Podcasts about simple pin

I've been asking about AI images on Pinterest for that last 6 months. I've watched some videos, seen people's take on it, and even interviewed some people who are leveraging them for their business. But after spending a few hours the other evening diving into what is being taught regarding making money on Pinterest using AI I figured it was time for me to tackle the subject. If you would like to work with the Simple Pin team in 2025 on your Pinterest marketing, whether it's images, management, or paid ads, we would love to support you. Simply click on the link in the show notes to book a call with us and we can help you determine the next best step. eMyth BookNew York Times Test Kitchen Chat GPT videoHere are some helpful links from the podcast:

Last episode we talked about the types of wins our clients get when it comes to Pinterest Ads, in this episode we're diving into what a Pinterest Ads manager does for clients to help generate those wins. Since we're covering Pinterest ads today I want to let you know our team now has a few openings for ads management and consult clients. The Simple PIn team has been running ads since 2019 for several types of clients with all types of budgets. Some of those clients are getting 13, 16, even 19x return on ad spend. If you're ready to spend money on Pinterest ads, you know what product you'd like to promote, we're ready for you. And now is the time since Q4 can pack the best results for your ad spend. Hop on a call with our team to see if your business qualifies for management. We're here to help you determine the best fit for service and help you stay one step ahead of the competition. Click the link below in your podcast description or go to simplepinmedia.com.Sign up for a Pinterest Ads discovery call. Join the Simple Pin Ads Society—-------See full show notes for all episodes at Simple Pin Media.Get more Pinterest Marketing Tips by https://simple-pin-media.ck.page/posts delivered every Wednesday.Where to find more Pinterest Marketing Tips:InstagramPinterestYouTubeLearn more about the Pinterest account audit →  https://www.simplepinmedia.com/pinterest-audit/If you're interested in our services, book a free discovery call.This month we've launched something new and exciting to help you learn how to master Pinterest marketing without breaking the bank or taking you hours. We've taken all our knowledge, experience, and data and created small Pinterest marketing learning products. From workshops, to small courses, to templates we have you covered whatever your Pinterest needs are. Visit simplepinshop.com to learn more and take advantage of our special launch month offer. 

Pinterest ads feel like a mystery to most people who haven't run them before. So it's natural to wonder if it's even worth it and if people are finding success. We will dive in with our Pinterest Ads director today on a few recent success stories and some tips for how to replicate this success for your own business. Since we're covering Pinterest ads today I want to let you know our team now has a few openings for ads management and consult clients. The Simple PIn team has been running ads since 2019 for several types of clients with all types of budgets. Some of those clients are getting 13, 16, even 19x return on ad spend. If you're ready to spend money on Pinterest ads, you know what product you'd like to promote, we're ready for you. And now is the time since Q4 can pack the best results for your ad spend. Hop on a call with our team to see if your business qualifies for management. We're here to help you determine the best fit for service and help you stay one step ahead of the competition. Click the link below in your podcast description or go to simplepinmedia.com.Sign up for a Pinterest Ads discovery call. Join the Simple Pin Ads SocietyPinterest Holiday Ads Training—-------See full show notes for all episodes at Simple Pin Media.Get more Pinterest Marketing Tips by https://simple-pin-media.ck.page/posts delivered every Wednesday.Where to find more Pinterest Marketing Tips:InstagramPinterestYouTubeLearn more about the Pinterest account audit →  https://www.simplepinmedia.com/pinterest-audit/If you're interested in our services, book a free discovery call.This month we've launched something new and exciting to help you learn how to master Pinterest marketing without breaking the bank or taking you hours. We've taken all our knowledge, experience, and data and created small Pinterest marketing learning products. From workshops, to small courses, to templates we have you covered whatever your Pinterest needs are. Visit simplepinshop.com to learn more and take advantage of our special launch month offer. 

We've been seeing the Idea Pin links rolled out slowly over the last few months. For those of us who haven't had them we've had major FOMO. But now we see that most accounts have them. So how do we use these links in the right way and not see this as a magic bullet for traffic.   Spring is great time to clean out all the dust on your Pinterst account and get geared up for the back half of the year. This month Simple PIn is offering 20% off our Deep Cleans and Builds. Let me tell you a bit more. Our team goes DEEP into your business and learns how to update and/or build your Pinterest profile so that it's prepped and ready for you to actually use the platform for marketing. Whether you're jumping back into Pinterest marketing or you've been operating with a really messy Pinterest profile, the Simple Pin team is ready to clean up or build your Pinterest profile. And just a side note, we've been doing these now for 8 years! We have seen all the messy profiles, so don't be embarrassed about yours. Click on the link below in the description of your podcast app and sign up now.  Use promo code SPRING20 at checkout to save 20% off your total package price (https://www.simplepinmedia.com/one-time-services/) And make sure to check out our sponsor Pin Generator - Click here to test it out for yourself.  —------- See full show notes for all episodes at Simple Pin Media. Get more Pinterest Marketing Tips by https://simple-pin-media.ck.page/posts delivered every Wednesday. Where to find more Pinterest Marketing Tips: Instagram Pinterest YouTube Learn more about the Pinterest account audit →  https://www.simplepinmedia.com/pinterest-audit/ If you're interested in our services, book a free discovery call. This month we've launched something new and exciting to help you learn how to master Pinterest marketing without breaking the bank or taking you hours.  We've taken all our knowledge, experience, and data and created small Pinterest marketing learning products. From workshops, to small courses, to templates we have you covered whatever your Pinterest needs are.  Visit simplepinshop.com to learn more and take advantage of our special launch month offer.

The internet is buzzing with the idea that short-form video content might not be serving our audiences anymore, but might it just be we're sharing the short-form video content in the wrong way? We aren't leading them anywhere. We're playing to algorithms, which is often what we need to do in this game, but in that, we've forgotten our end consumer and we're no longer creating for them. In this episode, we're diving into our recent switch and discovering why we're no longer creating for Instagram.  April showers bring May flowers…and April spring cleaning brings a happy person in May. I couldn't really tighten up that statement but you get the idea. Spring is a great time to clean out all the dust on your Pinterest account and get geared up for the back half of the year. This month Simple Pin is offering 20% off our Deep Cleans and Builds. Let me tell you a bit more. Our team goes DEEP into your business and learns how to update and/or build your Pinterest profile so that it's prepped and ready for you to actually use the platform for marketing. Whether you're jumping back into Pinterest marketing or you've been operating with a really messy Pinterest profile, the Simple Pin team is ready to clean up or build your Pinterest profile. And just a side note, we've been doing these now for 8 years! We have seen all the messy profiles, so don't be embarrassed about yours. Click on the link below in the description of your podcast app and sign up now.  Use promo code SPRING20 at checkout to save 20% off your total package price (https://www.simplepinmedia.com/one-time-services/) And make sure to check out our sponsor Pin Generator - Click here to test it out for yourself. —------- See full show notes for all episodes at Simple Pin Media. Get more Pinterest Marketing Tips by https://simple-pin-media.ck.page/posts delivered every Wednesday. Where to find more Pinterest Marketing Tips: Instagram Pinterest YouTube Learn more about the Pinterest account audit →  https://www.simplepinmedia.com/pinterest-audit/ If you're interested in our services, book a free discovery call. This month we've launched something new and exciting to help you learn how to master Pinterest marketing without breaking the bank or taking you hours.  We've taken all our knowledge, experience, and data and created small Pinterest marketing learning products. From workshops, to small courses, to templates we have you covered whatever your Pinterest needs are.  Visit simplepinshop.com to learn more and take advantage of our special launch month offer.

In episode 366, Kate Ahl teaches us strategies to use Pinterest effectively and grow our reach as food bloggers. Kate Ahl is the founder of Simple Pin Media. She has been helping businesses discover, learn and master Pinterest marketing for over 7 years. She combines the data learned from working with clients, education from Pinterest, and her knowledge of the platform to help people expand the reach of their business using Pinterest. Her mantra is to keep it simple, be authentic, and Pin with purpose. She also hosts her own show, Simple Pin podcast. In this episode, you'll find out how to adapt to Pinterest's updates as we wrap up Q4. Kate dives into getting maximum exposure for your content, repurposing and incorporating video on Pinterest and effective ways to use new features like Idea Pins. - Q4 is the time to get max exposure for your content depending on your niche. - Look at your traffic patterns to predict what content will do well when. - Select strategies based on your expectations of Pinterest. - Experiment with changes to determine what is the best strategy for you. - When repurposing content, make sure you adapt it to the platform. - Remember the pinner is in a ‘delight and surprise me' mindset. - An Idea Pin is a hybrid of an Instagram Story and a Reel. - What are effective ways to use Idea Pins and how to use Pinterest trends? - Is it worthwhile to put videos on Pinterest? Connect with Kate Ahl Website | Instagram

Kate Ahl is the owner and founder of Simple Pin Media, a Pinterest management and marketing company. Through their work with over 700 Pinterest accounts, they take a data-driven approach to crafting a Pinterest strategy that aims to help their clients and students find their perfect person on Pinterest. Kate teaches thousands of people about Pinterest marketing through various speaking engagements and her podcast, the Simple Pin Podcast.  Here's what we covered on the episode:   Kate's Journey to Pinterest I share how Kate and I got connected and how she's here to talk about how to use Pinterest in your business Kate tells us that her degree is in political science and always planned on being a teacher but ended up getting married, moving, and having 3 kids right away, so she was at home with her kids   In 2009, right before Kate's son was born, her husband lost his job suddenly, and they were struggling to make ends meet During this time, Kate's friend had just started a frugal coupon deal blog and asked Kate to help with Facebook marketing - Kate loved it, and although she wasn't making much, it was what she could handle while having little kids at home  A couple of years later, Kate and her family were still struggling, so her same friend suggested she help with affiliate marketing - Her friend taught her WordPress while Kate self-taught herself code  In 2013, her friend suggested managing people's Pinterest accounts because, at that point, Facebook had turned off all business page reach since they had introduced ads   Bloggers were trying to find a place to get traffic which is when Pinterest popped up on the radar Kate shares that she thought managing Pinterest accounts sounded like the worst idea because she was sure that no one would pay her to do that  For the rest of 2013, Kate learned everything she could about Pinterest, and in 2014, she bought the domain Simple Pin Media and started with a few beta clients  After 3 months, her clients gave her very positive feedback, so she added a few more clients and then had to decide to make it a legitimate business Kate decided to throw herself into it and hired a business coach, now 8 years later, Kate has a team of 35 people, and they work with hundreds of clients  Pinterest's intent has always been to put the pinner first, which they still do, but it has changed from chronological to smart feed, which is dictated by your engagement and ads  How Pinterest is a search and discovery platform that is also merging into a shopping platform  When people go to Pinterest, they aren't looking for a specific brand or person; they are looking for something to solve their problem or dream and inspire  Kate explains that Pinterest users tend to be cold while Instagram users tend to be warm Pinterest intends to shorten the time between idea and purchase - Kate says traditionally, it's about 3 - 6 months  Kate likes Pinterest because the elements you have on other platforms, like having to write certain things or post at specific times, don't exist on Pinterest   Simple Pin Media + Where to Start With Pinterest In Kate's business, they primarily serve clients through their done-for-you services because what they've found is when it comes to Pinterest, people don't understand it; people think they can repurpose content in the same way for different platforms   Some of Kate's clients feel anxiety around Pinterest because it is pretty picture based, so they give Kate and her team full control   Kate says that some of their clients still want to control the design of their pins, so they will continue to do that portion of it  Some middle-ground clients like using Pinterest but would like some guidance - Kate shares that there is a whole education side of the business for those who want to do it themselves   8 months into the business, Kate's daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and she realized she didn't have anyone who could keep the business going if something happened, so Kate asked a friend if she could teach her   After Kate hired her friend, she realized she could teach more women who are at home who have little kids to do what she was doing  The strategic choice Kate made was to hire locals, so they could meet together and have a community  Kate figured out that she loves teams; she loves empowering women to recognize their gifts and creativity The breakdown of leadership and roles within Simple Pin Media and how most of these women have been with Kate for 6 or 7 years  How Kate aligns Pinterest with Google and YouTube - the first step is to search on Pinterest for what you think people are asking and see if people are even talking about what it is you provide  By searching your service or product, it helps you see what's already out there, what people are searching and asking for surrounding your business  Kate explains that at Simple Pin, they believe pinners go through 3 main stages: inspire, inform and decide  In the inspire stage on Pinterest, people are just asking questions, the people who click on pin images or videos have decided they want to learn more and are the ones that will potentially go to your website, and when they're on your website, they're going to decide to either buy something or join your email list  For most marketing professionals, Kate says it's best to get pinners on your email list so so you can warm them up and nurture them  Once you decide why you're going to use Pinterest, Kate tells people to commit to it for 6-9 months because Pinterest is a long game  Start by building your profile, then building your boards, then your pin images  When it comes to what you are pinning, Kate says content is number one - think about the questions people ask you in your business and build your pins around that  2 things you need to knock out of the park whenever it comes to your Pinterest strategy are your keywords and images  Keywords fuel the algorithm on Pinterest by telling Pinterest where to show your content  Kate explains that pinners are readers and investigators, which is why it's important to start by searching what people are asking around your business so you can craft blog posts answering their questions  Going straight to a sales page never converts, Kate says, because pinners aren't warmed up to you yet - they've tried it on multiple accounts, including their own The first place to consider keywords is at the search bar because Pinterest has search prediction - they also have another tool called Trends, where you can look up any keyword and see at what time of year it has the highest volume of searches  The second place to consider keywords is your image that displays what it is you're talking about - it needs to have text on it because Pinterest reads the text on images  Kate loves that Pinterest is not time-based because she could search for something and find a pin someone made 6 months ago  If you aren't blogging, Kate says you should send them somewhere that they can join your email list  Kate explains that the boards you've created are where you're pinning to, and you should think of them as silos, and each board should have its own title  For example, one board could be titled sales page tactics, and another could be copywriting techniques, so Pinterest will see these silos and know that everything in it is about sales pages and the other one is about copywriting Kate shares that if you don't blog, you can still create 10 different images that all lead to one page where they can learn more or join your email list because Pinterest will see these images as new content   Why it's important to have short, poppy copy that catches people's attention on Pinterest  You could buy templates for your images if you aren't a graphic designer or don't have access to one  B2C Vs. B2B on Pinterest + Top Mistakes  Kate shares that to sell their services, their strategy is to market the pathway to get people to a discovery call or on their email list to warm them up instead of marketing the actual service   When using Pinterest for services, Kate says to think about what people are asking or what you're hearing on discovery calls that you could take and turn into something you can address on Pinterest  If you have a podcast that you are posting about on Pinterest, and your goal is to get people to sign up for your services, Kate says to put the link to sign up in every post because you want people to take that one action  Kate shares that the difference between B2B and B2C is the traffic; someone in the food or fashion industry is going to see way more traffic than someone in the marketing space  One of the biggest mistakes people make is hearing about how someone in B2C is doing and expecting those same results in B2B  Another mistake Kate shares are that people do not give Pinterest enough time to work; some clients stop working with them after a couple of months because they don't think it's working, only to come back 6-9 months later saying they're getting a bunch of traffic from the things we pinned while working with them  Kate shares that she has a pin from 2017 that still drives monthly traffic   Why you can't take your square image from Instagram and directly repurpose it for Pinterest  How you need to embrace new features on Pinterest - in 2020, Pinterest introduced idea pins which live forever and are short, storyboard stories like Instagram stories that are about the idea or concept and less about the person     The 4 formats of pins on Pinterest are standard pins, idea pins, video pins, and pin ads   People on Pinterest aren't there to be entertained, which is why your Instagram reel of you dancing won't perform well on Pinterest - they are there to be delighted and surprised by your ideas  Kate says you can repurpose your TikTok content on Pinterest as long as you remove the watermark   Pinterest wants to help physical and digital products, which is unique compared to Facebook or Instagram, where you can't have a shop for digital products  In Kate's business, they created a new package and way they serve done-for-you clients because they want to take all clients through their accelerator, which goes through 6 key elements for Pinterest marketing success  After clients go through the accelerator, they can decide if they want to go into monthly management or if they want to pass it off to a team member, which is easy to do because they are fully equipped with the strategy to do that   Pinterest ads have been clunky in the past, but Kate assures us they are getting better and what should excite people about them is that you don't need to have a long runway with your organic strategy - you can set up your profile and dive right into ads  Simple Pin Ad Society, which is Kate's low-cost membership that teaches people and helps troubleshoot    Give yourself enough time to learn Pinterest ads; Kate says about 6-8 weeks to learn and then 4-6 weeks for your Pinterest ads to optimize  If Kate could go back and tell herself one thing, it would be to not worry about getting it right because everyone is trying to figure it out, the online space shifts and changes so much, and not everyone's method is the same  Connect with Kate on Simple pin media.com or find them at Simple Pin Media on all channels  Kate suggests going to their Pinterest profile to see what they are doing and how they are positioning their B2B content or what they're doing with idea pins      Links mentioned: Simple Pin Media  Pinterest Trends Simple Pin Ad Society Simple Pin Media on Pinterest  Simple Pin Media on Instagram  Simple Pin Media on Facebook   Like what you heard?  Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes. Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board Let's connect on Instagram!

Becoming full-time entrepreneurs, building a team, and growing multiple businesses with Bjork and Lindsay Ostrom. ----- Welcome to episode 371 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we're sharing Bjork and Lindsay's episode from the Simple Pin Podcast with Kate Ahl. Growing Multiple Businesses Today's episode is a bit unusual because Bjork and Lindsay are actually the ones being interviewed! We're really excited to be featuring an episode of the Simple Pin Podcast. Kate recently interviewed Bjork and Lindsay about their entrepreneurial journey, and we knew we wanted to share this inspiring conversation with our listeners. You'll hear how they grew Pinch of Yum while working full-time jobs, what they've learned as they've grown their various businesses, what they've found surprising about being entrepreneurs, and more. If you've ever wanted to hear more about Bjork and Lindsay's story, you won't want to miss this episode! In this episode, you'll learn: The quick story behind Pinch of Yum What Bjork and Lindsay learned growing Pinch of Yum while also working full-time jobs Why they decided to expand their team Why they decided to launch Food Blogger Pro, WP Tasty, Nutrifox, Clariti, and TinyBit The difference between being a maker and a manager What they've found surprising about being entrepreneurs Their best advice for fellow entrepreneurs Resources: Simple Pin Podcast Simple Pin Media Pinch of Yum TinyBit Kolbe A Index Test 361: Earning $2,500 in One Day and Traveling Full-Time as a Food Blogger with Eric Samuelson Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership

We're kicking off something fun here at the podcast, a summer story series. These are a series of business owners I've handpicked to hear their stories with the hope of being inspired. Some I've heard before and want to share with you, but others are totally new to me and I'm excited to be lead down the path of their story in hopes to learn more about them and possibly something about myself. And first up, me. I've asked my very first coach to interview me about what it's been like to grow Simple Pin Media from the start.

Pinterest is one of the most underrated platforms for eCommerce brands but those who are already using it know that it's one of the best-kept secrets for marketing their products out there. But it takes some convincing. Today I have our eCommerce specialist at Simple Pin to talk about what's stopping people from setting up their shop and the advantages they have once they do get it set up.

Did you know that Pinterest is one of the most powerful tools you can use to sell your products on Etsy? It can drive a whole new audience of shoppers straight to your shop for FREE! Tune in today as we talk about what Pinterest is, how it has changed (to your advantage), and how you can use it today to help boost your Etsy sales. **“How to Sell Your Stuff on Etsy” is not affiliated with or endorsed by Etsy.com. ------------------------------ STUFF I MENTIONED: Pinterest Course: Perfecting Pinterest by Sophia Lee: https://bysophialee.teachable.com/courses/perfecting-pinterest?affcode=699001_4rutj5q9 Tools: Canva: https://partner.canva.com/c/2545784/647168/10068 Tailwind: https://tailwind.sjv.io/RybELv Amazing Pinterest Podcast: Simple Pin Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simple-pin-podcast-simple-ways-to-boost-your-business/id1114667498 Simple Pin's incredible episode about Idea Pins: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simple-pin-podcast-simple-ways-to-boost-your-business/id1114667498?i=1000535367393 *Some of the links above are affiliate links which means I'll receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. You can see my affiliate disclosure here: https://www.howtosellyourstuff.com/affiliate-disclosure --------------------------------------------- Looking for more resources? Here's my free guide that will show you the "4 Strategies I used to grow my Etsy shop from $25 to $6000+/month" Grab my eCourse “Listings that Sell” and learn how to skyrocket your Etsy business: Listings that Sell: https://www.howtosellyourstuff.com/offers/Xo52uqVF ----- HOW TO SELL YOUR STUFF WEBSITE: https://www.howtosellyourstuff.com/ HOW TO SELL YOUR STUFF INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/howtosellyourstuff/ HOW TO SELL YOUR STUFF SHOWNOTES:  https://www.howtosellyourstuff.com/blog/podcast-episode-8-how-to-use-pinterest-to-sell-on-etsy  ----- Today's Sponsor is “Perfecting Pinterest” by Sophia Lee. An ecourse that will show you exactly how to use Pinterest to get a ton more views on your Etsy listings: Perfecting Pinterest: https://bysophialee.teachable.com/courses/perfecting-pinterest?affcode=699001_4rutj5q9

We are chatting all about Pinterest advertising in this episode!   I made a huge pivot in 2020 and moved away from teaching Pinterest advertising, but I did dedicate 4 years of my business teaching it! Because of that, I get a TON of questions about if Pinterest ads are worth it.   I get asked the most often if Pinterest ads are worth investing in and if someone should start with Facebook or Pinterest ads first, so I am answering these two questions in this episode.   You will also hear about how my thoughts on Pinterest ads have significantly evolved since I retired my Pinterest ads course last year.   I know this episode will be helpful for you to gain a greater understanding as to what's going on with Pinterest ads in 2021 and also the differences between Facebook and Pinterest ads.   As digital product creators, it is so important that we keep up with these platforms and educate ourselves so we can make the best decisions for our businesses!    Tune in to learn more and check out the resources linked below too for even more information on everything Pinterest, Facebook and digital product related.   Resources Mentioned:  Pinterest Initial Public Offering Report - https://redefiningmom.com/pinterest-ipo/ Episode 4 - https://monicafroese.com/4 Empowered Business Lab - https://empoweredbusiness.co/lab-waitlist/ Simple Pin's Ad Society - https://monicafroese.com/adsociety Beth Anne's FB Ads Intensive - https://monicafroese.com/bethanne FREE Digital Product Training - https://empoweredbusiness.co/profit/ FREE Facebook Group - https://monicafroese.com/group I would love to connect on Facebook or Instagram! Show notes available at www.monicafroese.com/23

 Are you a TpT product seller? Get ready to be inspired today! It’s no surprise to anyone that it’s been a really rough year for those in education. Teachers have had to change the way they teach overnight.  Our TpT product seller clients here at Simple Pin (that’s Teachers Pay Teachers product seller), whoContinue reading The post #240 – How One TpT Product Seller Successfully Pivoted During the Pandemic appeared first on Simple Pin Media®.

Even before 2020, I've regularly been asked about rebranding or how to change when unexpected situations arise that require you to pivot in your business. Then 2020 hit and we saw some really creative ways to adjust to major shifts for your audience. Today's guest is a long-time client of Simple Pin, who felt the brunt of the pandemic being in the travel industry. Learn how she pivoted to meet her audience where they were and was able to inspire and inform them even when they couldn't travel.

It’s been almost eight years since the birth of Simple Pin Media and so much has happened in that time. I’ve learned a ton about Pinterest, growing an agency, working with a team, and what leadership looks like.  I’ve made a lot of mistakes and there are things I would change. I feel like IContinue reading The post #236 – Simple Pin Story 2021 Update: Lessons Learned Over Eight Years appeared first on Simple Pin Media®.

It's been almost 8 years since the birth of Simple Pin Media and so much has happened in that time. Today we are going to walk down memory lane a bit as we talk through major milestones of the company and growing moments that helped us to fail forward. 

On today's episode of the Spapreneur® Podcast, we have the fantastic Kate Ahl. Kate is the owner and founder of https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/5cbab3573ecb80f5ff47ee6ece01ef84bc995715?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.simplepinmedia.com%2F&userId=6649871&signature=8272a96e8e3cd1d1 (Simple Pin Media), where she and her team help manage Pinterest accounts—over 700 to date—for small businesses nationwide. She's also the popular Simple Pin podcast host, where she shares Pinterest marketing advice using data-driven results. Her passion is to help small businesses keep it simple, be authentic, and pin with purpose. Topics Mentioned Why Pinterest is Different from Other Social Media Accounts Focus on the Benefits of the Service Go to Pinterest and Search Specific Benefits Trends on Pinterest work Pinterest is a Long Term Investment Why Now is the Time to Plan for Pinterest Holiday Season Using Your Profile to Boost Your Local You have to do a tiny bit of content You can use Review on Pinterest Specific Products Make Great Blog Posts Images are Key for the Pin Images - 2:3 Specific boards are key for board management Resources Mentioned https://www.simplepinmedia.com/?utm_source=shownotes&utm_medium=Spapreneur&utm_campaign=Interview (Simple Pin Media) https://www.simplepinmedia.com/?utm_source=shownotes&utm_medium=Spapreneur&utm_campaign=Interview (Free Pinterest Keyword Guide) https://spapreneur.com/homepublic/ (Marketing for Specific Modalities with Mindy Totten) Manatee Digital Media https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/ (Dinner at the Zoo) Canva Spapreneur Free Facebook Group

So many of us have had to adjust to working from home with kids in the house over the past year. Let’s put Pinterest aside this week, and talk about how to make this new normal work! The Simple Pin podcast is 99% about Pinterest marketing with the occasional sidestep to address other issues thatContinue reading The post #223 – Working from Home with Kids: How to Thrive (not Just Survive!) appeared first on Simple Pin Media.

How did your 2020 shape up in regards to your business? Today I’m going to recap what 2020 looked like for my business, and I hope this gives you a glimpse of what a business can look like. I also want to model something for you that you can use in your business, called the reflection framework.   Reflection Framework Take out a piece of paper, and draw a big “t” so you have 4 quadrants on your paper.  Now label: Top left as “Working” Top right as “Not Working” Bottom left as “Missing” Bottom right as “Confusing”   I use this simple framework all of the time. I'm going to use it today to reflect on 2020, but I have used this exact framework for masterminds that I have facilitated, performance reviews, 1-to-1’s, and team meetings. It gives you the ability to collect a lot of info and gives structure to the conversation. It also serves as a documentation piece that you can look back on year to year.   What Worked? This has been an incredible year. When we started I had 4 different products I was selling. I had been feeling the urge to niche down and understand where my greatest value was. By niching down, I could give more of myself by serving 1 audience. This completely changed the trajectory of the success of The Ops Authority. I am so grateful I had mentors encouraging me and helping me see where my potential was, because what was stopping me from niching down was scarcity.    If you feel like you have a knack for operations and are interested in becoming a Director of Operations (DOO), join us for our first round in our upcoming Director of Operations Certification Program in 2021.   Mentorship I have spent thousands of dollars on different mentors, programs, and masterminds over the years, and this year I decided to go big with a next-level mentor. I joined the Unstoppable Entrepreneur with Kelly Roach. I joined the first weekend of March before COVID-19 hit, and I remember thinking about how our economy was shifting in a really rapid way, so I needed to put my money where my mouth was to level up. I found a program that I will be in for a very long time to come. It was a mindset shift for me, and I have been blessed for Kelly’s mentorship, her supportive team and the peers in the group. The Live Launch Model I started to use this program that Kelly teaches. I started to pay attention to what she was doing and applied it to make my content work for me. My team and I worked to create my live launch The Scope Creep Solution. It is a topic that stands the test of time, and allows me to show up as myself and teach something I’m excited about.    Expanding my team I decided to expand my team by bringing in qualified expert coaches into my program, which has completely upleveled the experience that my students have. They have allowed me to see an even greater vision than I did in 2020. We can now handle 2-3 cohorts of DOOs at one time.  My team I want to give a massive shout out to my Director of Marketing, Esther Littlefield who is such an incredible support. She is the person I trust in the strategic department of marketing. It has taken a big load off of me, so I can show up as the lead coach.   We have been able to expand our hiring services big time. Diana Neff has joined us as our lead hiring manager, as well as Yolanda Rumpf. They are both DOOs and have strong competencies in hiring.    Abby Herman has supported us in the content strategy area to make sure everything is streamlined, and Holly Cain with Prosper Collective has helped take our finances to the next level.    Intellectual Property I have developed more intellectual property which means we have more content to share with those of you who choose to trust us and learn with us.    Podcast Growth The dedication to this podcast has paid off!   Referrals We put a lot of hard work into our marketing efforts, but I’m never upset about referrals! We have been really grateful for strong referrals.    “Being reputable has made it very easy to expand our business through referrals.” What Didn’t Work? Technology Our tech stack is going to be shifting in 2021. Our current stack includes Samcart, Clickfunnels, Thinkific, and Convertkit. I have hesitancy about each one of these, and we will be exploring our options.   Meetups I am a people person, and without conferences and meetups this year I’ve been a little heartbroken, and have felt somewhat isolated. I miss the networking and having some time away to focus narrowly on my business.    Website content Since I have decided to niche down, we have some work to do to make the site match the messaging for our niche audience.    What was missing? An Operations Coordinator We will be onboarding our 1st employee, Alex in January 2021. She will be able to fill in some of the gaps, where some of my other team members have been graciously filling in.    More hiring managers We were so booked that we had to turn away business later in the year, so we are looking forward to hiring a few more people since our processes are so dialed in.    Content in The DOO Certification Program We have been anxious to re-record the content for the DOO Certification Program. I’m ready to share new wisdom that I’ve gained over the last few years and I want to add some relevant examples. We have also hired an instructional designer who looks at how to piece together content so it flows better, how to be more inclusive to various learning styles, and the visuals and graphics that support the frameworks I teach on. Accreditation One of the first things I did when I created the DOO Certification Program was to look at how to get this program accredited. One of the pieces of advice I got was to have a good sample size. When you have enough feedback you have a more solid product. Right now we have 141 certified DOOs, and we are actively in conversations with some really exciting organizations to discuss accreditation.   “Whatever we can do to increase the impact, opportunity and income for natural born operators… I am here for it!”    Balance Personally, when the pandemic became serious, I was really fearful of how it was going to impact my business, which led me to overcompensate for the lack of control and steadiness that I didn’t feel.   What was confusing? Whatever you write in this section, you need a strategy around it to address it. I leveraged people around me to help me with the confusing parts.   Mindset I can be headstrong when it comes to abstract thoughts because I’m such an action-oriented logical, methodical person, so sometimes I don’t think I have mindset issues. My mindset is very different now than it was at the beginning of the year and I attribute that to my mentors and friends. I also learn so much from my own people; from the gals who come through this program who allow me to step up. By coaching their mindset gaps, mine has gotten stronger.   “This is my year of transition, from baby business to big-girl business.”   Financial Transition There has been quite a bit of growth this year, and I needed some strategies on how to handle that. We have been able to reinvest money back into the business and I’ve been able to leverage experts to help me in this area.   Video Show I take slow action, but I’ve been thinking of starting a video show. It’s still not crystal clear.   Pinterest Strategy Kate Ahl is a dear friend who runs Simple Pin, a Pinterest management company. She did a podcast with me where she did live coaching on my Pinterest strategy. I want to take Kate's thoughts and feedback and crystallize it in 2021.    I hope you have found this helpful and found some good nuggets that will help get your wheels turning as it relates to your own business! Weekly Ops Activity Create your own reflection framework for your business in 2020. Then come on over to the FB group and share with us what has worked for your business this year.    Previous Episodes Mentioned Episode 23: How To Reflect On Your Accomplishments   Other Ways to Connect with Me: Website Private Facebook Community Facebook Page Instagram This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/77.

We’re so excited to launch the 2021 Pinterest Keyword Planning Guide — our new free gift to you! If you’ve been around these parts for a while now, you know that every year we give our Simple Pin audience a special gift: our Simple Pin Pinterest Planner.  Our yearly Planner has been in circulation forContinue reading The post #219 -Introducing the Pinterest Keyword Planning Guide appeared first on Simple Pin Media.

In this episode, I am sharing the story of one of the members of our Simple Pin Collective. If you aren’t familiar with the Collective, it’s our Pinterest marketing membership community.  Inside the Collective, you will find: a nine-module course live coaching calls with me content on every Pinterest topic you could ever think ofContinue reading The post #210 – Gaining Confidence: Simple Pin Collective Client Spotlight appeared first on Simple Pin Media.

If you’ve ever thought about what it’s like to be a Pinterest account specialist, you’re going to want to listen in today as I share some tips and takeaways. I’m also sharing an opportunity for growing your own Pinterest account management business.  If you come to the Simple Pin Podcast strictly for Pinterest marketing tips,Continue reading The post #209 – Become a Pinterest Account Specialist: Enroll in Simple Pin Pro appeared first on Simple Pin Media.

If you’ve ever had a dream of growing a business but you’re scared to start, this episode is for you. I know that feeling all too well, and today I am sharing how I moved past it and the incredible growth that I’ve experienced in doing so. 200 Simple Pin Podcast Episodes! I can hardlyContinue reading The post #200 – Celebrating 200 Simple Pin Podcast Episodes appeared first on Simple Pin Media.

Learn how the Simple Pin podcast got started and some fun behind the scenes stories. 

We've diving into the business side of SOM and how we create natural breaks in our year to pause and get refreshed.

Today we're talking all about how to use tools in the industry to grow your business. Do you need coaching or a peer or paid mastermind? I'm sharing my experience, tips for how to choose what's right for you, budgets and more.

In the world of Pinterest, Kate Ahl, is a rockstar, but what some might not realize is how large of a team she has curated at Simple Pin Media. She has a team of 40 people. A few months back, Kate hired The Launch Guild team to build and manage her membership, The Collective, and it’s been such an amazing experience to get an inside glimpse into the community and rockstar team culture that has been curated at Simple Pin. I asked Kate to come on the podcast today so we can talk #allthingsteam.We talk about:Simple Pin’s current team structure and who she has on her teamWhere the magic happens within the team cultureHow she manages and personalizes such a big team, and keeps that going as it growsWhat team meetings look like and how often they happenHow the hiring process worksTools and resources she has used to get good at team building and managementOne thing you can start to do that will impact your team culture and growing your teamVisit thelaunchguild.com/podcast for more info! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kate Ahl is the founder of Simple Pin Media and the host of The Simple Pin Podcast. She launched her business in January of 2014, and by November, it was a full-fledged marketing agency. She now has a team of 40 and services hundreds of Pinterest accounts. According to statistics that Kate shared 93% of Pinterest users are looking to buy. Getting your content or product in front of those users is what Kate and her team do best. Kate began her podcast in 2016 to teach, share her voice, and market her service. She interviews other people who are using Pinterest in creative ways to build their lists and increase revenue. Today, she shares her business journey including the results and lessons from starting a podcast. She also shares pinterest tips that others can use for their podcasts and enlightens us about Pinterest marketing and some of the benefits of Pinterest marketing.  Show Notes [03:08] We met in person at Social Media Marketing World in 2018. [03:50] Kate's podcast is The Simple Pin Media Podcast. [04:21] Kate was doing Facebook marketing for a friend in 2013, when an algorithm change led to lost traffic. Kate and some of her friends migrated over to Pinterest with the hopes of long-term traffic.  [05:16] Kate enjoyed marketing on Pinterest and the long-term stability of the platform. [06:09] One of the main misconceptions about Pinterest is that it's only for women. Pinterest warms up potential customers. Pinterest marketing is part of the awareness stage, because it is where people go to plan things. [07:24] The leap from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is a very hard mindset shift to make for some marketers.  [08:58] It can be more difficult to keep track of ROI with Pinterest.  [09:46] For Kate, her Pinterest goal is to get people to her podcast and blog. Her ROI is based on a lead, but it's different for everyone.  [10:43] Kate converts her podcast content into blog posts and sends her Pinterest traffic to those posts. Pinterest users are searching for content, so you could send them to a review or a tip.  [11:37] Pinterest likes vertical images. Use that as billboard advertising or a hook.  [12:04] Pinterest users have two habits. They either scroll mindlessly through the main home feed that they arrive on or they search for a specific phrase. [13:45] Simple Pin was originally designed to be a side hustle. Things started to grow and Kate was building her voice. In 2016, she decided to podcast. [15:45] She wanted to have good systems in place and outsource everything but recording. Knowing Pro Podcast Solutions was taking care of everything else gave her peace of mind.  [16:35] Tools that Kate uses include PPS for editing, a spreadsheet for content management and their Facebook group to help surface content.  [17:32] She tries to stay ahead and usually records on Thursdays. She also hired a podcast writer who makes the blog post.  [18:39] Kate has a team of 40. The biggest part of her team is organic management for clients. She also has a small part of the team for marketing, affiliates, and launches. She has a community manager, herself, and an operations manager.  [19:44] This year Kate is investing more into marketing and the podcast.  [20:29] The scariest part of podcasting for Kate was just doing it and seeing how it would be received. She asks our team about stats and things like that.  [23:18] Things that held Kate back were wondering if people would like the sound of her voice. Her and her husband also got sick and pushed the start back.  [25:05] It's normal to not go back and listen to your podcasts.  [26:05] Kate's parents are both entrepreneurs. She set a great example for them. She was impressed by their follow-through and perseverance. They also taught her great customer service.  [29:37] Kate always thought she would be a teacher. She finally discovered her gift was in leadership and leading a team and building a business.  [33:37] For Kate, her business shapes her podcast.  [35:23] She defines success when her listeners actually put her tips into practice and then eventually come on as clients. Her goal is to empower clients to grow their business using Pinterest, so that they can afford to hire her team. [36:29] The podcast has three goals new customers, new Pinterest professionals, and teaching people Pinterest marketing.   [37:33] At a conference, a listener gave Kate a picture that her daughter drew while they were listening to Kate's podcast together.  [38:45] Your voice is being projected into people's lives with a podcast.  [40:31] Kate is reading Dave Ramsey's Legacy Journey right now. [41:10] One of Kate's future goals is to do corporate consulting for big brands.  [41:43] She has stopped comparing her business to others and stopped being afraid of making mistakes.  Links and Resources: Pro Podcast Solutions Simple Pin Media The Simple Pin Podcast Simple Pin Media - Marketing on Pinterest Simple Pin Media on Facebook Simple Pin Media on Twitter Simple Pin Media on Instagram Social Media Marketing World Traction Entrepreneurial Operating System  Dave Ramsey's Legacy Journey Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want Principles: Life and Work

Buckle up! Today you’ll be learning how to optimize old blog content for Pinterest! If you are a longtime listener of the Simple Pin podcast, you know that in July we took a break and reshared some older podcast episodes that feaetured the most sought-after information about Pinterest marketing.  We not only reshared those episodesContinue reading The post #154 – How to Optimize Old Blog Content for Pinterest appeared first on Simple Pin Media.

Updated October 2019 Some of the most common questions I get here at Simple Pin are about images. Everybody wants to know how to create stunning visuals for their page. So today I have a returning guest here to talk about creating Pinterest images that will get you clicks. –> Before reading through this, downloadContinue reading The post #65 – Creating Pinterest Images that Capture the Pinner’s Attention appeared first on Simple Pin Media.

Kate Ahl is the Owner and CEO of Simple Pin Media, which is a Marketing Agency that helps bloggers, content creators, and small business owners grow their businesses using Pinterest. Kate has an incredible story (that she tells powerfully in this episode) of a journey that includes so many seasons - pastor’s wife, stay at home mom, and now CEO of her own company.  Kate shares vulnerably and lets us in to the grief of miscarriage, her husband’s mental break down, a season of fear and learning, and eventually starting and leading Simple Pin. Kate speaks powerfully about God’s faithfulness in her life, the necessity of community, and the power of hope and dreaming. We are so thrilled to share our conversation with this amazing woman with you today. To keep up with Kate, visit her website at simplepinmedia.com

The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast 113: Pinterest to Promote Your Yoga with Kate Ahl   Description: How important is Pinterest to your yoga business? If you're like some of our yoga teachers, a significant portion of your website traffic may be coming from Pinterest - but it's not the same as other social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook. That's why we have Kate Ahl of Simple Pin to share more about how you can use Pinterest to promote your yoga business.   Kate Ahl is the Owner and Founder of Simple Pin Media, a Pinterest management company that helps business owners manage their Pinterest accounts and presence so they can focus on running their business. She also hosts the Simple Pin Podcast, where she shares useful actionable tips and strategies that can help you DIY your Pinterest marketing.   Shannon and Kate dissect how often to pin, what kind of content to pin, and even the kinds of images and fonts to us. She also answers some of Shannon's questions around personal vs business accounts and resharing pins to other social media platforms. Kate also reveals why Pinterest functions as a powerful search engine, and why it's such a great platform to tap into new markets.   If you've been wanting to create more awareness for your yoga business, or have been wondering how to connect with people across different generations, Pinterest may be your answer - and this episode is just what you need to dive right in.   Key Takeaways: [2:24] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Kate Ahl. [3:36] What does Kate do and how did she get started in this business? [5:09] Pinterest is not so much of a social platform like Instagram or Facebook, but it's more of a search engine. Kate explains what this means. [7:40] What is Kate's suggestion for the workflow on Pinterest? [9:34] Is there a ratio of your own pins to someone else's pins? [11:20] Kate breaks down the idea of pinning daily on Pinterest, and some tips on pinnable images. [14:47] How much text is too much text? [18:30] Kate comments on the practice of creating 10 pins for a particular piece of content. [19:21] What is Kate's advice for people who want to pin images that are not from your article? She walks us through an example. [21:47] What are Kate's thoughts on re-sharing pins to Instagram and Facebook? [23:49] What are Kate's tips for the beginner who wants to use Pinterest to grow their yoga business? [27:40] When it comes to websites and Pinterest, should you be creating images on your website with Pinterest in mind? [30:27] If you are into DIY and want to learn more about Pinterest marketing, check out Kate's podcast, Simple Pin Podcast. [31:10] What are some things to consider before hiring out your Pinterest marketing? [32:20] What is Kate's intake process for taking on new clients, depending on where they are in their Pinterest journey? [35:06] What are Kate's packages priced at? [37:02] Shannon and Kate discuss what the different generations are using Pinterest for. [39:23] Kate leaves us with some final thoughts about Pinterest. [41:25] Shannon shares the actions she's taking as a result of this interview with Kate. Share your Pinterest strategy with Shannon in the comments. Links: Kate Ahl, Simple Pin Media Simple Pin Podcast Simple Pin Pinterest Strategy Facebook Group The Connected Yoga Teacher on Pinterest Canva Craigslist PicMonkey Buffer CoSchedule Tailwind How to Master Tailwind - Simple Pin Media Course WordPress Simple Social Press Plugin for WordPress Tasty Pins Simple Pin Podcast Episode: Optimizing A Squarespace Website for Pinterest Marketing How to Create a Pinterest Business Account From Scratch, by Kate Ahl   Gratitude to our Sponsor Schedulicity   Quotes from this episode:   "We often refer to Pinterest as a search-and-discovery platform, and the joke is that it's the introvert's platform."   "You're building awareness of your company through your knowledge, through your articles that you're writing."   "If somebody comes to your Pinterest page or profile, do they understand who you are and what you represent?"   "You want to see your Pinterest boards as a curated resource for your audience."   "Consistency is best."   "I think the biggest problem when we're doing Pinterest images and we're not graphically-inclined, is we spend hours overthinking it."   "Just jump in with both feet, play around, and don't overthink it."

Today we are taking a bit of a detour away from Pinterest marketing to talk about creating business core values to serve as a compass for The post #141 – Creating Business Core Values: The Simple Pin Story appeared first on Simple Pin Media®.

It hasn't been sunshine and roses growing the Simple Pin business but it has been an amazing gift that has given back to the community and helped to build a cohesive team, all for the chance to serve a little girl.

In this week's episode, I am doing something a little bit different. I typically bring you simple, actionable tips in order to help you DIY your The post Meet The Simple Pin Team: The Educator/Administrator appeared first on Simple Pin Media®.

Today I'm talking with Steph, my educator and administrator about her role at Simple Pin, client care and how she researches the best Pinterest marketing tips.

Gerry of Foodness Gracious walks us through his tips for creating images that tell a story. We also talk about how he's used the Simple Pin services over the last year and how he has grown.

On this week's episode of the Blogged Podcast, we talk with Kate Ahl all about how to fully leverage pinterest for your blog. We cover using Pinterest effectively to drive traffic to your blog, some of the essential analytics that you should be tracking, some strategy for promoting pins, and how to work with brands on Pinterest.  Kate is […] The post 025: How to use Pinterest to the fullest + working with brands on Pinterest Collabs with Simple Pin founder Kate Ahl appeared first on MY HAUTE SOCIETY.

Recapping the top 100 Simple Pin Podcasts and most downloaded episodes.

Welcome to episode 009 of the Blogger Genius Podcast. My guest is Kate Ahl founder of Simple Pin Media. In this episode, we discuss how to grow Pinterest now -- what's working today and what's not. We also discuss the value of niching down in your business, how to create growth by staying focused, and the importance of not chasing other people's success, but finding your own. Resources: Simple Pin Media Simple Pin Pinterest Strategy Group Visual Marketing Certification Course MiloTree Transcript - Latest Pinterest Tips To Grow Your Account Host: [00:00:03] Welcome to The Blogger Genius Podcast brought to you by MiloTree. Here's your host, Jillian Leslie. Jillian: [00:00:10] Hi, welcome to the show today. My guest is Kate Ahl, who is the mastermind behind Simple Pin Media. So welcome to the show, Kate. Kate: [00:00:21] Hey, thanks so much for having me. I'm excited about your podcast. Jillian: [00:00:25] Thank you. And I'm inspired by you because I've been a big fan of yours for so long, and I've been on your podcast twice. Kate: [00:00:32] Yes, you have. They're both great conversation. Jillian: [00:00:36] And the thing that we both share is love of Pinterest. Kate: [00:00:40] Yeah it's true. Jillian: [00:00:42] So what I want to start with is a) - How you discovered Pinterest. And b) - how you built a whole business around it. Discovering Pinterest Kate: [00:00:52] Yes. So the first time I discovered Pinterest was actually at a good friend's house, and it was just after Pinterest started late 2009 early 2010, and she had made these really amazing outdoor candles chandelier-type-things with like mason jars and pallets. And we live in Portland, so that kind of all comes together even more perfectly. Kate: [00:01:17] I said, Where did you get all these ideas? This is crazy. And she's like, Well it's this new site called Pinterest. And I remember standing at her kitchen and we were looking at the computer or iPad, I can't remember at the time, and I was like I don't. But this is a great solution to bookmarking, because you would bookmark everything on your computer and try to save it for later, and that didn't feel like this cohesive place. But Pinterest didn't look like what it looks like now. At that time it was really confusing, like you couldn't figure out who you're following, and you had to have an invite. So. I said, Can you send me an invite? And it took like forever. It took like six weeks. And so my other friends were talking about Pinterest, and like what is it and how is it going to work> And so I got the invite and I created an account. I don't even know where that account is actually, I should try to dig and find it. But I loved it. I loved the sheer fact that I could organize content. Kate: [00:02:20] But I should also say I was really still confused by it, like the user experience in the beginning was not easy. Like you couldn't really figure out like, Who is this person I'm engaging with and what's their stuff. Kate: [00:02:33] They wanted you to follow artists and it didn't seem like it matched me quite yet. So I did take a step back from it for a little bit. Well during that time too, I started working with a friend who had a blog and she was feeling like it was growing pretty significantly. It was 2010 which means we we're still like mid-recession and she did deals, couponing for a living, which was going crazy during that time because people needed to save money. So she asked me to come on and do Facebook marketing for her initially, which I did and I loved. And then she asked me to come on to her blog to do a lot of affiliate marketing, blog management, kind of jack of all trades and that slowly merged into Pinterest, and what I ended up doing was that Pinterest account essentially became my personal Pinterest account. I was falling in love with Pinterest. Falling in love with her content too at the same time, but also falling in love with just using Pinterest in general, and so we really didn't know how to market on there. It was more, we had heard of people getting traffic and this was probably bringing us up to like 2010ish. And she discovered a Pinterest course. Turning Pinterest into a business Kate: [00:03:49] And she's like I took this Pinterest course to talk about naming your boards no longer cutesy names, like really thinking business. And we spent like three or four hours in her living room. It was spring of 2012 and really looked at what were we going to do with Pinterest, right? So we got the strategy. We're just playing around with it for a good full year. And then 2013 probably like November 2013, is when Facebook changed their algorithm pretty significantly. It was like the first big Facebook Armageddon where business pages weren't getting seen as a deal blogger. That's how you got most of your click throughs and affiliate sales, and everybody took a huge hit. Kate: [00:04:42] The question was like, We've never seen that before and we didn't really know what to do with it. Everybody's getting this amazing traffic. So we looked and said you know, maybe we need to do something different and at that same time, personally we were going through still the downturn of the economy. And my husband couldn't find a job and his unemployment had run out. And so at that same time the unemployment was running out and Facebook was changing their algorithm, she had said to me, the friend I was working for she said, Well why don't you try managing people's Pinterest accounts?And I thought she was nuts and I literally remember sitting at the kitchen table watching her say this and thinking I don't even know how you would do that. I was just on her account all the time. So I thought I can't be on someone's account all the time. Kate: [00:05:36] This is crazy. But she said just research everything you can do. Start Googling and see what's happening out there. We knew from this previous Pinterest course, that there was at least some idea of Pinterest for business. But yet there wasn't a lot of conversation about it. Kate: [00:05:52] I found one other Pinterest course that I joined. I found a small Facebook group of women just getting together to strategize about Pinterest. And I discovered ViralTag in the beginning as a scheduling service to use because there really wasn't anything out there, and I said I'll test with yours over two months. This was November-December. And then we sat at the beach one weekend and created a couple of different packages. I bought Simple Pin Media as a domain and thought, Here we go. Let's try this. And so she asked two of her friends to be beta clients. Jillian: [00:06:34] That is terrific. And how many clients do you have now? Kate: [00:06:38] A hundred and one. Jillian: [00:06:39] Wow. So you manage 101 clients' Pinterest pages. Kate: [00:06:46] Yes we do. We definitely have a big team. Jillian: [00:06:48] And how many people on your team? Kate: [00:06:50] 30. Kate: [00:06:51] Oh my goodness. Wow. And do you manage other social media accounts like Instagram or anything else? Kate: [00:06:59] No we've thought a little bit about Instagram. I have to say that that been in my thoughts, potentially on the road map. But it would be something along the lines of taking the model of Simple Pin and either franchising it or duplicating that model underneath different socials. Advice: The benefits of niching down Jillian: [00:07:24] This is a piece of advice that I continue to give which is the internet is a really big place and that you can grow a really successful business by niching down, by being the Pinterest experts. That you don't have to be the Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube expert. That actually by knowing your niche so well, you could really grow. Jillian: [00:07:52] People think oh, and then I need to move into this area and this area, and I'm like, if you go deep, not that many other people will do it. So you can own that space. And so when I think of Pinterest and I think Pinterest marketers, you're the person I call. Kate: [00:08:14] Thank you. Jillian: [00:08:15] Because I'm not thinking, oh I want a general social media marketer. I'm like, ooh, were noticing something with our Pinterest accounts. I'm going to check in with Kate and see if she's seeing the same thing. Kate: [00:08:27] Hmm yeah it doesn't make it easy for anybody who is thinking of doing any business. I will definitely say that niching down allows you to immerse yourself so deeply in a certain platform, that that's all you study. And I've found it feeling overwhelming. And that's why we haven't gone into Instagram because if you're dealing with two different animals, like one drives traffic and one drives engagement and there aretwo different methods of using it, and you can't apply a one size fits all social strategy to all social platforms. So absolutely it will just drive you into the ground. I don't want to be driven into the ground. Jillian: [00:09:10] Like another piece of advice I give is figure out what your goals are for your business, and pick the social media platform that a) - speaks to your audience, where your audience already is, and b) - which delivers what you're looking for. And yes you should own your name on every platform but to think that you need to be on every platform actively is... You will drive yourself insane. Kate: [00:09:40] Yes I have felt that. So for me socially as far as Simple Pin, my first focus was just Pinterest that's where I put my content. That's where I spent my time. That was my big drive and I did focus a little bit on Facebook, and building a really strong Facebook group. The group was more important to me than the page. And since then, I've just I have a social media manager who does all my stuff for me, because I don't want to keep up with Facebook I don't want to keep up with Instagram, right. I just want to interact with people. Jillian: [00:10:11] I will definitely say you are one of the top Pinterest experts, but Pinterest is always changing. So it's not like you ever own Pinterest. I'm always amazed at how often these social networks are changing. Kate: [00:10:34] All the time. Jillian: [00:10:34] So you know Pinterest today, but then you've got a keep on it and then you get to tell me what I need to do, because again it's not like oh I've mastered it. Oh no. They'll pull the rug out from under you. Advice: The moment you become unteachable or unwilling to learn is the moment your business dies Kate: [00:10:48] And I've always heard and heeded this advice, that the moment you become unteachable or unwilling to learn is the moment your business dies. The term expert is really tough for me to digest. And mostly because it's hard, it's just hard to see it that way and semantics right, like you could say thought leader, and I might wrap my brain around that a little bit better, but I think the thing is that even I as a person who studies Pinterest, teaches Pinterest, is only in Pinterest. I still have days where I will email some colleagues and say. There's not a trick I'm missing. Right. I'm not missing something and they know to expect it. You know, every six or eight months for me, because I just go... it's that moment of insecurity to go, did I miss something? Have I not learned this? And I appreciate people in my life who are willing to accept those questions from me in a way that says no, Kate you're fine. Like keep doing what you're doing. Jillian: [00:11:59] Absolutely. And again I like that idea of, if you have an online business you have to stay nimble. You have to stay hungry because you're absolutely right. You can't rest on your laurels like when you're talking about 2012, let's say Pinterest in 2012. That's not that long ago. And yet in the world of the Internet that's a really long time ago. Jillian: [00:12:25] So I will say that for us, for Catch My Party, or our first business, we stumbled into Pinterest. What I was doing was using it as a way to save content from Catch My Party, so that I could write blog posts, right, because my husband who's the technical part of our partnership, I kept saying to him build me somewhere I could have a clipboard or something. And he never built it. So then I discovered Pinterest. I was like oh I could just do it here. And then what I weirdly found was we were getting traffic. It was like weird we didn't plan on it. It was really just for my own personal use. And then we said to ourselves really early, which was good. This is driving us traffic and we're not even trying we need to try. And Pinterest now, of course, is our biggest traffic driver and the way we monetize with Catch My Party is traffic. So that's why we've then built MiloTree for example, or pop-up, because we recognize we need to grow Pinterest so we doubled down on Pinterest. Jillian: [00:13:33] So it's why I read whatever you write, because Pinterest matters to us in a huge way. And so it is about finding that area where you can build your business, finding the social networks that support that. And then being willing to learn as much as you possibly can about that platform, or whatever that thing is whether you're selling courses whether, you're selling products, whether you're creating stuff for Etsy, whatever it is. Jillian: [00:14:02] The more you know just the more you have to leverage. Advice: If you spread yourself super wide, you become less efficient and less productive Kate: [00:14:11] Yeah definitely. Fully agree and I think there's that feeling too of spreading super wide because we want to make sure we're covering it all. But yet when we spread super wide, we become less efficient or less productive. And we're only skimming the surface of everything instead of going to focus here, and that's hard in our online world and you and I have talked about this before. Because we are being pulled in so many different directions, kind of like with the dangling carrot of like, if you go here you can make money, if you get here and you are constantly in this push pull. And I was saying this to you before we started. I can't listen to podcast anymore about marketing unless I need the specific tool, because it's almost it's information overload for me, and it feels like dangling carrots in my face when I have this big team of people saying especially my leadership team, saying, we need you to do this or we need you to lead this, and lead us in this direction. And firm up these processes. That's where I got to continue to focus back my time, because that's where my business is and that's hard because there's a little bit of like the FOMO. Jillian: [00:15:28] Yeah. Kate: [00:15:29] Like, yeah I couldn't miss out on this tip, and yes my business is going to go down, and then you realize your business is going to go down the tubes if you spend all your day listening to podcasts and never implementing. Jillian: [00:15:41] Absolutely. And I am a big believer in just doing at least one thing a day. One thing a day to move your business forward and then to give yourself credit for achieving that goal. And I agree with you about stepping away. I've mentioned this previously, that I've really stepped away personally in Facebook. I know that's now kind of in the news, but I took a Facebook break personally. I noticed how much better I felt. Yes. And I know that's like, you know, I work in the world of social media. Advice: Don't fall for the FOMO trap Jillian: [00:16:18] But it's about figuring out that I don't have to be where everybody is and I don't have to follow that thing were, Oh my god everybody's making a ton of money here. I need to be there. It's a good lesson. Digging deep and figuring out who you are, what you want, what you want to grow, why you're doing this like those deeper questions, because you could spend your life going from trend to trend to trend. Kate: [00:16:48] Yeah yes you could. And you would drive yourself into the ground. Jillian: [00:16:52] And by the way. You won't be successful. Kate: [00:16:56] Yep I agree. It is hard in our world to have laser focus. But I would say like that is the place where you can find out the most about your business. That's where you can grow the most. And I agree with you I'm not on Facebook anymore very much, except to look at my group, right. That's where I get the greatest value from. Jillian: [00:17:20] Will you tell everybody what your group is? Kate: [00:17:23] So it's a Simple Pin Pinterest Strategy Group and it's just a group to talk about Pinterest we don't even do group board threads because we find that it kind of muddies the waters of the group. Jillian: [00:17:35] And what is a group board thread just so people know? Kate: [00:17:38] So there are specific Facebook groups on Pinterest group boards, so what it means is you can go into these Facebook groups, and you can look at what group boards on Pinterest people have available for you to join, and submit your content to that. So there's this one it's called Pinterest Group Boards. it's a fantastic group just dedicated to that, and I love it because again it's just dedicated to one thing. So knowing that that was happening over there I decided to really create a culture in our Facebook group that was just about Pinterest. So if you are experiencing a glitch, you could go there, ask a question and someone who would answer if you were frustrated or if you had a joy to share, or whatever it was in relation to Pinterest marketing. I wanted this to be the place where that conversation could happen without drama. It's the big thing for me. Yet without being solicited to get other members, without feeling like you were asking a dumb question, that there are no dumb questions. We want every single question there is and we want this to be the hub where you go to get up to date information on Pinterest. Jillian: [00:18:49] The thing I have to say, I love that you are popping in with updates and what's new. Like if I get in my feed, if I see that you have been on, talking about something I know to listen. Like I will stop what I'm doing and listen to you. Kate: [00:19:08] Thank you so much for the support, that means a lot. Because you know when you're on the other side of the computer, you never know what people are responding to. Jillian: [00:19:16] I have to say again, because you are my expert. So if you're talking, I'm listening. Kate: [00:19:22] I love it. Thank you. I really appreciate that. Most up-to-date Pinterest tips Jillian: [00:19:24] Okay, so so let's do this. Let's talk about Pinterest, just because you are the expert. And if I say group boards, give me your like 30 second thing on should people be focusing on group boards. And group boards again or where a bunch of people can share to a board, and the hope is that you can get your content in front of people that aren't necessarily following you. Kate: [00:19:53] Yes, that's correct. Group boards Jillian: [00:19:54] So that we can give some value to the listeners. Like group boards. Should people be finding group boards? Joining group boards? Kate: [00:20:02] Yeah, I think they're a valuable part of a bigger strategy on Pinterest with marketing, but I always tell people to keep it about only 30 percent, because what can happen is that you chase the idea of getting other people's followers to see your pins, ny joining group boards. And then you forget that you have your own followers, and they're following your personal boards, and they want to see what you're pinning. Kate: [00:20:26] So I tell people if they're going to do group boards, I always have them join group boards that fit their niche. Jillian: [00:20:32] Got it. Kate: [00:20:33] And that the content on there is something you would want your people to see. It's nothing sketchy, or just super general, or even not appealing. It has to have a specific title that is a very strong keyword on Pinterest so I don't want it to be like "Best Blogger Recipes. Jillian: [00:20:51] Or "Awesome Pins." Kate: [00:20:53] Exactly. I'd rather have it be something like "Instant Pot Soup Recipes." That means on the board is only Instant Pot soup recipes and if you have that content, that's a great place for you to put it. Not just for followers, but for the search factor, that when people search that title of Instant Pot soup recipes, Pinterest will see that that's a place where there's a lot of content on that topic being shared. So there's that, and then also joining with people you know is really important as well, and sharing from that group board especially if you have relationships, is also super important too. Pins per day Jillian: [00:21:30] Great okay. Now in terms of success on Pinterest. How many pin per day do you recommend somebody pin? Kate: [00:21:39] I have thought about this a lot actually, in the last couple of months. I have a data analyst who's going through a bunch of our data of the last four years, and analyzing a lot of this based on a number of pins per day. And one thing that's really interesting to us is our baseline package is ten pins, then we do a midline package of 20 pins and then 30 pins per day. Kate: [00:22:01] And the reason we started that in 2014, was because Pinterest was based on a chronological feed. So the more pins, the more you got seen in the feed. Well now that we've moved on to image and search based, what we realized is that the number of pins per day isn't as relevant as your keywords and board descriptions, or images and how much they capture the pinners attention. So I'm less likely to tell people it's a certain number of pins per day, and I'm more likely to ask them, what do your images look like? Because you can slap up 50 pins of crappy images, and not end up getting return. Or you could have ten amazing images and drive tons more traffic, and we find that with some rare clients lately, that those who really have had head down focus, they know their avatar. They have really strong keywords, like three to four pillar keywords that they really focus in on, and that that is increased engagement and it's increased their page views over time with just 10 pins a day. Text overlays on Pinterest images Jillian: [00:23:08] That's terrific. OK. Text overlays on the images or not? Kate: [00:23:15] Yes I really like them and I like them especially because Pinterest feels a little bit like billboard advertising. Jillian: [00:23:23] Yes, that's a good way to describe it. Kate: [00:23:25] Like you're coming by and what's going to catch their attention? Kate: [00:23:27] So I always tell people before they go into creating text overlays on their images for their own business. Do two things. One, start paying attention to billboards as you're driving. And just really pay attention to the patterns that you see and, two, go on to Pinterest on your phone. Try not to do this on desktop, and see what catches you. Scroll by and save it all to a secret board. And then you can see, what is it that stands out to me and why? And chances are it's going to be very "call to action" type statements. Something that could even be a provocative statement or a question. And then also really really bright colors. That's another thing to add if you're dealing with recipes or any type of food. I've seen a couple of things worked well which is showcasing the ingredients in the pin image somewhere, because then I can look at five o'clock if I'm ready to do dinner, and I can see that I have everything in your image. I'm much more likely to click, and make that meal. Jillian: [00:24:30] Ooh, I like that. Kate: [00:24:30] Or you can really tell me if it's easy, if it's healthy, if it's five ingredients. People on Pinterest love numbers. You're going to do something like twenty five cruise tips. That is amazing. Or you're going to do five ingredient brownies. Those do so well. And making that number pop too in a different color is really good too. Jillian: [00:24:54] That's awesome. Hashtags on Pinterest Kate: [00:24:54] Okay. Hashtags. Hashtags is new. So Pinterest released the use of hashtags in August of this last year, 2017. And that was a big surprise to us all. In fact, it felt a little bit like whiplash. What did you do? Because they were very dead set on it since the beginning. We don't use hashtags. We don't use hashtags. So they released it. And what they did with it was they created what's called the hashtag feed. So that means when you pin something to Pinterest with a hashtag, it goes into this hashtag feed that's run chronologically. So it's very wise for you as a business owner to create your own branded hashtag. So for me, I have the hashtag Simple Pin Podcasts. So when anybody clicks on Simple Pin Podcast, it goes to all of my pins. Then in addition, Pinterest is set up to do 20 hashtags on a description. But I would not go that many yet. I would just do about four to five and then, make it pretty specific. We're not like Instagram here so I would do something like "instant pot" or "instant pot soup" or "easy dinner." So not just "recipe." You don't want to go that route. And then, you don't want to go back and update your pins. That's one thing that's gonna be a waste of time because it's only done when a new pin enters the platform. So if you update with hashtags on your pins, it's not going to automatically funnel over into the chronological feed. It just stays where it is. Jillian: [00:26:33] Right. Right. Kate: [00:26:34] So the only update I would tell people to do is on your top 10 pins that are driving traffic to your site from Pinterest. I would go into your Pinterest description or wherever you want to have Pinterest pull the description from, and I would add hashtags there because people are already sharing once they get to your sites, so that does put the new pins that they're sharing on your behalf into the chronological feed. Jillian: [00:27:01] I love this. I'm like taking copious notes right now. Okay, video on Pinterest. Video on Pinterest Kate: [00:27:08] Video is also new as of this last summer. The only way that you can get access to their native video player is if you run a promoted pin ad, and it's based on views. I have not tested it yet. From what I've heard from other people, it's a little bit expensive. And video, it is being used by the big brands. So if you wanted to throw some money behind it, I would definitely. If you're a food blogger, I would go that route for sure and just set it up or have somebody set it up for you. But beyond that, video's on Pinterest that are just uploaded by YouTube are still a little bit of a speed bump, like people don't quite interact with them yet. Jillian: [00:27:51] Yes. Do you think - Again, as we're talking about niche-ing and that different niches are different, that Pinterest has really wanted to break into video but people have talked to me about it, and said, it makes me uncomfortable to watch video on Pinterest. I want to just be scrolling. It breaks the good vibes. Kate: [00:28:14] Yes, it does. It feels intrusive. Jillian: [00:28:16] Yes. Kate: [00:28:17] Yeah. I would say that's because - So we look at the Big Three which is Pinterest, YouTube and Google, and YouTube owns the space on video. So we are all conditioned that if we want a video, we go to YouTube, right? If we want a quick cooking video that just happens upon our stream, we will tolerate those on Facebook. Kate: [00:28:39] But the best path for video as it relates to Pinterest is still to create that solid pin image and lead them to your site or lead them to YouTube. We have seen some people doing that, and that works fine as long as the pinner knows on the image that they're going to a video. Yeah, if you - you can't interrupt their flow. If we're shocked into something or just it jars us a little bit, then we just were like "What? Where am I? What is going on?" But if you have a pin image with that little play button in the middle, people are more apt to try to push the play button because that's what we're conditioned to do. And then when they get over there, they find what they've expected which is a video. So that's really - I don't know. It'll be interesting to see what Pinterest does in the next year with video but I don't think we're quite there yet where the masses are ready to consume it. Promoted Pins Jillian: [00:29:37] Yes. Okay. One last Pinterest expert question, promoted pins. Who are those good for? Kate: [00:29:46] I think everybody. I definitely would say that promoted pins are continually getting better and better and better as they go along. I believe that an organic strategy is really, really good combined with a promoted pin strategy and that when you do a promoted Pin, you need to have a goal in mind. So we're doing a bunch of promoted pin campaign testing. We're building a promoted pins team like a services team here in Simple Pin. And so we're running a bunch of tests and my goal, because I'm going to use my account as a guinea pig, my goal is email sign ups. I want as many people on my email list is possible because I love talking to them in my email. It's my favorite thing to do. And it's the way that I can hook them in and continue to teach them and then hook them into my Facebook group. I'm not as concerned about course sales or promoting my services because those are two things that take a little bit of time to warm up. So my goal is always, okay, I have this amazing post there, and I'll say it's not an amazing post but it's gotten an amazing amount of traffic from Pinterest, about how to clean up Pinterest boards and it has an opt-in on it. That's the one I'm promoting because I'm getting so much traffic to it that I want to take my promoted pin and give it another 10 to 20 percent boost, just to see how it performs. Jillian: [00:31:10] So then you're sending that pin to a landing page where people can sign up? Kate: [00:31:15] No, it has the landing page built within the post. Jillian: [00:31:18] Okay, so it sends it to a post and then, they read the post and there is a sign up. Kate: [00:31:23] Exactly, it has a good conversion rate on it already. It's about 50 percent. Jillian: [00:31:29] That's terrific. Kate: [00:31:31] Yeah, so we're really trying to funnel as many people towards that. Jillian: [00:31:34] Got it. Okay, because we were experimenting with some promoted pins for MiloTree and what I found was when I just promoted like "Hey, grow your social following especially Pinterest" because again, the idea is I want to advertise on Pinterest that this can help your Pinterest. It was working okay but when I promoted a pin that was an article that was like "How to grow your Pinterest. Here are our top tricks and tips", that did much better by getting people to click when it was "I'm going to give you free content here. Here it is", or which did much better than "Hey, here's just an ad for us. Kate: [00:32:26] Yeah, I would agree. People need to be warmed up for sure. Jillian: [00:32:30] Yep, they need to trust you, and they need to see that there's real value there. Kate: [00:32:35] We have run ads to the landing page just for my Pinterest planner and that's like our big main opt-in. And we found that that hasn't actually converted as well as sending them to the podcast where I talk about it and they can get warmed up. Jillian: [00:32:53] Interesting. Okay. This is the thing I would say: When you do ads, test. Try things and you have to be willing to lose money. That's painful, super painful but it is true that you have to think about the fact that it's like paying for a course that you put some money behind stuff to see how it performs. And then, you try to learn as fast as possible. What is a KPI - key performance indicator? Kate: [00:33:32] Yes exactly. You try to catch up before you lose too much which is not much. It's a good idea. Yeah we were talking about a podcast I just recorded is about KPIs, key performance indicators. Jillian: [00:33:44] Can you just explain what a KPI is? Kate: [00:33:46] Yeah, so a KPI is just that key performance indicator and for Pinterest, the common KPI is our followers, sessions and then saves but we wanted to take it a step further and look. Do we actually know when a user is coming to your site from Pinterest? How much is that user worth or how much is that post making? So we could either want more traffic and spend more time doing that or we could spend some time really being strategic about where people are clicking, and what's making us the most money and try to optimize that. Kate: [00:34:26] And then once we know the cost of a click, then we could put money behind it. And we'd actually know how much we're spending on an ad, that the illustration that my guest gave was you could put a 20-dollar bill into an ATM and get out a 40-dollar bill or you could put in - That's not the best analogy but you could put in two to three cents and get back a dollar. We'd stand there all day, right? Even though it feels painful to lose 50 cents for a lead, they're worth down the line. But if we don't know that, that makes it harder. That's another element of Pinterest marketing that I think is easily forgotten. Because we are caught up in follower's sessions and saves. But a follower or a session doesn't mean anything to us if we don't know the value. Jillian: [00:35:16] Right. If you're not making money from it or you don't know how much because the idea is that you want to figure out where I can spend a dollar but I'm making a dollar fifty. And you know what? If that's the case, then you want to put as much money as you possibly can into that because you will be making money. And that's what I call finding that flywheel where you put money in, but you're getting more money out. And so those are, you know, but there can be a situation where you're putting money in and maybe you're putting in a dollar. So it doesn't feel that bad. But the truth is that it's cost two dollars for a sale even though you're like "Well, I'm just losing a dollar." You know, it's ultimately not making you money. Kate: [00:36:06] Right. Yeah, and it's hard to face some of those numbers. I mean, I will say sitting down and doing a cost analysis of my post sounds like I want to poke my eyeballs out. But once you know it, then you're more empowered to make better decisions than if you didn't know it. So it's kind of like "Do I want to bury my head in the sand or do I really want to know the numbers exactly?" Jillian: [00:36:31] Exactly. And one thing that I think happens with social media is when you get new followers, it feels good. But when you're running a business, it's not about that kind of hit of dopamine. It's about making money, and those can be very different things. Kate: [00:36:55] Yes, drastically. Jillian: [00:36:57] So I know a bunch of people who put a lot of emphasis on Instagram to grow their followers and when I say "Well, why are you growing your followers?" They don't really have a good answer. Kate: [00:37:07] Right. Because that's just the thing we've been taught to do. Jillian: [00:37:09] Exactly. So first of all, I just have to thank you because you have been so supportive of MiloTree. And you really, like way at the beginning, you put us on the map. So I just have to tell you that. Jillian: [00:37:25] And then, what I want to ask you is if you had one piece of advice for people who are starting out, and this can relate to Pinterest or not, what would it be? And maybe something you wish you knew when you were starting. Advice: Don't chase after other people's success Kate: [00:37:44] Well, I think I might have the same answer for both but a slightly different bent. And I think it would be "don't chase other people's successes." Jillian: [00:37:58] I love it. Kate: [00:37:59] Because on Pinterest, I hear it over and over again and that so-and-so has this many sessions or pageviews, so-and-so has this many followers and I want that. And when we go after that, we're distracted away from who our person is, and we're distracted away from our avatar and our focus and our vision. And the same can go for growing a business. I found, for me, probably about, I think it was two and a half years into my business, that I was reading emails from another person who was teaching Pinterest, and listening to a couple of podcasts and when I would do that, it would distract me away from what I was doing and specifically because I am a services based business. Kate: [00:38:48] My main focus is not my courses and their main focus was their courses. And so I felt this kind of push and pull away from "I'm services based and I'm gonna focus on these clients but yeah, all these people are making so much money doing courses and I want to go there," and I finally have this moment, that comparison is the thief of joy, right? So I can't chase their success. I don't have their email list, and I don't have their wiring, and I don't have their personality so I have me and me as a person who does really well in a services-based environment, who does really well with clients and loves that part of it and I have been able to scale it pretty aggressively. And I naturally fit into it, and that is okay. And so I think that would be the biggest piece of advice: "Don't chase other people's success. Chase your own because you are unique, and you have your own strengths and gifts and talents and personality." And I'm not somebody else and their take on Pinterest. I'm not going to focus on certain things and there's certain things I will and will not teach on, and that's fine. Other people are going to teach on those things. But sometimes, it's not for me and I have to be okay with that instead of trying to be all things to all people who want all types of Pinterest marketing. I'm not going to be the expert for somebody who wants a different type of philosophy with Pinterest, and I've finally come to the place where I can say "That's okay." Jillian: [00:40:24] I love it. I completely agree. It's like you have your own special sauce. We all do. And it's how do you figure out what that is and typically, I would say it's two. For me, it's two things. One, does this feel good? Do I leave this happier than when I started? So for example, for me, I'm really enjoying podcasting in a way that I didn't even know I would. So it's like "Ooh, that feels good. I want to continue" and then the other side is "are people responding in a positive way? Are people liking what I'm doing, liking what I'm selling..." So that there's this kind of feedback loop and I feel like if you can find your own feedback loop where people like what you do and you like what you're doing, that is kind of your sweet spot. Kate: [00:41:17] Right. Yeah. Agreed. Jillian: [00:41:19] So now, what about your business are you most excited about? Kate: [00:41:24] I am really excited about a new step that we're taking to teach people how to be a Pinterest account specialist and are certified in a Simple Pin Method. Jillian: [00:41:35] So explain what that is. Kate: [00:41:36] So here at Simple Pin, we do services for Pinterest account management and I have 30 team members that I've trained to be Pinterest account specialists, so I realized that teaching and training how to do this specific skill comes very naturally to me. So we realized we could take that and transfer into helping other people find work at home jobs to be Pinterest account specialists if they needed to supplement their income, or they need to find a full time income. So we took the methods that I've used, the systems that I've had and we created a whole course training as to how you can be a Pinterest account specialist being trained in our method. So we would endorse you as a provider, kind of similar to how like, I don't know, Dave Ramsey has this great method that he does with budgeting, so he endorses people to be like endorse local providers. So that would kind of be similar as to what we're doing is training people on how to do this, and how to grow their Pinterest account specialist business. Jillian: [00:42:40] Oh wow. So if you're a person and you love Pinterest and you want to make money, kind of delving in and then helping others, this is an awesome way to do it. Kate: [00:42:51] Yeah. And there was not anything like that when I was around when I was starting. There was nothing. Jillian: [00:42:56] Well, I have an assistant, and she does all of our Pinterest. And I think it is one of the - like it's her happy place because she gets to go onto Pinterest and find beautiful pins and pin our content. And I really think that when I was explaining that part of the job, I think that she's like "Oh my God. You're going to pay me to hang out on Pinterest all day?" Kate: [00:43:20] Yeah, exactly. That's what most of my account specialists say. They're like "People don't understand what I do. But I love it." Because many of them, they are young moms and they get to stay at home and do this during nap time or in the evening or they have kids who are at school or they even don't have kids, summer in college. I mean, there's a lot of things that they love about it and the freedom to be able to do it whenever it works for them and they're on Pinterest. Jillian: [00:43:45] Exactly. See, I find Pinterest very different than when I'm on Facebook. Pinterest to me is like, and I'd still get this even all these years later, just this feeling of like "Oh, filled with possibilities." Kate: [00:44:00] Pretty, pretty things. Jillian: [00:44:03] You know? It puts me in my happy place. Like "look at all this food." It just makes me happy. Kate: [00:44:10] Me too. Jillian: [00:44:11] So, okay, will you share how people can learn about you, learn more about your services, whatever, you know, so people can connect with you? How Simple Pin Media works Kate: [00:44:21] Yeah. So first of all, Simple Pin is kind of broken up into two parts. One is the services side. So if you are somebody that you've a business blog or you're corporate, whatever it is and you want to just take Pinterest management off your plate, take that chore away, that's what we primarily specialize in, and you can find more about that at simplepinmedia.com. And you can see, there's a services menu at the top and we also offer a variety of onetime services as well, and we do teach and train teams how to do that as well. So if you have a virtual assistant that you still want to do your Pinterest management but you need more support, we'd do that as well. And then there's the DIY side. So I had the Simple Pin Podcast. Jillian: [00:45:03] Which is terrific. Kate: [00:45:05] Thank you. There is I think where one episode I recorded, episode 89 today, so there's quite a bit of information and we try to keep it. The goal is to give you information to make you not feel overwhelmed because there's a lot of things out there that can feel very heady or tricky, or whatever it might be, and we try to stay away from that and just give you the most up to date information as it relates to how they're currently working on the platform. So we have that, and as with the blog too, and you can also find at simplepinmedia.com a free Pinterest planner, a year round planner, that I did in conjunction with TailWind. We partnered together to create one this year. And that has a month by month of what to pin, what to promote, content, planning ideas, tips for the month as it relates to Pinterest and then monthly action items that you can take to keep your business moving forward. Jillian: [00:45:59] Kate, thank you so much for being on the podcast. Kate: [00:46:03] You're so welcome. Jillian: [00:46:05] If you're trying to grow your social media followers on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterestm plus trying to grow your email list, definitely check out MiloTree. It is the smart pop-up you add to your blog or your site, and it asks your visitors to follow you on social media or subscribe to your list. Jillian: [00:46:27] Just a couple of things: It's super easy to add to your site. We offer a WordPress plugin or a simple line of code. It's Google friendly on mobile so you don't have to worry about showing pop-ups on mobile. It's lightning fast. It won't slow your sight down, and you can grow multiple platforms at once. So check it out, milotree.com. We also offer your first 30 days free!

Kate Ahl founded Simple Pin Media as a way to help her blogger friends take one thing off their plate so they could focus on creating great content for their blogs. At the time, she and her husband were living off government assistance and $1000/month. Since that cannot sustain a family of five long term, Kate also started Simple Pin with the hope that it would provide financial support for her family. Four years, 100 management clients and over 400 accounts later, Kate and her team know a whole heck-of-a-lot about Pinterest, such as how to effectively market on Pinterest organically! Kate has built a successful team and, in addition to running Simple Pin Media, she provides social media management coaching and speaks on Pinterest marketing at events, including the Build Your Blog Conference, Indulge and Blended, SNAP, Social Media Marketing World, Activate and Everything Food. Kate and her husband are passionate about running their businesses so they can be free to do things that have a positive impact on their community. Kate runs Simple Pin out of her She Shed in the garden. She even has a Pinterest board devoted to She Shed ideas. Kate says it's peaceful to work from home when you're balancing the needs of three kids and a foster baby with running your own businesses. Her children have no idea what it means for their parents to work traditional jobs and are constantly asking why they work all the time. (They only work 30 hours a week!) Kate likes sparkly drinks, fine cheese, and great friends. She believes in cultivating her offline community as well as her online community because it helps her to keep focused and grounded. She writes, "Someone has to help me ‘call my crazy’ sometimes and allow me to watch how they use Pinterest."

Tina, Simple Pin's creative director, tells us all about how to a/b test images on Pinterest.

Today I'm sharing with you all the tips I have for growing a team and the reason why I grew my team.

Simple Pin's first beta tester of the master course shares her results and what's happened with her blog a year later.

What can you expect when you attempt to grow your blog in a small niche on Pinterest? A Simple Pin reader and I talk about the benefits of being small and how she is making money and growing her email list.

I'm talking today about the top 3 metrics we pay attention to at Simple Pin to evaluate our Pinterest marketing efforts.

Here are the top Simple Pin podcasts of 2016. They were chosen based on downloads, value and feedback from you, the listener.

It's the arrival of the Simple Pin 2017 Ultimate Pinterest Planner. We're talking about why we created it, what's inside and some special bonus downloads.

How I started Simple Pin, pitfalls along the way and how it's grown to over 50 clients in just 3 years.

All about what you can expect from the podcast and upcoming episodes.