In the ever-changing world of social media, the main platforms continually vie for the greatest share of our time and money, evolving new ways to help us maximize our businesses and earning potential. As any self-respecting blogger or marketer will know, one of the key players in recent years has been Pinterest, whose website tagline ‘Find new ideas to try’ captures this concept perfectly. “Oft-touted as the ‘second-largest search engine after Google’ (though YouTube may have something to say about that), the simplicity of Pinterest has seen marketers, bloggers, and small business owners scramble to generate traffic for their websites and swell their mailing lists using its delightfully uncomplicated process of sharing images on their pin-boards,” explains Tom B. Kelley, social media expert at LastMinuteWriting and Researchpapersuk.

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Whether a Pinterest newbie or a marketer looking for fresh ideas, we’ve narrowed down the Top-8 FREE marketing tools available to help you increase your followers and grow your business or blog.

Pinterest’s In-House Tools

Pinterest supplies some great free tools which are at your fingertips as soon as you open your account at Pinterest:

1. An obvious starting point is the Widget Builder where you can add a Pinterest button to your website or blog, allowing people to follow you on Pinterest directly from your site and (perhaps more crucially) view your content within their own feed. We strongly recommend a ‘Pin It’ button which means they can save your content directly to their own pinboard – critical for spreading your message far beyond your own network.
2. A Rich Pin allows you to embed your content with important additional data such as contact details (ideal for a restaurant), a product price and web-link (for conversion to a direct sale) or even the details of a film.

Grow Your Followers and keep them!

Use these tools to tailor your posts specifically to your audience and watch your readers and followers grow.

1. PinGroupie helps you to quickly reach a crowd of new, like-minded users by searching for Group Boards and contributing to the discussion, immediately pushing your brand or message to a wider audience.
2. Woobox allows you to add a copy of your Pinterest pin-board to your Facebook page; a useful tool for facilitating cross-pollination from your other social media followers. If someone is already interested in your product, help them spread the news further!
3. Keep your audience engaged with Pinterest’s in-built Analytics by understanding their behavior and interests. You can then adapt your content accordingly and refine your overall strategy.

Create the content, spread the word

There are countless design tools at your fingertips online, and here are three of our favorites.

1. Canva has been a social media staple for some time now, offering fantastic templates and tutorials for all of the networks, including Pinterest. “As someone who has always found content creation using words far easier than images, my introduction to Canva was a game-changing moment in my blogging history! Create a free account and choose from the customizable designs available at the perfect-for-pinning aspect ratio of 2:3,” suggests Hana K. Morrison, web designer at Draft Beyond and Writinity.
2. Starting off as a simple ‘Text-over-Image’ app Over has evolved into a complete design application with users from around the globe supporting their vision to ‘inspire the World to create.’ Download the app to get started or visit their website for details of beautiful content you can customize in a moment.
3. A final fun and simple idea, Quozio is perfect for inspiring your followers with a quick and easy Pinterest post, direct from the website. Choose your motivational quote (or create your own!), name the author or speaker and click ‘GO’ – before choosing which custom background or image you’d like to superimpose your quote over. There’s even a built-in ‘Pin It’ button waiting for you, enabling you to post directly to your pin-board!

This list is by no means exhaustive, but a collection of apps and sites which are proven to enhance your journey with Pinterest as you increase your followers, pushing the message of your blog far and wide. If you feel that we’ve missed something out, please let us know in the comments below!

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