From 334 to 6.9K Impressions: How I’m Growing Pinterest in a Tiny Niche at 76

Setting Up My Pinterest Account

I’ve been wanting to write a blog post about my Pinterest experience for almost a month. Almost since the first day I have seen impressions grow from 334 to 6.9k, plus pin clicks and saves, and it’s only been since January 17th that I started doing Jay’s Pinterest processes.

I have had a personal Pinterest account for a few years, but I've mainly used it“seed” Pins on each board, with minimal impressions, no saves, to save recipes and some horse images. Last year, when Jay had a new Pinterest training, I created a business account for GoldenSurvivalist dot com, but I couldn’t claim my website until a couple of months ago, after Jay had his new Pinterest training already in progress.

I had been saving other Pinterest users’ Pins to Boards I made that matched what was on Pinterest for survival. I only had two or three “seed” Pins on each board, with minimal impressions, no saves, or clicks.

Once I claimed my website and added my own “Scout” and "TOBI" Pins, traffic impressions grew from 334 to 6.95k today! This includes 205 Engagements, 6 Outbound clicks, 19 Saves, an Audience of 2.93, and 291 Pinners engaged. Scout Pins rule!

Check Out My Niche

Note my niche – golden survivalist or survival prepping for seniors. Not a very broad niche, huh? Just know that, due to health issues – migraines have returned a few times a week after being free of them for four years, and my age – 76, plus living in the country and over an hour to get to doctor appointments, I’m not able to post much more than 10 a week.

I watched all of Jay’s training classes on Pinterest twice. I have watched a lot of Vitaliy’s Pinterest classes. I even made a spreadsheet of all Pinterest mentions on WA. I also have been working extensively lately with ChatGPT (Sage) on Pinterest.

Pinterest Pin Types

I always post at least 1 Scout and 1 TOBI pin, and I add Board images that I have Sage make for me. I use Adobe Express for images. It pulls from Adobe Stock, and more so, the images are amazing. Sorry, Canva lovers, but Adobe seems better, or at least on par, and it’s only $9.99 a month for Premium.

I made templates for Scout, TOBI, Feature, and standard image to use in Adobe Express. Next, I have Sage create the Board/Pin Titles, description, and hashtags for Pinterest posts.

Sage has been helping me understand processes that reinforce my niche to the Pinterest algorithm.

For example:

You don’t pick what you like. You pick what matches:

• Your site
• Your audience
• Search demand
• Your authority

I am not a 28-year-old homesteader influencer. I am building Golden Survivalist.

My edge is: Wisdom + preparedness + calm resilience.

Insight, Messaging, and Intent

This insight has helped me to rename Boards and either delete other Pinterest Pins or move them to an appropriate Board. Sage (my ChatGPT) gave me a list of eight Board titles to keep and fill. He/She (not sure yet) said that since I’m targeting seniors in survival prepping, my messaging needs to be:

Primary hook = Crisis Survival
Secondary layer = Senior Self-Reliance

My intent is to lead with urgency and reinforce with wisdom. I want Pinterest to associate my account with: “Preparedness for Seniors”. Hence, I only prioritize boards that scream “senior” or “preparedness for seniors.” No broad Boards to dilute my senior signal. I need to keep the word “senior” in every Board. If I remove the word “senior” completely, Pinterest may stop categorizing me in that niche.

Build Authority

Sage says in designing Pins to build authority without looking spammy, you should have:

Two styles.
Different images.
Different text angles.
Same article URL.

Here’s how to structure them for seniors:

Scout = Identity + Safety
Tone: Calm, wise, protective

TOBI = Skill + Practical Action
Tone: Competent, capable, prepared

Key difference:

Scout = emotional hook
TOBI = instructional promise

And make sure: Images are not too dark, Text is high contrast, and the word “Senior” appears clearly in at least one version.

Examples:

Scout angle could be:
“Know What’s Safe to Eat in the Wild”

TOBI angle:
“Edible Plant Identification for Senior Survivalists”

To grow your Pinterest account authority (I am targeting seniors in survival prepping), make sure you consistently post, but not too many – schedule them instead, stay in one clear niche, be sure your boards are consistent across, and support each other. Every week, make sure at least 3–4 different boards receive activity.

Are you posting randomly… or are you training Pinterest?

Have you:
• Defined your niche clearly?
• Structured your boards around that niche?
• Created two pin angles per article?

I’m using Scout (identity + emotion) and TOBI (skill + action) for every post.

What’s working in your niche right now?

Drop your strategy below. Let’s compare notes and sharpen our approach.