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.
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)
You can never see your business from a top-down view as easily as someone else can.
~Jen Vazquez, Wed Photography Coach
I know I know — but think about it……You know it’s true! Consider how when you can have an issue within your family or relationship and you call your bestie and chill in a coffee shop or the mall you feel SOOOO much better?
It’s the same thing, only for your business! The Urban Dictionary says this about a “bestie”. “A person who means the world to you. The person that when you met you just kinda connected. The person that you were always there for. The person that isn’t a love partner but they hold a special place in your heart. Someone that when they get hurt it hurts you too. Someone who no matter what happens between you two everything always ends up being alright. A person you can trust with anything.”
The same is true for a “BizBestie”. My definition?
I’ve been blessed over the years to have some amazing friends and girl bosses, so I thought I would explain how they’ve blessed me and in doing so, perhaps you’ll make sure to get some of your very own!
They motivate the hell out of you!
When you find a boss chick who is running the heck out of her business CLICK – you have a dream team waiting to happen. Other hustlers help you to hustle too. I know you’ve heard “Your network is your net worth.” a quote from Tim Sanders, former Yahoo! director. Well, he was super correct! Surround yourselves with high producing and smart women and viola – your business gets better!
They will tell you the truth
It’s amazing how much I can help others and yet it takes me forever to make some changes to my own business. Take my friend and BizBestie Susan of Babes Building Empires. She is such a blessing to me and my business. Yet, it took me 5 months of her telling me I should start a coaching business before I did. Then it took me more than a year of her telling me I should work with other wedding photographers since I’ve photographed weddings for over 10 years. I was so scared to “limit” myself only to wedding photographers. So I coached creatives and helped a lot of people. But, until I narrowed it down to wedding photographers, my marketing wasn’t speaking clearly and wholeheartedly. When I made those changes, my business and marketing became easier and more simple.
They can see steps to move your business forward
Do you remember how it feels to be in a relationship and have an argument? You go off and talk to your bestie and something she says or the way she says it clicks and you feel a solution in your heart that enables you to work through it? Well, it’s the same thing for your business. Others can sometimes see more clearly and easily than you for a path forward for your business. You are in smack dab in the middle of the relationship but she can see both sides and help by pointing out a clear path.
It’s not a one-sided friendship – you get as much as you give
When you choose the right BizBestie, you will help her and she will help you! Every time you two meet in person or via video chat or even on the phone, you help propel both businesses forward. My advice here is to have 1 or 2 things you want to talk about. Otherwise, my BizBestie and I chat away about everything under the sun and don’t actually complete much for the business. We all need that downtime, but my goal is to do both at each meeting so it’s worth the time investment – even when you are busy in your business!
Join A Group
There are many groups both in-person and online. You just need to find one that matches your vibe, personality and focuses on your specialty in business.
If you want to join a group of wedding photographers that have your back, check out my private group Wed Photography Coach!
Consider investing in a coach!
Finally, having the wrong people being your BizBestie may slow you down or take away valuable work time because there is an imbalance. Be sure that you are both getting help equally OR……. Hire a business coach! It’s always helpful to have a coach be your BizBestie. Yes, there is an investment, but they are 100% focused on you for the 1:1 time. Additionally, their experience and ability to cut through the crap and find those 1-3 steps that will immediately help your business move forward is FULLY worth the investment! Signup here for Coaching Info!
Right now I have a GIVEAWAY for a 2-hour BizBestie call. Just take these two simple steps:
This 8-week course taught in a private Facebook group where you can ask questions directly for your unique business. You’ll learn along with a handful of students how to identify your ideal bride (who you will love to work with), attract them through a simple but effective system of marketing (all my tricks over 10 years as a wedding photographer), and step by step how to book them.
BONUS:
You’ll get both the 50 Content Ideas for Wedding Photographers and How to Create an Ideal Bride Avatar (a $59.98 value free!)
Write down 3 to 10 of your absolute favorite past clients. The more clients you can study, the better! If you are just getting started in wedding photography and you don’t have very many past clients to work with or you’ve booked people you don’t enjoy working with, then write down friends, family, or acquaintances that you would love to photograph if you got the chance.
2: Mark next to their name
Write down symbols next to each client based on the criteria below. You can write down as many of these symbols that apply:
(💲) = Stands for the fact that they booked you at your rates, no questions asked.
(💜) = Did you enjoy working with them? Or did you love their inspiration, colors, wedding style? Were they fun?
(✔) = Did they refer you? Have they referred you to friends or family whether that person book you or not?
3: Analyze your list: Look at your list, and identify the clients that have two or more symbols next to their name. These are the people that are truly ideal for you as you enjoy working with them, are inspired by working with them, and/or don’t have to haggle over your rates (i.e. they thought you worth it).
4: Dig Deep: Their Likes, Interests, and Hobbies
Ask these questions of your list to understand who your ideal bride is. Keep in mind that you can utilize IG or FB to figure out some of the answers.
What do they like to do with their free time? What is their favorite date night?
What do they post on social media the most?
What is their personal style? What kind of clothes do they typically wear? If you know the brand, write it down.
What are they generally interested in? What are their favorite foods/meals/restaurants? Are they into beer, wine, champagne, tequila? What are their hobbies? Favorite sports? Coffee/Tea? Do they love adventures like hiking or traveling? Are they into cars or boats or motorcycles? Do they have pets? What types of things do they post the most about?
What do they do for a living? Are they lawyers? Doctors? Teachers? Artists? Etc. What college did they go to? Their degree or high school graduate?
Where did they grow up? Are they close to their families? Did they live in mom and dad’s home until they got married or did they live with their spouse before they were married?
Are they religious?
Once you’ve written these down:
Circle any common traits that occur between your favorite couples. Star the traits that you like the most about them.
Underline traits that you also happen to enjoy.
5: Boil down the information to find their Values
This is hard to do, but after working with them and “stalking” their social media, you can start to draw conclusions as to their values. When you can dig down and figure out values, it goes a long way to really understanding who your ideal bride is and what makes her tick. This helps you to know how to speak to your ideal bride on social media.
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Even though Instagram is so important to wedding photographers and how they find brides, it’s super important that you blog, anyway. Why?
Here are some reasons: What if IG closed tomorrow? What would you do? Many brides still go to google to check reviews, My research via polls to my brides and google search show that brides still Google search to find wedding vendors. Additionally, brides often confirm their potential hire by looking at all these sites, social media and websites as well as Google and Pinterest.
Remember that social media comes and goes (think MySpace) and remember how easy it was for people to find your business on Facebook? Now…… maybe 2% of the people that actually like your page will see your posts.
Your website can either do nothing OR you can utilize the single best way to get found FOR FREE! If you want to do this, you need to optimize your website for search and understand SEO.
What is SEO??
So I went to my favorite SEO expert Neil Patel. Here’s what he said:
“Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your online content so that a search engine likes to show it as a top result for searches of a certain keyword.
Let me break that down even further:
When it comes to SEO, there’s you, the search engine, and the searcher. If you have an article about how to make vegan lasagna, you want the search engine (which, in 90% of all cases, is Google) to show it as a top result to anyone who searches for the phrase “vegan lasagna.”
SEO is the magic you have to work on your article in order to make Google very likely to include your post as one of the top results whenever someone searches for that keyword.”
What does this mean for your wedding photography website? I’m betting you can guess — A LOT!!! If you’re Jen Vazquez, Bay Area Wedding Photographer and you only have a few blog posts referring to “Jen Vazquez, Bay Area wedding photographer,” you will miss out on booking brides.
Soooooooo, let’s get to the tips!
You Need Words, not just images!
Do you have beautiful blog posts filled with phenomenal photography but no words to describe what’s happening in your images? From my research, you should have at least 200 words to every blog post you publish. Within those 200 words, be sure to include keywords like “wedding in San Jose, California” and “San Jose wedding photographer” This way Google knows what your blog post is about and serves it up to brides in your area.
Create Valuable Content
Create content that brides want to read or are searching for. An easy way to do this is to write a blog for every question that your brides ask you. It’s a way to build up a ton of great content for your brides and a great way for new brides to find you. If one bride has the question, you can bet multiple brides wonder the same thing.
Optimize your Images
Be sure to optimize your images. What does optimizing your images mean? There are three places to put a name (i.e. search terms). Alt Text, Title, and Description. All three places can have the same name OR a variation of the name, if you have the time. Here is an example of a great optimized image name: “bay-area-santa-clara-catholic-wedding-at-five-wounds-with-pale-pink-and-Burgandy-jen-vazquez-photography“
Use these SEO Keywords in every blog
Use The Name of your company somewhere on your blog. I typically put it in the title.
Use location-specific keywords like your city, state, town, area
Use your three brand words in every blog post. Mine are adventurous, playful and fun. So I say those three words everywhere in each blog, when possible.
Use “Wedding Photographer” or “Wedding Photography” in each blog
Don’t Be Silly — SHARE IT!
Share your blogs by newsletter, social media, Pinterest, on business and personal page. Sharing the information tells Google that you are popular and trustworthy.
Wedding Photographers have an easier time with this because we have gorgeous images!
Ensure that you have share buttons on your website for social media – this makes it easy and today, doing something easy online ensures they may click. If someone has to copy and paste, etc to share the information – it oftentimes is one too many clicks for people to have to do.
My favorite tools to Share:
Mailchimp: Get your content to your couples and to industry friends by creating a newsletter. While MailChimp may seem like an odd tool to list, I decided to include it because Mailchimp pushes people (especially your clients) to share your content directly from an email you send out. I also think Mailchimp is more reliable in getting your content to your followers than Facebook.
Tailwind – this is my all-time favorite tool for Pinterest, FB, and Instagram! By clicking the Tailwind link, you’ll get a free trial and they will give me a tiny stipend for sharing.
NO 404 Errors: Make sure your links are Working
There literally nothing worse than having 404 Page Error put up when you are looking for something. Guess what? It’s irritating to Google too. It makes Google feel like you are untrustworthy and it really messes up the algorithm.
Google doesn’t like slow sites. Photographs are most important, for us photographers, but we also need to ensure that they don’t slow down our page.
Making images look good
Making images load quickly
Making images easy for search engines to index.
Photographs should be saved and uploaded as JPGs. This file type can handle all of the colors in a photograph in a relatively small, efficient file size. By using JPEGs, you won’t end up with the enormous file you might get if you saved a photograph as a PNG.
The average speed for a website to load in 5 seconds. You can fix your site load time by cutting down on the size of a page. The biggest way to add to the size of your page? Slapping on tons of huge images. So, how can you fix this?
I love to take my favorite hi-resolution images and I throw them in BlogStomp. It’s a paid tool, but you can use the trial to try it out. I automatically optimize my images so they look their best but are web sized. It’s a lifesaver.
This is often overlooked. What are backlinks? Backlinks are another website links to your website.
So as an example, if you are listed (even a free listing) on WeddingWire, Zola, or The Knot. That’s a backlink. When you get your images published somewhere, that’s a backlink.
The bigger the website, the more powerful that backlink is because Google believes that you are more trustworthy. Especially if you are a wedding photographer and you have a link on a wedding site because it is a wedding-related.
Here are some ways to get started with backlinks (all free):
If you are looking for a coach to help with knowing who your ideal bride, how to attract them and book them, then I’d love to work with you! I have a private FB group that you may enjoy learning in or you can work with me 1:1. I’d love to cheer you on and give you concrete step by step ways to bring in those brides!
