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What's More Important on Pinterest Followers or Viewers? Thoughts?

therealsouthamerica
Jack-of-all-trades

Hi there.....

So, I have read a lot of things online 😲 about whether it's more important to have followers or viewers some say viewers are the most important 'thing' to get on Pinterest while others say it's all about followers. I from the school of quality over quantity = small amount of followers to engage with vs. a large number of followers with no engagement and to be honest I apply that to every bit of social media I come into contact with even Facebook😶@AmericanoCrystals 

What do you think?

Lisa

3 Kudos
16 Replies
theburntsunsetnovel
Loves to help

@foodiehomechef and @therealsouthamerica  My monthly viewers crashed last fall. My original strategy relied on mixing original content with existing pins. I lost about half of my audience in a short time without changing anything. I thought at the time it had to do with mobile tagging but after several email exchanges with Pinterest I was never given a good answer. I'm assuming somehow the algorithm changed. It was so frustrating that I walked away from Pinterest and ignored my account for the winter with the hope it would reset. It was freeing. I simply wasn't going to let a social media platform get me angry on a daily basis. I came back about three months later with a different strategy and lots of new pins. My audience had dropped to 25% of what it once was by the time I restarted. I am back to pinning as of March 15th, but I've largely stopped repining other pins. This time around I am mostly using original pins. I've seen slow but steady growth. But I still haven't gotten back to my 2019 numbers and it takes twice as much effort now because my pins are originals, which is another source of frustration. I am currently at 75% of my 2019 monthly audience. I have also seen pin impression and audience  numbers fluctuate daily, with some pins losing thousands of impressions overnight one or two days after they were pinned. Sometimes the impressions come back and sometimes they don't. I keep telling myself to look at the longterm but if I don't see an improvement in metric consistency I will look to another platform. This time around I'm telling myself it's business not personal. As a result I no longer venture far from lane. (I am not interested in creating multiple accounts like one for personal and one for business.) The whole experience of losing audience and then having to rebuild it has made Pinterest slightly less fun for me. And fun along with a varied experience is what brought me to Pinterest. It now takes hours per day to gain traction on Pinterest and that is not a long term strategy that is sustainable for a small business. At some point Pinterest will have to decide if it wants to encourage curators or creators. For now, I'm betting on creating over curating. People who provide quality original content for Pinterest should be rewarded with greater exposure. While there is room for both, I think creators are the future and the backbone of the platform. I am hoping that is the case and my audience will continue to rise back toward 2019 levels.

2 Kudos
foodiehomechef
Jack-of-all-trades

Thanks for following me back Lisa!   ❤️

1 Kudo
foodiehomechef
Jack-of-all-trades

@theburntsunsetnovel   Oh wow... you've really been through a very unpleasant experience to say the least! I do have to say though... I don't think you'll ever get the same sort of traffic from any other social media platform that you get from Pinterest. At least that's been my experience. I'd say that 90% of my traffic comes from Pinterest & as maddening as it can be at times, especially when they roll out changes & all your stats go haywire, I for one will stick with Pinterest.

As a matter of fact, I ask myself (almost) daily why I even bother with Facebook & Twitter! I wish you good luck & hope that your numbers come back up again!

2 Kudos
theburntsunsetnovel
Loves to help

@foodiehomechef thanks for your comments. As a writer there are other options for me besides the standard Instagram, Facebook, etc. like WattPad and GoodReads to spread content, but Pinterest is still my favorite. I find that Pinterest provides the most enjoyable user experience. It's the business end of things with the fluctuating metrics, constantly changing features, and relative silence from the platform on these issues that is maddening.

1 Kudo
foodiehomechef
Jack-of-all-trades

I hear ya for sure & agree! That's great that you have other options available in your niche.

0 Kudos
foodiehomechef
Jack-of-all-trades

Oh... I just saw that you followed me on Pinterest, thanks ! I followed you back 🙂

1 Kudo
JsEclipse
Just visiting

I do agree with you. Having followers is very important. But when viewing one’s Pinterest profile, you can see the amount of views on a pin. Audiences now determine their own liking due to others approval. Which isn’t always the best, but without views there would be no followers. 

0 Kudos