With the holidays behind us, most wedding professionals are busy upping their sales and marketing game to meet the demands of engagement season. Instagram ads, lead magnets, and email marketing funnels are positioned to attract, engage, and book newly engaged couples as they kick off their wedding planning journey.
Yet, there’s one platform that is often overlooked by wedding pros during this busy season: Pinterest. Most people consider Pinterest to be a “set it and forget it” channel—you add some pretty galleries, pin some valuable advice, and let it do its thing. Right?
Not quite.
Pinterest is a powerful way to reach prospective clients; yet, it doesn’t get the same credit as Instagram and other social media channels. But that’s because it’s not a social media site—it’s a search and discovery platform. People don’t use it for entertainment or to learn about your personality; they are seeking ideas, inspiration, and solutions to their problems.
When you recognize that Pinterest is not an “alternative” to any social media site but rather a one-of-a-kind marketing entity, you can adjust your strategy to take advantage of the 40+ million people planning their wedding on Pinterest (The Knot, 2016).
Plus, an active Pinterest account that sends consistent traffic to your website will also help your Google rankings. Make sure your website is set up to receive inquiries with easy-to-find contact info and email opt-ins, and you’ll see your SEO and web analytics grow alongside your Pinterest metrics.
Ready to get your Pinterest profile in tip-top shape for engagement season? Use these strategies to build a presence that can’t be missed.
Update and optimize your Pinterest profile.
To be clear, most users aren’t visiting your Pinterest profile to learn more about you and your business as they would on Instagram. However, your profile is key for Pinterest’s algorithm to learn about your business, who you serve, and where you’re based. The more they can learn about your business, the better they can distribute your content to the right searches and, ultimately, the right people.
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Start on your profile and make sure your profile title and description define who you are, what you do, who you do it for, and where you do it. Do not copy and paste your Instagram bio! Pinterest is a search engine, so give it the SEO keywords it needs to do its job.
Think of Pinterest like a brick-and-mortar storefront. Your pins are like the items you sell inside that win people over. It’s why people end up browsing what you have to offer. However, they can’t (and won’t want to) do business with you if the lights are off and the doors are locked—no matter how many great products you’re selling. Filling out your Pinterest profile and setting up your boards properly is like flipping the “open” sign around on the front door and inviting customers inside.
Separate personal and business content.
Pinterest is a valuable channel for your business, but it’s also an amazing resource for us as humans. You’ve likely found yourself searching for the perfect recipe, living room colors, or outfit inspiration. While you might want to save these for later use, it’s best to keep any personal pins or those not related to your business separate from your branded content.
An easy way to do this is by setting up secret boards on your account, so everything remains accessible in one place. When potential leads land on your profile, they should only find content that is relevant to them, their problems, and how you can help. Anything else is a distraction that doesn’t serve your ultimate goal: booking more clients.
Just like your profile and your boards, Pinterest also uses what you pin to learn about your business, so that it can serve up your content when pinners search for inspiration and ideas. Do you want Pinterest to think your business is about recipes and home decor or weddings and events?
Update your boards.
Your boards serve to house and categorize all of your content to make it easier for people to navigate. They also support your SEO on Pinterest, so it’s important to ensure every board has a keyword-driven title and description.
As you create boards, focus on showcasing ideas, inspiration, and solutions. Couples aren’t looking to laugh or engage on Pinterest—they’ll go to TikTok or Instagram for that. Instead, they are looking for help, whether it’s finding the cost of a New York City wedding or gathering photos of coral bridesmaid dresses to share with their wedding party.
Pinterest provides an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and show couples that you have the answers they need. Save the personality and silly jokes for Instagram and dedicate your Pinterest channel to providing concrete value that positions your brand as an industry leader.
Be mindful of repurposing content.
While repurposing content is a major time-saver, you need to approach it a bit differently with Pinterest. Its unique format and targeted audience mean you have to reframe content from other platforms to provide value. Is your content helpful? What would a pinner get from it? Are you creating inspiration for couples planning their wedding?
Keep your Pinterest lens on as you review content to determine if, and how, it could support your overarching strategy. You might find that your info-packed blog posts or galleries of past work translate to Pinterest well, but your Instagram Reels don’t quite fit the profile.
Remember that pinners are not starting on your Pinterest profile. They start in the search bar, and if a piece of your content won’t turn up in your ideal client’s results, it’s best to leave it out. It’s better to put out pins that inspire or help your potential clients than insignificant pins that will never be found or don’t solve problems.
Pinterest has been an industry mainstay for years, and it tends to be the quiet workhorse in the background while splashy apps like Instagram and TikTok get the spotlight. By giving your Pinterest profile a bit of extra love this year, you can capitalize on a powerful channel that puts your business front-and-center of your audience searching for your ideas and solutions.
