Building a Foundation for a Successful Pinterest Strategy

Do you have a Pinterest strategy for your elopement business? If your answer is no, then this is your sign to start taking advantage of one of the biggest platforms to expand your reach. Why? Wandering Weddings gets over 3 million views from Pinterest alone. This means more eyes on our business and our awesome members. What if we told you, that you too can expand your business just by starting to utilize Pinterest? We cover everything you need to know below.

Is Pinterest a Social Media Platform or a Search Engine?

This is an interesting question, and the answer is, a little bit of both. Pinterest is a great way to connect with people, share ideas, and build a business. Unlike Instagram, for example, your “pins” have a much longer shelf-life. Most posts on Instagram will get traction for 24-48 hours, but a Pinterest pin can continuously get impressions days and even months from the day you pinned it.

The ultimate goal you have as a photography business owner is to get your work in front of as many eyes as possible and convince those people to click through your pin and visit your website. Pinterest is used by many as a hub where they can generate ideas for something they are planning for (ahem, elopements and intimate weddings definitely are big ones for the platform). Think of your website as a product and the pin as a free advertisement. If done correctly, your pins can generate a significant amount of traffic to your website.

Check out Wandering Weddings’ Pinterest for some inspiration.

How Does the Pinterest Algorithm Work?

We won’t pretend to be experts of algorithms (and it should be understood that algorithms are constantly evolving). Here’s what we DO know. Pinterest loves fresh and unique content. Gone are the days where we could simply repin popular content from other creators and build a following and account traffic successfully. If you want growth, it’s crucial you’re thinking about your Pinterest strategy, and you’re creating valuable and high-quality content on a consistent basis.

What does this mean for you?

Blogging and social media, of course! These two things are GREAT content to pin to your Pinterest boards. Our social media management team can 100% help you build and optimize a strong Pinterest strategy, but this relies heavily on your blogging consistency.

To generate success, we want to push unique content every day. This means that we need new content that is directly connected to your website and will ultimately appeal to your niche audience. We recommend blogging at least 2x per month to achieve this goal.

What Content Should my Blogs Include?

The important thing to remember here is quality > quantity. If you have limited time and can’t post a new blog every week, then utilize your time wisely and create 2 amazing blogs each month that either highlight your work OR provide a valuable resource to your audience.

Here are some examples of blogging ideas that may catch the eye of potential clients:

• How to Dress for Engagement Sessions
• How to Leave No Trace during your Elopement
• 5 Popular Wedding Venues in the Pacific Northwest
• California Elopement Guide

If you find it difficult to sit down and write out detailed blog posts and resources every month, then perhaps just blog about your recent sessions or elopements! This is where your blog title will come in handy. Think about keywords that you want your content to rank for when users search on Pinterest. Maybe there’s a specific location you consider yourself an expert in. Maybe the couple from your last elopement had a unique activity added to their day (hot air balloons or helicopters anyone?). Use these keywords to build your blog posts.

Here are some examples of recent elopements/engagement blog topics:

• Alaskan Elopement with Helicopter Tour
• Hot Air Balloon Engagement Session in Arizona
• Olympic National Park Elopement: Hoh Rainforest and Ruby Beach

For a successful Pinterest strategy, remember to:

• Make sure rich pins are enabled on your website (instructions are included in your onboarding email if you join our social media management package).
• Include a diverse range of imagery in your blog posts.
• Visually, portrait-oriented images tend to perform better as they fill the screen and are aesthetically pleasing, BUT not every image has to be portrait-oriented!

A key point to remember for blogging and Pinterest success: these two platforms rely heavily on SEO (search engine optimization) to rank content and provide the best user experience for those on the platform. With that said, always blog or pin with your client in mind. Think about what questions they would be asking as they plan their wedding day or engagement.

Learn more SEO tips for elopement photographers!

Do Followers on Pinterest Matter?

Yes and no. Having a high number of followers on Pinterest isn’t as important as having engaged followers on Pinterest. This is very similar in concept to Instagram. Would you rather have 10,000 followers with little engagement, or 500 followers invested in your work (and hopefully converting into leads)?

Pinterest relies heavily on early engagement in order to learn about the pin and your account. So, having a high number of quality followers who will actively view your content, save pins, and/or click through to your website is vital. The more early engagement a pin receives, the more Pinterest will learn about it and push that content later on. In fact, it’s not uncommon for creators to see a pin go viral months after it was created.

With this in mind, we recommend sharing your Pinterest account information whenever it makes sense. If you book a new client, include a link to your Pinterest or even a specific board that is relevant to them (such as elopement planning resources) in your client onboarding information/elopement guides. Ask loyal Instagram or Facebook followers to connect with you on Pinterest. Invite family and friends to join as well. The more invested followers you are able to gain, the greater the chance of success for your pinned content later on!

Should I Niche Down my Pinterest Page?

Absolutely! Pinterest is a learning platform, and it wants to show its users content from experts. This means that your Pinterest account should be everything pertinent to elopement/wedding photography. Combined with the rest of the advice mentioned above, niching down will help Pinterest identify you as an expert in the realm of elopement photography and help its algorithm rate your content higher in search results.

What does this mean for you? It means we want to make sure any boards (and therefore, any pins) that are not your niche are either hidden from public access or deleted. You don’t want people visiting your page for the best pumpkin pie recipe, right?

5 Steps for Pinterest Success:

1. Share your Pinterest with followers and clients regularly!
2. Blog valuable content consistently (we recommend at least 2x per month)
3. Include a high number of quality and diverse images in each blog post.
4. Make sure you enable “rich pins” on your website.
5. Niche down your content- try not to publicly share recipes, home renovations ideas, etc. on your public page so that you appear as more of an expert in your area

Now that you know how important a Pinterest strategy is for your business growth, are you ready to team up with us? Ask us how we can help your Pinterest game through our social media management service.