Pinterest - Are You Missing a Market?

Use Pinterest to get your work viewed by more potential buyers
From time to time, Art-Linx's gets a really great guest to discuss topics of import to our community. I definitely couldn't pass up the opportunity have Lainey Nicholson, our resident Pinterest expert discuss how Pinterest can help you.
We all understand that a huge part of getting online sales depends on buyers finding your work. Pinterest presents you with a wide-open opportunity to reach millions of users, and a new way to view your art images (known as pins). When you add images of your art to Pinterest, you take your art outside of your website, or any online gallery, to where Pinterest users and potential buyers may find it. Plus Pinterest is fun! Everyone who uses Pinterest loves it!
Pinterest has a feature that actually allows you to send your individual art image pins or an entire board of your art image pins directly to Pinterest users who may have missed them. Use it to easily send boards or individual pins of your art to other Pinterest users such as Interior Designers or home owners looking for art for their walls, or those looking for art to give as gifts. Send your art pins and boards to art gallery curators and patrons that you connect with on Pinterest. In addition, you can send any pinned image or Pinterest board via email. So it's also easy to send your board of images to non-Pinterest users-all you need is their email address.
Tip: be sure to add a nice note when you send your art image pin or board of pins.
Do you want your work to reach beyond your website or Facebook page?
Since its creation in 2010, Pinterest has over 10 million unique visitors per month. Pinterest allows people to share images found online with ease, connecting users from around the world.
According to Pinterest, 80% of its users are utilizing the app. Millennials are the main age group on Pinterest, and this is the fastest growing sales platform for both men and women.
Anyone can create a Pinterest business account, it's free. If you already have a Pinterest account but it's a personal account, you can convert that over to a Pinterest business account and keep your existing information i.e. your boards and followers.
Why should you invest in learning another social sharing tool online?
Pinterest is a powerhouse visual search engine. It is now the 3rd largest search engine on the planet, do you know what that means?
More products and services are sold on Pinterest than all the other social media platforms-combined.
Pinterest has more than 200 million active users on the platform, and it's users are actively researching ideas and information about products, services and everything under the sun. 93% of Pinterest users plan to buy something. By creating eye-catching pins that link back to your website, you are driving organic traffic through the Pinterest platform. Some pins may not gain peak momentum until a few months down the line, and some may bring continuous traffic to your website.
Pinterest is a global platform, and people are on it 24/7. A great time-saving hack would be to use a scheduling tool for your Pinterest account. You can pin manually and I did that for a long time at the beginning, however, I didn't have nearly the results I have gotten since I started using Tailwind.
Pinterest and Tailwind are partners and their platforms can connect with one another, these steps do take some time but are seriously worth it if you want to springboard your business.
Fears around posting on Pinterest as a artist. Copyright and protecting your work online. These are legitimate fears, however, Pinterest is very intuitive and responsive especially if you spot a problem. You can easily report a pin if you spot the worst case - that someone stole your original image, Pinterest will take down the reported pin across the entire platform.
The best ways to avoid someone taking your image is to mark it with your brand signature. Either displaying your website or logo directly on your pin.
You need to have a Pinterest presence if you are an artist, otherwise you are leaving money on the table.
● Drive traffic through custom pins, getting potential buyers back to your website to check out your work
● Share your pins/ boards via email or directly through the Pinterest platform
● Pinterest Analytics will explain what is performing well on your account/ where your audience is located, what they like, what is being repinned directly from your website etc.
● If you offer services, you can create pins that link to your blog post/ website page that discuss which services you offer/ how someone can get in touch
● Ability to connect with large groups through Pinterest group boards who may repin your content. You can also create your own group boards and invite collaborators to participate.
● You can apply for Rich Pins- helps with the Pinterest search engine, makes your pins more readily available. Apply for buyable pins, potential buyers do not even have to leave the Pinterest platform to buy from these pins.
So much information, what is the next step? You may still be confused about Pinterest, and how to get started. I have set up step-by- step directions in an Ultimate Guide: How Artists can Use Pinterest to gain Views from Potential Buyers, blog post. This post will walk you through the technical steps of setting up your Pinterest Business Account.
It would be my pleasure to help you with your Pinterest Accounts. I look forward to connecting with you and helping you grown your business.
Lainey Nicoson Lainey's Creative Services Email: laineynicoson@gmail.com
Website: https://www.laineyscreativeservices.com/
Reposted from Art Festival Newsletter - January 2018 Edition