Several apps can track you, and you may not even realize it’s happening. For these apps, the benefit of tracking you is that they can collect this data and use it to inform how they improve upon their own app. Knowing your browsing habits, for example, can give them insight into which of their features are most popular for users. But they can also use your data to sell it to third-party advertisers that then send you to targeted ads.
It’s difficult to pinpoint every app that is doing this, but here are 11 that are known for collecting data and tracking users.
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1. Facebook
Not only does Facebook track what you are doing on its app, but it even tracks your browsing behavior when you aren’t using the app. This explains why you can Google a specific pair of shoes and see ads for those exact shoes five minutes later on Facebook.
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2. Instagram
Like Facebook, Instagram is a Meta app that tracks your activity while you’re using the app, and also while you’re off of the app and browsing. It can even track your GPS location and IP address.
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3. Google
Everything you search for on Google is tracked, as is what you watch on YouTube, your location on Google Maps and Google Photos, and the data in your images. If that isn’t bad enough, Google has millions of trackers on third-party websites and apps.
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4. TikTok
TikTok features in-app tracking, off-app tracking, and uses this data to optimize its app, sell you targeted ads, and gather analytics for its many brands.
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5. Snapchat
Snapchat collects your location and can even access it when you aren’t using the apps, if you’ve given it permission to do so. In Snap Map, it can show your location to friends unless you have it set to Ghost Mode.
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6. Amazon
Amazon tracks what you buy and reorder, the products you view, the items you click on and add to your cart, and even your interactions with product reviews.
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7. WhatsApp
WhatsApp is owned by Meta, and shares some of the same tracking practices as Instagram and Facebook. It tracks who you message, the time and date, your location, IP address, and device type.
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8. X (Twitter)
X tracks your in-app activity, location data, device information, and then it tracks your behaviors across the Web so that it can send you targeted ads.
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9. Uber
Uber tracks your location, trip data (like how long it took to get from point A to point B), your device information, and it stores your payment data.
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10. Spotify
Spotify tracks your listening behaviour to improve its app and enhance your experience. It also logs your search queries, location, and device information.
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12. Pinterest
Pinterest tracks your in-app activity, location data, behavioural data, and device info.
Knowing what’s real and what’s fake on social media has become harder than ever with AI. But with a few simple methods, I’m able to avoid getting fooled more often than not. The best part? You don’t need to be a technical expert.
8 AI-Generated Markers
The easiest way to check if content is AI-generated is to look at the platform’s AI marker. Several social media apps, such as Instagram, have a tool that allows users to quickly see if a post was generated with AI software.
If I see a photo created with AI, I mark it as Not Interested. Doing so trains the algorithm only to show me what I actually want to see.
However, this tip may not always be the best approach. Sometimes, AI content detectors don’t work; generative fill-in Photoshop and other apps may trigger an image to be marked as such. So, I recommend combining this with at least one more method.
7 Reverse Image Lookups
Reverse image lookups are a superb way to see if a profile is fake, but I sometimes also use them to determine if someone has made content with AI. Ironically, AI tools like ChatGPT are good at determining if something has been created with AI.
When using ChatGPT, I use o3 to get more advanced reasoning. The tool normally takes 3-5 minutes to assess what I’ve fed it and come to a conclusion. It’s accurate more often than not.
Many people who upload AI-generated visuals to social media don’t remove the metadata. When I save images and videos, I can sometimes tell if they’re AI by their titles. Besides ChatGPT, you can use various other reverse image search tools on mobile.
Prompting AI Tools
Written AI social media content can be more difficult to identify, but it’s still possible. One of the easiest ways to see if a Facebook status, tweet, or Instagram caption was AI-generated is by prompting AI tools yourself.
Many captions are generated with basic prompts, so this is quite simple. For example, I could ask the software something like:
“Please generate an Instagram caption for a carousel of pictures showing a Spanish beach.”
The response will likely be similar to what I saw on social media, but it will not be exactly the same.
I don’t have a problem with AI captions if they mainly invite users to click through as a CTA. In fact, I think using AI for such tasks is clever. But it bothers me for personal stories.
5 Images That Look Like Video Game Graphics
I spend a lot of time testing AI software, and during my years of experience, I’ve experimented with image generation in numerous ways. So, I have a pretty good understanding of how AI-generated pictures look—even with the most photorealistic tools.
One of the surest examples of an AI social media post is that the images look more like video game graphics. I’ve seen some people try to claim that travel photos of locations are real when it’s obvious to me that they aren’t. Even if I haven’t visited those destinations, I can still tell.
Critically assessing pictures like this works for every genre. Even though the likes of GPT-4o and Midjourney have made significant improvements in recent years, you can still tell.
4 Visuals That Look Too Lifelike
Some AI tools can be scarily lifelike to the point of being creepy. The Toys ‘R’ Us Sora ad is one of the best examples of how technology can be taken too far; it’s supposed to advertise toys, but to me, it looks like a horror movie.
Photos and videos often have a look that may be closer to reality than older cameras, but they are still clearly taken by a human. Even with my full-frame camera, my images aren’t perfect.
If something looks too lifelike, it’s a certain sign that someone used AI to make it. Most social media posts shouldn’t look like computer-generated imagery (CGI) in movies. Deepfakes might also look real, but I use a number of tips to spot them.
3 No Personal Insights
A lack of personality is one of the best ways to spot AI-generated content. While these tools are good at writing basic passages, they don’t have the personal experiences of a human. It doesn’t matter how often you try to prompt these tools to inject your personality into them, either.
If a social media post seems robotic, it’s a good sign that you’re looking at something AI-generated. You can quickly tell if a post is authentic, in the same way you can tell when someone isn’t being honest in real life.
If you’re on the fence, you can always combine this tip with prompting AI software.
2 Asking a Question
If you ever want to tell whether someone truly knows what they’re talking about, ask them a curious question. Their response time isn’t important, but you should assess their answer to see if it feels legitimate.
People who generate AI content on social media are often (though not always) looking for engagement. However, you may encounter scenarios where they aren’t actually an expert on their topic. For example, if you see an AI-generated image, ask them where it is; you can then perform a quick Google search to determine if they’re genuine.
1 Observing Object Interactions
Despite significant changes, AI-generated social media posts can still have defects. Object interactions in videos and “photos” are a clear sign.
Sometimes, you’ll see someone holding objects unnaturally. In some cases, you may notice clear size differences, such as a phone being bigger than a person’s head. Hands and pockets might look unnatural, too.
If you see an AI video on social media, you may notice the speed and camera angles being a bit strange, too.
Not everyone uses AI for good, unfortunately. While these tools can be good for generating captions that you edit later, some people use them to farm engagement and mislead people. Knowing how to spot the signs of AI on these kinds of posts will help you avoid being fooled.
Money is tight in these current economic times, so it helps to have some additional money around and that might be finding a part-time job. But after working all day, you probably just want to chill out and enjoy some time on your phone, watching an app like TikTok. If that sounds like you, there is some good news: you can now get paid to watch TikTok. That’s right-there are certain apps that will give you money just for being on the social media platform you were already watching.
Ubiquitous
The influencer marketing app Ubiquitous is paying users of TikTok to do what they do best: watch and engage with TikTok. The company is searching for three people on the app who are willing to watch TikTok for 10 hours in order to better understand trends, virality and how the platform interacts with viewers. In exchange, each user will get $1,000, but you do have to apply ahead of time.
Bytedance
The parent company of TikTok, Bytedance, wants to better understand the habits and patterns of users of the app so they are going to pay TikTokers money to watch videos, along with referring friends. The downside is that this chance to earn some income watching TikTok will not be available in the United States. However, if you are in Spain, France, Germany and other parts of Europe, this is a great time to make money spending time on TikTok.
lit.it
One app that’s been around for a few years already is lit.it, which rewards users for watching short-form video content, like TikTok. The longer you stay on the app watching TikTok, the more tokens you earn for your time, which can then be converted into cash.
TikTok Benefits and Rewards
While other apps and companies might be able to pay you externally for watching TikTok, there is also a chance to get paid by the app itself via TikTok Benefits and Rewards. Eligible users can sign up in the app and start to see payments flow into their accounts just by participating “in regular video watching tasks that can be accessed from the activity page,” per the apps website, as well as referrals. New users and their referrer can then continue to earn TikTok Rewards based on each others’ activity, engagement and sharing of the rewards program.
Public relations professionals are navigating a media landscape that continues to be transformed by the use of AI, shrinking newsrooms and shifting audience trust. Now, algorithms curate headlines while synthetic avatars and independent creators reshape storytelling. At the same time, brands are being challenged to earn attention in a saturated, fragmented space.
Below, members of Forbes Agency Council unpack 16 emerging trends that are redefining how PR leaders think, pitch and connect with their media counterparts. Check out their insights to learn how the PR space is changing and how practitioners are adjusting.
1. AI-Powered Sentiment Analysis
The growing integration of artificial intelligence into public relations is one developing trend in the 2025 media environment. By automating media monitoring, sentiment analysis and content creation—tasks that AI is transforming within the PR space—more effective and focused campaigns result. AI-powered technologies can analyse enormous volumes of data to offer real-time public sentiment analysis. – Christena Garduno, Media Culture
2. Shrinking Media Teams
Very sadly, media teams shrinking considerably is a big trend. Balanced against the impact of influencers, this means fewer journalists are covering more topics, opportunities that were editorial are now paid for and magazine houses are shutting down. The choices for PR pros in terms of places to pitch stories are limited. So we are having to think differently in terms of coming up with other, non-traditional ways to add value. – Jules Herd, Five in a Boat
3. Politics Shaping Pitch Angles
Editors are increasingly distracted by events in Washington. They know stories related to tariffs, inflation, immigration and other initiatives the administration is focusing on will attract eyeballs and are adjusting their story angles accordingly. As a result, our teams attempt to tie our clients’ activities to one or more of these trends. – Tim Johnson, UPRAISE Marketing + Public Relations, Inc.
4. UGC Avatars Proliferating
The rise of user-generated content avatars—synthetic personalities representing brands—is reshaping PR. As they proliferate, the challenge will be standing out. Success won’t come from realism alone, but from how well we inject each avatar with a brand’s unique voice, values and personality to build authentic and lasting connections with audiences. – Fernando Beltran, Identika LLC
5. Storytelling Elevating Metrics
Great storytelling will always be in style and is the quickest way to bring an idea to life and capture a journalist’s attention. Metrics and outcomes are important, but if you can bring them to life to explain how a product or service changed someone’s life, that’s even better. In health tech, for example, this could involve anyone from a doctor who is no longer burned out to a patient who better understands their care. – Jodi Amendola, Amendola Communications
6. SEO For AI-Driven Curation
Some of the biggest trends this year will no doubt be AI-generated content and AI-driven news curation. With the new feature on Google that summarizes the answer for your search, marketing professionals are now required to optimize their SEO for both Google Search and its AI algorithm to increase visibility. – Saul Marquez, Outcomes Rocket
7. Quality Over Quantity In The Ad Space
Something we’ve been hyper focused on, and a major trend in media, is eliminating fake users and low-quality inventory in online ads. This enhances media quality, protects brand integrity and maximizes ad impact. From a PR standpoint, it’s crucial, as online placement is as important as the message. Prioritizing high-quality, brand-safe spaces strengthens trust, credibility and meaningful engagement. – Kimberly Jones, Butler/Till
8. Independent News-Focused Creators
Independent news-focused creators are becoming serious competition for legacy media, often outpacing them in terms of speed, specificity and authenticity—and gaining large, highly engaged audiences because of it. As audiences gravitate to independent voices over institutions—and social feeds over search engines—brands will need to rethink media strategies to include this new type of influencer. – Starr Million Baker, INK Communications Co.
9. The Rise Of Misinformation And Disinformation
AI is a factor, yes. However, more notable—and for me, more critical to address, as it significantly affects public relations—is the rise of misinformation and disinformation, particularly that which is fuelled by AI-generated content and social media amplification. To manage how notably it erodes trust, our PR work needs to prioritize greater social ethics at the core, proactive transparency and real-time monitoring. – Taazima Kala, Hotwire
10. Branded Content Driving Loyalty
In 2025, branded content has emerged as a powerful marketing trend, seamlessly blending storytelling with brand messaging. By creating engaging, informative and entertaining content, PR professionals enhance consumer connections while fostering authenticity. This approach not only captivates audiences, but also drives brand loyalty, making it an essential strategy in today’s competitive landscape. – Nancy Marshall, Marshall Communications
11. Journalists Going Independent
Economic strain and continuous media layoffs are pushing journalists to start their own independent ventures. Podcasts and newsletters have become quite easy to get up and running these days and can be very successful, leading to a more fragmented media landscape. For us in PR, that means we need to forge more relationships with niche creators, not just traditional media outlets. – Ayelet Noff, SlicedBrand
12. Scepticism About Expertise
AI has disrupted nearly every industry, including media and PR. But the real shift in our space has been the simultaneous demand for and distrust of experts. Many news consumers are sceptical of experts whose knowledge doesn’t align with their beliefs, yet people have never been more desperate for the truth. In our niche, healthcare, this means developing subject matter experts who can share their knowledge in a disarming manner. – Chintan Shah, KNB Communications
13. PR Becoming More ‘Pay To Play’
PR is no longer just about relationships; it’s about ROI. “Pay to play” isn’t a shortcut; it’s a strategy. As organic reach dwindles and media continues to fragment, brands must shift from hoping to be discovered to engineering visibility. The future belongs to those who master the blend of earning trust where it matters, paying where it counts and amplifying with intent. – Amy Packard Berry, Sparkpr
14. AI-Enabled Newsrooms
AI newsrooms are transforming media in 2025. Editors use AI to filter pitches and automate tasks, changing our PR approach. We’re crafting data-rich pitches to pass through these filters. The upside: Editors have more time for in-depth stories, so we focus on delivering insights rather than basic announcements. This opens doors for meaningful coverage. – Meeky Hwang, Ndevr, Inc
15. Strengthening A Founder’s Personal Brand
PR is now moving toward strengthening the personal brand of a company’s CEO or founder. Gone are the days of writing a press release about a company and emailing it to a thousand news sites or placing it on the newswire. The media now want a deeper understanding of the person behind the brand. Everyone can strengthen their own personal PR, and this is what we help clients achieve through thought leadership. – Adrian Falk, Believe Advertising & PR
16. An Imbalance Between Earned And Paid Media
This trend is here and shaping the PR landscape: the imbalance between earned and paid editorial and its relationship with white and black parasite SEO. As some have written about, for years we have embraced a version of paid “editorial”—advertorials, for example, or sponsored content—the masking of which is getting better and better. Companies should challenge their PR firms that forgo striking the balance in favor of a 100% paid model. – Dean Trevelino, Trevelino/Keller
About one in two American workers will be freelancing by 2027. That’s not a random number or guess. This figure was pulled from data by Statista’s researchers, who project that about 86.5 million professionals–or more than half of the U.S. workforce–will be freelancers in two years’ time.
If you’re launching your own consultancy, coaching business, or other service, or are simply considering freelancing, you really need to understand just how serious this is.
While of course, it’s good news that freelancing will soon be the norm across organizations, with many of them increasing their freelance hiring over the past few years, this promising figure also indicates that the market could very soon become extremely crowded, making it difficult for you to stand out and build a sustainable business.
This means that the freelance marketplace will become extremely competitive, even more than it is already, especially as growing numbers of professionals are turning to starting their own independent service businesses as a means of being able to work remotely and flexibly, fulfil their dreams and chase their passions, and make money sustainably while future-proofing their careers.
If you’re planning to start a freelance business this year, there are a few things you need to know and consider as you prepare to launch; these will help you stand out from the competition and enable you to succeed and be in the top 2% of high-earning freelancers:
1. Freelancing Is Sales, Whether You Like It Or Not
Being a freelancer isn’t as simple as it may appear on social media. You’re not only delivering a service or creating a solution, but you’re actually having to deal with the business aspect of your role, the cringey part which no one likes to address or think about–sales.
To make money, you need to understand sales and the psychology behind what makes your clients want to work with you. This means that regardless of whether or not you have a degree in marketing or a background in sales and business development, you’ll need to upskill fast and learn through practical experience (trial and error), other freelancers in your field, and freelance business advice and courses, how to approach your sales and marketing strategy for your business, so that you can actually continue doing what you love and profit from it.
2. Your Story Is Power
Storytelling places you at a significant advantage compared to other freelancers, because you’re able to pull from your own unique experiences, show that you’re a human and not a bot, and connect with potential clients in a meaningful way.
You can share professional experiences, personal reflections from your own life and background, interactions with clients, case studies pulled from your portfolio, or even silent observations which can teach powerful lessons. Regardless of the type of story, you should follow a clear structure by ensuring you highlight what exactly happened (the context), the lesson to be taught through the “low” or crisis in the story, and what the positive outcome or results were.
This helps you connect meaningfully, builds transparency and relatability, and even opens doors to opportunities like speaking engagements and co-hosting workshops.
For example, let’s say you’re a freelance email marketing/copywriting expert and you want to share a story on your next LinkedIn post. You could talk about how frustrated you were trying to convert email contacts into paying clients when the conversion rate was extremely low, or you could speak about how all your emails had a high bounce or unsubscribe rate. Then you discovered a secret to converting more email leads into paying clients, and what happened next for your business and its revenue was XYZ (you complete the results and get the idea). Now, all your emails have a (name your percent) conversion rate on average.
This simple story structure can be repurposed for other types of stories and even ones that may seem insignificant but which can serve a purpose to educate your audience and build a relationship with them.
Your stories are one of your most important assets because they are unique to you. No one else has gone through the experiences you have, or lived your life. So utilize them to your advantage.
3. Stop Calling Yourself A Freelancer
One of the most critical mindset and vocabulary shifts you need when starting your freelance business is to never refer to yourself as a freelancer. Get into the habit of taking yourself seriously and getting out of the gig mentality. No, you’re not just offering a short-term service to get some quick cash (this is what “freelancer” sounds like). You’re actually a business entity, so start treating and referring to yourself in that manner, and you’ll be taken more seriously.
This might mean setting yourself up as an LLC in your state instead of going under the sole trader designation. It can also include changing your title from “freelancer SEO strategist” to “SEO specialist/expert/agency”.
You also need to think like a business entity in other ways, such as:
Planning ahead strategically and setting revenue goals and earnings targets
Diversifying revenue streams to stay afloat and provide a buffer
Managing your finances judiciously, reinvesting to enable your business to grow, and keeping accurate records for tax purposes
Studying your competition very closely to understand what you’re up against, learn from their strengths, and turn their weaknesses into your superpower or USP
Protecting yourself from liability by having your legal framework (policies, terms, contracts, necessary insurances, etc.) in place
Plan strategically, think long-term, and set targets like a business entity. getty
So before you decide to declare to the world that you’re open for business and ready to take on new clients, keep these three points in mind and begin re-evaluating your approach to your business. If you want different results to everyone else, you’ve got to outthink them and act differently.
As the sprawling public relations industry scrambles to figure out how to buffer its clients’ brands and reputations through the new medium of artificial intelligence chatbots, some firms have reached a surprising conclusion: The best way to get your client’s message into the output of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and the rest is by talking to journalists.
Firms, whose services now often include regularly testing clients’ reputations with AI models, are finding that authoritative publications — including declining local news outlets and specialist trade journals — shape the results of chatbot queries about a given company far more powerfully than a social media campaign or Reddit thread could. The result is a striking reversal of the status quo at a moment when PR executives had begun to enjoy the social media-era option of ignoring journalists entirely.
“Earned media still matters, but not the way people think,” said Carreen Winters, who leads the reputation practice at MikeWorldWide, using the trade term for independent reporting.
The firm is launching a service called “PreBunk” that’s designed, according to a draft press release shared with Semafor, to provide an “ongoing proactive ‘education’ of the LLMs about your company and its reputation.”
Consumers, according to Winters, say, “I’m not going to trust earned media — I’m going to trust the internet.” But these LLMs’ sources lead back to journalism, something she said can sometimes be a hard sell to executives who thought they no longer had to deal with pesky reporters.
“Sometimes it’s a small trade publication that your client has said, ‘Nobody reads that anymore,‘” she said. “Sometimes it’s a hometown newspaper.”
Other firms are reaching similar conclusions. “Earned media and owned content [that is, pages on a company’s own website] are the primary drivers of how GenAI platforms recommend and describe brands and products. It’s not even close,” said Brian Buchwald, who leads Edelman’s global product, data and AI strategy. He said the firm carefully tracks the sources of LLM answers, which vary widely based on industry and brand. LLMs’ assessments of an enterprise tech company’s reputation, for instance, drew from Wall Street Journal coverage and research reports from Gartner.
“You can make a big difference very quickly with the right content and campaign choices and who writes about it,” he said.
Rand Fishkin, the founder of the audience research firm SparkToro, wrote last year that, for instance, LLMs appear to rely heavily on professional review sites like Eater when recommending restaurants. For brands looking to stand out, “that’s gonna be a PR process and a pitch process, but is it worthwhile? Absolutely,” he wrote.
The PR industry is navigating the rise of AI in parallel with the overlapping but more technical SEO trade, which is adjusting its sights from bringing clients’ websites up search results to elevating them in AI excerpts on Google and elsewhere. One place they converge is in encouraging companies to add pages to their website aimed at LLM, not human, consumers.
The SEO professionals are finding, however, that for now AI is largely relying on the same rankings that search engines use — though sometimes in unpredictable ways. A brief from the enterprise SEO marketing company BrightEdge, for instance, cites as “one of the most important discoveries” about Anthropic’s Claude the fact that it relies on the lesser-used search engine Brave for its rankings; companies will need to ensure they’re being indexed by Brave to feed their official line to Claude. Another brief wrestles with the subtle differences between Google’s AI Overviews and more traditional search rankings, with the LLMs answering “anticipated questions,” not just the ones consumers are asking.
The SEO field has long been engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse with Google and other search products, and spokespeople for LLM companies didn’t respond to inquiries about how they view these efforts.
Ben’s view
There’s something heartening, from the perspective of the humans in the media business, about the practice of gaming digital media becoming less technical, after a long march in which advertising and marketing were essentially swallowed by adtech and practices like SEO.
Dealing with LLMs is “more like traditional PR than it is like SEO,” Ben Worthen, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who founded the agency Message Lab, told me.
That’s good news, in particular, for the PR industry, which gainfully employs its share of human beings, as well as some former journalists.
But even if the LLMs find this kind of authoritative journalism valuable, and even if companies will pay to employ publicists to pitch their stories, it’s not clear where that process meets news organizations’ business models.
For instance: What, exactly, is a trade publication that offers valuable and authoritative service to LLMs even as humans stop reading it? A research service for AI? If the handful of firms training and maintaining LLMs really think that the authoritative reporting on small industries or local areas is valuable, they may have to pay for it — because nobody else seems to want to.
Room for Disagreement
The darkest warnings about the power of AI have to do with the “liar’s dividend” that renders accurate journalism pointless. The theory is not that deepfakes will persuade people to believe anything in particular, but that they’ll make people disbelieve everything. Bobby Chesney and Danielle Citron coined the term in a 2019 essay arguing that “a sceptical public will be primed to doubt the authenticity of real audio and video evidence. This scepticism can be invoked just as well against authentic as against adulterated content.”
Notable
AI relies on original journalism, a Brookings Institution report argued: “Without access to human-created, high-quality content that is a relatively accurate portrayal of reality — and that journalism provides — the foundational models that fuel machine learning and generative AI applications of all types will malfunction, degrade, and potentially even collapse, putting the entire system at risk.”
Coaches are wasting hours on LinkedIn without seeing results. You open the app, scroll mindlessly, post something generic, and wonder why your business isn’t growing. Meanwhile, others in your field are booking calls every week from the platform.
Your expertise isn’t the problem. Your LinkedIn strategy is.
I quadrupled my LinkedIn following in 2024 by eliminating time-wasting activities and doubling down on what drives results. After studying what performs well and what falls flat, I know the opportunity is massive for coaches who show up strategically instead of randomly posting and disappearing.
Stop wasting time on activities that don’t convert
Here are the seven key ways coaches throw away valuable time on LinkedIn and how to fix them today.
Chase the right connections, not just any connection
You accept every connection request that hits your inbox. Your network grows daily, but with people who have zero interest in what you offer. Stop this now. Define your ideal client in specific detail: their job title, challenges, goals, and values. Run advanced searches for these exact people. Actively connect with them.
Review each connection request against this profile before accepting. Message them to understand their intent before connecting. Build a network of potential clients or collaborators, not random contacts.
Focus on your own metrics, not what other coaches are doing
You spend hours studying other people’s posts, mimicking their approach, and wondering why their content performs better. But their journey doesn’t match yours. Their audience responds differently. What works for them might flop for you.
Track your own metrics instead. Note which of your posts spark real conversations and bring profile views. Create a simple spreadsheet to track post performance. Colour your winners in green, your losers in red. Learn from both and repeat what succeeds for your unique voice and audience.
Create a content system, not daily blank-page panic
Writing posts from scratch every day drains your energy and wastes valuable time. No wonder your posting schedule remains inconsistent and your results suffer. Develop a system to capture ideas throughout the week as they happen.
Keep a notes app on your phone ready for client questions, breakthrough moments, and lessons learned. Batch create your content in one focused session. Write a week’s worth of posts in 90 minutes. Schedule them for optimal times when your audience is online.
Share client wins to build credibility
Your success stories provide evidence that you help others transform. Share specific client achievements with permission and respect for privacy. Talk about the starting point, the process, and the outcome with real numbers and tangible results.
People buy coaching services from professionals who demonstrate they’ve helped others achieve similar goals. Your client wins represent your most powerful marketing asset on LinkedIn. The proof of your coaching effectiveness lives in your client results.
Give away your frameworks generously
The coaches winning on LinkedIn share their methods openly and completely. They break down their frameworks step by step, detailing exactly how they help clients succeed. Your expertise appears in how you apply these methods, not in keeping them hidden away.
Share your signature system with confidence and clarity. The people seeking DIY solutions will use your free content. The people wanting guaranteed results will hire you to implement it alongside them. Provide value first and watch how it returns to you in leads and opportunities without chasing.
Transform your LinkedIn approach this week
Create a LinkedIn system that works for you, not the other way around. Define your ideal client and focus your network building efforts specifically there. Learn from your own performance data, not others’ perceived success. Capture content ideas throughout the week in a structured way. Share client wins and your coaching methods proudly and consistently. Your coaching business deserves better than random activity and hoping something sticks.
AI will upend much of how we function in the workplace — at least according to new LinkedIn data.
“By 2030, 70% of skills used in most jobs will change,” says Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn news editor at large for jobs and career development. LinkedIn determined which skills are used in most jobs by combining the skills companies are currently listing in job descriptions and skills individuals are listing in their profiles. They then made their calculations considering historical shifts in skills and projections around AI-replicable skills.
Seaman doesn’t think these skills will be replaced altogether. Instead, they’ll evolve. And other experts agree. “As technology continues to change the way we work, everyone must be aware as to what is evolving to keep their skills relevant and marketable,” says Stacie Haller, chief career advisor at Resume Builder.
Here’s what jobseekers should keep in mind.
‘You may not need to do data entry anymore’
In the near future, employers will use AI “to enhance” their workers’ abilities, says Seaman.
“You may not need to do data entry anymore,” says Seaman as an example. “But you may need to do data management.” Similarly, prompt engineering might not be necessary down the line. “It might be management of AI prompts and [large language models]” instead, he says. The menial tasks could be done by AI and the oversight and organization of those tasks could be taken on by people.
Not all jobs will be similarly affected. Manual labour or live performance, for example, likely won’t be impacted as heavily. But in jobs like software engineer, web designer and cashier, AI will take the tasks people have been doing and make people more productive by enabling them to complete more tasks throughout the workday.
Down the line, “maybe one person can do the job of several,” says Seaman.
‘People need to get used to change at this point’
As tasks evolve with tech, there are several things you can do to make sure you’re keeping up.
Read skills in demand lists on sites like LinkedIn, Upwork and Indeed to see what employers are looking for. If there are skills that seem relevant or interesting, “start adding them to your routine of learning” by taking different tutorials or even a class, says Seaman. If there’s someone in your life who has that skill, you can also see if they’re willing to teach you.
The bottom line is “people need to get used to change at this point,” he says. “That’s how they can stay competitive in the workforce going forward.”
Audible is leaning into social media and communities like #BookTok to get people to read and connect with fans.
Rosina Shiliwala, global head of social media at Audible, outlined the brand’s social media strategy at ADWEEK’s Social Media Week.
Building brand affinity—or something that stirs up positive emotions associated with Audible—is core to the company’s presence on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
“We’re not just in the business of audiobooks, we’re in the business of immersive audio storytelling,” Shiliwala said. That requires connecting with book lovers through authenticity, humour, and irreverence.
Part of that focus comes from how long people spend with Audible’s content. Audible listeners spend more than a hour at a time listening to its content, according to Shiliwala. All told, Audible’s content was listened to for 5.4 billion hours in 2024.
Nearly three-quarters (74%) of Gen Z finds content—including their next audiobook—through social media, according to eMarketer.
Finding book fans
#BookTok is a natural place for Audible to find book lovers, which requires the brand’s team to dig through Reddit threads and TikTok videos.
“We study where fans congregate, what excites them, and how they engage,” Shiliwala said.
For example, Audible created social content around creators Oliver Mills, Yuval Ben-Hayun, and Ayamé Ponder. When the creators started posting content about each other while shooting content for Audible, fans theorized that the three were in a love triangle.
“It was authentic, it was unplanned, and it was driven by real fan engagement,” Shiliwala said. Moreover, the creators’ followers amplified the content, leading to press coverage by publications including Time.
Audible also likes to step into the comments of creators’ videos. When comedian and creator Jake Cornell posted a video about someone drinking a bottle of cold brew concentrate, Audible chimed in with a comment about listening to audiobooks at a fast pace.
“Comments like these are not just throwaway jokes for us—they’re really like tiny love letters to our community,” Shiliwala said.
In another example, Audible built a campaign around Yung Gravy narrating an audiobook after fans asked for audio content from the rapper.
“This wasn’t a meticulously planned campaign months and months in advance—this was pure social-first storytelling,” Shiliwala explained.
Lauren Johnson is Adweek’s deputy editor of retail media and commerce, where she runs Adweek’s retail and influencer marketing coverage. Before joining Adweek in 2024, she was an advertising reporter at Business Insider for six years and previously covered technology for Adweek.
More followers on Pinterest could mean a boost in subscribers, sign-ups, sales, brand awareness, and more. Here are 20 practical tips you can start using today.
It might not be the most obvious social media platform choice when it comes to building your brand as a creator or business.
But, when used right, Pinterest could become the most effective platform in your social media toolbox.
A bold statement, but I stand by it. That’s because Pinterest has what many other social media sites don’t — the ability to include links in every single post.
Of course, there’s more to Pinterest than just clickable posts. Unlike other social platforms, where content tends to disappear quickly, Pinterest acts more like a visual search engine — meaning the pins you post today can continue driving traffic weeks, months, or even years from now.
With all that in mind, getting more followers on Pinterest isn’t just about vanity metrics. A bigger, engaged audience means more people discovering and saving your content — which translates into more subscribers, sign-ups, sales, and brand awareness over time. Pretty neat, right?
But… how do you get more followers on Pinterest, exactly?
Let’s break it down. Here are 20 practical tips to help you get more Pinterest followers and move the needle right away.
Optimize your profile
Your profile is the first impression. Here’s what you need to do and how to do it to optimize your Pinterest profile.
1. Convert your Pinterest profile to a business account
Pinterest has two kinds of accounts: personal and business. If you have a Pinterest Personal account, I’d recommend switching to a Pinterest Business account. Why? Because business accounts have access to:
Analytics for how your pins are performing
Advertising features to create various types of ads
Pinterest itself recommends converting to a business account to access helpful growth features. Here’s how you can convert your Pinterest Personal account to a business profile:
1. Log in to your Pinterest account
2. Click the arrow next to your profile icon
3. Click on the ‘Convert to Business’ option and then the ‘Upgrade’ button (don’t worry, it won’t cost you anything)
2. Brand your Pinterest profile to make it recognizable
Optimizing your profile is a must for growing on Pinterest. Imagine someone clicking on your pin, going to your Pinterest profile to learn more, and having no clue who you are or what you do. They won’t hit that follow button.
Here’s how to give some personality to your Pinterest profile page:
1. Add your name and profile name to your profile. If you have a brand name or username that you’re already using on your website and other social media accounts, use the same one here.
⚡ Pro-tip:Pinterest also recommends adding searchable keywords along with your name to make it easy for people to discover you. You can use the search option to find relevant keywords and add the relevant ones to your name.
For example, Micah has used keywords like ‘DIY’, ‘décor,’ and ‘content creator’ to make her profile more discoverable. This helps her appear in searches when users look for DIY inspiration, home décor ideas, or content creators in her niche.
2. Add a clear profile photo so people can put a face to your name. If you’re a brand, put your logo in the profile photo.
3. Use your ‘About’ section to describe what you post on Pinterest and how it can benefit your audience. Keep it short and sweet.
4. Add a cover photo telling people what you do or what you represent. This isn’t necessary, but it’s a good addition!
Shreya Dalela, creator ofThe Creatives Hour, is the perfect example of how you can brand your account and make it easy for people to click follow.
And remember: Branding isn’t just for your profile. Pinterest actively encourages its users to put a logo on every pin they share:
“Put a logo on every pin that you make, but keep it subtle. Avoid the lower-right corner, since that spot gets covered up by our product icons.”
3. Verify your website
Pinterest lets youclaim your website, linking it directly to your profile. This ensures your profile picture appears on every pin saved from your site, making it easy for people to find and follow you.
Claiming your website also gives you insights into how often your content is shared. You’ll get advanced analytics and a direct link on every saved pin, helping users discover more from you.
Whenever someone saves an image from your site:
Your profile picture appears on the pin.
The pin links to your Pinterest profile.
Viewers see an option to follow you.
Claiming your website also unlocksrich pins. Rich pins are a type of pin that automatically sync information from your website and display extra details like titles and descriptions.
It’s fairly simple to do, if you know the ins and outs of your website. This step-by-step video shows you how.
Create content that engages your audience
Just like other social media platforms, Pinterest’s growth thrives on content. Here’s how you can make yours more Pin-teresting. 😉
4. Create fresh pins consistently
All social networks want you to post consistently on their platform. Theminimum frequency for Pinterest is at least one pin a week, though posting more often is generally a good idea.
“While you can determine the best schedule for you, posting on a weekly basis is a good rule of thumb,” Catie Marques Teles, a Product Marketing Manager at Pinterest says. “Because content is evergreen, your hard work works harder, and people will keep seeing your ideas over time.”
.If even one post a week feels a little intimidating, it might help to draw inspiration from the various content types
Pro tip: You’re not limited to static images! Pinterest allows short-form video content, too, which is a great way to present tutorials and how-to content.
On the other hand, Brian S. Stone, founder of Adaptive Communities, creates marketing-focused Pinterest content, such as infographics and tool stacks with a clear goal: driving Pinterest users to his page, where he sells Notion templates.
⚠️ Note: Don’t compromise on the quality of your Pinterest pins to meet a certain number. Pinterest content has a longer shelf life — meaning the pins you create today can generate traffic for weeks.
Invest time in creating thoughtful, quality content that is actually relevant to your target audience.
Now, creating and posting multiple pins weekly, especially if you’re a part-time creator or small business owner, might sound exhausting. Who has the time to write the title, the description, and edit posts every single day?
Which is why it’s a great idea to work smarter, not harder. You might want to try batch-creating content and scheduling pins usingBuffer. You can create pins in advance and queue them into relevant boards.
The best part? If you add a destination link, Buffer will automatically pull through the available images on your website. So, if you’re adding Pinterest-worthy photos on your website already, you don’t even need to upload the image if you use Buffer.
5. Publish high-quality vertical images and videos
Pinterest is a visual platform. Quality matters on Pinterest — whether it’s for infographics or videos. The ideal image size is 1000 x 1500 pixels in a 2:3 aspect ratio.
Pinterest says other ratios can negatively impact your performance because the image’s text is half-visible. The ratio is also ideal because most Pinterest users use the app on their mobile.
A great example is Melisza Mcfierce‘s Pinterest profile. Each and every pin she posts is of extremely high-quality and stands out as clean, clear, and crisp on the home feed.
6. Select a strong, relevant image for your pins
It probably goes without saying that Pinterest is first and foremost, a visual platform. When Pinterest users search for something, they’re more likely to click on the pin with the most relevant, visually appealing image.
According to Pinterest Creators, being strategic with your pin’s image and text can significantly improve engagement. For example, if you’re sharing a lasagne recipe, a pin featuring a delicious, well-cooked lasagne is far more likely to attract clicks than one showing just the raw ingredients.
Pinterest users engage visually first — your pin should instantly communicate the value of your content. Using high-quality images, clear text overlays, and an engaging design will make your content more likely to stand out in a sea of aesthetic visuals users will find on their feeds.
But image relevance is just as important as the quality.
For one thing, the Pinterest algorithm scans your images to understand whether or not they match your pin description and overall profile niche. So, your Pinterest cover images should contextualize what you’re discussing in the pin.
Let’s say you’re a travel creator and are creating a pin on the best coworking cafes in Prague. Don’t use a generic picture of a latte as the cover image for this pin — use a photo of the relevant café instead.
When I type “best coworking cafes in Prague” into the Pinterest search bar, it displays various relevant café images with overlay text. However, the ones that catch my attention aren’t just snaps of coffee or food, no matter how aesthetic — they’re high-quality photos of the cafes, showcasing the ambiance, workspace setup, and overall vibe.
7. Level up your content using music, duration settings, stickers, and more
Pinterest has developed a ton of native editing features — like editing music, syncing text to video, adding stickers, and more. Use all of these features to create more engaging content.
Academia Central Fitness is an excellent example of how to use Pinterest’s various features to create scroll-stopping pins. They align the text to the videos they share, use Pinterest’s native font, and add stickers and music to all their pins.
“Because we know pinners are planners, it’s important to focus on your board strategy.”
Pinterest also suggests keeping your board names straightforward rather than overly clever to make them search engine optimized (SEO-friendly). This means using clear, keyword-rich titles that describe exactly what the board is about.
For example, if you’re creating a board about makeup recommendations, name your board something simple and direct, such as “Makeup products recommendations,” instead of using an informal term such as “makeup products that slap.”
The fashNcurious Pinterest profile is an A+ example. The mother-daughter duo creates fashion content on Pinterest and organizes it in boards such as “nail content” and “fashion inspiration for all occasions.”
Categorizing your content into boards also helps new followers navigate your profile and get similar content in one window. Here’s how to create a board:
1. Go to your Pinterest profile
2. Click on ‘Saved’
3. Click on the ‘➕’ plus icon on the right-hand side
4. Choose ‘Board’
5. Name your board and start adding pins to it
If you want to take it up a notch, you can alsocreate sections within your boards. For example, if one of your Pinterest boards is about “winter recipes,” you can break it down further into sections like “winter beverages” or “winter desserts.”
9. Add a call-to-action (CTA) to every pin
What should your target audience do after they come across a pin from you?
Adding a call-to-action to every pin you create ensures your audience takes that next step of following you or visiting your website. For example, in this pin, fitness creator Jacquelyn has a clear CTA to watch her YouTube video.
Some other call-to-action phrases you can use:
Read the full blog on my website
Follow me for more [your niche] content
Save this for later
What do you think of [topic of your pin]?
Comment your favourite [something relevant to your pin] below.
You can also add a voiceover for your CTA if you share a video on Pinterest.
10. Tailor your repurposed content to the Pinterest platform
Since the Pinterest algorithm scans your image content for contextual cues, it’s a great idea to edit your content within the platform.
So, for example, if you’re repurposing a TikTok video for Pinterest, remove the accompanying text and add text within the Pinterest app instead. TikTok, Instagram, and Shorts watermarks are a no-go, too, so be sure to save a ‘clean’ version of your content.
With that, you can use the platform’s native editing abilities as much as possible to publish more Pinterest-friendly content — and boost your follower count by extension.
11. Craft multiple pins for the same post
Shreya Dalela used Pinterest to grow the website Elite Content Marketer’s traffic by a whopping 829% (!) in just three months. One of her top tips is creating multiple pin designs for the same topic.
For example, she suggested varying the designs for the same header or splitting one long-form post into mini infographics.
This is an excellent way to get the most out of every piece of content you create and also an A+ Pinterest strategy to pin more without burning yourself out. But it comes with two caveats:
Shreya suggests avoiding pinning multiple posts with the same URL in one day, as this might come across as spam. Instead, spread it out over a few days or weeks.
Shreya also recommends testing the performance of five pins on one topic, first. If it performs well, create more pins for it. If not, don’t design more pins for it.
12. Create content your audience would want to save
The Pinterest algorithm prioritizes content that users save.
“If there’s a pin with a lot of saves, the system will recommend it across the platform’s main pages over other less inspiring, less engaging content,” Pinterest says.
A save signals to Pinterest that your post has meaningful engagement and that your idea resonates with people. Ask yourself: “What kind of content would my target audience want to bookmark?” and create more and more of it.
Creating saveable content should be your top Pinterest marketing strategy. People often return to their saved content, increasing your engagement and website traffic even further.
Make your pins discoverable
There’s no point in creating perfect pins if your ideal followers can’t find them. Below are the best tips for improving the visibility and reach of your pins.
13. Optimize your images, pin descriptions, and text overlays for SEO
If you pick the right keywords on Pinterest, you’ll improve your discoverability and increase your number of followers.Pinterest also highlights that using the right keywords for SEO positively affects the distribution of your content.
Use keywords in three spaces on Pinterest:
Text overlays
Title
Pin description
⚠️ Note: In text overlays, ensure your image is as easy to read as possible. Remember people are scrolling on their phones. Small fonts are easy to miss. Use header fonts to show what your image is about.
How do you find relevant keywords related to your pin? You can search for your topic on Pinterest, see the suggested keywords that pop up, and monitor what your competitors are using.
You can also use the Pinterest trends tool to search for your topic and find what your audience is searching for.
14. Use topic tags instead of hashtags
Topic tags are the new hashtags on Pinterest. Although you might still see many creators using hashtags, Pinterest says they rely on topic tags to categorize your content.
You can add up to 10 topic tags for each pin you post. Pinterest gives you the option to “tag related topics” while you’re posting your pin.
Pinterest users can’t see your tagged topics — which is another benefit since it doesn’t appear spammy like hashtags.
15. Engage with others
If I had a penny for every time I saw a creator posting and ghosting on Pinterest, I’d be swimming in cash. Social media marketing is a two-way street.
This is especially true for Pinterest. It encourages active users to respond to comments, pin frequently, and share ideas with each other.
If you want to grow on Pinterest, you have to build a community. This means following others in your niche, commenting on other people’s content, and responding to comments and direct messages (DMs) you receive. For example, Suman replies to questions and comments on her Pinterest videos to help her audience.
Engaging on Pinterest doesn’t have to be complicated. Take 10–20 minutes every day to respond to any notifications you receive. When you reply to someone, you increase engagement and also prompt them to check your pin again.
Also, scroll Pinterest for the kind of content you like. If you find another creator in a relevant niche with useful content, follow them and engage with their profile. They might follow you back or start saving your pins on their boards.
16. Join relevant group boards
Group boards are Pinterest boards with multiple collaborators. You can create your own group board by inviting collaborators and giving them various levels of permissions.
There are popular group boards in every niche that aid in providing an additional reach to your Pinterest content. You can request to join these boards and participate in pinning content consistently.
Use pingroupie to search for popular group boards in your niche. Most group boards will also use the description to share guidelines on joining the board and set up some ground rules.
17. Hop on trending content
Pinterest users love seasonal content more than any other social media platform. And Pinterest capitalizes on it by giving you tons of resources to find the latest trends on the social network:
4. A theme to organize your content for the whole year and inspire your content calendar
Use these resources to create trending content in advance (as much as possible). Some trends — like the holidays — allow you to prepare pins early because you already know that spike is coming.
Cross-promote your pins
Any marketing strategy is incomplete without a promotion strategy. To get the most out of your Pinterest content, you need to actively share and distribute your pins for greater visibility.
Here are some effective ways to promote your pins:
18. Advertise your pins
While we’re fans of organic growth here at Buffer, giving your pins a little nudge (if you can afford to) hurt no one.
If you have some budget for Pinterest Ads, consider promoting your Pinterest pins to reach potential followers. How do youcreate a Pinterest ad? It might seem a little complicated, but the platform will guide you through the process, step-by-step. Here’s an overview:
Click on the three horizontal lines at the top left corner of your Pinterest profile and select ‘Create Campaign’ under the Ads section.
Choose a campaign objective (e.g. brand awareness, traffic, conversions, or catalogue sales).
Set a daily or lifetime budget and define the campaign duration.
Select the target audience based on demographics, interests, keywords, and behaviours.
Choose an existing pin from your boards or upload a new one with a strong, relevant title, description, and destination URL.
Set a bid strategy (manual or automatic bidding) and select ad placements (search results, home feed, or related pins).
Review all settings and click ‘Launch’ to start your promoted pin campaign.
Monitor ad performance through Pinterest Analytics and optimize based on engagement, clicks, and conversions.
And you’re done!
Try Pinterest ads for yourself and see if promoted pins give you enough return on investment (ROI) to become a regular part of your Pinterest marketing strategy.
19. Add a Pinterest follow button to your website, newsletter, and other social media
Encourage the followers, fans, and email subscribers you already have to follow you on Pinterest.
For example, in your email newsletter or Instagram Stories, you can share a regular “What we’re pinning” update to remind your existing followers to check you out on Pinterest, too.
Etsy links its Pinterest profile in the footer of its website — along with other social accounts.
But remember: Your target audience needs a reason to follow you on Pinterest. Perhaps you create exclusive content, or maybe organize all your existing content neatly into boards and sections your audience can refer back to easily.
Whatever it is, craft a compelling offer that will entice people to click the follow button.
Measure your success
Here’s a social media strategy step often missed by creators and brands alike: analysing their content performance.
20. Use Pinterest Analytics to guide your content strategy
Once you switch to a business account, you get in-depth insights into how your content is performing. You get details like saves, outbound clicks, pin clicks, profile visits, and more.
The metrics you should focus on will depend on your goals. For example, if you want to grow website traffic via Pinterest, the outbound click rate is the most important.
Spend some time each week or month identifying your best-performing pins. Maybe you noticed how-to video content gets the highest number of saves and click-through rates, so you can double down on it when you start creating new pins.
There’s more to Pinterest than Pinterest followers
Pinterest is known as the social network to drive more traffic to your website. It encourages its users to leave the platform — an anomaly in the social media marketing world.
So, while Pinterest followers are a good metric to look at toevaluate your growth on Pinterest, remember it’s not the only one. If you’re getting decent traffic, enough saves, and impressions, and engaged comments, you’re doing Pinterest right!
Don’t focus on gaining new Pinterest followers in a silo — look at the big picture and focus on building a community on the platform.
