to show users how they can use the item.

All about Visuals: Just because your particular business might not be in the visual industry doesn't mean Pinterest isn't for you. There are ways to post about these topics such as infographics or creative picture posts!

Quotes: Simple inspirational quotes won't make you Pinterest famous, but fun, sassy quotes that align with your brand might help increase your shares.

Make them good: Simply put, clean and crisp photography is attractive to the eye. Blurry photos, bad lighting and photos that lack purpose are often disregarded or repulsive to the viewer. Not only will bad photography not lead to a like or share, but it can also cause viewers to unfollow.

Valuable Infographics: Information about your company or mission is important and should be shared. Communicating this information in a creative way that will entice others to share it is vital. Well designed infographics can be a great route for this need.

Overall, it's important to post pictures that will appeal to users. Whether that be a quote, infographic, or products, presenting them in a professional way will help to grow your presence.

Start a Board

Pinterest Boards have ample opportunity for effective marketing if used well. Boards give you the ability to start a fresh section or expand on a board that you already have while building a community and allowing followers to actively engage.

When you create a collaborative board you have the ability to include whoever you want and give them the ability to add pins of their own. Because of this it is very important to make sure that community rules are in place so that relevant pins are included and nothing inappropriate is included.

Experiment

Experimenting and testing different methods is vital when it comes to social media. Creating A/B test options will help to determine the types of content people are more drawn to. This will help save time and increase your following.

Another thing that you can experiment with are the times and frequency of posting. Using different analytics tools you can track the engagement that these posts receive in order to construct the optimal posting schedule.

Pinterest can be a very useful tool that can help develop a large following if used in a strategic way. Researching the best ways to use various platforms will not only aid in growing your audience but it will also ensure that time and budget is being allocated where there is return.