How You Pictured It

Sustainable marketing using Pinterest with Laurel Vines

• Kate Hejde • Season 1 • Episode 52

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 In this episode, I'm chatting with Laurel Vines of Vineyard Creative Co, the go-to expert on web and Pinterest strategy. She's spilling the beans about why Pinterest is a game-changer for businesses. Laurel is all about using Pinterest as an evergreen search engine, unlike those ever-changing social media platforms, for more sustainable marketing.

When it comes to Pinterest, it's not your typical social media deal. It's all about keywords and fresh content, and Laurel's got some fantastic tips to up your Pinterest game and boost your visibility.

Plus, she'll share insights on how Pinterest is changing, using images and descriptions strategically, and her favorite business resources. 

00:00 Introduction and Guest Presentation

00:38 Building a Sustainable Business

01:29 Adapting Business to a Nomadic Lifestyle

02:34 Exploring the Power of Pinterest

04:03 Pinterest for Different Business Types

05:06 Evolution of Pinterest

07:45 When to Start Using Pinterest for Business

09:27 Pinterest as a Search Engine vs Social Media

12:58 Optimizing Pinterest Account for Search

16:32 Promoting Content on Pinterest

17:57 Do's and Don'ts of Pinning

25:12 Closing Remarks and Takeaways

Find Laurel at vineyardcreativeco.com
https://www.instagram.com/vineyardcreative.co/
Free Pinterest Strategy Guide: https://vineyardcreativeco.com/pinterest-marketing-strategy-guide
Pinterest Profile Blueprint Masterclass: https://vineyardcreativeco.com/pinterest-marketing-masterclass

Book Recommendation: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
Also Mentioned: Val Marlene Creative

Follow Dear Kate Brand Strategy on Instagram
Learn more at Howyoupicturedit.com


Kate:

Welcome back to how you pictured it. Today, I'm here with Laurel Vines, a Vineyard Creative Co. She is a web designer like me. We met in the web design community and through, um, a networking group that we're both part of the Sowbo community, society of Women Business Owners, um, and she's here today though, to talk to you about Pinterest and share some of her knowledge around that topic. Laurel, can you go ahead and introduce yourself as well?

Laurel:

ahead? Yes. Hi everyone. I'm Laurel. I am a Pinterest strategist and SEO focus web designer, and I serve creatives, so anyone from photographers to service providers and coaches.

Kate:

Awesome. So let's talk a little bit about how are you building your business to fit the light that you pictured.

Laurel:

Yeah, so, well, a big focus of my business, which I'm also trying to, you know, incorporate in my own business on the backend is just sustainability. So kind of focusing on those Kinds of marketing and tasks that will push my business forward. They may not give me like, overnight results, but I'll be sort of glad that I did them later. Um, so I'm really, I'm really hoping to one day have a business that doesn't require me to be on social media. Um, that I can, you know, show up there if I want to, but, um, you know, that it's not a need.'cause I always find if I feel like I have to be on there, it just feels very stressful. So, um, just building that, um, Kind of leads and more, uh, sustainable, uh, business off off of social media.

Kate:

Well, and part of your story too is that you traveled, uh, for like, for your life for a while, like you lived, um, kind of on the road. How did you adjust your business to suit that?

Laurel:

back? Yeah, so I actually started the business while we were on the road um, which is kind of backwards, but we, um, both my husband and I had, um, nine to fives before that and then we on the road, um, I knew that I needed to, you know, have more flexible work. So that's when I began the business and um, was definitely Uh, a challenge for a little while. You know, I had a, a tiny little office desk. We had a very small trailer. Um, but it really just gave us so much freedom while we were traveling and made it so much easier, you know, and it was fun. I could work for every, from anywhere, you know, wherever we were. As long as I had wifi signal I could work. So it was a lot of fun.

Kate:

What was your favorite place that you traveled to?

Laurel:

Oh, probably, um, glacier National Park. That was really beautiful.

Kate:

I have not been there, but it's on our to-do list for sure.

Laurel:

Yes. So pretty.

Kate:

So let's get into Pinterest. Tell me a little bit about what you love about the platform and who you see it benefiting the most.

Laurel:

it. Yeah, so I love that Pinterest is, uh, primarily a search engine. A lot of people think it's a social media platform, but it's not. Um, and I really love that. The way I feel when I get on Pinterest, I feel inspired. Um, I feel like a lot of people go to Pinterest to be for inspiration, you know, that's what the platform is about. It's, um, it's about getting inspired and, um, versus social media where you sometimes get on the platform, um, and you may be looking for inspiration, but you end up just kind of feeling a lot of imposter syndrome or like, oh my goodness, look at what everyone else is doing. And, um, but Pinterest, you just kind of feel a little bit more empowered to do things and, you know, like I said, inspired, it's a very visual platform. So, um, Pinterest is really great for really anyone who, um, has content that inspires people. So whether that's Tutorials or, you know, if you are a photographer, a web designer and you have, you know, beautiful visuals that are gonna inspire people, um, Pinterest is a great place to reach people while they're planning a project. Um, so there is a statistic that 77% last time I checked of people that come on the platform are planning to make a purchase. So, um, it's great place to, to find people in that stage who are looking to invest with you.

Kate:

That's interesting. I did not know that about Pinterest. Uh, could it also be used for like, so less visual service providers like, um,

Laurel:

um,

Kate:

organizers or like, I see a lot of like DIY home stuff on my Pinterest.'cause that's part of my, you know, uh, things I love. But, uh,

Laurel:

uh,

Kate:

do you find other businesses that are less, um, visually focused, finding success there as well?

Laurel:

as well? Yes. Yeah. There's really a wider and wider audience, um, on Pinterest. So if you, um. Have anything to do with online business. There's a lot, a lot of people that go on there for, you know, things surrounding their online business, marketing tutorials. So I have, uh, worked for copywriters and, you know, um, social media professionals, so anyone, um, who's in online business, they're probably getting a lot of inspiration and tutorials from Pinterest. Um, yeah, anything to do with food or home, home decor, um, cleaning, you know, pets, all kinds of things. Yeah.

Kate:

So many topics. Oh my goodness. So how has Pinterest really changed over the years? I have been there since you had to like, get in, uh, invitation to be on Pinterest. So way back in the early days. And I know it looks a lot different than it did back then, so what changes have you seen and how, how are they benefiting us as business owners more?

Laurel:

Yeah. So Pinterest has really pivoted to, um, you know, work more for businesses. And what I love about Pinterest is that, um. It's really accessible, um, for those who are wanting to market organically versus paid ads. Um, you definitely can scale with paid ads, but it's, um, definitely possible to grow a lot of traffic, uh, organically on Pinterest. And Pinterest has really worked to make that possible. I feel like. Since in the last, you know, five years or so, especially, um, they're also really prioritizing just new fresh content versus, you know, re-pinning other people's content. So they really just want creators, you know, people on there putting up fresh, um, fresh images, you know, um, new content. And, um, and so yeah, the more that you are doing that, the more they're gonna prioritize, um, your pins and, and show'em to more people.

Kate:

So now we have different kinds of pins. Do you see benefit in, um, like accessing all of those tools or are there certain tools that are better used? Um, if you're gonna focus your efforts in one place?

Laurel:

Yeah. So when Idea Pins came out, um, in 2020, it was sort of an answer to reels and TikTok, you know, short form videos taking over the internet. Um, so they were very popular. They had a creator rewards program. Um, but since then recently, Pinterest has done away with what they called idea pins. Um, and so some creators that I follow said that they never use the idea pins and they still have great reach and great traffic, so I don't think it's necessary to use them. Um, if you are already creating like short-term video, short-term firm. Ugh, short form video, uh, for TikTok or for Instagram, and you wanna experiment with repurposing it on Pinterest. It's absolutely a great way to do that. I do still see sometimes you get, um, maybe little increased impressions, like the algorithm is pushing it out a little bit more. Not like they were a couple years ago when it was first introduced. So if you are someone who has a lot of video content to work with, it's definitely worth, worth experimenting with. But if you just wanna pin static images, you can definitely, you know, grow a presence that way as well.

Kate:

Okay, so when is the right time for a business owner to start using Pinterest for their work?

Laurel:

so I would say, first of all, you wanna have a website, That's, that's the number one thing, um, is that Pinterest is going to prioritize any pen that's leading to your claim to donate. Um, versus a social media platform, a third party, you know, site that you're sending someone to. Um, and also you just wanna think, well, what's the purpose, um, of sending traffic there? So you wanna make sure, you know, your website's optimized, um, that you have some useful content, um, to give people. So like, if you're sending them to, you know, your homepage, which you actually should not do, but if you're sending them there, um, it might not give them much context or anything that They can really like, um, any actionable advice or free resource or something, um, you know, to get them stick around so they might get confused and leave. So having a blog is gonna be really ni like good. So at least having a handful of blog posts, um, and then a free resource is a great way to start, uh, you know, utilizing pictures to grow your email list as well.

Kate:

do you recommend pinning like your, your lead magnets, your freebies directly, or do you think it's better to, um, kind of funnel them through like a blog post into the lead magnet?

Laurel:

I think it's good to experiment with both. Um, I think a lot of times people are looking for something immediately actionable. So if you have a checklist or something like that, um, they'll, you know. Definitely click right through and go ahead and sign up. So I think it's good to experiment with both, you know, that or a blog post that can kind of lead into your free resource as well.

Kate:

Okay. Okay, so we talked about a little bit about Pinterest being a search engine. So how do you find that that compares or contrasts to being social media? Like what do you find different between those two ways of marketing? I.

Laurel:

Yeah, so Pinterest really prioritizes keywords, so using the right kinds of keywords, you know, putting out fresh content regularly, um, versus being engaged on the platform. Um, so with social media, it's as much about, you know, how much you post as how much you engage with other people and like engage with their content and, you know, post. It's the right time of day and all of that. Um, but Pinterest is something you can definitely schedule everything in advance and you don't have to be on the platform engaging or even saving others' pins is actually not recommended anymore, um, for the most part. So, um, so yeah, that engagement or like liking other people that it's not so much a relationship. Oriented platform as it is, you know, just think of it more like a visual Google, like, people are searching for things, they're searching for inspiration. Um, and then they're like, they're going to find what they want. They're not spending as much time just on the platform, you know? So you want, that's a, that's great for us. You know, we wanna bring'em to our corner of the web.

Kate:

Yeah, so, and then when they do land there, they're probably a warmer audience because they went searching for the thing that you're offering in the first place. With that, does content on Pinterest last longer?

Laurel:

It does it does. Uh, so content on social media usually lasts about 48 to 72 hours and then. You know, people aren't seeing your old posts again in the algorithm. Whereas with Pinterest, a lot of times your post is not gonna, you know, go viral or anything overnight. Um, but it can start to gain traction and you'll keep getting traffic for like months, sometimes years. I have clients that have pins that are bringing them, uh, lots of traffic years later.

Kate:

Yeah. Yeah. I do have some on my photography blog that are like, what to wear with blue and yellow, and that, that one like. Still, it's like probably 12 years old at this point, is something I created very early in my business, but it still brings traffic to my site. So do you find that, um, that traffic is still valuable even if you're a local service and

Laurel:

and

Kate:

traffic is not necessarily local coming in?

Laurel:

Uh, I think it just depends on what you offer. So for, uh, anyone in the wedding industry, a lot of brides are looking on there for like elopement or destination, or they're looking for specific locations. So, um, you can definitely get bookings that way. Um, or like venues, you know, anything like that. Um, If you, as long as you have, you know, something to offer someone, um, that isn't from your area um, it is gonna be, it's gonna be better, uh, for you just because Pinterest isn't the most location specific, um, versus Google. So, like I say, wedding, anything in the wedding industry is definitely the exception to that. Um, or possibly like travel. Um, but Uh, in terms of like other things like products, like if you're a bakery you're not gonna really be attracting people in your local area on Pinterest. Or if you have a boutique but you don't sell online, it's not gonna be the best platform for you.

Kate:

Okay, that's good information. What are some areas that we should be optimizing our account for search then?

Laurel:

Uh, so there's a few areas. So the one is your profile name, um, and that's a place where you can actually put a key word. So, um, so for us, we're Show it web designers, I would put show it web designer, um, in my profile name. So I would put your brand name a little vertical line, show it web designer or whatever your title is. If you're an Oregon wedding photographer, you know, you put that'cause those, um, titles are searchable as well. And so profiles will come up in people's searches so they can find you that way and just kind of a foundation for your SEO. Um, you can also put those keywords in your Bio description. Um, so any kinds of, so if you're a photographer, like the style of photography, you do, your location again, you know, um, inspiration for like wet venue inspiration or reception, inspiration, things like that. You can put in your bio. Um, the next place is going to be your board titles and descriptions. So those are all sort of, I say like those are kind of, think of them like your content pillars. Like what kind of content are you pinning? What kind of words are people searching around those content? Content, which you can, you can kind of find on the Pinterest platform just by searching, seeing what kinds of words are like, come up in the search bar as suggested searches, um, and start with those. Um, so creating board titles that are, you know, are keywords, and then writing a description that also includes more long tailed keywords, which is basically that, that same root, um, word, but with like more words added onto it. So if you're Board title is elopement ideas. Your board description would include words like destination elopement ideas, and Hawaii elopement ideas and things like that. And then, um, the next thing would be actually on your pins. So your pin titles, your pin descriptions, even your pin graphics. Um, if you, you know, have words on there, um, using keywords there will actually help the reach of your PIN as well, because Pinterest can actually scan images and it'll, Um, be able to push it out based on that as well.

Kate:

Well, that's amazing. technology is so different than it. It used to be. Well, and I think that there was a season where.

Laurel:

where

Kate:

It was good to be clever on Pinterest and you'd have like bumps and bellies or something as your maternity board. Um, but now it's more important to be clear and actually like using the words that people are searching for when they're on Pinterest. Do you have any suggestions for finding what people are searching for?

Laurel:

So you can just start by, you know, going on the platform and when you type something in the search bar, you know, think maybe start brain dumping a few things of like what you think people would be searching for to find, you know, whatever you're offering, and then just start searching those words. Um, and then as you search for them, you'll see more suggested searches just pop up, kind of like you do when you do a Google search and you don't even have to type the whole thing in, it just finishes it for you. Pinterest will do that same thing, so that's a way for you to just kind of like jot those down. Um, and then if you actually search, um, like say a root keyword, like whatever your search term is. You'll see usually some suggested search bubbles, uh, pop up below as well. There'll be like little colored bubbles. So those are more, um, long tailed keywords. Those are more words that you're gonna add on to that main thing that you're searching for, that are gonna be like more niched keywords.

Kate:

Are there any things that you would do if you're specifically wanting to promote on Pinterest? Are there any things that you would change in how you create the content that you're pinning?

Laurel:

so you do wanna make sure that you are giving it its own strategy, like if you're. I wouldn't just like copy a social media caption and put it as your, as your pin description. Um, but one thing is to, you know, write a description that's both, you know, it, it should be simple and clear. Um, and it should be full words. You don't just wanna list out a bunch of keywords.'cause Pinterest doesn't like that. You know, it's It's kind of black hat, it's called keyword stuffing, and they can tell that you're doing that. Um, so you don't wanna do that. Um, also hashtags are no longer, uh, relevant on Pinterest. That went away a little a year and a half ago or so. So, um, just basically, you know. Write clear sentences that make sense to humans, um, and are readable and like, just enticing people to click basically on your pin. Um, and then just experiment with different, um, keywords and terms within that description and within the title. Um, and then just focusing on your graphic, you know, like making sure that it is clear, um, like what it is, making sure it's good quality image. You know, aesthetics are important on Pinterest. Um, but also, you know, you're kind of in a, in a sea of a lot of images, so you wanna make sure it. Stands out, um, among the crowd. So

Kate:

Perfect. Are there any other do's and don'ts of pinning that you'd like to share?

Laurel:

to share? Yeah. Um, so you wanna make sure that you're not just pinning to the same URL. Um, so the same website address, so like your website, forward slash blah, blah, blah. You don't wanna pin that URL more than once per day. Um,'cause that can actually get you in the spam filter in Pinterest if you're just pinning the same URL too often. Um, you also wanna make sure you're not pinning to your homepage, um, because Pinterest can't differentiate between your homepage and any other. Uh, page on your website. Therefore, if you have pin another page in your homepage Pinterest, use those two as the same thing. Um, so again, it's just kind of to keep it, we'll make sure we don't end up in the spam filter. If you just see your analytics just like plummet and you're not getting any views or clicks or anything, it might be because you got marked a spam, you gotta reach out to Pinterest. It's headaches. So you just don't want you don't wanna do that. Um, so make sure you're just kind of spreading those out. Um, but that doesn't mean that you have to be pinning something new every day. Um, you wanna make sure that you are pinning a fresh image each time, but it doesn't have to be like an extremely different image. You can make a very slight change to the image. Um, and then just adjust your description a little bit, um, and then just like kind of spread it out. So maybe you have one blog post and one freebie going out, um, one day and the next day you have that same freebie and another blog post coming out, and then, you know, the next day you have that same blog post from the day before going out. So. Um, you can, you know, re reuse the same blog post multiple times or like, you know, see if one particular one did really well, make some more pins for it. You know, like not everyone is going to have seen it. So it's not like social media where you have your followers and you obviously don't wanna just be showing them the same thing over and over again with Pinterest, you definitely wanna be trying new things and experimenting, but You are not going to be overwhelming someone, uh, with, you know, the same content over and over again because you're trying to reach new audiences. It's not so much a follower based platform,

Kate:

Right. So it's not like when you're on Instagram and you can't continue to post the same thing over and over where your audience is gonna see it over and over. It's more just trying to basically cast like a, a wider net, um, with that information. Um, So I know you used to have to pin images like directly from your website onto Pinterest. So now can you upload an image directly to Pinterest and then link it to a bot blog post? So you have those differentiations.

Laurel:

Yes. Yes, you can. So you can create your own images. They don't have to be, you know, directly in your blog post. Um, you can create them in Canva, upload them straight to Pinterest or Tailwind. I really love Tailwind. It makes it really fast and easy, but you can schedule them all out in p uh, directly on Pinterest as well.

Kate:

Okay. Very cool. All right, so I know you've got an awesome freebie available. I downloaded it. You tell us a little bit about it and where we can find you, and then we're gonna get into our, Fun, lightning round questions.

Laurel:

Okay. Uh, so I have the Pinterest strategy guide and it's sort of walks you through making a strategic plan how to attract your ideal audience and do keyword research. And you can find it on my website of in your creative code.com.

Kate:

And what is your favorite thing that you offer in your business right now?

Laurel:

ah, that's, it's so hard. I love everything, um, that I do. I'm actually, so I'm been kind of enjoying, um, on the, uh, the web design part of my business, the SEO. So Pinterest sort of led me into doing more like web design focused SEO. So, um, yeah, I really enjoy doing that for clients as well. A lot of times there's a bit of an overlap in their Pinterest strategy and their SEO strategy. Um, so yeah. Got anything, Pinterest or, or SEO,

Kate:

Awesome. All right, let's get into our lightning round questions. This is a new uh, portion of the podcast, but I'm having fun with it and I love getting to know my guests a little bit better and what they know. So what is a favorite recent book? It can be Business or for fun.

Laurel:

Yeah. Uh, so I, I am like terrible at keeping up with reading, but, and I, this is a book that it's like on my list. I don't know if that counts. I haven't actually read it, but, um, the, I've been kind of focused on my, uh, business finances recently. Um, so I've been digging into profit First. Um, and mainly like taking in other people's like explaining it to me. But, um, but yeah, I've, I love the concept and so if you haven't, um, taken a look at Profit First, it's a really great, um, great model to do your business finances, make them a little more clear and easy to understand.

Kate:

Yeah, that it's when that I, I think I started listening to it and I couldn't get into it. But I know that people swear by it, so it's probably something I need to maybe actually read, like on paper versus an audio book But, uh, yeah, that's one that I have not read either. So, um, what is a resource you're finding useful lately that our audience should check out?

Laurel:

audience well, so. Keeping on the same track with Profit First. Um, Val Marlene Creative, um, is someone I follow on Instagram. She's amazing, and she has a course, um, surrounding Profit First, specifically for creative. So if you have a creative brain and you're struggling with your finances or understanding Profit First Method, um, I just Uh, purchased her course and it is fantastic and she has spreadsheets in there. I've never been a spreadsheet person, but these spreadsheets are truly amazing and they've given me like so much clarity on my business finances, that even if you just go and buy her spreadsheets, I think she just has those alone. Um, they're fantastic. So yeah, definitely, definitely check out her resources. She makes profit first. Very accessible for creative Brains.

Kate:

I love when, when there's an Educator that can like, pull that creative brain part into something that we're not typically very good at or very good at understanding and make it clear for us. That's so cool. And I met Val, um, at the show, at conference last year, so that's a fun, that's

Laurel:

so Cool.

Kate:

Uh, we shared a golf cart to our room,

Laurel:

Um,

Kate:

but, all right. And then our last, uh, lightning round question is what is something that is inspiring you or sparking curiosity for you lately?

Laurel:

you lately? Hmm. So I've really gotten, well over the summer really, I've, I got into fermented foods, uh, so I've been experimenting with ginger beer, which is kind of like kombucha, but it's more like, like a fermented. Fizzy ginger drink and that's really good. That's so far the only thing I've been able to consistently keep alive. I am work. I had a sour sourdough for a little bit. I killed it. Um, and I've tried to bring it back and it's, I'm still working on it,

Kate:

I can

Laurel:

but it was great while it was going.

Kate:

Uh, yeah, I can hardly keep plants alive. I don't think I'd be very good at keeping food alive too. That's so funny. Well, that is awesome. Thank you so much for joining me, Laurel. I enjoyed having you on the podcast today and I am excited to dig more into your freebie. And then also your masterclass that you have on Pinterest looks amazing too. And I will link both in our show notes.

Laurel:

Amazing. Thanks so much, Kate.

Kate:

Thank you.

ATR2100x-USB Microphone-1:

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Laurel just as much as I did. It was so interesting for me to hear more about how Pinterest is a search engine versus a social media platform and how those two types of marketing work together and differently from each other. One of my favorite takeaways from this episode was hearing all of the places we can optimize our pins and our profile with those keywords and figuring out what keywords people are searching for in the Pinterest platform so that we have more sustainable marketing. Anything that helps us spend less time marketing is always a win, especially if it's been driving those warm leads to our website and right into our inbox. I'd love to hear what your favorite takeaway from this episode was and how you were going to jump into Pinterest more. Shoot me a DM over on Instagram and say hi. Please take a minute to rate and review the podcast on whatever podcast player you're listening in. That helps grow the podcast and helps more people just like you find it. I will talk to you next week.