Is it just me or does social media just overwhelm you?? There’s always something to do, something to post, more to learn, blah blah blah. How do you even keep up??
And now, word on the street is that Pinterest is WHERE WE NEED TO BE!!
But I am le tired. And there’s no time to take a nap when we should be focusing on getting this online business off the ground.
So luckily, I found a Pinterest EXPERT to give me the skinny on Pinterest. What are the basics, who is Pinterest ideal for, what kind of content should we be pinning, how do we set everything up, what should pins look like, and SO. MUCH. MORE!!
Charisse Merrill, busy mom of 5, became a Pinterest expert from her blog. Since then, she’s been testing new techniques, following the updated Pinterest algorithm, and teaching business owners all over how they can use Pinterest for their business.
Surprise, branding plays a huge role in Pinterest, and she’s going to break it down for us.
The best part of this entire live interview??
You can handle all of your Pinterest business in just TEN MINUTES a day!
Charisse doesn’t even do Instagram anymore! Pinterest is her main platform. Why?? Because it works. Because she doesn’t need to do others. And because. She. CAN.
Charisse, teach me your ways!
Here are a few key points if you wanted to skip around the interview to save time. That being said, the whole thing was SO helpful understanding the ins and outs of Pinterest, and I recommend listening to it in its entirety to get the full effect!
3:55 10 minutes a day Pinning strategy explained
7:40 Keywords and key phrases
8:15 Why you need to KNOW your ideal client and their pain points
9:00 Who is Pinterest ideal for? (Hint: It’s not super great for local biz. Here’s why.)
13:45 Personal account vs business account. Which is better? 16:00 Followers don’t matter!!! Here’s why.
17:30 Best content to put on Pinterest 23:30 Why you need images with text over them! (This one was mind-blowing for me.)
25:45 What about an etsy link? Can we pin from other websites or do we always need to create our own pin?
30:00 Live Pinning Demo Begins
31:09 Where identifying your ICA comes into play
35 min-45 min is a pin creation tutorial
46:00 Re-pinning using the 80/20 rule
52:00 Boards?? How many should we start with? And what should they be about?
57:00 How should we keep pins on brand?
1:01:20 3 things you MUST start now to get your pinning started!
1:04:00 Pin analytics explained
My key takeaways from the Pinterest Lesson:
1. Charisse’s strategy is a no BS way to get in, get out, and actually see results. It cuts out all of the fluff, meaning there’s no mindless scrolling here. You need to 1. Identify your ideal customer avatar (ICA). 2. Identify their painpoints. 3. Create content that ANSWERS/ALLEVIATES their pain points. 4. Link your helpful content on Pinterest. And 5. Pin/save OTHER people’s helpful content.
In doing the above, you establish yourself and your brand as a trusted expert on the matter. You do one thing. And that one thing is help your ideal customer.
2. Followers do NOT matter. Pinterest is in the social media bucket, but it’s NOT a social platform. It’s a search engine. Don’t get caught up in vanity metrics. Charisse has a successful business from Pinterest and only has about a hundred followers. Which means…followers DON’T PAY YO BILLS. I get caught up in the numbers, and I LOVE the idea of not having to worry about engaging with everyone, spending an hour on my phone trying to build up a following, and then ultimately feeling let down when my following hasn’t even grown after all of that effort.
Can I get an amen for not caring about the vanity metrics?!
3. Pinterest is meant for people with an online/product business. If I’m looking for gigs in Denver, the geo-targeting in Pinterest is not ideal and other platforms like Google My Business would serve me better to find clients location-based. If you have an online business that you can direct them to your site/funnel and make a sale…that’s where Pinterest can really shine.
4. Branding is so unbelievably important for Pinterest. Between your profile, the pins you create, your boards that hold the pins, and then other people’s relevant content that you repin – it should all be consistent with the look you’re going for and the content your ideal customer actually wants to see.
Pretty much, there should be NO GUESSING who you are and how you help people. Which should be the case for your brand in general, BUT let’s take Instagram for a second. Part of an Instagram strategy is to post the occasional personal post so people can get to know you, come to like you, and then eventually trust you. That is because you’re building a following. Which, as we learned earlier, is NOT THE CASE for Pinterest. Therefore, each pin should be relevant to what you do. The pin gets traffic in the door. It is then the job of your website or funnel to greet them, give them champagne and cookies, and make them fall in love with you (aka buy).
Whewwwww! That was a GREAT live. I absolutely loved chatting with Charisse and I’m so glad I was able to get the Pinterest low down to ease some of that overwhelm. Now, I have a few links I would love for y’all to check out for more Pinterest info!
1. This video was hosted in my FREE Facebook group called Branding Through Photography. We talk all about branding photos, imagery, and other gems like this Pinterest live all designed to help you build and support your brand. Are you a part of it yet?? If not, what are you waiting for?! Did I mention it’s free??
2. The freebie course to set up your Pinterest Profile Charisse mentioned in the video can be found here!
3. Charisse’s Pinterest Academy which talks ALL about Pinterest and her amazing strategies can be found here!
4. Charisse also has an amazing free Pinterest Facebook group. She gives great lives and helpful info on Pinterest strategy. Definitely check it out!
Alrighty y’all. I’m off to go work on my Pinterest profile. Let me know how you liked this live. And comment below with questions!
Till next time!
xoxo,
madison
