How to Use Pinterest to Grow Your Photography Business and Get Leads with Lean On Meg

I’ve been down a rabbit hole lately with how to get Pinterest working best for my small business and I’ve learned a lot over this past year as I’ve experimented and read articles, watched webinars, sat through YouTube trainings and gone through ebooks! While I don’t claim to be an expert, I’ve gotten to know a thing or two about Pinterest and I see how helpful it can be to get eyes on my photography business!

How Pinterest Helps You Rank Higher on Google

Back in 2022, after I did a full rebrand and launched a new website that I spent months working on, I realized apparently my SEO (search engine optimization) sucked!  I did all this hard work and felt invisible on the Internet! The beginning of 2023 was definitely rough on my photo business. I knew I needed to do a deep dive and figure out how to get seen again!

Thus began my journey into learning as much as I could about SEO. You may be wondering, what does SEO have to do with Pinterest though? Well, a lot! A lot of people think Pinterest is just another form of social media or their go-to spot for recipes or craft ideas. But Pinterest is actually a visual search engine!  

If people are finding your Pins, you’re going to be getting much more organic traffic to your website and that will help your rankings on the biggest search engine: Google! I started blogging much more intentionally in 2023 and brought in the dynamic duo of blogging and Pinterest a couple months later. Pinning regularly and posting blogs every 2-3 weeks really helped push my website to ranking #1 in my city for photographers! I just ran this search in an incognito window for proof.

Pinterest Pins Last Much Longer Online than Social Media Posts

One of the best parts about Pinterest is how long your content will circulate online–even when I let it sit for a few months recently! Instagram and Facebook posts all rely so heavily on an algorithm of engagement and if you miss the boat, that post will get buried. Plus, your reach on Instagram is extremely reliant on how often you are posting. Whereas my pins are still getting impressions long after they were posted!  You can see my results below (and this is seriously after I haven’t touched it for 3 months due to some business shifts and personal life). 

Also, unlike Instagram, followers really mean nothing on this platform!  I have less than 30 followers and still manage to get traffic to my page. It’s all the content, not the following here!

Let’s Chat with a Photography Pinterest Expert: Lean On Meg

I’m a big advocate of Pinterest, as you can tell, but I still have more learning to do!  So I reached out to a professional Pinterest and blogging manager (specifically for photographers) to help answer some questions! Meg, from Lean on Meg is very experienced and has a wealth of knowledge about this platform. You’ll definitely take away some gems from this interview!

What do you specialize in and how do you help photographers grow their business?

I am a Pinterest and blogging manager who helps photographers gain brand awareness + authority in their niche while driving quality traffic to their website - all without them having to worry about a thing!

How is Pinterest different from social media posts? What are the benefits?

Pinterest is different from other social media platforms because it technically isn’t a social media platform. Pinterest is a visual search engine, so the way you should post content on Pinterest is inherently different from how you’re posting on a platform like Instagram. These differences are almost all positives: follower count doesn’t matter, previous knowledge of you and your business doesn’t matter, and content continues to circulate for years on Pinterest, unlike the short lifespans content has on other platforms.

What are the first steps a photographer can take to get their Pinterest account working for them when they are just getting started?

First and foremost, you need a business account with a claimed website. This way you have access to the analytics you’ll want to use to make sure your efforts are working. Then, most importantly at any point in your Pinterest marketing journey, nail down your keywords. Since it’s a search engine platform, it runs on keywords!

What type of pins perform well and what is the best way to batch create them? Any “hacks” for efficiency?

It’s hard to give a straight, simple answer to this one, as every account acts differently. I have had clients who do effectively the same thing, with virtually the exact same ideal client audience, and I had to do completely different approaches on each of their accounts. For example, one account loooved video pins, and the other started doing worse when I was posting video pins. So testing things out and seeing what works best for you and your account is really important.

With that being said, as photographers, your photos are already great content. I’ll always recommend starting with a healthy mix of pins that are just your photos and infographic type posts. Think of the questions your ideal clients may be asking, and give them some of those answers immediately in the graphic of your pin.

Creating some templates for yourself to use over and over in Canva is my biggest recommendation for efficiency when it comes to batch creating. Work smarter, not harder!

What are some tips on getting your website ready to receive traffic from Pinterest to actually convert them to clients?

This is SO important when it comes to success with Pinterest marketing. Ultimately, you want anywhere your new visitor could end up to direct them further down the funnel/customer journey. For example, if your pin sends them to a blog post, make sure that blog post ends with a call to action that keeps them on your website, continuing to learn about you and your services. Or direct them to sign up for your newsletter, where you can continue to nurture them via their inbox into a customer. Pinterest is the top of the marketing funnel - where they typically first learn about you. So you need your website to continue to nurture them once they get there!

For more from Meg, check out these helpful blogs!!

Pinterest for Photographers: Everything You Need to Know in 2024

Swipe my Monthly Pinterest Process: DIY Marketing

Pinterest Calls to Action You Should be Using

If You’re Looking for More Photography Business Help…

You probably came across this post because you’re looking to grow your photography business! Pinterest is just one amazing tool that can help boost your visibility online and help generate more traffic and leads to your website. If you’re curious what other essentials you may be missing to get your business to really get off the ground, grab my free checklist to get my success tips! Number 8 on the list may be right up your alley! 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻