By Hannah Reed, Pinterest and Funnels for Creatives and E-commerce Brands

UPDATE 2024: Hannah has since released THE POWER OF PINTEREST for those who want to see an ROI within Pinterest!

As a photographer, you don’t need to be convinced that Pinterest works for your industry. You see everyone else on there, especially the photographers you look up to. And both you and your clients use Pinterest for inspo – using images that other photographers have taken the time to put on Pinterest themselves.

But you already know all this, so I’m going to spare you the generic info that you’ll get from pretty much every other Pinterest expert out there. Let’s talk about if YOU should be on Pinterest and if so, where the h*ck should you start?

Let’s break down 3 things you should consider when it comes to Pinterest marketing, to determine if it’s the right platform for you to invest your time or money into.

1. Pinterest is a growth platform, not a nurturing platform.

It’s also not a social media platform, but that’s a post for another time.

Pinterest has similar goals to TikTok. It’s where you go to expand your audience. It’s NOT where you go to make connections with individuals. You don’t have to show your humanity and likability on Pinterest, so let IG handle that one for you. 

Instead, Pinterest is where you go to inspire a rapidly growing group of people. Most Pinterest users are problem-aware, which means they are actively looking for a solution, but they don’t have a specific solution in mind yet. This means Pinterest users know they’re getting married next summer, so they’re gathering wedding photo inspo, but they haven’t landed on a specific wedding photographer yet.

Of course, some users have already hired their photographer and now they’re gathering their must-have photo list, but that demographic is pretty small. So don’t worry about it!

So keep this in mind when weighing whether or not Pinterest is worth it for you. 

Am I looking for a more sustainable platform where I can set it and forget it? Or would I prefer to spend most of my energy face-to-camera, building one-on-one connections with my audience? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with either option, in fact, if you DO invest in Pinterest, I highly recommend you keep up your IG presence. Some of your Pinterest audience will overflow onto IG!

2. Pinterest is a commitment.

Whether you’re investing your personal time or you’re spending money on a Pinterest manager, it’s a monthly commitment. If you’re DIYing, expect to set aside at least one full day every single month to your Pinterest account (maybe two). If you’re planning to hire, set aside at least $1k/mo for a good PM.

Side note: should you hire a virtual assistant, social media manager, or Pinterest manager for your Pinterest? My answer to you would be to ask yourself what you want to get out of your investment? Are you okay with doing the bare minimum to have a presence on another platform? Yes? Hire a VA or a SMM. But if you want Pinterest to actually bring you an ROI, don’t skimp on your investment. Look for a Pinterest expert that knows how to build custom strategies that CONVERT. There’s a lot of BS out there babe, I seriously hate having to say that, so DM me on IG (@hannahreed.co) if you want my recs (or if you want to just hire me, lol).

Is that investment worth it to you in the long run? And I mean the long run babes, read the next part to see what I mean by that.

3. It can take a minute to see an ROI from Pinterest.

It’s no secret that Pinterest takes several months to gain solid momentum. Expect 6-12 months before seeing a return. And while yes, that sounds like a H*CK NO, I don’t have time for that! Let me frame it for you in a more **helpful** way:

Where do you want your business to be in the next 5 years? Will you still be doing photography? What will your personal life look like if so? Do you want to expand into education? Do you want to be featured? 

• What would your business feel like if you didn’t have to worry about booking out (whatever booked out looks like to you) because Pinterest was bringing in qualified leads every month? 

• What would your authority look like if you had a massive presence on multiple platforms?

• What if you could transform your Instagram account into a space for education, without losing your photography clients because Pinterest continues to book out your very minimal client roster?

I implore you to stop looking at the here and now with Pinterest marketing. Back up a few feet and look at the bigger picture. Will Pinterest be worth it 5 years from now? If you don’t plan to be running this business in 5 years, close this tab right now. I’ll be the first to tell you, it’s not worth your efforts. But if you look at your 5 year goals and Pinterest fits well in them, get your cute lil booty MOVIN’ babe!

You can check out POWER OF PINTEREST if you’re interested in really boosting the ROI of your Pinterest efforts.

How do I get started on Pinterest?

If you read everything above and feel like it’s confirmed, Pinterest is a good investment for you, here are the 3 things you should do now:

Learn Pinterest – Take THE POWER OF PINTEREST to learn exactly how Pinterest works, how you need to use it, and how to create a return on your time investment.

Set your schedule – Set aside one whole day at the beginning of each month to do these tasks:

• Review last month’s analytics (what pins are doing the best, and what can we pin more of?)
• Cull through your galleries to select between 30-90 images for the next month’s queue
• Use Tailwind to schedule out your pins
• Every 6 months, go through all your boards and make sure you’re using top-trending keywords in your board titles and descriptions

Consider investing – If you’d rather DIY the monthly management, consider hiring a Pinterest expert to develop a custom strategy for you to implement on your own. Lots of Pinterest experts offer account setups too, which can get you off to a great start! 

Baby plug – My Pinterest Blueprint offer is my most popular service where you get your entire account properly set up, a custom pinning strategy, and funnel consultation to make sure your Pinterest audience is actually converting once they’re on your website. 

If you prefer to invest in the whole 9 yards, find a Pinterest expert that either specializes in photographers, has blogging as an add-on service, or can build you a fire pinning strategy that they manage from month to month.

Side note: Do you need to blog for Pinterest to make sense? I highly recommend it, but no, it’s not a requirement. You can expect to see wildly greater website traffic though, so it’s something to consider!

Alright homies, those are my recommendations for you! I hope you found it all helpful in determining whether Pinterest is the right investment for your photography business. Come follow me on IG and don’t be afraid to pop into my DMs with any questions! xo

Follow: @hannahreed.co
Work with Hannah: hannahreedandcompany.com
Take Hannah’s Course: Power of Pinterest

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