Are you new to Tailwind or considering trying it out? I’ve been using it for a while now and it’s a massive help for the work I’m doing on Pinterest. One of the single best reasons for using it is Tailwind Communities, which is an extremely powerful tool to have in your kit-box! This post is my personal take on Tailwind Communities for bloggers who are perhaps new to Tailwind.
However it will also be useful for those considering giving Tailwind a trial… you won’t be sorry!
What is Tailwind?
Just in case you’ve never heard of Tailwind, here’s a quick summary.
Tailwind is a tool to help you schedule your Pinterest pins. However, this is dumbing it down somewhat as it does a whole lot more. In short, it also offers:
- Smart scheduling to submit your pins to Pinterest at the most optimal times.
- Tailwind SmartGuide… to help avoid Pinterest account suspension.
- SmartLoop for repinning seasonal or popular pins.
- Pin analytics to help you understand your pin engagement.
- Tailwind Communities… what Pinterest Group Boards should really be!
I won’t go into much more depth here, since I cover it pretty extensively in my Tailwind review… read the post link below.
Want to Really See a Difference on Pinterest?
Check out my review of Tailwind App for Pinterest.. a tool to super-charge ALL your Pinterest activity!
What are Tailwind Communities?
Tailwind Communities are like clubs really. They are groups of Tailwind users, usually organized around a topic or niche, in a similar way to Pinterest group Boards.
However, Tailwind Communities differ from Pinterest Groups because they are pretty open. Once you sign up to Tailwind, you can peruse the thousands of Communities available, and literally just click a button to join most of them.
Unlike requesting to join a Pinterest Group Board, you don’t have to:
- Follow Pinterest accounts or boards.
- Follow Instagram accounts.
- Send DM or email requests.
- Wait for months to get approval.
And that’s assuming you ever hear anything back at all!
When you’ve joined a Community, you can share your pins to it and if your fellow members like them, they’ll share them to their Pinterest boards.
Simple.
Of course it’s not all one way, because Tailwind Communities are all about sharing. Most Communities require you to share a certain number of pins for every pin you make available to your Community cohort… and that’s a good thing in my book.
The ability to put your pins in front of thousands of Community members all eager be shared themselves is the best thing about Tailwind Communities… and if you play the game right, Tribes can help to make your pins enjoy more reach and engagement.
Tailwind Communities for Bloggers… Do’s and Don’ts
As I referenced above, I’ve been using Tailwind for some time now and have learned a few things about Tailwind Communities. To begin with I definitely didn’t use Communities correctly, or rather I didn’t use them in an optimal way.
The tips below come from what I’ve learned and are specifically a guide to Tailwind Communities for bloggers in the position I was when I began using it.
I’ll be upfront and say that I’m still learning new things all the time and I know I’ll have some other nuggets to add to this post in due course.
For now though, the following tips might help you leapfrog some of the learning that I went through manually. Hopefully this’ll help you benefit from Tailwind Communities earlier than I did!
Here we go…
1. Look for Communities Relevant to Your Blogging Niche
Joining a Community where the members share pins to all kinds of niches are not useful to you. If you don’t share the same niche interest as the other Community members your pins simply won’t get repinned.
Why would they?
Let’s say you blog about martial arts. If you join a Community primarily based around vegan food recipes, it’s unlikely your pins will be shared by the Community members.
Look for Communities closely related to your niche and you’ll stand a far better chance of getting your pins shared.
2. Check Out the Community’s Activity Before Joining
Before you join take a look at the Community to see if it’s members are active.
If there’s not much activity in a Community you’ll be pissing in the wind… an inactive Community is not likely to share your pins so you’re better joining another with higher activity.
3. Don’t Join Communities With Too Many Members
Communities with a smaller members are likely to see your pins more easily. If you join an active Community with 2,000 members, a lot of people are likely to be sharing pins to it.
If you’re sharing a only handful of pins every day, they will be completely diluted by the thousands of other pins shared at the same time.
The sweet spot is finding very active Communities with fewer members, say 300-400 hundred. This will give your pins a much better chance of being seen and shared to Pinterest.
4. Follow the Rules
Communities have rules, which you must follow.
Most Tailwind Communities are explicit about their rules. You have to share to the specified ratio of your pins to Community member pins and don’t be spammy.
If you break Community rules you’ll be ejected from it, so stay on the right side of the line!
5. Hide Community Pins You’ve Already Shared
To make life easier when you’re looking for Community member pins to share, hide pins you’ve already scheduled and shared previously to your Pinterest boards.
It doesn’t hurt to occasionally share something you’ve pinned before, but you don’t want to bore your Pinterest followers to often with the same content.
Hiding pins you’ve previously scheduled from a Community ensures you avoid this.
6. Be Generous in Sharing the Pins of Others
Don’t be greedy!
Being a good Community member means sharing the pins of your fellow members. Generously sharing other Tribe member pins shows you’re a gracious person and may result in people repaying the favor.
Don’t try to get around this because you’ll only end up hurting yourself.
7. Share Your Own Pins Regularly
Just as you must regularly share pins in Pinterest, you need to add lots of pins to your Community.
Offering up only a few pins here and there can mean your pins get lost in the mix. Adding fresh pins as often as you can, in line with required Community pinning ratio, means you’re more likely to get them shared.
8. Be Thankful!
Whenever a Community member shares one of your pins… say thanks!
I think this is a great way to makes yourself stand out from the crowd. In my experience, most Community members don’t message you to say thanks when I share their pins.
I don’t mind that at all… because saying thank you makes me just that little bit different. Perhaps the people I thank will remember me at some point because of it.
You don’t need to over-egg it and gush every time someone shares a pin of yours, but a simple thank you is nice!
9. Share Your Pins to the Community at Different Times
The time when you submit your pins to a Community has a significant bearing on the engagement they get.
If you share your pins when your Community mates are offline they can drop down the available pins list when others come online and begin sharing theirs.
In general I tend to submit my pins with an eye on early evenings in North America. This for me seems to get more eyes on the pins I share.
However, the best thing to do is to test what works for you since there is a sweet spot where the pins you share to your Tailwind Communities will tend to be seen more.
10. Stagger Your Pins Across Your Communities
Another thing that seems to work better for me is not to pin all your pins across all the Communities you belong to in one session. This seems to give them longevity.
For example, let’s say you have 4 pins to share and you belong to 4 Communities. On one day you might post your first 2 pins to Communities 1 & 2 and your last 2 pins to Communities 3 & 4.
The next evening you might switch them, so that over two nights you’ve shared all of the 4 pins to all of the 4 Communities you belong to.
For me this seems to get me more engagement, as opposed to pushing the same 2 posts to all Communities on consecutive evenings.
11. Don’t Waste Pins in a Community That Doesn’t Work
Sometimes you’ll join a Community that looks to be a perfect fit:
- Relevant niche.
- High activity.
- Optimal member count.
However, even Communities that look perfect on paper don’t work out.
If you’re producing high-quality pins and they’re not being shared, don’t keep flogging a dead horse. A Community that doesn’t share your pins is not worth wasting time on.
Stop sharing Pins to any Community that doesn’t work for you and look for others that work better.
12. Take Advantage of Power Ups
You can sign up for a FREE Tailwind Trial and enjoy all Tailwind features for free while. You’ll be able to schedule up to 100 Pins on Pinterest and join 5 Tailwind Communities. There is no time expiry on your trial, which is really useful.
If you decide to pay for a subscription (around $10 per month), you can join 5 Tailwind Communities and submit 30 pins to them. This is great for getting started, but to really make gains in Communities you’ll need to purchase “Power Ups”.
Power Ups are basically increasing your subscription level so you can join more Communities (from 100 up to an unlimited amount) and submit more pins to them.
If you’re serious about making Tailwind work for you, I’d recommend powering up to at least 200 Community submissions a month.
In my experience, the more pins you can share to Communities, the more engagement you will get and for me the increased subscription is worth it for the difference in engagement you’ll enjoy.
There are 3 Power Up monthly packages:
I’d recommend taking the FREE Tailwind Trial to get used to it, then move up to the basic package to get into a rhythm for a month or so.
After that I’d jump up to Communities Max or Communities Elite to give yourself a sufficient number of monthly submissions that will make a difference to the shares you’ll get.
But that’s just me!
Summary
Tailwind Communities for me are the single best reason for subscribing to Tailwind, but you do need a decent number of submissions in your plan to give yourself a greater chance of Community members sharing your pins.
In terms of a summary, here are my 12 Tailwind Community tips for bloggers looking to increase their Pinterest engagement:
- Join Communities relevant to your blogging niche.
- Check out how active a Community is before joining.
- Don’t join Communities with too many members.
- Follow the rules.
- Hide Community pins you’ve already shared.
- Be generous in sharing the pins of others
- Share your own pins regularly.
- Say thanks to everyone who shares your pins.
- Share your pins to the Community at different times to find the best time for engagement.
- Stagger your pins across your Communities.
- Don’t remain in a Community that doesn’t work for you.
- Higher subscriptions are better since they enable you to share more pins to Communities.
That’s all for now!
Paul
Are you new to Tailwind and struggling with Communities. Or perhaps you have some of your own Tailwind Communities tips for fellow bloggers? Drop me a comment below and let’s discuss it!
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