The top four most-followed publishers on Pinterest all have one thing in common: They tailor their content for how people use Pinterest. Each has found a way to take their content and reformulate it in a way that makes sense for how people use Pinterest. Too often publishers, and brands, treat social channels as just another distribution outlet. With more brands acting as publishers in their own right, it pays to learn from the pros.
The Perfect Palette
Page description: A wedding blog dedicated to exploring color palette possibilities + a place to find fun + creative color ideas!
Followers: 266,934
Boards: 117
Pins: 8,416
The joke about Pinterest is it’s women planning their wedding, pretending to plan their wedding or reliving planning their wedding. It’s no surprise that The Perfect Palette is doing well there. The blog’s boards are squarely focused on the wedding-minded woman, split by theme and color, which is how women plan their weddings. The publisher’s boards fit the way women use Pinterest and also how they plan their weddings.
Real Simple
Page description: Real Simple gives creative, practical, & inspiring solutions that make life easier.
Followers: 149,135
Boards: 69
Pins: 3,810
Real Simple uses Pinterest to distribute its ideas for decoration, organizing and more. The content it posts isn’t just the same stuff it has on its site. Boards range from Decorating with Color, Problem-Solving Products and Weeknight Meals. The boards are significant because they focus on making people’s lives easier by helping with day-to-day decisions, like what’s for dinner. That’s what women use Pinterest for. They’re looking for solutions for life’s little problems.
The Beauty Department
Page description: Your daily dose of beauty
Followers: 238,618
Boards: 25
Pins: 483
The Beauty Department, a publisher of how-tos and tutorials for hair care and styling, has reorganized its content for Pinterest. Its boards cover nail color, braids and DIYs for hair care. The website is mostly instructional, with long lists of what to do and how to do it. What makes the Pinterest boards a great complement is that people are able to visualize styles. The photos from its site are repurposed within its Pinterest boards, but it also pins photos from various sources other on the Web. Women are constantly looking for ways to improve their appearance, whether its through make-up, hair styles or clothing. Giving them a visual to help decide is really taking advantage of the nature of women and what they do on Pinterest.
HGTV
Page description: Photos, projects, ideas and design we love.
Followers: 124,145
Boards: 28
Pins: 2,482
HGTV has chosen to take its content and orient it around specific uses, such as party planning. The company took whatever content it has and put it on Pinterest to provide consumers with ideas. Like all of the above, it’s the perfect marriage: Pinterest and inspiring content. There’s no hard selling and that’s why its seeing so much success. The photos it pins are from its own site, but alos from other places on the Web. The content it chooses mirrors how people use Pinterest: to find solutions and ideas. HGTV has TV shows and content around all sorts of stuff. But instead of having a board devoted to one of its shows, it makes boards around some utility, i.e. party planning.
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