What does it take to succeed on Pinterest? Some Viraltag users with serious Pinterest mojo are taking us behind-the-scenes of their daily routines. Today we meet Tauni Everett, a social media consultant for the crafting giant American Crafts.

Talk about inspiring settings!

When Tauni Everett is Pinning for American Crafts, she’s usually in the office/crafting studio at her home in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Once a week, though, Tauni will drive 45 minutes south to American Crafts headquarters in Orem, where she’ll talk strategy with the social media team she helps manage.

American Crafts is one of the biggest craft manufacturers and suppliers in the country. It owns nine other brands and supplies big-box crafts stores such as Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Jo-Ann, as well as smaller scrapbooking stores, online outlets, and even the crafting supplies section at Target.

“We have everything under the sun, from beautifully patterned paper and embellishments to more DIY craft supplies, ” Tauni said.

With such eye-catching wares, American Crafts is a natural for Pinterest. Its 50+ boards are full of both its products and crafting inspiration, and they’ve drawn more than 17,000 followers.

Connecting with Crafters

Tauni and her team didn’t start out with this those great Pinterest stats when she began working with American Crafts about 2 ½ years ago. But over that time, they’ve built up the account and its following by Pinning more frequently and judiciously scheduling Pins throughout the day to reach different audiences.

They have plenty of sources for those Pins. Each of American Crafts’ brands has its own channels, such as blogs and Instagram accounts, and then there are the brands’ blogger ambassadors. Tauni and her team also keep an eye out for interesting projects that could use American Crafts products, and they have Pins that are purely inspirational.

Pinterest is also great for trend-spotting as you observe what others are Pinning, Tauni said. As you probably guessed from her home office/studio, Tauni is an avid crafter herself — and the founder of a conference for creative bloggers and entrepreneurs. For the team members who aren’t as crafty, analytics help them get a feel for what appeals to American Crafts followers.

Occasionally, Tauni and her team learn something surprising about American Crafts customers thanks to Pinterest.

For example: “We’ll think a simple project is better, but they’ll really like a heavily embellished project,” she said.

Following some well-known Pinterest best practices has worked well for American Crafts.

“We tend to Pin vertical pictures whenever possible,” Tauni said.

She added that the brand’s followers respond better to Pins that have more complete descriptions. For example, instead of a Pin description that just reads “scrapbook layout,” she and her team will take the time to craft a more complete description, such as “baby scrapbook layout in blue and white.”

Scheduling Is Essential

Tauni estimates that she spends about an hour a day on Pinterest. Add in her two team members and their total time on Pinterest comes out to about three hours per day. Her goal is for each of them to Pin about eight times a day.

“Some of the Pinning is live, and some of that is scheduled,” she said. “I think it’s important to do both.”

For example, they’ll schedule Pins related to promotions and reserve live Pinning for reacting to what’s gaining popularity with followers.

Without scheduling, their Pinning would take much more than those three hours per day, Tauni said.

The American Crafts Pinterest page is only the start for Tauni’s team. They also manage the Pinterest and other social accounts for the brands that American Crafts owns.

“Which is another reason scheduling and consistency are so important,” she said. “Our main tool that we use is Viraltag.”

Tauni appreciates that Viraltag lets her team schedule the coordinating Pins for blog content that may be a month away from publication. She also said Viraltag has helped them make American Crafts’ Pinterest landing page — where you see all of the brand’s boards — more compelling by giving the boards a uniform look.

In addition to using Viraltag for Pinterest, Tauni and her team are using Viraltag to schedule to Instagram with one of their brands.

Another way they boost their productivity is staying organized, with some help from collaborative online tools. They share a spreadsheet to track Pins. This helps save time because everyone can see what other team members have Pinned — and whether those Pins are also a fit for other boards.

Having the dedicated workspace at home also helps Tauni get more done.

“When you go in there, your family and friends know you’re at work,” she said. “So I get less interruptions even when people are home.”

Tauni’s Pinterest Tips for Businesses

Ready to craft a winning Pinterest strategy for your own business? Try these ideas from Tauni.

• Just start Pinning. “The biggest key is just get out there Pinning. The more you Pin, the more likely you are to gain followers.”
• Spread Pinning throughout the day. “People are online at different times of the day.” American Crafts’ fans, who are mostly moms, tend to be online first thing in the morning, sometimes at lunch, and 8-10 p.m. on weekdays.
• Before you make a Pinterest board live, keep it private until it has 12-20 Pins. When there’s more content, a Pinterest browser who discovered the board has more incentive to follow it.
• Stay curious and stay current. “Something that’s so integral to any social media team is that they ask a lot of questions and that they’re always looking for new ways of doing things.”

Check out more posts from this series:

How I Do Pinterest: Stephanie Manley of CopyKat.com

How I Do Pinterest: Katie Carlson of CraftJack & ImproveNet

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