Why Should You Tidy Up an Old Pinterest Account?

I sometimes use affiliate links in content. This doesn’t cost you anything but I may make a commission payment from anything you buy through these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All opinions remain my own.

Did you start out using Pinterest as a fun thing?  You pinned kitchens you loved, dream holiday destinations, maybe the new hairstyle you wanted to get?  But it never entered your head that this fun tool could help your business. 

Now, a way down the line you have your own business, and everyone is telling you that Pinterest is a top source of traffic to it (which is very true) but what do you do with your old Pinterest account?

Delete it?  Ignore it and start a new one?  Or how about tidying up that old Pinterest account?  Let’s take a look at option three.

Why you need a Pinterest business account

One of the first things to do when you tidy up an old Pinterest account is to make sure it is a business account.  There are two reasons for this.

First is that it is in Pinterest’s Terms of Service that you have to have a business account when you are a business.  And yes, even if you are a blogger who isn’t making any money yet or have a business that has yet to see a penny in profit, you are still a business.  You are promoting something you have created or offer, and this makes you a business.  Plus Pinterest doesn’t look down on business accounts so there’s no reason not to.

Reason two is that you get access to analytics when you have a business account.  These are crucial for understanding what works, for building a strategy and all of that fun stuff.  So once you have set your account to be a business account, you can connect your website and start to see all those fascinating numbers.

Why it is worth making over an existing account

There’s no right or wrong answer to the question of whether you should makeover an old account or simply set up a new one.  But let’s take a look at why you might want to give some love to your existing account.

Already have some followers

If you have followers on your account, then you have a potential audience.  Now, okay, they might not be your ideal audience.  Maybe you pinned a lot of stuff about kitchen renovations, but your new blog is about affiliate marketing. 

But there’s a chance that some of those kitchen people are also bloggers and want to pin your affiliate marketing pins.  If not, they may stop following you and that’s okay.

Already have some boards and pins

Again, if you already have boards and stuff pinned to them, then you aren’t starting from scratch.  In my experience, it takes around three months of consistent pinning and activity to start to see results from Pinterest on an existing account with some kind of previous activity. 

It takes a bit longer with a brand new account with no history at all.  Because some of those pins you have are likely successful – that’s why you saw them and pinned them.  That can boost your overall account.

You can easily make off-topic boards secret

Lots of people think they need to start over because they have loads of off-topic boards.  But there are ways to deal with them, so you don’t delete them and can still see the content yourself if you want to.  

One is to make them secret then the other is to archive them.  Both still show at the bottom of your boards list on your account and you can later change their status.  Plus repins from those boards stay out there, earning your Pinterest credit.

How to do an account makeover

If you decide that doing a makeover for your old account is the way to go, then here are the areas I look at when I do one for a customer.  Some of these might not need actioning but it is a good idea to review them.

Look at the name and bio on account

You probably just had your own name on there before, but it is worth changing this to your blog or business name.  Your name will also show along with your website.  For your bio, get those keywords in to help Pinterest show you to the right people.

Look at all of the boards – will you pin to them?

As mentioned above, you probably have loads of stuff that you pinned because you liked it but that doesn’t have any relevance to your business.  If you know you won’t pin to them about your business, make the boards secret.

Look at the boards you are keeping – is there lots of off-topic or poor quality pins?

Another way of looking at them is if the board is off-topic or has lots of poor quality pins in it – because that’s isn’t something you think about when pinning for fun.  Blog topics are a good way to find what kind of boards you will pin about and work out from there.  Think about each board and if it is relevant to your audience.  If not, make it secret or archive it.

Check board descriptions

Few of us bother with board descriptions when we pin for fun, but it is super important for a business account.  You want a description of the board including main keywords so that the board will show up in searches.

Start making new boards around categories on your blog or business areas

If you have categories on your blog, products you sell or services you offer, you will likely want to make boards around these topics and start adding good quality pins to them.

Start creating new pins with keyword rich descriptions linking to your website

With your website connected to your Pinterest account, you can start adding pins that connect to posts or pages there.  Remember to write good keyword rich descriptions that sell the post or topic a little, make people want to click and tell Pinterest what the content is about with those keywords.

Start following people in your niche

You may have followed people before but now start looking for people in your niche.  This helps you find quality content to pin and they may return the favour, spreading your content across new accounts. 

Also, think about unfollowing random people not in your niche as there’s less chance they will pin your stuff.

Get the help you need

There is a bit of work needed to spruce up an old Pinterest account and make it ready to be business-purposeful.  But there are also good reasons to do it.  If you are feeling a bit lost about starting with it, check out my Pinterest for Beginners Quick Start Kit to help!