In recent weeks Simple Pin Media’s founder, Kate, sent an email newsletter that seemed to have hit on a huge struggle for many marketers right now. This email elicited much more response than any email we’ve sent in a long time. So we’re hoping that by addressing it here, we can encourage you that business may be hard right now, but it won’t be like this forever.
Navigating Change In the Online World
The email Kate sent focused on our Simple Pin audience, how we continue to serve you, and how we lean into becoming teachers of Pinterest marketing. We’ve been at it for 10 years, but over the last two years we’ve felt like we’ve barely been keeping our heads above water. At times we have struggled to know which direction to go when it comes to our marketing. As Kate wrote this email, she shared about her reflection on artificial intelligence, how things in business are shifting so much due to the drastic changes in technology, and her feelings of frustration with where her business was at.
She has been wrestling with the question of “where does our business fit in the next era of business?” As she has spent time thinking about this, the word serve came to her. She felt challenged to keep her audience in front of her; to keep the people who want to know about these things in front of her. They’re the ones listening and are desperate for somebody to give them direction.
There are so many ways to do the same thing. We see someone doing one thing, and someone else doing something completely different, and then 10 other people doing things 10 other different ways. It feels a lot like we’re guessing at what works and doesn’t. It can become so overwhelming, and hard to know where to put our time.
As Kate reflected on this word, serve, she was reminded that people still want humans. AI is not what everyone wants or needs. In fact, there are a lot of times where it’s wrong. There is still a place for trusted teachers and businesses online. Sure, we probably aren’t going to reach as many people. The reach on Instagram, Pinterest, and Google has all gone down. But, that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth our time. Remember, there are people on the other side of the search that are looking for what you have to offer.
Related: How To Leverage AI for SEO
KNow YOUr Why
If you’re someone who has lost hope in Pinterest, we encourage you to think about opening that door again. When it comes to getting back into Pinterest marketing, here’s what Kate shares works for her…
Know your why. You must resonate with why you are doing it, and it can’t be because someone told you to.
Determine what the people on Pinterest need from you. Think about the person searching for what you’re creating.
Decide what your metrics will be. Take a look at your analytics and determine what is important for you to track. What’s important for your business?
From there, quiet all the noise from other businesses, lean into what your focus is, and just start.
Find What Works For You
Trust us, you’re not missing anything. You’re probably not doing anything wrong; it’s more likely that something simply isn’t working for your business.
Some of you might be frustrated with Pinterest. Or Instagram. Or Google. Our advice is to think critically about how the different platforms benefit your business. Ask yourself what each platform can do for you, and if your efforts are resulting in the outcome you want. Then determine what’s your best fit.
As a company, we recently made the decision to cut back our time on Instagram. We looked at how many hours we were spending over there versus how many clicks we were getting, and ultimately decided it was no longer worth it to keep fighting the race. We’re still using it as an awareness builder, but we aren’t playing the algorithm game over there anymore. It was no longer serving our end goal here at Simple Pin Media, which is connection. It was a hard choice to make, but one we think will ultimately benefit us in the long run.
We found that Instagram wasn’t serving us the way we needed it to, so we scaled back. It’s all about finding the things that do and don’t work for your business. Those things will look different for different businesses so it’s important to focus on finding what works for you.
Business is hard right now. It just is. We never want to make anybody feel bad about jumping ship or making a different decision. But there are people out there that want what you have, whether it’s a product or a piece of content. Sure, AI can probably speed up the time of writing, but it can never replace a human. So keep that in mind when you begin to feel like things are hopeless. They aren’t hopeless; they just look different, and we’re all having to adapt.
More Pinterest Marketing Resources:
Listen on Spotify: Overcoming Failure… An Agency Talk
Listen on Apple Podcasts: Overcoming Failure… An Agency Talk
