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Pinning with Purpose: How To Have Success on Pinterest

With more than 400 million active monthly users, Pinterest has become the must-have platform for wedding professionals to increase inquiries and reach new clients. With a focus on visuals, it’s the perfect place for wedding vendors of all types to share photos of their creative work and show potential clients that they are the expert in their field. 

A strong Pinterest presence can help bring in additional business. But, it’s about more than simply showing up. Businesses must be smart and strategic with how they share content on Pinterest in order to see the benefit of more inquiries.

When it comes to Pinterest, there are a handful of things you can do to optimize your account and invite thousands of potential clients to engage with your content. But first, it’s important to understand the mistakes to avoid in order to see results.

Common Pinterest mistakes

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make when it comes to Pinterest is comparing it to social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Many entrepreneurs use the same strategies and workflows on Pinterest that they use for these other platforms, only to find they don’t translate. Treating Pinterest like a social media platform is a waste of time.

Why? Because, Pinterest is not social media. Pinterest is a powerful search engine.

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Business owners who mix personal pinning with business pinning are also missing the mark. For example, adding recipes and home decor alongside your business’ products and services will confuse the Pinterest algorithm. And when Pinterest doesn’t know how to categorize your account and your content, it is difficult for Pinterest users to find your content.

If you’re using a Pinterest account for business, it should be solely for your business. Personal pins can live on boards marked as “secret” or you can create a separate Pinterest account only for your personal pins.

A final mistake entrepreneurs make on Pinterest is not understanding how their potential clients are using it. Step into the shoes of your clients and try to understand how they use Pinterest to plan their wedding. How do they experience Pinterest? When during their planning journey are they using it?

Think about how your ideal client engages on Pinterest. What are they looking to find? What are their problems? Once you can answer these questions clearly, you can adjust your strategy and create content that aligns with their needs and pushes them to click.

Keyword usage

Now that you know the mistakes to avoid, it’s time to focus on the key factor that will skyrocket your Pinterest growth:  keywords. Even though Pinterest is a visual platform with pictures and video, it is critically important that your account is filled with the right words that will attract potential clients to your content. 

Without keywords, or the descriptive words or phrases that describe what your business is, your content will be lost in Pinterest and not bring you the return you were hoping for.

Fun fact:  Pinterest was started by former Google employees, so its algorithm is similar to Google’s. That’s why keywords are so important to your Pinterest strategy. Remember, Pinterest is a search engine.

Think about what a potential client would type into Pinterest when looking for content like yours. It’s helpful to browse Pinterest yourself and see what popular searches come up.

For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, search common keywords such as “wedding photos,” “wedding photographer in your area,” and “wedding photo ideas.” Once you get a sense of the keywords that are being used on Pinterest, you can use them on your content to increase the chance of your content showing up in your ideal clients’ searches.

It is important to keep in mind that keywords are the words that your potential clients use, not the words that you, the expert in your field, use. For example, as a wedding professional, you might call something a “rental” and your potential client who has never planned a wedding before might call it a “table and chairs.” 

Using the keywords that your potential clients use will help your content be found on Pinterest.

Where to use keywords

Though using keywords on your content is essential, it’s also best practice to include them throughout your entire account, not just on your individual pins. Your profile and your boards should be full of your keywords as well. A Pinterest profile and pins that are void of keywords is a waste of time.

The keywords on your account and on your content is one way that Pinterest learns about you and knows to serve up your content in a search. If your Pinterest profile reads more like a dating profile and your pins have a caption that is better suited for Instagram, Pinterest won’t know to show your content to someone searching for your service. 

The good news is that it’s relatively simple to ensure users see your Pinterest content by using keywords. One hack to keep in mind is that the words are for the Pinterest algorithm, while your photos are for pinners and potential clients.

To maximize your overall visibility and show up in a Pinterest search, your pins and your profile must state:

  • Who you are
  • What you do
  • Who you serve
  • Where you do your work 

 Including these details in the form of keywords will help your account show up more in searches, while also qualifying your traffic to ensure that those engaging with your content are in a position to do business with you.

Best practices

Now that you’ve got a handle on keywords and where to use them, it’s time to think about how you can ensure your Pinterest presence is both engaging and effective to bring in new clients without Pinterest taking over your already full to-do list. 

First things first, take some time to go through your entire account and profile to clean it up. Add keywords to your Pinterest profile. Be sure to add keywords to your board titles and descriptions as well. 

After you’ve set your account up for success, the best way to be effective on Pinterest is to be consistent with your pinning. Instead of spending a weekend randomly pinning hundreds of photos with no keywords, it’s better to slow down and add a handful of well keyworded pins on a regular basis. When it comes to Pinterest, consistent quality over quantity matters the most.

Incorporate consistent Pinterest usage into your schedule and do your best to keep up with it. Using a scheduling tool like Tailwind will help you remain consistent on Pinterest. This way, your account is populated even when you’re not online.

Lastly, a great way to have success on Pinterest is to repurpose your content from other platforms, so long as you don’t repost it the same way. Do not simply copy and paste your captions and content. What is effective on TikTok or Instagram must be tweaked to be effective on Pinterest. 

Remember to think about your potential clients before posting or reposting your content on Pinterest. When it comes to Pinterest, it’s not about what’s entertaining about the content, rather it’s about what’s helpful. And as wedding professionals, we know that our potential clients need a lot of help planning their wedding. 

Once you put your potential client’s needs and problems first, you’ll tap into their perspective and start pinning with purpose. 

 

Julianne Smith

Founder, The Garter Girl

Julianne Smith is the founder of The Garter Girl, an internationally recognized wedding brand whose stylish and modern heirlooms have been loved and shared by brides, families and media influencers alike. Seen on the Today Show, Brides Magazine, The Knot, and Martha Stewart, thousands of brides have trusted The Garter Girl to hand-make them an heirloom to remember the most special day of their lives.