Tailwind now has a free forever plan! I’ve always been a fan of Tailwind for Pinterest, but lately I’ve also been using it for Instagram. I’m obsessed to say the least. When it comes to running an online business – especially as a blogger – efficiency is key. I never want to feel (or have my clients feel) like one must live online in order to see those 5, 6, or even 7-figure launches.
After all, a big reason we’re drawn to the online entrepreneurial space is because we want our freedom of time back! And that’s a big part of why I love Tailwind – it’s a massive time saver. And now that they’re offering a forever free plan? Well I can’t help but want to shout from the rooftops that EVERYONE should be signing up!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a commission at no extra cost to you should you click through and make a purchase.
Tailwind’s Free Forever Plan
If you’re new to Tailwind, you’re in for a treat. Tailwind is everything and anything you need to find success with Pinterest. Whether you’re a blogger or small business owner, Tailwind will help you drive traffic, generate leads, and make sales…all with just Pinterest! Now full disclosure I am an affiliate for Tailwind and will earn a referral fee at no cost to you should you choose to sign up.
Tailwind for Pinterest Scheduling
The most important thing to know about Pinterest is that it’s not a social media platform. It’s actually a visual search engine! As such, it’s not as simple as “post this single piece of content at this time on this day to see results.” If you want to dive deep into cultivating an organic Pinterest marketing strategy, definitely check out my free Pinterest course. That said, let’s go over some basics so you can understand exactly how and why Tailwind is so essential.
Scheduling Pins
Tailwind allows you to schedule out your pins rather than manually pinning daily. While Pinterest does also have a scheduler within its platform, there’s still reason to go with Tailwind instead – much of which we’ll cover in the coming paragraphs.
Now there is much debate around exactly how many pins one should put out each day on Pinterest. Long ago, it was said that 80-100 pins PER DAY was ideal, with the majority being other people’s content.
*psst* anyone still recommending either of those things isn’t someone who should be offering Pinterest advice.
But I digress. Now – at least as of January 2023 – the best results are being seen with daily activity happening on your account. Personally I have about 10 pins going out each day, the majority being my own. Not only that, but the majority going out should also be fresh pins.
What’s a fresh pin?
A fresh pin is one that Pinterest has not yet seen. And it’s not as simple as changing the font or rotating the background image. Instead Pinterest wants brand new images, which as you can imagine could mean a lot of work!
Tailwind Create
Personally I use Canva for much of my image creation, but there are certainly times I also take advantage of Tailwind Create. Tailwind Create is a design studio that allows you to streamline your pin creation. The first time you use it, you’ll plug in your brand info including colors, logo, and fonts. From there you enter the URL you’re designing the pin for. It will automatically pull images from your site should you wish to use those, or you can select photos from their stock library. A few tweaks as needed and DONE – you’ll have countless pins at your finger tips in mere minutes.
Can you use Tailwind Create with Free Forever plan?
Yes! With Tailwind’s Free Forever plan you’ll be able to create up to 15 Pinterest or Instagram designs each month. Now that’s not necessarily going to be enough to fill your que for the month, which is why I certainly recommended at least starting with their Pro Plan, but it is a start.
Does Tailwind offer a free trial?
That’s the big change we’re talking about here – Tailwind no longer offers a free trial, but rather an opportunity to use them free forever! How amazing is that? With Tailwind’s Free Forever plan, you’ll not only have the 15 design opportunities each month, but you’ll be able to schedule out 20 posts/month. Again, that’s not the ideal with Pinterest, but it’s certainly better than going it completely alone.
Analytics
Here’s where we really get into what I love about Tailwind. If you know me, you know I am a number nerd. Give me all the spreadsheets and data, I need it all. So while it’s certainly a must to use your Pinterest analytics to craft a strong marketing strategy, Tailwind takes it oh so much further. With their Free Forever plan, you’ll get access to some basic analytics. Again – nice, but no where near as nice as what you get with a paid plan.
With Tailwind Analytics, you’ll get insight into your:
Profile Performance
Here you’ll find information on your follower growth and comments. Beyond that, you’ll also find information on how much your pins are being repinned (virality) and how engaged your audience is. You can also see at a glance how many pins you’ve been adding and what your repins look like.
Board Insights
Now this is my own personal favorite part of the Tailwind Analytics. Think of boards as individual libraries, each specially curated to educate a reader on a very specific topic. With this analytics section, you can ensure that these boards are actually providing that information that people are looking for and doing so in a way that’s effective.
Board Insights show you
- Number of pins per board
- Number of followers per board
- Number of repins per board
- Virality (so again – how much your pins are being repinned) for each board
- Engagement of each board
This all matters because Pinterest doesn’t like inactive boards. So with this you can not only see which boards maybe haven’t been pinned to in a while, but also their virality. High engagement matters, but virality again is all about those repins – which are essential to success with Pinterest.
Pin Inspector
Tailwind also has a “Pin Inspector” in their analytics. This will hold everything you’ve ever pinned. You can sort these pins by repins, comment count, or date pinned. I especially love being able to sort by date so I can double-track my numbers should I question when I last sent a specific URL out.
They include a search function so it’s literally at your fingertips to find a pin you’ve shared and what the numbers look like. Then you can also filter that down based on category, by board, or ones that came directly from your website.
Having these numbers combined with your Pinterest and Google analytics truly makes Pinterest marketing a breeze compared to otherwise. But there’s even more in the form on communities!
What are Tailwind Communities?
If you’ve been researching ways to find success on Pinterest, you’ve surely heard of group boards. Again this is something where you’ll see a lot of outdated information claiming they’re essential to see results. You’ll also find people who swear group boards are completely useless. Personally, for myself and my clients, it’s more of a “middle of the road” sort of thing. I like group boards when they’re well run and highly niched, but I vastly prefer Tailwind Communities.
Tailwind Communities VS Group Boards
Tailwind Communities are similar to group boards in that you can share your pins while cultivating content from others. Much like group boards, you need to find communities that are well run and highly niched. Do not join communities like “Pinners Unite!” because guess what? Chances are good your content isn’t being shared to a board that’ll do anything for it (if at all). That said, when you do find a well-run community, it’s a win-win situation. They make finding content to fill/grow your boards easier while also giving you a space to share your own pins. This helps pins gain traction faster and stay within the category/niche they belong to.
Can You Join Communities with the Free Forever Plan?
Absolutely! While the Advanced plan offers unlimited communities, with both the Pro and Free Forever plan you’ll have access to 5 communities. This is a great way to get your feet wet and really work on finding communities that serve you well.
Do I Really Need Tailwind for Pinterest?
When Tailwind was offering a free trial instead of this Free Forever plan, I might have said to hold off until you had enough content to warrant diving into Tailwind. But now? Now there’s no reason not to get right into it!
Seeing Results with Tailwind
I want to share a few of the results I’ve seen both with my own account and with a few of my clients, thanks to Tailwind. Before I do that, I do want to note that these are not necessarily representative of the results you’ll see as there really is so much that goes into a strong Pinterest strategy. That said, Tailwind does publish the Typical Results of Tailwind for Pinterest Members every year so you can see a clearer picture of overall expectations:
Traffic Growth with Tailwind
Using Tailwind for Pinterest has allowed my own blog and those of my clients to see insane growth over time.
We’ve seen numbers such as nearly 60 million views on Pinterest:
And while it’s important to note that monthly views are mostly a vanity metric on Pinterest, this also translated into thousands of people visiting my client’s site every single day:
If you’re still unsure as to whether or not Pinterest will work for your niche, send me a message on Facebook and let’s chat. No cost, no pitch, just a straight-forward yes or no and why I think so. But if you are using Pinterest as a part of your marketing strategy, then Tailwind is an absolute must. From the analytical opportunities and communities to the ease of pin design creation and simple scheduling at your fingertips, Tailwind is a pinner’s best friend. So what are you waiting for? Start using the Tailwind Free Forever plan now with no credit card required!