If you’re just starting your Teachers Pay Teachers business, one of your challenges might be deciding what to invest in. Some–like a premium Teachers Pay Teachers membership–are no-brainers. Other investments though might be harder to pull the trigger on. If you’ve spoken to any other TpT sellers or hang out in TpT seller groups, you’ve probably heard of Tailwind. Now, you might be wondering: do I need Tailwind to have a successful TpT business? Keep reading to find out!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products that I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful.
What is Tailwind (and Why do TpT Sellers Use It)?
Tailwind is a website and an app that allows you to schedule Pinterest pins, Instagram posts, or both. It allows you to automate pinning, posting, and sharing, saving you so much time! But that’s just the beginning. Tailwind is so much more than that!
Since so many Teachers Pay Teacher seller use Pinterest and Instagram for marketing purposes, it’s quite popular in TpT circles.
Tailwind also offers powerful algorithm tools that gather data on your pins and posts. This helps you determine what content is working and when to share it. Since a good entrepreneur is always analyzing returns on investment, this feature is especially attractive to TpT sellers.
With Tailwind communities, you can connect, collaborate, and share Pinterest pins with other TpT sellers. These communities are small, niched, and tight-knit. In these communities, pins from newer and smaller sellers are more likely to be shared.
Unlike on Pinterest, where pins are often overshadowed by bigger and older sellers, Tailwind communities can help share your pins. Here, your pins visible to other sellers in your niche–increasing the likelihood that they are seen and shared by relevant accounts.
Tailwind has also recently launched Tailwind Create, which helps you make new pins and Instagram posts in moments. This is truly a game-changer, as the newest Pinterest algorithm updates highly favor new content.
If you’re using Pinterest or Instagram in your TpT growth strategy (and you should be!), Tailwind is a must-have!
How Can Tailwind Help my TpT Business?
Tailwind helps you manage your Pinterest or Instagram account, depending on the services you choose.
If you don’t use Pinterest or Instagram, it won’t help you at all. If, however, you find yourself constantly stressing about “pinning enough” or creating content for Instagram, it’s incredibly helpful
Automated Scheduling
My favorite part of Tailwind is the automated schedulers.
Pinterest has its own built-in scheduler and there are plenty of free schedulers for Instagram out there. So why bother with Tailwind?
Well, Tailwind is a data powerhouse! Its built-in algorithm determines the best times for you to pin or post, depending on your audience’s habits.
It can also provide tons of information on engagement for individual pins and posts. With Tailwind, you no longer have to manually pin or post. Instead, you can enjoy time with your loved ones, knowing your posts and pins are being shared at the best possible times.
I sit down once a week or so to do both my Pinterest and Instagram chores. Tailwind allows me to schedule out all of my weekly Instagram and new Pinterest pins in under an hour. Then, most of my marketing is on autopilot for the rest of the week!
I love having such a massive part of my TpT business automated. It frees up a bunch of time and mental space for product creation, blog writing, and content creation.
Loop Your Best Content
With Tailwind for Pinterest, you can use a feature called “Smartloops.” When you add pins to your smartloops, Pinterest automatically re-shares them regularly, so you don’t have to.
Yes! You never need to remember to reshare your old pins again! Just add them to your smartloop and forget it!
You can create evergreen (year-round) or seasonal loops. I have a “back to school” and an “end of the year” seasonal loop. As you can probably imagine, my back-to-school loop contains pint to my best back-to-school products and blog posts. I don’t have to panic every August and go through and share all of that again.
Tailwind also allows you to repost Instagram posts. This is the Tailwind feature that convinced me to add Instagram to my Tailwind account. When I have a post that does really well, I can easily repost it later!
Analyze Your Data
When you’re ready to evaluate your marketing or take it to the next level, Tailwind is there with all the data you need. When it comes to doing business and determining return on investments, you can’t have too much data.
With a few clicks, you can see which pins or posts are getting the most engagement. There’s no guessing about what your audience likes. Your dashboard will show you your most popular content, so you can make more of it~
Pinterest, Instagram, and many other schedulers offer data, but I like having my content calendar and my data all in one place. For Pinterest, I can easily search to see which of my pins are performing well (and which ones… aren’t).
For Instagram, I can quickly see which posts got great engagement, and which ones don’t. When you find yourself guessing about content planning, having data to rely on makes strategizing more efficient.
Plus, as an official partner to both Pinterest and Instagram, Tailwind gets the insider scoop from both companies. The Tailwind algorithms will give you posting tips as you schedule. Because of Tailwind’s partnerships, you can trust that these tips are Pinterest and Instagram approved!
Tailwind Communities for TpT Sellers
When you sign up for Tailwind for Pinterest, you also get access to Tailwind communities. Communities are little, niched groups for similar content creators.
I belong to five Tailwind communities, most of which are designed for English or ELA secondary teachers. When I add pins to these communities, only other English teachers are seeing them. This increases the likelihood that those pins will be shared from that community (vs. repins from Pinterest).
Conversely, when my pinning queue gets low, I don’t go to Pinterest for more content to share. I go to my Tailwind Communities! It’s so much easier (in my opinion) to share pins from other great sellers to multiple boards through Tailwind than it is from the Pinterest platform itself.
Tailwind Communities makes it much easier to keep sharing great content (and to keep supporting and helping my fellow TpT sellers!).
Tailwind Create
This is still a pretty new feature, but it’s one that could totally transform the marketing game!
As you may know, Pinterest is hungry for new pins. The platform will always push new pins harder than it pushes old ones. That means that if you want to do well on Pinterest, you need to keep churning out fresher and fresher pins…. But who has the time to make new pins every day?
Enter Tailwind Create! Tailwind Create simplifies the pin creation process.
Let’s say Halloween is coming up and you want to really promote that Halloween Fractions Escape Room you’re selling. Simply add your brand colors, upload a few product photos, and give your future pins a title. Tailwind Create will combine all of that information into endless pin templates.
With the click of a button, you’ll have a ton of new, branded pins. Customize, tweak, or use them as-is. Then, quickly add them to your Pinterest queue!
And Instagram lovers, don’t worry–there’s a Tailwind Create for Instagram also! Tailwind Create for Instagram can pull images from your website or you can upload photos directly. (Think how quickly you can share covers of your products from Teachers Pay Teachers or blog covers from your website!).
Once you add your text, Tailwind will do the rest. Tailwind Create adds branding to the templates, include your logo, and make sure that your posts look like you.
If you hate designing posts or pins, Tailwind Create is worth taking a look at.
Smart.Bio
This feature is for Instagram only. Know how you sometimes need to “link in bio?”
When you schedule your Instagram with Tailwind, you’ll get use their smart.bio custom link.
When you create an Instagram post inside of Tailwind, after you upload your image and type out your caption, you can add a link to your TpT resource or blog post on the same page! Tailwind will automatically connect the post to the link, so when viewers go to the link in your bio, they can click the image of that post.
You need the link in your bio to work–after all, if viewers can’t get to your products easily from your Instagram post, what’s the point? The smart.bio feature is just one way that Tailwind makes content creation easier.
When Should I Invest in Tailwind?
While I totally believe Tailwind is worth it, it’s not the cheapest investment you’ll make in your business. Before investing in Tailwind, make sure that you have the necessities you need to run your business. (A TpT premium membership should always be your first investment!)
You’ll also want to be sure that Tailwind will be a great return on your investment. Tailwind can help you reach a larger audience sooner, but if your products aren’t selling at all, marketing isn’t your issue. (Hint–look at your covers, previews, and product descriptions!).
Be sure that you’re making consistent sales before investing in Tailwind.
Personally, Tailwind was the second purchase I made for my business (aside from some clip art). (My first big investment was the TpT premium membership.)
When I had earned $100 in a single month, I signed up for a basic Tailwind for Pinterest account. I was nervous to spend that much money, but I knew that Tailwind would save me so much time. It did.
(I invested in Tailwind long before I invested in Canva, if that tells you anything! You can read more about why Canva is another great time saver for your TpT business!)
Since then, I’ve added unlimited Smartloops and my Instagram account to my Tailwind. Tailwind has only gotten better and added newer features, too. It’s still one of the best investments I make annually to my business.
How Much is Tailwind?
Tailwind has a free trial! I started with the free trial for a month before signing up for a paid account.
BIG HINT: don’t use the free trial slots on others’ content or resources. Since you only have a few slots during the free trial, exclusively schedule your own content during this time. It will help stretch out that trial as long as possible, earning you a bigger impact.
When you’re ready to sign up for a paid subscription, you have two options: annual or monthly.
Obviously, the annual subscription is going to be your best deal. It costs $119.88 ($60 less than paying monthly). If you spread that amount over the course of the whole year, it works out to just $9.99 a month.
For Pinterest, a Plus subscription will get you 1 Pinterest profile, unlimited scheduling, 15 posts using Tailwind Create, and access to 5 Tailwind Communities.
If you go with Instagram Plus, you’ll get to use Tailwind with 1 Instagram profile, unlimited scheduling, hashtag suggestions, and a Smart.Bio custom link.
(Yes, if you want both, you’ll have to pay that $119.88 for each. If that’s too much, I recommend starting with whichever sucks up more of your time–Pinterest or Instagram–and then upgraded as you go.)
If the annual plan is too much right away, you can always opt for the monthly payment plan. This is still only $14.99 for either of Tailwind’s services.
I can honestly say I’ve never regretted a cent I’ve spent on Tailwind. It saves me so much time every month, and their emails keep me improving my Pinterest and Instagram game with time.
Last Words about Tailwind and TpT
Tailwind can be quite an expense when you’re just starting your Teachers Pay Teachers. But if you’re starting to see consistent sales, and you’re wondering how best to grow your business further, I implore you to give Tailwind a try.
Time is the most important resource to an entrepreneur. Tailwind, with its creation tools and automated scheduling, can free up more of that precious time for you. That means more time for product creation, content writing, and living your life.
Tailwind was one of the first tools I invested in when I first started my TpT business, and I have no regrets about that! Click here, sign up, and let Tailwind take some of the work off of your plate!