It's funny the ideas that can come to you whilst tidying the kitchen.
I was listening to Lucy's podcast, What She said, at the weekend and Lucy mentioned (in this episode) how Pinterest drove traffic to her blog - but only to a small number of her 'helpful' posts. She said, 'there isn't a nice group board for random, oversharing-type posts'.
And I understood exactly what she meant. Pinterest is often the place where you share travel tips, or chicken-keeping tips, or social media marketing tips - posts that people actively search for to answer a question they have.
But, maybe, we could use it as a place to collect and share beautiful, thoughtful blog reads, too? I mean, how-to posts have their place - I've written some myself - but sometimes you just want to read without your brain starting to whir into action.
When I went off on a tangent earlier this year and began 'niching' my blog my Pinterest took a battering. I deleted boards that focused on the seasons, boards on chicken and duck keeping, boards on baking and preserving. What was I thinking?!
Well, in answer to my own question, I was thinking about the audience I wanted to attract with my social media marketing business and therefore only pinned information relating to that. It was a dry Pinterest profile. I was bored by it and stopped visiting.
Then I took a hard look at myself and decided to stop niching my blog.
Now I've had my re-think about what I'm doing and I'm delightfully cracking on with it I was wondering what to do with my Pinterest profile. So, yesterday I deleted loads of the boards I'd created earlier this year all relating to social media marketing. Gradually I'll start building my boards back up. And I stopped following lots of people who only pin on those subjects. Thanks to something called 'looping' I often see the same pins all the time. There's nothing new or fresh.
In my feed there was no interesting writing, no beautiful blog posts or stories. Nothing to make me click and read.
Sometimes I want to be entertained with words. To read something beautiful. Something heartfelt.
And, thanks to algorithms, I'm finding it harder and harder to find blog posts I like to read. Those that fill me with emotion, that take me on a personal journey, that inspire or invigorate. Often with beautiful, wistful, photography, too.
A few months ago I asked for your blog recommendations and found some lovely blogs to read. But how could I share the posts that stood out for me? Those that resonated?
One way could be to pin them to Pinterest. And anyone following that board has a constant supply of blog posts to read.
But then I thought - why not make it a group board.
So I've created a group board called ONLINE STORIES WITH HEART. A place where bloggers can pin their own personal posts as well as those of others that they've enjoyed.
This is how I've described it on Pinterest:
A group board to share fiction or non-fiction writing from our blogs. We pin personal blog posts that take the reader on a journey. [THIS IS NOT A BOARD FOR 'HOW TO' POSTS OR RECIPES! Just lovely writing with lovely photography.]To be added to this board please contact me via my blog abookishbaker.com. Pin your own posts plus those of others.
If you would like to join (and I hope you do!) then please contact me on Pinterest or by commenting below with your Pinterest name.
There are no hard and fast rules but if you want to join your blog should have (your own) beautiful and pinnable images along with heartfelt writing.
If you enjoy a blog post you've read think about re-sharing on Pinterest, Twitter, your Facebook page - anywhere you like. Let's help each other get our writing read.
