We have the honor of a very special guest blogger today on Weekly Photo Tips... ladies and gentlemen Mr. Zach Prez (the sound of thundering applause)...
5 Pinterest Ideas for Photography Businesses
Pinterest is the latest social network taking the photography and consumer community by storm. It turned the vision board concept (poster board with goals, ideas, and styles) into an online gallery where visions can be shared, rated, and commented.
This is photography gold, especially for wedding photographers, because brides are an ideal audience to pin wedding images to remember. As photographers, we supply the image that they pin (you can pin ANY web image and brides are scouring wedding websites and blogs), their followers see our work, and boom – a word of mouth lead is generated.
On my blog, I talked about the marketing opportunities available for photographers on Pinterest.
Here are 5 quick ideas to use Pinterest to grow your business.
1. Every webpage needs an image
If you’re using Pinterest you know the frustration of trying to save a page that doesn’t have a good image with it. I recently changed my photo strategy on my blog to include a “pinnable” image for each post. Flash sites don’t have images to be pinned, something to think about!
2. Make it easy for others to pin and follow you
Every page should have a Pin It button, preferably next to the image. Include a Follow Me on Pinterest button as well so your pins can stream through your follower’s Pinterest homepage. Visit the Pinterest Goodies page to grab these buttons. My favorite thing about the Pin It button is the ability to set the image and description that your readers will pin.
Don’t forget to add your Pinterest URL everywhere you currently promote your Facebook URL: email signature, business cards, forums, etc.
3. Write quality descriptions for your pins
Text descriptions support the image and tell people what to expect on the full page where the image lives. Use this as a call to action to tell users to click the image and visit your site. For example a pinned image of a newborn can have a description that says “Click this image to view 10 great newborn baby poses from @zachprez.” Now people want to click, and I’ve branded my name to be visible when anyone repins the post.
4. Watermark photos
You can’t control what people will pin, or the descriptions they write. Insure you get brand recognition and credit for the photo by watermarking everything. I started adding my Pinterest handle @zachprez as a way to brand myself in photos without a big logo or long domain name. People can instantly recognize me as the creator of the photo and find me on Pinterest.
5. Create boards clients will value
Do clients really want to follow a board with every photo you’ve ever taken? Probably not. But they do want ideas for their next photo shoot with you. What to wear, how to style hair, potential props, how to pose, etc. Then after the session they may want ideas about photo products (mugs, calendars, canvases, etc), wall hanging guides… you get the idea.
A great use of inspiration boards comes from Sacramento photographer Jill Carmel.
“I’ve created inspiration boards for every different kind of shoot I do: pregnancy, newborn, kids, teens and families. My customers can visit my Pinterest page and get inspired and involved when it comes to clothing, locations, and poses. Additionally, to back up my sales, I’ve included a board on wall display ideas, providing lots of options for putting portraits around the home. The more inspired my customers are about their session, the more emotionally invested they become in the resulting images. Pinterest helps me to get my customers more involved in their own sessions, resulting in happier people and larger sales.”
You can see Jill’s boards at this link.
Pinterest is one of 55 ideas offered in a new eBook from Zach Prez and Wendy Roe called 55 Smart Web Ideas for Photographers.
Zach has 10 years of internet marketing experience and has been helping photographers succeed online for over 3 years. He is the author of 7 eBooks. Follow his Pinterest boards for photographers for more ideas on marketing.
We will be giving away a copy of 55 Smart Web Ideas for Photographers on Friday February 17th as part of our " February Giveaway Extravaganza"!
3 comments:
Very informative post for me as I am always looking for new content that can help me and my knowledge grow better.
Gr8…Keep it up!!!!
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Never used pinterest for photography reasons ... only to look at stuff for wedding ideas. But this seems like a must do!
This is a pretty interesting blog post that deserves to be read. I'm really grateful for giving the opportunity to read an informative article like this! I really appreciate this post thank you for sharing this type of posts.
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