I love Pinterest!  I mean, who doesn’t, right?  It sucks you in and makes you want all these beautiful things.  It gives you a ton of ideas and even more inspiration.  And let’s face it, it’s just pretty to look at!  As visual people, i.e. photographers, we love to see beautiful images.

But how does Pinterest help your business?

When I first discovered Pinterest, I used it as my personal digital bulletin board.  After all, that is a great way to use it.  I had boards set up for all the things that interest me…interior design, cooking (it’s definitely my go-to cookbook), fashion (I definitely shop via Pinterest), photography inspiration, DIY ideas and so much more!  It’s like a ton of magazines all rolled into one place!

But then I realized that Pinterest, while it can be wonderful for your own personal enjoyment, can also be great for your Business!  More and more, potential clients are finding their photographers through Pinterest.  And who doesn’t want another way for potential clients to find them?

So how can you use Pinterest to its full potential with your business in mind?  Here are a few suggestions…

Determine if you should use a personal or Business account.  Pinterest now makes it possible to have a business account.  According to Pinterest, a business account is for those that use Pinterest “as part of how you make a living, whether driving traffic to your blog or to build your personal brand.”

Pinterest has made it so that you can easily change a personal account to a business account and business accounts have different terms than personal accounts.  There is a lot of information provided by Pineterest to help business.  Check it out in the help center of your Pinterest account.

Add a Pin It Button to your site.  Make it super easy for those potential clients to pin the things that they see on your blog or site.  By having a Pin It Button, your images can be pinned easily and the more they are pinned, the more exposure which leads to possible clients booking you as their photographer.

To Pin or Not to Pin…Your own work.  This one was hard for me in the beginning.  I didn’t want to pin tons of my own work because I didn’t want to look like I was bragging.  But the truth of the matter is that I need to pin my work because if I don’t show it how will a potential client see it?  Sure there is my website but what if I have a follower on Pinterest that doesn’t know my website?  I need to make sure to showcase my work, in a tasteful way, on all avenues of social media.  So I think, yes, pin your work.  Make a special board that is for your work.  Don’t pin all your work all the time.  You need to pin all kinds of things that relate to you and your brand.  But showing your work is also a great way to reach your potential clients.  And if someone repins one of your images, then their followers see it and so on and so forth.

Pin For Your Brand.  Pin things with your brand in mind.  To me Pinterest is another avenue to letting potential clients know who you are.  It is a visual representation of you, what you like and what you are all about as a photographer.  You can connect to your potential clients by visually shared interests.  They see something you have pinned and react to it emotionally.  They follow several of your boards because they are also interested in the same things that you are.  These are things that help you connect to a potential client.  It is taking it one step further than a client just liking your work but also liking you and connecting with you.

What to Pin.  If you are a senior photographer, make sure to pin things that are helpful to that specific genre.  Makeup tips are huge on You Tube so pin a favorite tutorial directly from the source.  Create a board that is all about Getting Ready for Your Shoot and fill it with all types of tips on how they can get ready for their senior portrait experience.  Fashion is also huge with seniors so have boards dedicated to the different things seniors can wear for their sessions.  Create boards based on specific styles like preppy, glamourous, hipster, etc.  Or create boards by season, fall, winter, spring, summer.

Organize Your Boards.  I just learned that you can move your boards around to showcase your best boards first.  So place the boards that will help your clients the most at the top.  Make it easy for them to find the ones that help them the most.  Make sure your boards are organized into categories so that it looks clean.  I used to have all kinds of boards for tons of things and realized that some of them just looked a little junky.  So I went in, got rid of boards that I didn’t absolutely want or need, rearranged my boards and renamed a few to make sure they all represented what I wanted to showcase to my potential clients.

Interact on Pinterest.  Make sure to comment on pins and interact with those that you are pinning from.  This is a great way to build your followers.  Most people will want to see who commented on their pin so they will find you and hopefully follow you.  Also, interact with those that pin from you, especially if it is one of your photos.  Just like with blogging, commenting usually helps you get to know the blogger or they will return the favor of commenting on your blog and you will then gain another reader, commenting on Pinterest can be used the same way.

Know helpful info.  Just like with other social media outlets, there are better times to pin and better types of images to pin.  Through my research, I found that the best time to pin is on Saturday mornings.  The best images to pin are vertical images or groups of images that are laid out vertically.  The reason for this is because Pinterest does not limit vertical size but horizontally, your images have to be 600 pixels wide.  Pinning a long vertical image that doesn’t fully display on Pinterest, may get people to click on it to see what else is on the image.  Make sure you use words in your description that will help others find your pins.  Use words or phrases that someone might use when searching for that type of pin.

Getting lost in Pinterest and all it’s beautiful images is easy to do.  But realizing that not only is this tool great for personal use but it is also great for your business will have you pinning smarter and attracting new clients in no time.

Let’s get this Pinterest thing started for all of us with a Pin it to Win it Contest!  Seniorologie is currently hosting an online class called Elevate Your Senior’s Style which is all about styling your seniors perfectly for their photos.  Helping seniors with what to wear is such an important job as photographers because seniors want to make sure they look their best for their senior session.  Pinterest is one of the major ways to help give your seniors a visual when it comes to what to wear.  Whether you have separate boards for each style profile or one board with all sorts of inspiration, having your seniors follow you is one step to helping them prepare for their session.

I would love for us to help each other by pinning all the great things that seniors can wear to their photo sessions and inspiring each other and our seniors with those pins.  See the rules below to enter the Senior Pin-Spiration Contest.

1.  Follow Seniorologie on Pinterest  http://www.pinterest.com/seniorologie/

2.  Comment on this post with your pinterest name so we can follow you too

3.  Pin the contest graphic to share with all your followers

4.  Create a board called “Senior Session Style”

5.  Pin items that you feel are perfect for a senior to wear to his or her senior photo session.  The more pins the better!  You may pin from the Seniorologie blog or Seniorologie’s Senior Session Board but also include pins from other sources that inspire you.

6.  Email a link to your finished board to info@seniorologie.com by Wednesday, January 22 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

7.  Seniorologie will determine which board represents Senior Session Style the best and that winner will receive a spot in the Seniorologie Study Hall Online Course Elevate Your Senior’s Style.

Happy Pinning!!