I’m finally writing a full blog post on Why & How to use Pinterest to grow your Business! I randomly shared this in my Instagram stories a while back, and since then, the questions have not stopped, and I totally love it! It means that others want to also grow their business, and why not help others succeed?!
Pinterest drives the most traffic to my website than any other platform. I’m going to explain how I have automated this process and why it drives SO much traffic to my website and blog!
Get on Pinterest!
First, if you don’t already have a Pinterest account go do that first! Secondly, switching it to a business account will give you WAY more resources and proper statistics so that you can track just how much traffic it’s driving to your website. Their analytics are pretty amazing and detailed!
When you sign up, you’ll have access to Pinterest analytics! It provides you with important information about your pins’ behavior once you verify your website with Pinterest.
So let’s do the dang thing… here’s why and how I use Pinterest to grow my business!
#1, It Drives real Traffic to our Website/Blog!
As a photographer, I know the importance of being able to drive traffic to our sites – Pinterest is the key!
The first thing to do is to make the images from your blog post pinnable. If you are using WordPress for your blog, a simple plugin can make this possible for your images. This allows viewers to pin their favorite poses and wedding inspirations directly from your site.
The true magic (for me specifically) came when I started uploaded pins (my own images) to Pinterest. By doing this, you can name it appropriately and add searchable keywords to the description.
#2, It converts browsers into buyers!
What’s freaking amazing about Pinterest compared to most social media platforms is that it reduces the number of steps from discovery to conversion. In other words, visitors from Pinterest convert into leads or sales faster than from other social media sources.
How does this happen for me as a wedding photographer? It’s pretty simple: A bride is searching Pinterest for wedding ideas, and she comes across one of my pins – she clicks on it, and it leads her to that blog post – she scrolls through the blog post and finds she loves the images – proceeds to browse my site – INQUIRES!
#3, Your google rating goes up!
It’s all about those google ratings, am I right? The amazing part of Pinterest is that it could also affect your google rating, and having a higher google rating is everything in our industry. Let’s be honest, brides will google “Temecula Wedding Photographer,” for example, and will click on the first few sites that come up, so ranking high on google ratings is crucial! Well, Pinterest helps with this!
Since Pinterest makes it possible for users to link to their blogs or websites, it’s natural to assume that there’s a direct connection between the number of times a backlink is clicked and the ranking on Google’s search engine – more views on your site/blog post means a higher google ranking. If you aren’t familiar with how Google ranks your site, Forbes has an amazing article that simplifies it.
#4, Real Leads
The beauty behind Pinterest is that it’s 100% based on your specific niche. As a wedding photographer, I pin all about weddings. This means that the traffic Pinterest is driving to my site is most likely coming from brides, engaged couples, wedding planners, and anyone who is likely planning a wedding. Statistically, people who are planning a wedding are those who are pinning about weddings. These are the type of people who will need my services, resulting in real leads! In fact, I have booked 9/10 inquires I have received from Pinterest! Why use Pinterest to grow your Business? It should be a no-brainer – it grows your income!
The first thing I do after I blog a wedding is sending it off to my amazing couple, who then share it with their friends and family, of course. This process tends to bring in an average of 100-200 views to their blog post. A week after sending it to the bride and groom, I upload my pins… this literally quadruples the views to that blog post, which in turn makes my google rating higher, by the way! Let’s not forget about that – it’s a beautiful trickle effect! In fact, I have several blog posts with over 3K views, BECAUSE OF PINTEREST!
You can also apply for Rich Pins, which are pins with more information than your standard pin. There are five different types – movie, article, product, app, recipe, and place – each with its own pin upgrades such as real-time pricing and a direct link to your site.
As with most other social networks, posting and sharing frequently can often be the key to building an audience and keeping them engaged with your content. Pinterest suggests that you post 8-14 times a day. I know what you’re thinking, who in the world has time for that! And this, ladies and gents, is why Tailwind is amazing!
So what is Tailwind? Tailwind is a pin scheduling app. The AMAZING part of Tailwind is that it will analyze your account and your niche and generate a Smart Schedule with the best times for you to Pin for audience engagement. It literally does all the hard work for you!
Once a month, for a couple of hours I sit down and schedule all my pins for the month. It allows me to set the pin title and description, which means that you don’t have to do anything once the pin is published. It 100% was a game changer for using pinterest in my business effectively. If you’re still asking yourself Why & How to use Pinterest to grow your Business – change that today!
