Are you wondering how to use Pinterest to increase traffic to your website or increase art sales? Then you’re in the right place!
Why You Want to Use Pinterest In Your Art Biz
I’ve read tons of informative articles on Pinterest with stats and graphs and all that jazz, but instead of that, I’m going to tell you this:
Pinterest isn’t social media, it’s a visual search engine. VISUAL. And you make something pretty, right? Something for people to look at? So if you have art to sell, Pinterest is a great place for it to get seen!
Pinterest doesn’t suffer from the trolls and horribleness of many of the other online ways to showcase your art. That should be enough of a reason to hang out there, right?
Other reasons of interest:
- Your content sticks around for ages, not 15 minutes like some other platforms
- People on Pinterest are looking to buy, much more so than any other place you might be showing your work
- You can link directly to your website, a blog post, or a product
- Depending on your web platform, people can shop directly from Pinterest and purchase your art!
The Basics of Using Pinterest for Your Art Business
If you’d rather watch/listen to me talk about this, here’s a video. If you’re a reader (raises hand), read on below!
Create (or Switch to) A Business Page
Having a business account allows you to verify your website, potentially sell products direction from Pinterest, and gives you more stats and detailed information.
If you’re starting from scratch, simply choose a business account from the get go. If you’ve been pinning DIY home projects and slow cooker meals on a personal account, it’s simple to switch over to a business profile. Go to your account settings from the drop down arrow and convert your account, then you’re good to go
. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to create a space that’s relevant to your potential and future customers.
Create Several Boards That Will Interest Your Customers (Or Potential Customers)
If you had a personal Pinterest account with boards for vacation ideas and nursery decor, it’s likely those topics aren’t going to attract people who would be interested in your artwork (unless you sell nursery decor or paintings of travel destinations!)
When planning your space, consider creating these boards:
- A board with your name + art type (Lisa Sloss / Celebrity Portraits); in this space you’ll post ONLY your own content, no one else’s
- 3-5 boards about topics pertinent to your potential customer; in this space you’ll post both your own content and the content of others
How do you figure out what the other board titles and topics should be? Think about what you sell and what the people who buy that work might also be interested. Do you sell hand wired jewelry with healing crystals in it? Then your community might also be interested in yoga, meditation, healing foods, sacred places in the world, and/or health and wellness.
If you create baby animal illustrations, maybe complementary boards would include nursery decor, children’s fashion, parenting, and/or family travel destinations (assuming your ideal client has children and would be the most likely to purchase your work).
Create Vertical Pins That Link Directly to Your Website
Pins need to be vertically oriented, period. They should be at least a 2:3 ratio, such as 1000px wide and 1500px tall.
The fact that Pinterest lets you link directly to your website or shop is AWESOME, so take advantage of it! If you have an online shop, put photos of every single product you sell on Pinterest, each linked to the exact place on your website the product can be purchased. If you write blog posts, link directly to them (rather than your homepage).
If you make YouTube tutorials, you should also consider linking directly to your website! Did you notice I have a YouTube video embedded in this post? Sure, I could have linked the Pins I created right to that video, but then I lose the chance to get you to sign up for my newsletter, where I can talk to you directly!
Whenever possible, please link to your own website!
Lastly, make sure those pins of yours are visually pleasing. Here are some Pins I’ve created over the years. Yes, my logo has changed many times.
Pin Your Content and Other People’s Content Daily
Technically, you should Pin everyday. A service like Tailwind is great, as you can both schedule content way ahead of time and use their Communities. Tailwind Communities allows you to join groups of other similarly-focused content creators and scratch each other’s backs (metaphorically, of course).
You post a couple pins, but you schedule some of their pins, checking off the box of not posting only your stuff, as that comes off as spammy. At the same time, other community members will Pin your content, so it has a greater chance of being seen and, hopefully, saved.
If you don’t feel like using a paid service, though, it’s very simple to schedule pins ahead of time, which I often do. With your content taken care of, you can hop onto Pinterest once a day and pin 2-5 other creator’s pins to your board and you’re good to go!
Final Thoughts on Using Pinterest
I could talk about this subject FOREVER, but I hope this has given you at least a jumping-off point. I find Pinterest much gentler on my soul than any other social media, and it also sends more people to my website than any other platform, so win-win, baby!
If you want more art advice, get the checklist and get on my email list!
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