With the launch of their redesign, a new number appeared at the top of our Pinterest profiles. And since I had a Dare to Grow member ask about it recently, I thought I’d share what I discovered about Pinterest Monthly Viewers here as well.
During our last group coaching session she asked what was a good target number for monthly viewers on Pinterest. And so I hopped over to Pinterest, did some digging and a few calculations, and came up with a short and sweet answer: It’s a vanity stat, don’t worry about it.
I’ll explain why below. But first, a screenshot if you’re not sure what number I’m referring to.
It really does seem like that number is important, right? Why else would Pinterest put it at the top of our profiles? Why would blogging + business coaches brag about how much their monthly views have grown??
Because it looks good + sounds good, that’s why.
If I tell you I have 737.4k monthly viewers on Pinterest it sounds pretty impressive right? Unfortunately 737.4k monthly viewers DOES NOT translate into 737.4k visits to my website, or email subscribers, and definitely not 737.4k monthly purchases.
When I did the math on a bunch of profiles (some with a few thousand followers, some with over a million, and lots of profiles in between), the stats were all over the place. Some profiles had 3 monthly views per follower, some had 30, and some had over 300.
The thing is – it doesn’t really matter. Followers are not the most important part of growing your blog traffic with Pinterest clickable, sharable content is. Yes, your followers will be the first to see your pins and help let Pinterest know whether your posts are valuable. But because of the smart feed, you can get a ton of monthly views and tons of traffic to your site without a ton of followers.
So why doesn’t Pinterest monthly viewers matter that much?
It’s because average monthly viewers is the number of people who SEE your pins, but don’t necessarily interact. After a few years on Pinterest I’ve seen thousands and thousands of pins that I have promptly forgotten the second I scroll past them. Simply seeing a pin is fairly worthless.
I’m not concerned with how many people are seeing my pins if they aren’t clicking or sharing them. I want ACTION for all my work creating posts and time spent pinning. I want people sharing my content and taking their buns over to my blog.
What stats should you be looking at instead?
Instead of tracking Pinterest monthly views, check Google / WordPress / Squarespace analytics to see how much traffic is coming from Pinterest. Because if people are SEEING your pins but NOT CLICKING on or sharing them, then your Pinterest strategy isn’t working.
While it’s tempting to check other blogger’s stats and trying to figure out how to hit their numbers, I recommend focusing on testing pinning strategies and looking to improve your own traffic / sales / new clients week after week. If those numbers are growing then you’re definitely on the right track!
If your blog traffic could use a boost from Pinterest, you know I’ve got your back! Pinterest Powerhouse is OPEN NOW and has all the info on what to pin (blog titles + image designs that work best), when to pin, and how to pin so it only takes 10 minutes/WEEK. Click here to check out the course or watch my FREE Pinterest training if you haven’t gotten started at all!
