With Pinterest steadily growing, building potential traffic and followers is harder than ever. Some people go out of their way to use tactics that everyone else is using an audience.

Many users on Pinterest have become extremely crafty and brilliant in the way they build their boards. Some use crazy fonts or have a theme behind their board. Companies like Hubspot created boards related to their brand’s personality, while Michaels cleverly inspire you to build crafts using items they sell in their store.

I know some of you have said, “I don’t have time for Pinterest, and besides, it’s a “chick-thing” anyway”. That might be so, but I wanted to share how I built 1 board into a large following and increased my pins in only a few months.

How I Grew My Board in a Matter of Months

Date: August  2012 (when I noticed a change with my Pins)

When I first started I had a total of 250 followers and I followed 80 other boards. I created numerous boards with different topics other than Blogging. I think some people creating boards think that their board needs to be niche-focused. I beg to differ, because to me, Pinterest is an extension of my personality and I didn’t want to make it about blogging for each and every board. That’s boring.

Boards Created:

• Food, Bass Fishing, Hunting and Motocross.

There was no special method in how I pinned images for my boards, but I looked for photos that wasn’t already repinned or uniquely stood out. I wanted my boards to be different not so much in style, but tailored to items I knew or admired.

September: 300 Followers I jumped to 50 new followers based on repins from my hunting pinterest board from people that pinned my images to their boards. I started pinning images to multiple boards picking one board a day to promote to keep each board relevant.

October: 450 Followers



The one board that netted me the most traffic and repins was my hunting board. I typed in keywords to see what types of pins Hunting had and the images didn’t reflect what I knew hunting meant. I decided to add more flair to my hunting board with my target to women and what they might want to see.

November: 590+



To keep up the momentum and not leave men out, I decided to add images that they could relate too while still keeping women in the loop. Knowing who your audience is will help you decide how to tailor and time your pins.

December: 640+

I kept this method growing and added another 57 followers for one board. With no special gimmicks or tricks, all I did was add images I loved and stayed true to my board.

Overall Followers: 1001 Followers



On a side note, this doesn’t discount other Pinterest marketing ideas that work very well and credit is due to those that have mastered this technique, but I wanted to show a novice user how easy it is to build a large following without much effort. Everyone has their own method in how to grow their own Pinterest boards, but at the end of the day, I relied on some other principals that made sense to me:

Be Yourself

If you have a brand or just love pinning, don’t create a Pinterest page for the sake of getting traffic. There are millions of boards online and you are just a needle in a haystack. Create boards that have personality and isn’t the usual norm.

My most popular board is my hunting board. Who knew?  I never thought a black chick, not from the South could create a popular board just pinning some images every once in a while.

Tip:  Don’t worry about how your board will look. Create a board that reflects your personality and tell your story.

Pin at Night

Not everyone can stay up till late at night, but I find that pinning at night does not overwhelm the board during the day where Pinterest has the most traffic.  During the day, pins are seen by those following your board or anyone wanting to find boards tailored to their niche.

Tip: I find some brands pinning at night or creating new boards. Pins at night don’t seem so overwhelming and your followers will be the first to see your pins the next day. Pinterest added an option to create a “secret board” to help avoid pinning tons of images and overwhelm other uses.

Promote others

I love promoting products. I am an advocate for small businesses trying to make a name for them self and pinning their products helps. For instance, my friends at Button Buck, an up and coming clothing business, has grown tremendously with fans pinning their products all over Pinterest.  Etsy is another great place to find products to promote business owners with unique products that are handmade and still add value to your board.

Tip: Support other boards, brands you love and those small businesses trying to make a name for themselves. I ended up getting asked to help a brand with their boards just because I promoted their products.

Invite others to Your Board

Have you ever noticed a board with thousands of followers and other contributors? I saw Dino Dogan do this and thought how genius that idea was. When you invite others to repin images on your board, it is seen by their followers too. It’s a simple concept, and brilliant move. If you have the opportunity to invite others, do it. It can help your board grow like crazy.

Tip: Be careful who you invite and make sure you check out their own boards to make sure their message coincides with yours.

Find unique Photos

This is a no-brainer of course, but if you enjoy Pinterest, anyone following your board will appreciate originality. I am not saying you have to hunt high and low for images to pin, but create a variety within your board and show its uniqueness.  For hunting, I try to find products that I would put in my house or products I want on my Christmas list.

Tip: Always credit back the original photo and whenever possible, ask the photo owner for permission. They will appreciate the kind gester and respect that you asked for their permission. It is just good Karma.

Beware of Spam and Possible Viruses

Pinterest isn’t immune from spam and viruses are ever present. Be careful of new websites you visit to avoid passing viruses to other users.

Tip: Make sure you are aware of  who you repin items from and the first warning that the image is possible spam, don’t repin it.

Limit the Amount You Pin in One Day

I don’t have that much time in the day to pin images, but I can’t stand when someone wants to pin 40 pictures in less than 15 minutes. The popular pet-peeve for some was infographics, but the one complaint I hear the most is pinning too many at one time.

Tip: Have a specific amount of pins to post daily or schedule them with Pingraphy to keep your board fresh with new pins.

Final Thoughts

Pinterest is big for brands and those that jumped on the band-wagon early. That doesn’t mean that you can’t create boards that are not worthy of repins, but create boards that matter to you. Sometimes the boards with no real agenda are the most popular.

The moral of this post, is to be yourself and put some thought into what you pin. People love when they find something unique and cool to share. That seems to be the winning formula that works.

Question: What have you tried and tested that gave you more followers?