Pinterest reveals searching trends in April 2020 and a new tool
Pinterest is always helpful in letting us know what trends are happening and even has a site (http://trends.pinterest.com) for everyone to be able to access.
Pinterest just released their latest trends which shows the uptick in traffic on Pinterest, likely due to all the time we have on our hands during the Stay at Home or Shelter in Place that is going on around the US during the COVID-19 pandemic. Knowing this information goes a long way to help people marketing their business on Pinterest to know where to focus our marketing time.
Pinterest noted that it’s record level usage during this time is not surprising, as we are all cooped up at home.
Some interesting but not surprising trends are:
new ideas around the home
Home hair cuts
Working from home (WFH)
Recipes and baking
Anxiety and self-care
DIY beauty tutorials
Games/activities for kids
Exercise routines from home
Organizing your home
Painting / fixing things at home
Second revenue streams / starting an at-home business
It’s a great idea to choose a topic that is currently trending and put your spin on it for your business and your ideal bride.
For wedding photographers, you could pin hairstyles that don’t need to have hair cuts (i.e. updos).
For a business coach, you could create a checklist or quick step by step to learning a new skill their help their business. Or maybe write a blog post on three tips to working from home.
Get creative and see how you could create content that zeroes in on what someone would search for!
Pinterest’s Team said “Our team is curating a special board where Pinners can learn about coronavirus, browse inspiring content and find words of encouragement. Browse the board to get ideas for your next Pins—and maybe for your own life, too.”
Today I’ll be covering some tips on how to use Pinterest as a wedding vendor. If you’re in the wedding industry, Pinterest needs to be where you focus your energy and marketing efforts.
Some Stats to encourage you:
40 MILLION people use Pinterest to plan their wedding every year (stats from Sproutsocial).
Just type in Weddings at the top of Pinterest and you’ll see there are 32.1m followers!!.
Of all social platforms, Pinterest lasts the longest, therefore you get the biggest bang for your buck!
Now that you know that Pinterest is worth your time, here are some tips to ensure that the algorithm loves you and serves you up to as many ideal clients as possible.
Use a Business Profile
This seems obvious, but so many wedding professionals don’t even think about this. You are in business, therefore, you should be a business on Pinterest. You will have the added benefit of being able to get fantastic analytics for free.
It also enables you to confirm your domain, which will lead potential brides back to your website.
Make sure that one of your boards is named your business. People will sometimes search for a business and having a board will make you more findable. Plus it is one board that should have ONLY your pins on it, not other people’s pins.
Use keywords in naming your images
Every single image should have three key naming areas:
Alt Text
Title
Description
This gives you the ability to use multiple keywords in the three areas. It will be a rich pin and also confirm to Pinterest’s algorithm that your blog is about what you say it’s about.:
Create Content for your Ideal Bride
A lot of wedding vendors find it hard to write blogs. Here are three ideas. 1. Blog about every single wedding/engagement. 2. Blog about questions you get asked most often from brides. A side benefit is that you can refer brides to that post. 3. Blog about yourself. Let brides get to know you, be authentic.
Include a Pin on every blog (I typically put mine at the end of the blog post).
Make Sure They Can Contact You
Whichever blog post you have linked up to the pin, make it easy for them to contact you. Have multiple ways. Don’t just have a form, also include an email address and all of the social media sites you are on. Often times, brides to be want to see you on multiple platforms.
Have Multiple Blogs on the Page You Send Them To
It takes a lot for someone to click and leave Pinterest. So ensure that you have not only GREAT content but also three other blog posts you have so they feel are encouraged to stay on your site. The longer they are on your site, the better chance they will contact you.
Keep it Simple, Be Consistent
Being consistent is the key to having the algorithm serve up your content. If you don’t blog, start — even if it’s a few times a month. (FYI that’s how most of my brides find me). Then create “fresh pins” for that one post. Ideally, you want to post a minimum of 5 times a day.
Did you know that Pinterest recently had its highest number of searches, saves, and clicks – ever. EVER!!!
Because people are all home with this crazy pandemic, they are turning to Pinterest for inspiration and how to’s!
What are they searching? Here are three areas that are being searched and the stats (Thanks to Tailwindapp).
Searches for “stress relief” are up 3x in the past few weeks.
“Indoor activities with kids” searches are up 14x.
Searches for “family movies” are up 125x.
People are searching for things like, “home hair cuts,” “how to make bread”, “how to work from home with kids”, “how to stay on task”, “at home spa days”, “home workouts”, and “How to destress”
Tailwindapp said, “If you can help someone through these difficult times, you’ll be well-positioned to flourish when things turn around.”
Here’s a list of things to post about for wedding photographers for spring:
Stress relief for brides
Exercise routines at home to prepare for your wedding
DIY favor ideas
Dinner ideas for two
DIY wedding decor
Signature cocktails for weddings
Indoor date ideas
Wedding movies
Wedding planning from home
Welcome gift baskets for weddings
What NOT to Pin on Pinterest Right Now
You’ll notice that none of the ideas above have anything to do with covid-19, coronavirus, pandemic, or virus. That’s because Pinterest is working hard to make sure people find accurate information on their site. If you search for anything related to COVID-19, you’re going to be redirected here:
So, don’t use any of those in the title, because you won’t get any reach and you may be reported for spam and risk losing your account for falling afoul of Pinterest community guidelines.
I am helping wedding photographers during this difficult time! If you need anything in a group setting, I have free information and trainings in my private Facebook group. I am also discounting my strategies sessions (normally $269 and now $49) so I can help as many people as possible!
I hope this message finds you and your family doing well. If like me, you’re craving a little more human interaction and if you’re using these unusual times to shore up your marketing for the future, I have a special invitation for you.
My friends over at Tailwind are hosting a Pinterest GetTOGETHER twice a week, starting Thursday, March 26th and continuing on Tuesdays and Thursdays for as long as we need them.
Each Thursday at 2:00pm PST, we’ll Get TOGETHER and cover a quick intro to Pinterest marketing, using Tailwind and some simple tips for success. Then, we’ll spend 30 minutes Pinning, creating, and enjoying each other’s company. Give and get feedback, ask questions, share your work! Questions are welcome!
On Tuesdays starting March 31st at 10:00am PST, we’ll have a full hour of Pinning, creating, giving and receiving feedback, and sharing our work. Questions are welcome!
And, because an hour passes so quickly, there’s a pop-up Facebook group for feedback, fun, and inspiration any time!
Here’s how to get in on it:
If you haven’t already, set up a Pinterest account (video 3 minutes)
Below we’ll be discussing 5 tips on how I make blogging my weddings easy and effective — now don’t click away! Hear me out and I may just change your mind if you (like me) HATE writing blogs!
Tip One: WHY?
If you are like me and HATE writing blogs, here’s WHY you HAVE to write them:
Consistently posting boosts your SEO. That’s a No brainer.
It’s 100% FREE marketing. Who doesn’t love free?
Your clients will LOVE being features and share it with family and friends and those people will refer YOU when asked if they know a wedding photographer.
An inactive blog can make it appear to a future client that you’re out of business. YIKES
Right about now, many of you are thinking, UGGHHHH – I know I should BUT:
“I am terrible at writing.”
“No one reads my blog!”
“Uhh one more thing to add to my ever-growing list of things to do!”
Stay tuned, and I should overcome each of those things you may think!
How I help my wedding photography clients is I’m all about creating systems to make this crazy wedding business easier and more effective.
TIP TWO: Pre-Wedding Questionnaire
One way I do that is with my pre-wedding questionnaire for my clients: This enables me to easily and quickly write a blog to post within 72 hours after the wedding (YES I know, roll your eyes – I’ll explain more in a sec)
TIP THREE: Include four basic things in each blog post
These are four things I put in every single blog post as a minimum:
What is the name of the venue, where is it located (city name and area), and the couple’s first name. TIP: make sure all of that is in the FIRST PARAGRAPH as this is what will spike your SEO and get you found.
How did the couple meet?
How did the groom propose?
Describe their first date?
TIP FOUR: Include 35-50 images
Then after writing the blog, I take my favorite images typically 50-75 (yes I know that’s a lot but this is my sneak peek for my brides 48-72 hours after the wedding) and it boosts your SEO. It’s part of my process so I can photograph my wedding, deliver the sneak peek in 72 hours and enjoy all of the traffic to my website and social media accounts because the bride and groom are sharing it with all their friends and family. I get the work done, and my clients and their friends and family are blown away because RARELY does that happen.
Naming/Sizing your images: I use Blogstomp (but there is other software out there) and it resizes and names them so incredibly fast (and who has time?). Things to think about. Why? Well images names are also SEO searchable and when your title, your blog details, and your images have keywords, your website/blog will start rising in google algorithm and you’ll rise higher on the search page for your location or venue:
You must resize them as you don’t want your blog loading slowly or people will click away
Name them important searchable words like venue, city, state, your name, wedding. EX. SanJoseCAWeddingatXYZbyJenVazquezPhotography1
TIP FIVE Including Branding words:
Lastly, make sure that you include your branding words (three words that describe your ideal bride and brand – for me is adventurous, playful and fun party brides). You can use these words somewhere in each blog post and an unconscious pattern will develop for your brides to be about your brand and it helps google show your content to your ideal brides.
Want more info?
If you found this helpful – I will have more of this in my upcoming course, Identify Attract Book: A course helping Wedding Photographers identify their ideal brides and book them with a simple but effective system. You can sign up on the waitlist to hear when it opens HERE.
