How To Boost Your Photography Business With Pinterest

5 Reasons Why Its Time To Dump Pinterest As A Marketing Tool

I’ve been talking a lot about Pinterest over the past few months. Pinterest continues to be the fastest growing online social network, with current stats showing a growth rate in excess of +4,377 percent over the past year. Compare that to Twitter’s growth of 58 percent, or Facebook’s growth at 4 percent. Yep, that seems like something worth talking about.

But is Pinterest really the best choice for you as a photographer? Can you benefit from pinning your images on pinboards? Read on to find out why it may not be the right fit for you.

1. You aren’t a regular visitor to social sites.

Pinterest has many, many categories and posts that are updated literally by the minute. If you don’t visit on a regular basis, you will quickly fade into oblivion and end up at the bottom of your followers’ feeds – a place that does you know good. The less you post, the less chance you have of finding people that love what you do, share what you do, and convert from followers to paying customers.

2. You focus in on B2B niches.

What niche are you going after as a photographer? If you are photographing widgets for the oil and gas industry, they probably aren’t on Pinterest. If you photograph business portraits for CEOs of major corporations, they might not be on Pinterest. If your focus is on the commercial side, concentrating on annual reports and industrialized photography, Pinterest may not work for you. You have to know whom your target is and how to reach out to them.

3. You’re not the content provider type.

When is the last time you changed your website? When is the last time you wrote up a new marketing piece for your business? If the word “years” appeared in your answer, you probably haven’t grasped the concept of content marketing yet. What makes social work is creating content and giving viewers what they want. Some will convert, most won’t. Yet it’s the content that drives people in and helps boost your traffic in the online world. If you haven’t worked with content marketing yet, there are other areas easier to start with than on Pinterest.

4. You don’t have regular access to the Internet.

Are you a travel photographer always out in the field? Is the “field” for you miles from anywhere, no electricity in sight? Do you prefer spending days in the wilderness with only the stars above and the animals as your companions? If you can’t post on a regular basis, it may be easier to add your images to your own sites when you have access instead of trying to market with Pinterest.

5. You market your photography to men.

While men are coming on board to Pinterest slowly, its still predominately female oriented. That’s because of the visual nature of the application, and the fact that females love to share what they love – fashion, foodie, arts and crafts.

Did you see yourself in any of the above statements? If so, you may do better with other marketing tools.

But if you found yourself disagreeing with the statements again and again, it may be time to jump on board with Pinterest.

I’m such a huge fan of Pinterest, I’ve just released my newest ebook The Photographers Guide To Pinterest, available in both PDF and Kindle.

Its designed to provide you with an easy way to sign up for Pinterest, build your account, and quickly create a ton of traffic to bring in people as fast as possible.

Learn more here >>

What’s The Best Way To Promote Your Photography Business – With A Pinterest or Facebook Contest?

by Virtual Photography Leave a Comment

The only way to succeed with social media is to have a following. And the more time you spend building your following, the more results you will see.

And people love free stuff. They are completely attracted to coupons, deals of the day, and anything “fun” that will allow them to get a hold of a great product at a great price. Which is why many smart businesses have turned to social media contests.

Dig Deeper: How To Start Up A Pinterest Contest

Dig Deeper: The Guide To Growing Your Facebook Page With A Contest

However, the social media platforms and the rules to follow are always changing. What worked a few short months ago may be “illegal” by today’s terms. If a contest is in your future, it’s important to evaluate your options regularly and choose the right platform to grow – the right platform to attract quality prospects to your studio. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: contest, facebook, Photography Business, pinterest, promote, promotion, social media

How You Can Grow Your Pinterest Following By Writing

by Virtual Photography Leave a Comment

Pinterest – isn’t that all about images? How can you grow it with writing?

In every presence you have online, its always about the copy. Words play an integral part of how well you do within the site, how much traction you gain through your followers, and how well you rank in the search engines.

With Pinterest, its easy to forget that. After all, you probably spend the majority of your time looking at photographs. Copy – really? There’s copy there?

Yes. Each board has its own name and description. And by using descriptive works from your industry for both the names and descriptions, it will help people find you when they perform searches both on Pinterest and on Google. And because both Twitter and Facebook have a built-in share feature, your keywords matter in those sites as well.

Keywords on Pinterest

Keywords are extremely important when building up your Pinterest profile. You can use words to categorize your boards and to create your posts.

When a viewer heads to Pinterest and decides to look for something, they use the search function in a similar manner to search engines.

When they receive their results, Pinterest pulls based on keywords and relevancy. It pays to know what your prospects are thinking and what to post to make sure they find it.

Test Your Stuff

While building your boards, nothing says you can only post an item once. If you have multiple photographs on your blog showcasing a recent boudoir shoot for a bride to be, use several of the images – and change up the boards and the keywords you use to describe them.

Just like with every other marketing tool and campaign you’ve created, things change. What works today may not work tomorrow. Headlines may attract attention written in certain ways, while other copy may have zero impact. Remember, Pinterest is one big test market. Find what works and try it again.

Work Your Comments

Comments are almost as important as pin descriptions.

Even if you don’t repin and add your own content, adding descriptive words in the comment sections can bring in traffic, increase followers and add more likes and shares to your count. In the social world, interaction is everything.

The Length Of The Post

With Pinterest, its easy to add a word or two and send it on its way. Yet if you take the time to write up a long and meaningful post, it can get noticed. The eye instantly moves to something that stands out from the ordinary. We have to read it.

And when you read it, you’re more than likely to pass it along.

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: gaining followers, growing profile, pinterest, social media, traffic, writing

8 Things To Help You Grow Your Photography Business On Pinterest

by Virtual Photography Leave a Comment

Pinterest has hit another milestone – over 100 million visits per month with nearly 12 million of them being unique visitors.

If you haven’t joined Pinterest yet, now is the time. Pinterest is used primarily by women, and because of the visual aspect of pin boards, they spend a lot of time on the site.

Currently you can use Pinterest by signing up through either your Facebook account or your Twitter account, giving you double the traction for half the work. If you connect through Facebook, keep in mind that currently it connects with your personal profile, not your page. So if you want to keep it business related, sign up for a special Twitter account to connect it to.

Then let the pinning begin.

1. Pinterest will start you out with five pre-determined pin boards. You can delete these and create your own. Plan out your boards with your business in mind. So instead of “photography” be specific towards your niche market. Also break it down to give your potential customers ideas as they are searching through your boards: what to wear for a portrait, posing ideas, location ideas. Be specific and use them to direct people to what they like the most. However, don’t just fill it with stuff from your site - be a resource as well. Its okay to post fresh ideas from other sites and resources online. Be an industry expert and share your talents and knowledge freely.

Dig Deeper: The Code For Blocking Pinterest … And 12 Reasons You Shouldn’t Use It

2. Google recognizes Pinterest profiles, so they can appear on the first pages of search results. Because of how Pinterest interacts with Google, be sure to create boards using your key terms so its recognizable and will deliver you results within the most popular key searches.

3. Currently you can rearrange your pinboards to have them showcased on your profile in any order you choose. Yet the pins within each pinboard are shown in order of when you pinned each item. If you have a closed board concept – meaning you are creating a board with a select number of pins and you know ahead of time what they will be – lay out the order first so they will appear in the order you desire. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: grow your photography business, marketing, pinterest, social media

Get Creative With Your Marketing: How Others Are Using Pinterest

by Virtual Photography 4 Comments

Pinterest is definitely looking like it will be the social media darling of 2012 if the first month of the year is any indication. Not only has it found its way into the top 10 websites in the social media category, its also scoring over 40 times the number of total visits in had just six months ago.

Dig Deeper: How To Boost Your Photography Business With Pinterest

The site is perfect for photographers because its target market user group is women between the ages of 25 and 44, and it’s a visual media form. Early users of this site were brides to be, as they could develop numerous pinboards for every aspect of their wedding, from planning the decorations to choosing wedding attire. Now we’re seeing a wide variety of visual businesses use Pinterest on a regular basis, from photographers to graphic designers and other artisans. If you are in a visual field, Pinterest is the place to be.

Pinterest is all about eye candy. Its about creating things in such a way that people are attracted to it and like or pin it themselves – over and over again. The more likes or pins, the more traffic.

The first step is creating your Pin Boards. Be creatively descriptive when designing your boards:

Think visual – how do you want to showcase different ideas within your business?

Tell the story – as a photographer, you can share ideas from beginning to end. Tell stories all the time and let your followers discover more depth to what you have to offer.

Stretch to show your expertise – its not all about you. When you discover other sites, resources, images that convey your ideas, don’t be afraid to share them.

Consistency is the key – just like every other social site you ever used, you have to be consistent both in your posting schedule and with what you are posting.

The second step is pinning to your boards: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Online Marketing Tagged With: creative marketing for photographers, Online Marketing, pin boards, pinning, pinterest, social media site

How To Boost Your Photography Business With Pinterest

by Virtual Photography 1 Comment

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Facebook and Twitter have been the social phenomena for many months now, so eventually some other site had to come along and see what they could do to gain traction.

It may be with a site called Pinterest. Pinterest is a social site that calls themselves a virtual pinboard. It allows you to organize and share all of the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, organize their wardrobe/closet, and find favorite recipes. Yep, if that sounds like a place the female population would love, you’re right. Its heavily weighted towards female users who love sharing and commenting on everything fun.

While Pinterest is simply a pinboard, meaning there is no true way of selling or getting people to buy your products, it is a popular way to showcase images with links back to the original source.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out Pinterest yet, now is the time. Use these ideas to set up and draw attention to your photography.

Spend the time

Pinterest is just like the other social sites in use today – you get out of it what you put into it. Find the movers and shakers of Pinterest and build relationships with those who are known for quality “pins”. Once they recognize you, they are more likely to post about your photography. [Read more...]