If you’re currently juggling pin creation and actually pinning content alongside running your blog, you know how time consuming the entire process is.
Considering the time requirements and value of Pinterest traffic, many bloggers inevitably rely on Tailwind, the go-to Pinterest marketing tool for bloggers.
But, like any marketing software, there’s a right time and place for Tailwind in your marketing mix. So, in my Tailwind review, I’m covering all of Tailwind’s features, cost, and how to decide if this social media scheduling tool is right for your blog.
Tailwind Features
Tailwind brands itself as the leading Pinterest and Instagram scheduling tool that helps creators “get real results in less time.”
Instagram scheduling is relatively new to Tailwind. And, at its core, Tailwind focuses on helping bloggers manage their Pinterest accounts more efficiently.
To accomplish these goals, there are several Tailwind features that help simplify Pinterest and Instagram marketing.
1. Pinterest Scheduling
The most impactful Tailwind feature is undeniably its scheduling tool.
Pinterest lets you schedule pins without third-party software. But this method is clunky; you have to manually set publishing times to later dates.
With Tailwind, you can create and schedule unique Pins in bulk, potentially saving hours per week in manual pinning.
Tailwind has four options for creating Pin designs:
- Upload existing designs
- Pin directly from Instagram
- Pin content from the web with the Tailwind Chrome extension
- Use Tailwind Create to make pins from scratch
Uploading Pin designs is how many bloggers use Tailwind. You can create pins in bulk with free image editing tools like Canva and then import them to Tailwind before preparing the text, links, and boards you’re pinning to.
Pins you’re working on save as drafts. Once you settle on the text, link, and board, you add pins to your Tailwind queue.
Tailwind lets you create a custom schedule to suit your Pinterest goals. You can pin just a few times per day or push more content. All you have to do is add time slots to days of the week to create your Tailwind schedule:
Tailwind suggests publishing two to three pins per blog post but scheduling pins several weeks apart from one another to avoid spamming the platform. You should also use unique graphics and text for pins going to the same URL to mix things up.
Regardless of your schedule, Tailwind’s scheduling tool saves time. If you’re currently pinning manually, the scheduling tool lets you space out your pins more evenly.
2. SmartLoop
A subset of Tailwind’s scheduling tool is SmartLoops.
I love SmartLoops. They let you endlessly repin the same type of content to specific boards. So, if you want to consistently repin evergreen or seasonal content, you can create individual SmartLoops to automatically pin your best posts to different boards.
For example, if you run a lifestyle blog, you might create SmartLoops for:
- Outfits
- Recipes
- Fitness plans
- Design
- Holiday decoration
When creating a SmartLoop, you choose if it’s for evergreen content or seasonal content. Afterwards, you create a pinning schedule for that SmartLoop. Finally, you select or upload pins you want in that SmartLoop.
Evergreen loops run all the time but seasonal ones only run at certain parts of the year. For example, you could create a SmartLoop for your Christmas content that only runs between November 1st and December 25th. And then another one for your summer content that only runs from May 1st to August 31st.
It's a great way to automatically share all your seasonal content.
Related: 3 Types of Content (Evergreen, Seasonal, and Current Events)
The beauty of SmartLoops is that you don’t really need to touch them once you create them; your best pins are going to repin forever unless you remove them from your SmartLoop.
And this doesn’t have to be spammy. You can create SmartLoop rules like requiring a certain number of weeks or months to pass before repinning content. Tailwind also warns you if your SmartLoop schedule is too spammy, so it’s a safe tool to use.
3. Tailwind Communities (Formerly Tribes)
Another useful Tailwind feature is Tailwind Communities.
On Pinterest, you can join group boards with other users and all pin to a shared board. But if you’ve ever used a group board, you know it’s a sea of spam where people rarely repin your content.
Tailwind Communities are different. On Tailwind, you can search for groups of Pinterest users in the same blogging niche. For example, if you’re a finance blogger, you can find numerous Tailwind Communities about money and investing.
Once you join a community, it looks similar to a Pinterest group board; recent pins from members appear in a scrollable list. You can add your own pins to the community and also add pins from other bloggers to your publishing queue.
The magic of Tailwind Communities is that reciprocity is rewarded. Communities have guidelines, and generally, you have to pin one piece of content from another blogger for every pin you add. Some communities even require sharing ratios of 2:1 or higher, meaning you have to share more than you self-promote.
Furthermore, you can see who repins your content. Oftentimes, if you repin content from bloggers who share your content, you form an alliance and consistently pin content from one another to help both blogs grow.
Tailwind Communities are the fastest way to get traffic with Pinterest in my opinion. The only downside is you can’t automate sharing and pinning. But if you have a few minutes per week to spend on Tailwind, focus on communities.
I personally use the communities to fill up my pinning schedule. You shouldn't only be pinning your own content anyways, so you'll need to find other pins that are related to your niche to pin. Communities make this so easy. It's really win win.
4. Tailwind Create
I prefer making my pins in Canva since it’s user-friendly and there are lots of eye-catching Pinterest templates.
But the Tailwind Create tool also lets you create pins from scratch. Plus, it’s easier than using Canva if you have zero graphic design experience.
To use Tailwind Create, you pick your:
- Main brand colors
- Logo
- Different seasonal color palettes
Afterwards, you enter your pin title, URL, and upload photos you want to use. Tailwind also lets you use stock photos for your pins like Canva. It’s best to select several photos since Tailwind recommends multiple designs for new pins.
Once you select your designs, you save them to your drafts tab. From there, you can edit the title, board, URL, and description for each pin.
If you struggle to create eye-catching pins, Tailwind Create could be the change you need to revamp your Pinterest marketing efforts.
Related: Canva Review: Pricing, Features, and if Canva Pro is Worth it.
5. Instagram Management
Tailwind’s newest feature is an Instagram management tool.
With Tailwind for Instagram, you can:
- Create Instagram graphics using Tailwind Create
- Automatically post content to Instagram
- Research Instagram hashtags to expand your reach
- Create a Smart.bio landing page with your most important links that users can click on from your Instagram profile page
- Save caption templates and get recommendations from Tailwind about the best times to post content
Scheduling tools for Instagram aren’t new. For example, tools like Buffer have been around since 2010 and basically offer the same features as Tailwind.
Truthfully, deciding to use Tailwind versus Buffer or other Instagram marketing tools is mostly a matter of preference. But if you rely on Tailwind for Pinterest marketing and are moving to Instagram, centralizing your marketing efforts under one platform might make sense.
Scheduling Stories and Carousel Posts to Instagram
Scheduling Instagram Stories and carousel posts (posts with multiple images that the user can scroll through) are tricky but possible with Tailwind.
You can schedule them on Tailwind but it can't post them directly to your profile. Instead, the Tailwind App will notify you on your phone that it's time to schedule the post. When you click on the notification the app will download the images (or video) to your phone and create the post on Instagram for you. All you have to do is post it.
I'll be honest, sometimes this works flawlessly and sometimes it doesn't. I use this feature regularly and about half the time I end up just going to Instagram and posting it by hand. But the images do always download to my phone so it's not that huge of deal.
It's definitely an area of improvement for Tailwind though.
6. Analytics
Effective social media marketing isn’t just flashy graphics and witty captions. In reality, data is your most important asset. This is because understanding the type of content users engage with helps you create more of it.
Tailwind offers Pinterest and Instagram insights to help you optimize your marketing strategies. For starters, Tailwind breaks down recent:
- Followers, new pins, and repins
- A virality and engagement score
- Engagement rate
This dashboard really provides a quick overview of how your Pinterest efforts are going.
But you can also dig deeper. Tailwind actually outlines performance for each board and pin. This helps you track the boards that drive the most traffic and what pins perform well so you can copy those designs.
There are other tools, like website insights that show you the best time to pin, but this requires enterprise-level access and isn’t exactly viable for smaller bloggers.
Tailwind’s Instagram side also offers basic reporting to let you monitor growth. You can track followers, likes, comments, and highlight top performing posts to replicate them.
Most of these features provide a pulse for your marketing efforts, not actionable advice. But Tailwind’s pin and board insights are useful for reproducing your best content so you can continue to drive traffic.
Related: The Best Time to Publish a Blog Post
How Much Does Tailwind Cost?
Tailwind has separate plans for Pinterest and Instagram. Additionally, Tailwind has paid upgrades depending on how many features you want.
Note that Tailwind’s free trial lets you schedule up to 100 pins and 30 Instagram posts to test the platform before paying.
Tailwind Pricing for Pinterest
Tailwind Pinterest plans depend on how many collaborators you want and if you want more analytical capabilities:
- Plus: $9.99 per month; unlimited scheduling; Smart Loops; basic analytics
- Lite: $99.99 per month; everything from Plus; two collaborators; trending pin analytics
- Professional: $799.99 per month; everything from Lite; five collaborators; more brand and content management tools
- Enterprise: Contact Tailwind for pricing; everything from Pro; unlimited collaborators and multiple accounts; more powerful analytics and content management tools; contest and influencer integrations
Most bloggers only need Tailwind Plus, which costs $119 per year when paid annually. If you choose to pay monthly then it costs $15 per month, or $180 per year.
But basic Tailwind Plus lets you join five Tailwind Communities and submit 30 pieces of community content per month. Plus, you can add 250 pins to your SmartLoops. Tailwind Create also has a 30 design-per-month limit with this plan.
Additional powerups remove caps, but at a cost. For example, if you want unlimited community and SmartLoop access, it’s another $39.98 per month, or $479 when billed annually:
Furthermore, if you want to create more designs with Tailwind Create, you’re looking at another pricing increase:
Tailwind Communities and SmartLoops are two of Tailwind’s best features. You can skip paying for Tailwind create if you use Canva.
In my experience with Tailwind and Pinterest the limits on the Plus account haven't been a huge issue. However, I can see if Pinterest is a major part of your business you might find them restrictive and would want to upgrade to get more Communities and SmartLoops.
Tailwind Pricing for Instagram
Tailwind costs $9.99 for Instagram scheduling, and includes:
- One Instagram profile
- Unlimited scheduling
- Hashtag suggestions
- A Smart.bio landing page
There’s only one Instagram Tailwind plan, so you unlock every Instagram feature after paying.
Pros & Cons of Tailwind
Before you use Tailwind for your blog and open your wallet, consider the following pros and cons:
Pros:
- Saves time versus manually posting
- Grow traffic quickly with Tailwind Communities
- Set-and-forget features like SmartLoop
- Beginner friendly
Cons:
- Upgrade costs to unlock more of Tailwind’s best features
- Instagram functionality isn’t doing anything new
- Manual pinning is still important
Some bloggers are moving away from Tailwind, asserting that manually pinning yields more reach, repins, and clicks. You'd have to test this out for yourself to see if you get the same results.
I'll be honest, Pinterest isn't a huge factor here at Hit Publish or on any of my clients sites that I run so scheduled pinning has been just fine for me. But again, if you are in a niche that is especially inclined towards Pinterest then you'll want to test to make sure you are getting the best results.
I'll say this for sure. Scheduled pinning is better than no pinning at all. So if you are having trouble getting this task taken care of then Tailwind is the way to go even if manual pinning is the optimal way to do it.
My advice is to use Tailwind’s free trial and then the $9.99 per month plan to test how much time it saves you and if you increase your reach. Additionally, keep up with manual pinning and compare Tailwind pins versus manual ones.
If Tailwind saves time and drives traffic, it’s worth upgrading your Tailwind Communities membership or SmartLoops capacity. If Tailwind tanks your Pinterest reach or doesn’t move the needle after several weeks or months, cancel your membership.
Summary
I know lots of bloggers who swear by Tailwind for Pinterest marketing. I also know many bloggers who quit using Tailwind and now do most tasks manually and say that’s the secret sauce.
The truth is Pinterest and Instagram algorithms change. You have to be nimble and keep up to date with best practices to keep getting blog traffic. This can involve using software like Tailwind, but trust the data. Tailwind can save hours of weekly work and help you get viral pins that transform your blog, but you need to test the platform and see if it works for your blogging routine.
Hopefully, my Tailwind review helps you decide if this Pinterest and Instagram scheduling tool is the right fit for your blog.
