Bobette Kyle is no stranger to the stress of wedding planning. In fact, her experience trying to plan an elopement online was so stressful, she decided to do something about it.
And thankfully, she knew how. This former Brand Manager and VP of Marketing started My Online Wedding Help in 2006 the same year she eloped to Vegas with her husband, and has been going strong ever since!
We had the pleasure of sitting down with Bobette to dive into her strategies of success on Pinterest, how Tailwind played a role, and what it was like to be one of the first people on the scene for DIY wedding planning help – and for Pinterest!
Tell us about yourself and how you ended up in your role at My Online Wedding Help.
“In 2006, my husband and I eloped to Las Vegas. My family got a chat room and watched the ceremony streamed online.
And that got me thinking how people didn’t yet know what kind of resources were available online to help plan a wedding. In fact, just that one piece had been a challenge for me!
So My Online Wedding Help was born.
The specifics have changed over the years as technology develops. But it’s always been focused on helping people through the logistics of using digital technology to plan a wedding.”
What led you to choose Pinterest as your main marketing channel for your site?
“Because I was around when Pinterest was born, there were the same reservations as with any new platform. Would it make it, or would it be a flash in the pan?”
Wedding planning and dreaming were moving from cutting out magazine pictures for a binder onto Pinterest. It was a natural fit.”
How did you use Pinterest when you first started?
“At first my process was to Pin periodically throughout the day, using Pins I’d made in Photoshop.
Now I have a more consolidated process of research, analysis, and creation.”
What led you to choose a Pinterest tool, and why was Tailwind your choice?
“I needed to be more time-efficient. It’s overwhelming to have to publish Pins in real-time, and it takes away from other activities.
I looked at all the other tools as soon as they hit my radar… Viraltag, Ahalogy, Boardbooster, and probably others. In the end, Tailwind was the best value for me. The interval and scheduling features really stood out.”
What has your Pinterest strategy been?
“When I think strategy, it’s about the big picture. So I take a “3 legged stool” approach to Pinterest strategy. All three legs come together to create success.
One leg is my overall website strategy, like the business model, strategic plan, SEO, site content, etc… all the things that lay a solid foundation. That drives my Pin content.
Tailwind and Tailwind’s Pinterest Toolkit is another leg. But having the tools and knowing how to use them isn’t enough, because Pinterest changes so often. The way I use Tailwind needs to also adapt.
So I believe ongoing, real-time training beyond Tailwind’s scope is crucial. That’s the third leg. For me, it’s Kate Ahl’s Simple Pin Collective. She has a very active community of knowledgeable website publishers and Pinterest managers.”
What is your content strategy?
“I’m kind of freeform about it. I try to balance a combination of wedding planning help articles & tools, DIY tutorials, and new affiliate products. I Pin about 5-10 new Pins a day.
I don’t run Pinterest ads – my revenue model makes that challenging.
What’s one thing you suggest people stop doing on Pinterest? Start doing on Pinterest?
“Stop publishing the same Pins over and over again in a short time. In 2020 and now in 2021, repetition is out. Fewer, better quality Pins are better.
Start thinking in terms of “Content is King.” (And yes, Queen too!) On the Google SEO side, that has been the mantra for at least two decades and gets more critical each year. Google ranks content that users respond well to higher.
As Pinterest matures, so do its systems. I see the same patterns on Pinterest that happened with Google. They are getting better at paying attention to what the users engage with and want. The answer right now is a steady flow of new, quality content.”
What kind of results have you seen since choosing Pinterest and Tailwind?
“I started getting serious about consistently marketing through Pinterest in late 2018 after being accepted as a Mediavine publisher. (Because my revenue went up). As with most things on Pinterest, it’s a slow burn. January 2020 is when I started to see consistent results. Then, come March, you know what happened. ( Covid + Weddings = )
After a few rough months and a lot of , traffic began to turn around. For June-December 2020, I had 20% year-over-year growth in traffic from Pinterest.
Also, my exposure to the platform continues to increase. My top two standard Pins have 2.1 and 1.8 million impressions in the last 180 days.
Have you adjusted your strategy over time, especially over the past year?
Yes. In the olden days, when Pinterest was a baby, it was about quantity. Throw as many Pins out there as possible. Quality started to matter more over time as more brands and users found the platform—especially this last year.
I now initially put each Pin out to exactly one board. Then, after 2-3 months, I check the Pin’s stats to see if it had reasonable users’ engagement. If so, I put it into a Smart Loop. I have those set to send out with at least 60 days between each instance. Now, I’m slowly lengthening that to 70+ days.
To do the analysis, I use a combination of paused Smart Loops, Pin Inspector, and P stats on the individual Pins.
- At the same time as I publish a Pin, I also put it into a paused SL dated 2-3 months from that time. I can easily tell which Pins are in need of analysis by the dates on my paused loops.
- When it’s time, I go through the Pins in the paused loop and find the live Pin using Pin Inspector.
- Then, depending on the results, I delete from the paused loop or move it to another, live loop dedicated to that landing page.
What are you focused on moving forward?
Wedding ceremonies are expected to increase in probably the back half of 2021 when more people are vaccinated, which is great for the industry. And I’ve noticed more affiliate sales of products this month, which is another good sign that people are actively planning again!
