Short answer: it depends.
Tailwind is a scheduling and analytics tool for Pinterest (and Instagram) that allows you to schedule pins, join communities (formerly known as tribes), get access to advanced analytics, learn your best times to pin, track your growth, and much more.
It has become so crucial to growing with Pinterest that most find it MANDATORY to use Tailwind in order to succeed on Pinterest.
So, because of that and being a Pinterest Marketing Expert, I decided to write this post to help you determine if you actually need to use Tailwind or not.
Here’s the thing with Pinterest and any other search engines/social media platforms:
They were created for humans, not for machines.
This means that these algorithms know when it is a person posting vs a machine.
So, who do you think gets priority when hitting the feed?
That’s right: the human.
In fact, the pins that have gone viral the fastest (my own and my clients’) were those that were manually uploaded.
However, using Tailwind for Pinterest is like adding fuel to Pinterest’s potential because you can expedite how fast you grow.
With Tailwind, you can schedule your pins to multiple boards at the same time. You can also add your pins to Tailwind communities which will get your pins seen faster, and if they’re eye-catchy, high-quality, and designed to convert, the people inside those communities will click on them and/or re-pin them, which then results in more engagement, more traffic, and ultimately more conversions for you.
This is also what happens on the Pinterest platform itself: if the pins are designed beautifully and conversion-friendly, people will click.
P.S. If you want made-for-you Pin templates that were designed by experts and proven to convert, grab our 15 Canva pin templates here. They are 100% customizable, come in 2 sizes, and only require a free Canva subscription.
With that said, you have two options:
| Use Pinterest without Tailwind |
- Do 100% manual pinning
- Schedule your pins using Pinterest’s scheduling system (which still needs some work!)
- Join group boards and see which ones actually work for you
- Post your videos directly on Pinterest instead of Tailwind for higher reach
| Use Pinterest with Tailwind |
- Automate some of your pinning
- Schedule to multiple boards at once
- Get advanced analytics about which group boards are under-performing, and performing well
- See your top-performing and under-performing pins
- Join Tailwind communities and expedite your growth
- Meet and collaborate with other pinners
- Set your top-performing pins as Smartloops (gets re-pinned automatically so that it can continue delivering results)
You can do much more on Tailwind community-wise and also get a lot of engagement a lot faster.
You can also access advanced analytics that allow you to make smart decisions about your Pinterest strategy.
So, to answer the big question: do you need Tailwind for Pinterest traffic?
It depends on your business level.
If you care about growing and scaling fast, you should consider the investment. It really pays off.
If you only want to test Pinterest and slowly see its potential, you should then focus solely on Pinterest and your content.
The truth is that you can grow with and without Tailwind, the only difference is the speed and your access to analytics.
Whatever you decide to do, don’t forget about manual pinning! It makes a world of a difference.
Also, sign up for a free 30-day trial of Tailwind here! You’ll be able to test it, enjoy it, and decide if you are going all-in with your Pinterest strategy!
And don’t forget to grab your 15 highly-converting Pin templates! They were designed to convert and are 100% customizable with the free version of Canva. So easy!