The No-Frills Pinterest Starter Guide for Wedding Creatives
We’re back with another post about social media marketing for our wedding vendor friends – specifically why you should give much ado about Pinterest marketing strategies and how this platform should not be ignored. Pinterest is kind of our thing so we know you could reap amazing results from using this platform as part of your brand amplification.
Let me guess, you’re so deep in Instagram thinking about what to post and what to write that you really don’t have the time for Pinterest. Plus, you might be thinking, Pinterest is just for DIYs and recipes or that your ideal clients aren’t there anyways. If you’re trying to wave all of the algorithm changes on Instagram, it’s imperative to not put all your eggs in one basket.
Pinterest has continued to be one of our greatest platforms for referral traffic for the past 8 years. That’s right, we’ve been using it since 2010. If you’ve been a victim of Pinterest burnout, don’t think it’s worth the time or feel overwhelmed trying to yet keep up with another platform, keep reading. Over 60% of brides are on Pinterest planning their weddings and millions of users on Pinterest have wedding boards before they get engaged.
We’re sorting out your Pinterest account today just like how we did with Instagram — see here our Ultimate Roadmap to Instagram for Wedding Creatives.
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[convertkit form=5206585]Implementing these key elements can have a huge impact on how people find you. You’ve heard it everywhere, Pinterest is a search engine, and as such, you’ll leaving potential traffic, bookings and sales on the table if you’re not pinning yet. This lays the foundation to what we will be covering in Style It + Amplify course, where I will teach you our secrets and tried-and-true workflows that consistently brings in traffic and attracts followers + readers every single day.
1 | Convert to a business account
First thing’s first, make it official by converting from a personal to a business account. Why? This will give you the analytics dashboard, which is key to optimizing your contention this platform + ultimately growing your brand.
A few more reasons why you need to switch to a Business Account:
- 100% Free
- Access to analytics
- Ability to promote pins
- Rich pins
2 | Tell us who you are and what you do
1. Use your ACCOUNT name strategically. Add your business name and a keyword that describes what you do and what people will expect to see from your pins. You’re working with a search platform, so optimizing starts here. Make SEO an integral part of all decision-making and copy-writing!
For example: Nikk Nguyen | Austin Wedding Photographer
2. Use a profile picture of you. Unless you’re a well-known corporate brand, people want to pin from people. In these days of promoted pins, boosting and whatnot, the need for personal connection is higher than ever. Use the same profile pic across all social media channels while you’re at it too. The consistency makes it easier to recognize who you are and what you do.
3. Use all the characters in your description strategically, including keywords and who you serve. You want your audience to feel like you’re speaking to them, so use a language that resonates and speaks to what they will get out from following you, rather than listing out disconnected keywords. Think about what you can say that will have them thinking “this is a service I can use!”
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[convertkit form=5206585]3 | Make every pin count
Pinterest is a search engine, plain and simple. It’s the only platform that you don’t need a large following to start generating traffic to your site. There are a few ways to optimize your pins, which we will go into detail on below. The good news is, you can re-circulate your images in a variety of ways using these tips to create content that will engage with a new reach every time.
a. Rich pins:
Ever wonder how some pins look more professional than others, but you just can’t put your finger on it? Rich pins are the answer. They enable bold text which automatically grabs attention more as people scroll through the feed. They also include a title, date, author info, pin description AND a couple places for CTAs. Rich pins can increase engagement by 70% because let’s face it, they do look pretty legit. Read more on how to set this up here!
b. Vertical Images:
It’s no secret that vertical pins are more engaging than typical landscape or portrait shots. They take up more screen real estate, making them much more visually appealing. And hey, they look pretty trustworthy too. You can create a branded look with these and try combinations of photos in different ways to see what engages the most. The Pinterest algorithm favors images with a 2:3 aspect ratio (i.e. 600×900).
c. Text Graphics:
If it feels on brand, it may be worth your while to test out text graphics on your pins as well. This can come into play if you have a blog post you’re trying to promote, for example. Think about what your audience is searching for, and what keywords might grab their attention the most. Think about yourself as a reader – what would you deem clickable or pinworthy? Pin with purpose.
d. Keywords:
The quality of your keywords is one of the most crucial aspects to focus on. You can research relevant keywords by typing a broad search into the query bar. Just like with Google, it will reveal a dropdown with similar popular searches + keywords. Once you press enter, a whole lane of suggested keywords will appear under the query bar. Try to be as specific as you can with your keywords, as Pinterest favors multi-word phrases over a string of short keywords. That’s because there’s a lot of competition for the basic words. You have up to 500 characters per caption, so make use of them!
e. Links:
Make sure your pins link to specific urls or posts that refer to the image being pinned. Use a variety of links to direct readers to your different channels like Instagram and Etsy shop if you don’t want to send them directly to your website.
4 | Slow and Steady
Be consistent with your pinning schedule; the Pinterest algorithm rewards your domain quality by seeing regularity. While you’re encouraged to pin a lot, it’s better to pin 10x per day, everyday than 60x Monday night and none the rest of the week.
You’ll need a scheduler just like how you need one with Instagram. Tailwind is one of them. Not only does it have a smart calendar to show you the optimal times to post, you can set up an auto queue and it will do the “pushing live” for you. You can also take advantage of Interval Pinning – a feature that allows you to pin the same thing to multiple boards across a certain interval of time (so it’s not a dump of the same content all at once) with just one click.
Photo by Anna Roussos
5 | Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest has provided an amazing resource for business accounts – don’t miss it! Not only can you see how each of your pins + boards are performing by studying impressions, clicks, close-ups and “all-time best pins”, you can understand just who your audience is. Not only in a demographics sense (though this is great to be aware of!), but also in the “Interests” tab. You get to peek at what your audience is searching for regularly, and what content is relevant for them. Oh happy day! This helps you filter everything from the re-pins you share to the people you follow to the content and keywords you feed to them from your own portfolio.
You also get to take a look at which boards feature many of your pins and which business accounts your audience engages with most. Score!
We will be diving deep into getting the most from Pinterest, and how to maximize traffic with easy workflows we use all in our Style It + Amplify course. All tricks I’ve learnt over the years and how you can put it on autopilot in an hour a week (max!).