It can be hard to figure out where you’re getting the most bang for your buck on Pinterest. We all struggle with this! We pour over the Pinterest Analytics, but they’re so scattered that it’s not always possible to get a birds-eye view of what’s going on. Google Analytics is great, but most of the time, with so many people clicking over from mobile, you can’t actually see the Full Referrer details to know which Pin is sending the traffic.
So should we just give up? NO! All’s not lost; there’s a secret weapon out there to help figure out what’s REALLY working in your Pinterest marketing. Bonus: It can do a lot more than just Pinterest, even though that’s what we’re going to talk about today. 😉
What is this mystery tool, you ask? It’s called RocketLink and it’s here to blast you into Pinterest success.
Ready to get more from your Pinterest marketing?
There’s a lot to be said for Pinterest marketing. It’s one of the only platforms where posts can live beyond the day they’re published. It can also be one of the platforms with the highest bounce rate when people do click over to your website, though, so you need to be able to maximize the return on your Pinterest marketing efforts. That’s where RocketLink comes in.
How does RocketLink help with Pinterest marketing?
Well, first things first, let’s talk about what RocketLink is. Long story short: it’s a tool that allows you to retarget people who click a link, not just those who visit your own site. That means that it’s great for affiliate marketing, but that’s another post for another day. Right now, I’ll show you how the features that make it great for affiliate marketing can also make RocketLink great for tracking your Pinterest success! Here’s how it works:
1 | Create at least 3 different Pinterest graphics
This is key for this Pinterest marketing strategy: You need multiple Pinterest graphics to test against each other. You want to see how different combinations of graphics and Pinterest descriptions work together to create your perfect Pin. I recommend using Tasty Pins to hide multiple Pinterest graphics in your blog post or website page so that people have different options to Pin from your site. This also makes it easier for you to Pin your own content without having to create a Pin from scratch!
When I’m creating my Pinterest graphics, I usually make five different graphics. I use RelayThat and Design Wizard to speed up the design process so that it doesn’t take all day, too. Once you have your graphics ready to go and added to your blog post or website page, you can hop into RocketLink and get started with the fun stuff!
2 | Create the cloaked URL in RocketLink
Once you log into RocketLink, you’ll go to the Links page to create your link. Click the New Link button and paste in the URL that you want to create a Pin for. Name it something relevant (include the version in the name, e.g. “Instagram Hashtag Finder post V2″), then add the UTM parameters. A quick glossary of the different UTM terms:
- Campaign: where you enter the title of the campaign, if relevant. I usually leave this blank
- Medium: what type of traffic this is. In the case of Pinterest, this would be “referral”
- Source: where the traffic is coming from, e.g. pinterest.com (If you’re unsure what to use here, go into your Google Analytics reports and see what the source is for Pinterest)
- Content: where the version goes, e.g. V2
- Term: you can leave this one blank
Next, select the domain you want to use. I recommend creating a subdomain of your main site domain for this. I use link.thecelab.com for mine. This way, it’ll still show up if you look for Pins from your domain, but it’ll track separately in RocketLink. You’ll need to hook your new subdomain up to RocketLink, so make sure that’s set up properly before sharing your new URL.
Save your new link and change the slug (the part after the / in the URL) by clicking on it in the links dashboard and making it something that makes sense (e.g. InstagramHashtags2), then copy it and let’s hop back over to your site!
3 | Save the Pin from your site and change the URL
Once you save your new Pin, click the See It Now button that’ll pop up in the preview window and edit the Pin. Paste in the RocketLink URL you just copied and save your Pin. You’ll probably need to refresh the page before it’ll show up with the new URL.
The one downside is this method doesn’t work for new Pins made directly from your site, so if anyone else Pins your content or products from your website, it won’t show the RocketLink URL. It still gives you a better idea than nothing, though! The upside of this method, though, is that each Pin with a different URL will show up as a new Pin, which improves your reach (Pinterest likes new content). It also means that if you share your new Pin somewhere like a Tailwind Tribe, it’ll show up as a new Pin there too and people will be more likely to reshare it!
That’s it – that’s really all you have to do to see more information about your Pinterest marketing statistics. Now let’s talk about how to use the data you’ll gather…
Using your Pinterest marketing statistics to improve ROI
Okay, so now that you’re using RocketLink and getting all sorts of great data about your Pinterest marketing… what do you do with it? Well, there’s a lot there, actually!
For starters, you can use your new cloaked links to see which versions of your Pinterest graphics are doing the best. (Side note: your cloaked URL is the ‘pretty’ link you created in RocketLink that still shows where the link leads to while still being from your domain.) Check out your RocketLink statistics by searching the keyword for the blog post you want to look at and see which link is getting the most clicks. Make sure to note when the link was created when comparing stats, too; a link created and shared a week ago is, of course, less likely to have more clicks than a link created and shared a month ago. Then again, if the link created a week ago is outperforming the link created a month ago, you’re probably onto something with that version!
Within your RocketLink statistics, you can see exactly where in the world people are clicking from, what device they’re on, and even what browser they’re using! This can be incredibly useful when it comes to optimizing your graphics and your website to display better on these devices and browsers. You may even find that there’s a particular area of the world where you’re getting a lot of clicks and leads you to discover a whole new market for your products or services!
You can also add additional tracking with Facebook Pixels and Google Analytics through RocketLink. This means that if you’re tracking links that DON’T go to your own website (e.g. direct affiliate links), you can still get the statistics on how many clicks you get versus conversions and even put ads in front of those who click but don’t buy immediately to increase your affiliate conversions.
You’re now on your way to getting the data you need to get the most from your Pinterest marketing! Using RocketLink and your Pinterest analytics, you can improve your Pinterest marketing results and use them to grow your business.
Leave a comment with your thoughts about getting the most from Pinterest marketing! Here are a few ideas:
Have you used this method before? How has it helped your Pinterest marketing?
What questions do you have about this Pinterest marketing tip?
What other tips do you have for your fellow creative entrepreneurs when it comes to Pinterest marketing?
