In order to get the analytics, you need to follow these steps:

1. Convert your existing account into a business account. If you don’t already have a Pinterest account, you can join as a business.
2. Verify your website. Pinterest will provide an HTML file or a META tag for you to put on your site.
3. Switch to the new look. Pinterest recently rolled out a new design. It features larger images and allows the user to easily find similar pins and boards.

Have you looked at your Pinterest analytics? How will you use the data to adjust your Pinterest strategy?

March 6, 2013. Itto Sushi – the location of our first date. Dave reserved the exact same table and arranged every detail of the big moment. Our dinner came out of the kitchen with a dinosaur on the platter with a small velvet bag and a ring box hanging from T-rex’s mouth.

He read me the most beautiful letter, got down on his knee and proposed. I said yes, of course.

I cannot wait to be Mrs. Dave Swoboda.

Kind of.

Out of the 46 state DMOs on Pinterest, 12 accounts were inactive last month and didn’t pin one single image from February 6 – March 4, 2013. And then an additional 7 DMOs that pinned 5 images or less during that same period. There were only 7 inactive accounts the previous month. Is this trend growing? Are DMOs losing interest in Pinterest?

Not all of them! Here are the most active state DMOs on Pinterest:

1. Georgia – pinned 248 images (from February 6 – March 4)
2. Texas – 144 pins
3. Tennessee – 132 pins
4. Ohio – 49 pins
5. Missouri – 48 pins
6. Nebraska – 42 pins
7. South Dakota – 41 pins
8. Arizona – 41 pins
9. Maryland – 38 pins
10. Utah – 33 pins

State DMOs typically have gained a decent amount of followers in a short period of time once they start promoting their account across their other social channels. The average state gains approx 50-150 followers each month. You’ll notice below that being an active pinner doesn’t always result in a strong growth in followers. For example, Hawaii gained 202 followers but did not pin any images in the same period of time.

Here are the top DMOs that gained the most followers from February 6 – March 4:

1. Texas – 30,071 new followers
2. Michigan – 3,194 followers
3. Colorado – 637 followers
4. Florida – 392 followers
5. Georgia – 315 followers
6. Ohio – 294 followers
7. Hawaii – 202 followers
8. South Dakota – 182 followers
9. Massachusetts – 180 followers
10. California – 179 followers

In terms of total followers, the top 10 states (as of March 4) are Texas, Michigan, Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Hawaii, Ohio and Wyoming. Below is a full list of all 46 states, ranked by total followers.

A few notes:

• Texas is featured by Pinterest to new users when they sign up and has seen astronomical growth in followers since then.
• Colorado ran a Pinterest campaign in January, which helped them gain over 2,000 followers during that period.
• Michigan had only been gaining 500-600 new followers per month previously but saw an increase of 3,195 last month.
• Most of the other state DMOs have been growing at approximately the same rate month per month.

Is your state DMO on the list? Are you on my CVBs on Pinterest board? If not, leave a comment below!

Since my first update (February 22, 2012), there has been amazing growth in the number of pinning CVBs.

On Feb 22, 2012, there were-

• 34 US destinations
• 3 international destinations
• 8,041 pins
• 640 boards
• 15,575 total followers

On March 4, 2013, there were-

• 437 US destinations
• 209 international destinations
• 150,094 pins
• 6,992 boards
• 1,594,531 total followers

Visit Savannah was considered as the leader back then and is still the leader in many ways today.

Here’s a full ranking of all US destinations.

And here’s a ranking of the US State DMOs.

Is your CVB on the list? Is it on my CVBs on Pinterest board? If not, leave a comment below!

Happy Pinning!

Los Angeles (18K followers) is starting to catch up to VisitSavannah Georgia (21K followers). Colorado Tourism, Beverly Hills, Visit Austin Texas and Pure Michigan all have over 5K followers each (as of Feb 12).

Fan Growth: number of new followers gained in January

Activity: number of images pinned in January

Total Followers: number of total followers, as of Feb 6

Leave a comment if your CVB is not in my rankings or on my CVBs on Pinterest board. What are you doing to pin more effectively?

1. Some of my closest friends live the farthest away but are always there for me.
2. I think this will be my year.
3. Pin of the week:

I posted a lot of stats last month so let’s just get into the ranking!

If you’re interested in how the State DMOs compare, check out this list:

And as always, if you know of any CVBs not on my CVBs on Pinterest board, please let me know!

1. This year has flown by. I spent a third of it in bed with mono and have been trying to make up for lost time.
2. I’ve almost entirely given up my music – playing and teaching flute lessons. It makes me sad but there are other priorities above it now.
3. And most importantly, I met the love of my life halfway through this year. Along with Dave came 3 lovely nieces and a nephew, who have also stolen my heart.
4. Pin of the week:

I typically quadruple this recipe, mostly because a large bag of walnuts can be divided into this ratio. You might want to start with only a single or double batch at first as they’re a little time-consuming to make.

Bourbon Balls ~ Delicious!

Bourbon Balls

• 1 – 6 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips (half a bag)
• 3 Tbsp light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup sugar + more to coat balls at end
• 1/3 cup bourbon whiskey (or orange juice)
• 1 cup walnuts, ground or chopped finely
• 1 – 14 oz box vanilla wafers, crushed finely

1. Grind / chop walnuts and vanilla wafers. (I use a food processor.)
2. Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler.
3. Add corn syrup and sugar. Stir well.
4. Blend in bourbon.
5. Stir in wafers and walnuts (I stir them in by batches as my double boiler is small. You probably could transfer the mixture to a large bowl before this step.)
6. Form into 1-inch balls.
7. Roll balls in sugar.
8. Let ripen in tightly covered container for 4-5 days.

Ingredients

Before rolling them in sugar. After making a few dozen, they start to resemble something the dog left behind...

This is about 2.5 batches of Bourbon Balls, in a 14-cup (3.3L) container.