Thursday Press #145: are you a control freak like me?
[15 AUG 2024]
It’s not like I actually want anyone to risk their life just so I can drive home in the middle of a flash flood warning…
But every time I see the flash of lightning out the window and the 20-minute countdown restarts, I’m thiiiiis 🤏 much closer to jumping out the exit row just to get the hell off this plane.
Dramatic, I know.
But when you’re on hour 2 of sitting on the tarmac and hour 12 of a chaotic travel day from hell, you start considering some drastic action.
Last week, my travel drama was considerably lower stakes
Oh if only Sarah from last Thursday knew what the world had in store for her…
It turns out stuffing my arguably not-carry-on-size duffle bag was actually the BEST decision I could’ve made during my vacation to Cape Cod.
Because when American Airlines canceled my connection to Raleigh right before I took off from Hyannis, I was able to book an evening flight to nearby Greensboro without wondering or worrying where my luggage would end up.
Actually, let’s hold for a moment.
I’m gliding straight into the silver linings of this story and I would like some recognition for the absolute FUCKERY going on, okay?!
What was supposed to happen:
I’d fly out of Hyannis at 12:53, have a 2.5 hour layover in LaGuardia, and get into Raleigh at a little past 6 pm
Easy breezy covergirl.
But noOoOoOoOo… Miss Debby, the tropical storm making her way up the mid-Atlantic, had other ideas
The first shoe to drop:
Oh and guess what, there aren’t any more flights until MONDAY.
Okay, fine, let me see where I can fly in to and then drive home from.
7 pm Delta flight to Greensboro? 1 hour drive home? Hell yeah brother. Panic resolved.
…
But then the second shoe dropped:
Okay, okay, mildly panicking now, because the rental car place closes at midnight and I DEF don’t want to be stuck in the Greensboro airport at 1 am
Magically, the delay resolves and we take off just 30 minutes later than scheduled, landing with a cool two hour buffer to pick up my rental car.
I am CONFIDENT I’m making it home before midnight.
But then another shoe drops…
And I’m starting to wonder how many shoes this guy has, anyway???
We’ve landed in the middle of a slow-moving lightning storm and they can’t have the ground crew out there to bring us into the gate.
And thus begins the 2+ hour wait on a tarmac, followed by a 30-minute wait for the gate agent to show up and connect the jet bridge.
Dude, I was so close to being free I could taste it.
But me and the rest of our tiny flight were stuck, half out of our seats, unable to do anything.
(Not to mention the THREE different levels of flash flood warnings that set off the alerts on all of our phones)
When we finally deboarded and followed the signs to the rental car desks, that green light of Enterprise had never looked so sweet. 💚
They were still blissfully open. And, I found out later, they ran out of cars. So thank frick I booked one ahead!!!
This story ends with me pulling up to our house at 3 am, simultaneously tired and wired from adrenaline, and the first thing Caroline said to me the following morning?
“This is going to make a great newsletter.”
What to Do When Your Pinterest Stats are Stagnating
Of course I don’t enjoy travel calamities like this one… who does???
But I will admit I’m pretty good in a crisis.
I’m ridiculously grateful I was able to book a new flight instead of getting stuck in NYC for the weekend.
Canceled and delayed flights are things I can deal with.
I could book a new flight, I could make a plan, I could walk around the airport for hours until I found the gate with the perfect vibes, open seating, and outlets.
But being stuck in a metal tube at the mercy of the weather and safety regulations? Frustrating as all hell.
I hate plans going awry, I hate not being in control, and I especially hate not being able to do anything about it.
It’s the same in my work, too. Sometimes, Pinterest glitches. Or it suspends a client’s account out of nowhere.
There are a lot of things that happen on Pinterest that I have no control over.
And whether you’re working on your own account or a client’s, that’s super frustrating.
I’ve already shared some of the reasons your Pinterest stats might be falling, and a lot of those are, once again, outside our control.
The “advice” is largely to ride the wave and wait for things to normalize.
But what if you don’t want to sit back and wait? What if you want to take ACTION?
While I can’t promise that any of these tips are guaranteed to solve your problem, here are a few things you can try to breathe some new life and growth back into your Pinterest marketing:
>> Increase the number of pins you’re publishing
There isn’t a specific number of pins you “must” post every day, but generally the more you’re pinning, the quicker your account will grow.
If you’re only doing the bare minimum of 1 pin per day, bumping it up a bit could help you push through whatever plateau you’re on.
>> Create new boards
Sometimes things just feel a little… stale. One way to overcome that is by adding new boards to your Pinterest account.
Boards are a strong variable in the algorithm equation, so they can be super beneficial to your growth on Pinterest.
If you haven’t created new boards in a while, this is a good place to start. Add new boards for any new content topics or audience segments.
The new boards will typically pick up a bit more and help your account overall.
>> Publish new content
There’s only so many times you can pin to the same blog post or same product.
Yes, you want to keep pinning to them, but Pinterest also wants new content. Not just new pins, but new URLs, too.
If you’ve been rocking the same few URLs for a while, it’s time to publish something new.
>> Create new pins for old content
On the other side of the equation, if you have older content that has done well in the past, it might be time to create new pins for that content!
If the URL has performed well in the past on Pinterest, it’s likely to continue to perform well in the future, as long as you have fresh pins being consistently published for it.
>> Refresh your keyword strategy
Whenever Pinterest updates their algorithm, things tend to go a bit wonky.
You might not rank for a keyword that you’ve historically ranked for and your stats might start plummeting.
While my advice to ride the wave still stands, you can also look for other keywords to try and rank for to recoup some of those losses.
There are lots of different ways to search for the same thing. See if there’s a different phrase or search query your content might fit and incorporate those phrases in your pins.
BTW, I have something launching soon that might help you with that…
Once you’ve addressed those on-Pinterest “problems,” if you’re still not seeing the results you want from Pinterest, it might be time to look elsewhere.
Here are 6 more reasons you might not be getting Pinterest results + what to do about it…
Why You're Not Seeing Better Pinterest Results
Nothing feels worse than seeing your analytics go down and not knowing what to do about it — except maybe trying to clean up a hangnail that is somehow connected to your entire finger skin…
And while these tips will hopefully give you some good ideas to try to move past a slump or plateau in your marketing, sometimes you need an outside opinion to really diagnose the issue.
Googling symptoms is only going to get you so far before you have to call your doctor.
Hi, consider me your Pinterest doctor! And luckily for you, you don’t have to call to make an appointment.
If you’re not sure what to do next with your Pinterest marketing and you want to make sure you’re all set before the fall busy season, you can book a strategy call here!
WHAT: Pinterest Press Pass, a 1 hour video call for personalized advice, answers, and strategy for your Pinterest and content marketing
WHEN: Whenever you choose! I’ve got slots open most days so you can find a time that works best for you!
HOW MUCH: $147
Whenever you need support, I’m here for you.
And in the meantime, I’ll be manning the phones requesting my refund from American Airlines!