It took a long time in my writing journey before I asked a fellow blogger for some freelance Pinterest tips. Now that I understand the platform? PURE MAGIC. I hope this tip answers your questions about Pinterest. I’ve also included some freelance writing tips.
I don’t know why I hesitated other than it didn’t seem like a fit and I didn’t get it. I didn’t see how freelancers could use Pinterest to generate business.
Other bloggers love Pinterest. Like SO much.
But since I don’t keep a lifestyle blog, I didn’t think there was any point. I mean, isn’t it just recipes and make-up tutorials?
NOPE.
My perspective shifted after I met Shawna, a minimalist blogger and life coach over at Simple on Purpose. She shared about how her business and blog took off after one Pin went viral.
ONE. PIN.
So when the opportunity came, I asked Shawna to review my profile and give me Pinterest tips to improve my sad attempt at…what was I trying to do anyway?
She obliged and provided me with a report FILLED with suggestions. It was 1,000 words long, I counted. She answered all my questions about Pinterest and so much more.
Yes, I had my work cut out for me, and it was just the beginning.
While we’re talking about social media, I wanted you to know about my free ebook outlining five easy ways to optimize your social media profiles. It’s freelance writing tips and social media tips all rolled into one.
You can read the post Five Tips for Optimizing Your Social Media Profiles training and for the ebook, pop your email address into the form below. I’ll send you instructions to access my resource library to download the free ebook.
Once you’re in the library, navigate to the social media section and download the ebook called “Social Media Optimization.”
My freelance Pinterest mindset shift
I’ll spare you the details of how much spring cleaning I had to do on my Pinterest account.
Suffice to say it would have been easier to start from scratch. Because I didn’t know what I was doing I hadn’t done anything right.
Up until this point I had looked at Pinterest as somewhere to go when you’re looking for costume ideas or DIY projects. But that’s a Pinterest consumer.
A freelance Pinterest content creator looks at the platform in a different way.
A good content creator also develops a visual brand to stand out from the Pinterest noise and restrains her public pinning to the topics she writes about.
Here’s the most important thing you need to understand: Pinterest is not a social network, it’s a search engine.
Searching for content on Pinterest is a wonderful exercise but Pins also show up as results on all other search engines.
Did you catch that?
If your content is performing well on Pinterest, it may also show up as an image search result in Google.
It then follows that being active and pinning the right content on Pinterest will increase your reach and bring your ideal clients to you.
Pinterest tips for freelance writers
OK, let’s dive in. I’m going to focus on the basics of setting up your Pinterest profile and pinning as a freelance writer.
You can go deep with freelance Pinterest strategy and I’ll be honest, I’m not there yet. While I’m happy with the results I’m seeing from Pinterest, I’m still finding my footing.
What I am certain of is Pinterest is a fabulous marketing tool that many freelance writers overlook.
Because most freelancers are investing their marketing time elsewhere, this is a great opportunity to maximize your return on Pinterest.
When you’re ready to use Pinterest for promoting your freelance writing business start with your profile
- Does your username/handle reflect your business? If not change it
- Is your profile photo an image of you? If not update it
- Does your “about me” description talk about what you do and who you serve? If not, rewrite it
- Are your boards named using keywords related to your business or your niche? Update the ones you can and set the others to secret
- Have you included a link to your website? If not add it
Questions about Pinterest? Feeling ready to start Pinning?
Before you dive in, pinning images from across the Internet, remember you are a content creator now. So it’s time to create pins for Pinterest.
Think about what your prospects or ideal readers are searching for on Pinterest.
What are the words they’re using? What problems are they trying to solve? Think about what type of images they’ll be drawn to and the types of topics they’ll be interested in.
Brainstorming and researching may take some time but after you spend some time on the platform you’ll get a feel for how it works and which pins work best for your audience and why.
In general, you want to pin things your ideal clients will:
- Be drawn to
- Want to read
- Find helpful
- Repin
- Pay attention to
This doesn’t have to be 100 per cent your own content but you should definitely work on adding as much as you can to the platform. Get your writing in circulation!
Freelance Pinterest tips: image size
The images that perform best on Pinterest are vertical, around 600 x 900 pixels.
You can test the sizes out of course (and the rules do change from time to time) but in general, try and stick to vertical rather than horizontal images.
If you JUST CANNOT then square images are also acceptable.
Pinterest tips: create your own images using Canva
Creating images specifically for PInterset ensures your image will put its best foot forward on the platform.
- Make sure to use a visually-pleasing image (light images tend to perform better than dark images)
- Overlay branding elements like your website or logo
- Include your main keywords as a text overlay on the image (and repeat your keywords in the description)
- Bonus tip: enable rich pins (if you’re lost, check out the video below from Redefining Mom on how to do this)
One thing to consider is if you want to pin a lot then you may need to create more content on your website to link to. Another idea, pin your samples to a Pinterest board.
Here’s my Writing Portfolio as an example. And yes, I’m custom-making most of those pins.
Even if you aren’t ready to pin you can still use Pinterest in a few interesting ways
- Discover potential clients who are using the platform
- Do keyword research using Pinterest search
- Brainstorm pitch ideas by finding topics related to your niche
I know I already said this but I just think Pinterest is such a great opportunity.
So many writers overlook it because they don’t understand the platform or they don’t believe their prospects are there.
But with 175 million users…there’s a good chance your ideal clients are at least somewhat active on Pinterest.
And wouldn’t it be great to show up as the answer to their question?
I think so!
Do you have additional questions about Pinterest?
Let me know, I’m happy to help your Freelance Pinterest efforts.
One more thing. You may be interested in my free resource library. This is where I keep my files, downloads, ebooks, worksheets and whatever else I manage to create. I love sharing what I learn and want to keep adding to this library so it becomes a wealth of helpful goodness.
This is a free resource but I do require a password to access the library itself. You can get access by popping your email address into the form below.