In this video, I discuss the importance of virtual coffee dates while we are on the state’s “stay at home” order.
This is a great way to “get out” without going anywhere. In an effort to keep working and work harder than ever to get brides booked, you need to pull out all the stops. Continue with social media marketing, Pinterest, and blogs. But include networking with other wedding professionals.
This will help you to know what’s going on in the industry in the area you live and also create friendships that could also lead to jobs.
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)
In this podcast, we’ll be discussing Virtual Coffee Dates during the Coronavirus.
Here is a link to your free download of my google sheets doc to keep track of those that you have virtual coffee dates with and some questions to ask. https://wedphotographycoach/shop/.
Wed Photography Coach: Helping wedding photographers to identify, attract, and book their ideal brides! If you struggle with social media, if you hate blogging but know you need to do it, if you are looking for a system that’s easy to follow to book your ideal brides, then this channel is for you!
Today we are discussing all Pinterest, why you should use Pinterest as a wedding photographer, and the basic settings.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more.
People say it’s a social media site, but it’s a REALLY GOOD search engine and highly used by brides.
Pins
Pins are ideas that people on Pinterest create, find, and save from around the web. If you click through the Pin, you can visit the website to learn how to make it or where to buy it. As you discover Pins you love, click the red Save button to save them to your boards.
Boards
Collections of Pins in an organized and specific way.
Why use Pinterest as a Wedding Photographer
Why should you use Pinterest as a wedding photographer?
Traffic — the purchase of using Pinterest is to drive traffice to your website.
Free Marketing — You don’t have to pay for Pinterest at all. So, it’s a free marketing platform that returns more visitors than Instagram or Facebook.
This leads to booking brides — anytime you have more visitors to your website, you have more opportunities to book a client.
Pinterest is the highest referrer to my website. More than IG and more that FB. Many photographers I start working with say that IG is the biggest referrer to their website. After we work together for a couple months on Pinterest, Pinterest is always higher.
Bottom line
If you want MORE traffic, start spending some time on Pinterest. Writing blog posts is the easiest way to create content for Pinterest AND as a wedding photographer, this is the best way to get your information out to google and future brides. I had a bride book me from North Carolina and Los Angeles due to a blog post.
TIP: If you create Youtube videos for your wedding photography business for brides, you can pin Youtube’s also!
Step by Step setting up Pinterest
Business not Personal: The first thing you need to do is to switch your personal account to a business account. The main reason is Pinterest analytics. There are zero reasons not to make it business – It’s free. Go do it now.
If you turn your personal Pinterest to Business
Make sure to make all personal boards private. Private boards don’t have analytics and aren’t see on your Pinterest Board. If you have boards that have a lot of followers or pins, but it’s not for your business, archive that board. Then you retain the analytics and can access it, but no one can see it.
Need Help on How to Change Personal to Business or Create Business: Just go here
Profile
Username:
This should be your business name and typically whatever your social media sites use.
You have 3-30 spaces for your name. Sometimes you can’t use a long name, so you can shorten a part of it.
Bottom Line: You want to choose exactly what you have for other social media sites, unless it’s too long then you shorten it.
Profile Picture:
This should never be your logo or worse yet a selfie.
This is your chance to immediately let people know who you are and being a photographer it should be good. You are the face of the company.
Use a shoulder up photo as it’s a super tiny circle image.
Consider an image of you and your camera so it’s very quickly apparent what you do.
Profile Name.
What I’ve seen from research and trial and error myself, is that you want to use this type of look. COMPANY NAME | TOPIC.
Here’s an example of mine: Jen Vazquez | Destination Wedding Photographer
Your profile name and description are also very important SEO. When Pinterest analyzes the pins you share, it doesn’t only look at the pin’s description. It also looks at the name and description of the board it was pinned to and the profile it was shared by. Your profile name and description should tell Pinterest exactly who you are and what you do and bonus points for who you serve (i.e. what kind of brides)
Profile Description (Bio):
You only have 160 characters to describe what your business and the boards are about. Make sure you are very descriptive because each word helps to be found on searches on Pinterest and other search engines. It’s SEO for your Pinterest boards.
Think of questions like, what do you do, who do you do it for, what you help with, what you provide, and anything that will help to drive traffic (think FREE tips to planning your wedding).
Profile Cover:
Your profile cover is auto-populated but you can choose what you want to populate.
You can choose what you want, but I always recommend to choose either the most popular board (you’ll find that in Pinterest analytics) or Recent Activity which is Pins people saved from your claimed website and linked accounts or what I use (jen vazquez photography california wedding photographer)
Sign up for my Private Facebook Group to see the video live!
Over the next few weeks, we’ll go over boards, how to create pins, how to pin from your blog to drive traffic, and how to use Tailwind in my Private Facebook Group – click the button above to join and see the LIVE video!
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:
