At MyKidsTime, Pinterest was never our main social media channel — until we changed one thing about how we used it. Here’s a look back at the strategy that helped us more than doubled our website traffic from Pinterest, and what we learned along the way.
Background of MyKidsTime on Pinterest
We joined Pinterest in 2012, curious about what this newer social media channel might bring us. As with all our social media activity, we kept an eye on what each channel was actually delivering.
For the next couple of years, Pinterest brought us a steady but modest 1% of our website traffic, based on what we could see in our Google Analytics referrers. Our following grew slowly too, reaching around 1,000 followers.
Internally, we treated it as a “nice to have” channel rather than a core part of our social media activity.
That changed when one of our team took an online course on visual content, after realising our visual branding across social media needed to be stronger. It turned out to be one of the best moves we made.
A New Visual Strategy for MyKidsTime
Off the back of that course, our content team defined a consistent house style and created a branded key image for every piece of content we shared on social media, including everything we pinned to our MyKidsTime Pinterest boards.
We added a title and our logo to each image, so that if it was repinned, anyone coming across it could see at a glance what the content was about.
We also put real effort into sharpening our titles to make them more engaging and clickable, using title-generator tools to help refine our ideas.
Here are some examples of pinned images from our new strategy:
Tweaking Our Boards
After a few years of pinning, we had built up a large number of boards and pins — so we gave our Pinterest boards a proper tidy up.
We looked at what our own Pinterest followers were pinning our content onto, which gave us useful ideas about which boards were working and which weren’t. We consolidated boards that felt repetitive and refreshed the ones that had potential.
You might also enjoy reading 5 Solid Reasons why SMS Should be part of your Marketing Strategy and How to Track and Measure Marketing ROI
Using Our Pinterest Analytics
Around this time, we got access to Pinterest Analytics and started monitoring our activity more closely. Here’s what we focused on:
1) Most Popular Pins
We looked at our most popular pins to inform our content creation, aiming to deliver more value to our Pinterest audience and drive more traffic back to our website.
2) Who Our Audience Were
We regularly reviewed our audience data — how people were engaging with our page and where they were visiting from. This helped us spot new marketing opportunities.
3) What They Were Interested In
Understanding what your audience is interested in, and the boards they create using your pins, can really help shape your content and marketing strategy.
And the Results?
Within a couple of months of putting the new visual strategy in place, our Pinterest traffic had gone from 1% to 4% of our overall website traffic. We thought that was fantastic.
Not long after, our Pinterest traffic reached 9%.
Our follower count grew from 1,000 to over 1,500 followers over the same period.
We’re confident this growth was driven predominantly by our new visual branding strategy, with our board clean-up contributing a smaller but real boost too.
Take-Aways for Your Business
If you’re looking to grow your Pinterest traffic, here’s what worked for us:
- Put a proper visual strategy in place for your content — consistent branding on your images makes a real difference.
- Look honestly at what your Pinterest channel is actually delivering for your business.
- Check your Pinterest Analytics and Google Analytics regularly to measure and track your results.
- Make sure your boards match what your audience is actually looking for.
- Make sure your content matches what your audience is actually looking for.
What’s your experience with using Pinterest for your business?
Frequently Asked Questions
Do we still need a visual branding strategy for Pinterest?
Yes — consistent, branded images remain one of the simplest ways to make your content recognisable and shareable on Pinterest, no matter how the platform evolves.
How often should we check Pinterest Analytics?
Reviewing your analytics regularly — rather than just once — helps you spot what’s working and adjust your content and boards over time.
Does tidying up boards really make a difference?
It can help. Removing repetitive or outdated boards makes it easier for followers to find relevant content, though the biggest gains tend to come from strong visual branding.
Related Reading
If you found this useful, you might also like:
- 5 Solid Reasons Why SMS Should Be Part of Your Marketing Strategy
- How to Track and Measure Marketing ROI
Want More Like This?
Enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look? Browse more of our ideas and stories, or save this one to come back to later.
Stay in the Loop
Sign up to our newsletter for weekly ideas, ready to land straight in your inbox — no pressure, just useful stuff when you have time to read it.
