Pinterest For Photographers: How To Promote Your Photography Business In 2021

Being on Pinterest is one of the best decisions you can make as a photographer.

Pinterest is a visual search engine and when it’s well utilized, it can become a potent marketing channel for your photographer business.

According to recent Pinterest statistics, around 500 million active users come to use the platform every month. 45% of individuals in the US with a household income of over $100K are on Pinterest.

And a good percentage of that figure are photo buyers, photography lovers, brides-to-be, and potential clients in need of photography services.

If you’re looking to leverage Pinterest and reach your target audience before your competitor does, this Pinterest for photographers guide is the best place to be.

Let’s dive in and see how Pinterest can be incredibly beneficial to your photography business.

What Is Pinterest?

Pinterest might be seen as a social network but it’s not a social media platform. It is a visual search engine that lets you discover ideas and interests.

People use Pinterest for p-inspiration especially when they are planning events, learning new stuff, looking for products to buy, starting a new hobby, and more.

If you’re looking for a steady inflow of photography clients and more traffic to your site, you should consider promoting your photography business on Pinterest.

Why Pinterest For Photographers?

Before we dive in and see how to get started, here are some benefits of using Pinterest for photographers:

Acquire More Photography Clients

Pinterest is a great place to not only share your creativity but also acquire new clients.

Millions of pinners use the platform to plan for weddings and events.

Stats say 9 in 10 Pinterest users are on the platform to plan future purchases or find ideas for purchases.

They come to discover wedding photoshoot ideas, baby photoshoot ideas, inspiration for birthday shoots, and more.

If you’re active on Pinterest and well-positioned, you can start getting clients in little time.

Get More Traffic To Your Photography Blog

If you run a photography blog, you can get more traffic with Pinterest.

The visual search platform lets you link pins to blog posts and individual pages on your site.

You can create engaging pins for your blog posts and when your audience clicks on your pins, they’ll be taken to your site to learn more.

Using Pinterest will help you bump up your referral traffic and get a stream of new visitors to your site.

Connect With Other Photographers And Get Ideas

Pinterest is also community-friendly. They let you create and join boards filled with other creative photographers.

On group boards, you’ll find pins and content from other photographers to draw inspiration from.

You can reach out to photographers in your specialization and location and establish helpful relationships.

This would help you grow as a creative and a business owner.

Now that you’ve seen how rewarding Pinterest is for photographers, it’s time to get started on the platform.

Getting Started As A Photographer On Pinterest

If you run a photography business, I believe Pinterest will make a nice addition to your current online marketing channels.

The visual search platform will help you get your photos in front of potential clients and win you more business.

Are you ready to get started on Pinterest as a photographer?

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to promote your photography business on Pinterest!

Create A Pinterest Business Account

To establish your presence on any online network and promote your business, your first step is to create an account.

A Pinterest account serves as your gateway into the visual search engine network.

It helps you create pins, save pins, engage with other pinners (Pinterest users), and promote your business.

As a new user, Pinterest allows you to create two kinds of accounts:

• Pinterest business account
• Pinterest personal account

While a Pinterest account only gives you access to find interests, create pins and connect with other pinners, a Pinterest business account gets you much more features.

Some of the features you get on a Pinterest business account include Pinterest Analytics, Pinterest Create, Pinterest Business Hub, Pinterest Ads, and more.

There are some more differences between a Pinterest business account and a personal account.

Of course, since you’re running a business, you’ll want to open a Pinterest business account.

Alternatively, you could also decide to switch from a Pinterest personal account (if you have one already) to a business account.

Optimize Your Pinterest Profile

Once your Pinterest business account is created, your next step is to prepare your profile.

Your Pinterest profile is the first point of contact between your brand and a potential client.

So it’s important to make an excellent FIRST impression.

The most important element in your Pinterest profile is your Pinterest name, bio, and profile picture.

Your profile name should tell your audience (and Pinterest) what your business is all about.

Also, you might want to have your work location and some relevant keywords in your title and bio for Pinterest SEO.

This would help your profile rank well when your target audience is searching for photography businesses on Pinterest.

For instance, your Pinterest name and bio could take the following forms:

• ‘your name’ I London Product Photographer

Bio: “A passionate product photographer based in London. I tell stories and create amazing visuals with my camera. Find my works on Instagram @yourinstahandle”

• ‘your name’ | New York Wedding Photographer & Filmmaker

Bio: “Enthusiastic wedding photographer and filmmaker based in New York and available to travel. I love capturing amazing wedding moments. Check me out on Instagram @xxx.”

Your Pinterest profile picture is also essential to getting clients and should reflect what you do.

If you have a professional photography business logo, you could use it.

Also, you could use a portrait photo of yourself or a sample of your photographs as your Pinterest profile picture.

Create Photography Niche Boards

Boards serve as bookmark spots on Pinterest.

They are home to a collection of pins all related to a central theme.

You can create as many niche-relevant boards (at least 10) on Pinterest and they should all be related to photography.

Doing this would help the Pinterest algorithm and audience understand what your profile is all about.

Your audience can follow the Pinterest boards that you create.

When they follow your board, they would be able to see pins added to the board from their profile.

If you’re a wedding photographer, for instance, you could create various niche relevant boards including:

• Wedding ring
• Brides dress
• Bridal train
• What to wear to a photoshoot
• Birthday photoshoot ideas
• Pre-wedding shoot
• Wedding reception
• And more

Your Pinterest boards should be well-targeted and ONLY feature pins that are closely related to its central theme.

If you’re lost for ideas, don’t hesitate to get inspiration from other photographers on Pinterest.

Take a look at what other photographers are doing on Pinterest and model their group boards.

Also, don’t forget to add a board cover and keyword-rich descriptions for your boards.

An optimized board description tells Pinterest what your board is all about and also helps your boards rank high in the Pinterest search engine.

While adding a Pinterest board cover helps with visual recognition.

Create And Publish Engaging Pins

Engaging pins are like the bloodstream of every Pinterest account.

They preserve your brand presence on Pinterest, drive traffic, and win you new business.

Many businesses don’t pay much attention to creating pins.

Pins are so important and make or mar your Pinterest strategy.

Most photographers I’ve encountered on Pinterest share their photos directly on the app.

If you want to do this, make sure you’re sharing your BEST work. And also ensure your photos are watermarked before publishing to protect them.

Potential clients would choose to work with you based on the quality and creativity of your works.

In addition, you can also choose to share conventional pins like a regular Pinterest user.

This is advisable especially if you have blog posts on your photography site.

You can create Pinterest pins on Canva in various forms – images, videos, infographics, carousels, and more.

Whatever pin you choose to publish on your Pinterest account is your choice.

But make sure you follow the recommended Pinterest image size and dimensions when creating pins.

You don’t want your pins to be truncated on the home feed.

If you want to learn how to create pins using Canva, check out this video.

Once you’ve created pins for your photography Pinterest account, it’s time to publish.

Just like your profile and boards, you need to optimize your pins so they’ll be easily discovered by your audience and Pinterest as well.

Optimizing your pins includes using engaging pin titles, keyword-rich descriptions, and an external link to your site or social media profile.

For your pin description, make sure they drive action, are well-written, and are keyword-rich.

Use keywords that reflect your type of photography and your location also.

Doing this will ensure your pins rank well on Pinterest and are found for the right keywords.

Join Group Boards for Photographers

Pinterest group boards are like normal boards but are extremely niched and are managed by a group of pinners.

Joining group boards will give you a chance to spread your pins and photos to new audiences, get more traffic and grow your following.

In this case, you’ll need to find and join top group boards for photographers.

Some group boards I recommend joining to grow your network and promote your photography business includes:

• Art of Photography by 121Clicks
• Photography Tips & Tutorials by Digital Camera World
• The Photographer’s Circle by SnapKnot
• DSLR Camera Tops and Tutorials by Digital Photography School
• Photography I Jewel Wedding Planning by Jennifer E Wilson

Some Pinterest experts might want to generalize and tell you that group boards don’t work and would hurt your profile.

But from my personal experience with Pinterest, group boards are still valuable.

You just need to do some due diligence and ensure you’re only joining the RIGHT group boards.

The RIGHT groups board you should join needs to be specific to your niche and well moderated.

Stay away from group boards that allow any kind of content.

You should also stay away from boards with poor moderation and a really large number of pinners.

These are signs of low-quality group boards that would hurt your profile.

When you find a group board for photographers to join, you need to critically assess the board and see the pins that are shared.

If the group board is a quality one, reach out to the group board owner and request that you’re added to the board.

Most group boards will place instructions for joining right in their board description so make sure you look closely.

You could reach out directly to the group board owner on Pinterest using your profile and request addition.

Alternatively, you could send them an email and include your profile URL while requesting an addition.

Most times, these group board owners will respond and add you to the board.

Otherwise, you might not hear back unluckily – most high-quality group boards get a TON of requests to join.

If you get a nod and you’re added to your desired group board, read the rules of the board to understand how they operate.

Most group boards don’t allow any form of spam. So you should avoid being spammy while sharing content.

Only post your best, relevant pins to the group boards. Respect everyone in the group and share their content too!

After a while, analyze your group boards to see which ones are getting you the most traction and are valuable to your growth.

This will help you know the group boards to focus a good chunk of your efforts on.

Schedule Pins With Tailwind

Apart from creating original pins, you also need to re-pin the content of other photographers to grow on Pinterest.

Pinterest wants you to not only post your content but also share and engage with other content.

This is where Tailwind and pin scheduling comes in.

Tailwind is a Pinterest tool that helps you schedule pins on your Pinterest account.

It’s the only APPROVED scheduling tool for Pinterest and was built to help you with Pinterest automation.

Repinning content is HARD especially if you don’t stay on Pinterest all day long.

With Tailwind, you can schedule your pins and other pins too for days and weeks in advance.

You can easily jump into the tool and do a one-time batch scheduling of pins for days and weeks.

After doing this, your accounts get an inflow of fresh pins without having to do it manually.

Tailwind provides an optimized schedule that ensures your pins are published at the best times your audience is active.

You could also decide to use your custom publishing schedule.

Apart from pin scheduling, Tailwind has a set of other features making it a must-have Pinterest tool in every Pinterest manager’s stack.

Tailwind provides built-in analytics for your Pinterest account.

Right from your dashboard, you’ll be able to see traffic and engagement metrics for individual pins and boards.

You’ll also be able to see virality and engagement scores which is indicative of the boards that are working for you.

Tailwind has a feature called Tribes, which are like niche group boards for Pinterest users.

Tailwind Tribes are niche communities you can join to engage with the content of other pinners and also share your own.

It’s a powerful feature for Pinterest growth.

On a Tailwind Tribes for photographers, for instance, you’ll be able to find other photographers to follow, discover their content, and share your pins with a large niche audience.

Tailwind Tribes is a win-win for everyone.

If you’re starting a new Pinterest account, I’ll recommend you to join Tribes if you want to grow fast.

Lastly, Tailwind has a built-in pin creation tool known as Tailwind Create.

The tool lets you create pins using a drag-and-drop designer and directly schedule your pins or publish them to your Pinterest account.

I haven’t used Tailwind Create to design pins (Canva does a terrific job at this) but overall, I think the pin designer is an impressive add-on feature and would be beneficial if you prefer an all-in-one platform to manage your Pinterest account.

Tailwind is continuously developing its platform, creating new features and improving old features.

I think it’s a must-have Pinterest tool in your arsenal if you really want to win on the visual search platform.

You can try Tailwind for FREE using their free trial for a month and see how beneficial it will be to your Pinterest strategy.

FAQ On Pinterest For Photographers

Here are some frequently asked questions about using Pinterest for photographers. If you have any additional questions, don’t forget to drop a comment in the comment box.

Final Thoughts

Pinterest was created for everyone to share and find inspiration.

As a photographer, I think it’s a great platform to share your creativity and inspire the world.

The potential on Pinterest for photographers is MASSIVE.

Apart from inspiring the Pinterest ecosystem with creative ideas, you’ll be able to grow a NEW audience that loves what you do.

You’ll also get traffic to your site and ultimately acquire new clients to work with.

While sharing your pins and photographs on Pinterest, don’t forget to also save pins of other photographers you find inspiring.

Pinterest can grow your photography business if you get started today.

Sign up on the platform for a Pinterest business account, engage with other content, join tribes and group boards, create pins, and start pinning.

Finally, feel free to check out my done-for-you Pinterest management services that take care of all things Pinterest for you.

I work with photography businesses of all sizes and can’t wait to help you win.

Also, I’ll appreciate it if you can pin this post on Pinterest using the image below.

If you have any questions or suggestions on using Pinterest for photographers, drop a comment!

Happy pinning!