In the past month I have been asked quite a bit how I've grown my following on Pinterest, so I thought I would write a post sharing some simple tips based on my experience. First, I can honestly say I don't have a strategy in place other than I really focus on pinning things that ONLY fall in line with my personal brand. What do I mean by that? I only pin things that I REALLY love - that I would actually make or buy or own or say or do. I don't pin stuff that just sounds cool or that I think would get a lot of repins. That is the golden rule.

Some other simple tips are...

1. Pin every day. It's just like blogging. You have to keep your content fresh and use the tool every day to interact with your followers and get new ones.

2. Content is king. Again, it's just like a blog. New and original content is more likely going to catch someone's eye than the same image that has been repinned a bagillion times by people. 80% of the content on pinterest is made up on repins. Try to be the 20%.

3. Vertical images are more noticeable than horizontal.

4. People LOVE recipes and home decor!

5. Don't use silly phrases to label your boards. Just say exactly what the board is about.

6. When putting in a description don't write an essay. Just write exactly what it is, how much it costs and where it is from. It's more searchable that way. SO many people use Pinterest as an image search tool, so make your pins easier to find and you could end up with more followers.

7. Take time to edit your board covers. Make sure they are great representations of what your board is about and eye-catching images.

Continue to enjoy Pinterest as for what it is intended - a way to catalog things you love. Don't focus on numbers. Just have fun and enjoy it!