If you’re wondering what working with a Pinterest manager is really like, you’re in for a treat! When a former client of mine reached out and offered to share her experience with you, I was delighted!
Helen of Rising Tide Creatives is sharing her top tips for working with a Pinterest manager so you can get the best out of the experience in this guest blog, so without further ado, I’ll let her take it away!
When I decided to scout out a Pinterest manager for my Squarespace website design biz, although I looked at tons, it was Sarah who stood out… calm when I was feeling frantic, logical, but warm and the opposite of pushy. I knew we’d be a great fit.
But it’s not just finding someone to manage your Pinterest account that’s important, it’s also knowing the top tips for working with a Pinterest manager so you get the best out of the relationship and achieve the goals you have for your business.
Why outsource your Pinterest Management?
Pinterest is a fabulous tool for many businesses — especially those with a strong visual component like web designers (and Sarah’s talked extensively about the successes she’s achieved with her clients), but why not just do it yourself?
Well you can (and Sarah has a great Pinterest toolkit that shows you how!), but for me the reasons for outsourcing were …
- Cognitive load – I didn’t have the headspace to learn a new platform, strategy and skill. My brain was already overflowing and I wanted something to remove pressure, not add to it
- Time – As a solopreneur (aka a person that runs their business solo!) my time is limited, and precious. I’m pretty careful about what I take on, because I’ve learnt from experience that I simply can’t do all the things (nor do I need to!)
- Creative friction & inspiration – I love collaborating with smart people. It makes outcomes better. Working with a Pinterest Manager was a way to bring in fresh ideas, energy and creativity to my business!
Tip One for Working with a Pinterest Manager
Be clear on your goals.
A bit like when you build a website (as a web designer I’m pretty close to this!) the goals you have for your Pinterest account are crucial to ensure your manager (either alone or collaboratively with you) chooses a strategy designed to get you toward these goals.
So… are you seeking to sell a product or service, increase exposure, build your email list, increase website traffic or get more inquiries?
The answer is probably all of these… so ask yourself which is most important, and then make sure your Pinterest manager knows this. They will then work out a strategy to help your achieve your goal.
Tip Two for Working with a Pinterest Manager
Be crystal clear on your ideal client/customer.
Again, like when you build your website and create your branding, being clear on your ideal client is a crucial step to take first. (Struggling with this? I have a free ideal client workbook to help you out).
Your Pinterest manager will need to know this to inform their strategy, in particular the pin designs they create, keywords they target (in titles and descriptions) and boards they pin to. Without a clear idea of your ideal client your Pinterest manager is limited in what they can achieve for you, so make sure to do this first.
Tip Three for Working with a Pinterest Manager
Have a bank of content.
Now this next one isn’t a must do, but it certainly helps! If you’re a service provider especially, content is important as you’re not likely to be selling your services directly on Pinterest (or only as part of a more holistic strategy).
Great examples of content are blog posts and Youtube videos (extra points if they lead or connect into a highly specific and related opt-in gift), portfolio pieces (these are fab for people to see for inspiration and can help create your brand awareness), and finally your opt-in gifts themselves.
Tip Four for Working with a Pinterest Manager
Know how they work and allocate the time necessary to get the most out of the relationship.
Every Pinterest manager will have their own approach, and also their own systems and processes for working with clients. This is useful to know before you start to work with someone (as part of choosing your Pinterest manager), but also then to build into your weekly or monthly rhythm if necessary.
Sarah is brilliant in being clear that she’ll ask for what she needs and then get on with it (she aims to take work away from you as opposed to being high maintenance and needing lots from you to do her job!). But I’d say you still get more from the relationship if you allocate time to thinking about what sort of content might do well, optimizing the posts that are getting the most amount of traffic to them, engaging in the analytics reports and also thinking of other ways that your businesses might support one another (like guest blogging for example!)
This is one area I could do better on — I think blocking some time for Pinterest every month (probably around the time the analytics report comes out) would be a good way to batch this to keep it manageable but not make more unnecessary work for yourself when your Pinterest manager has things covered!
Tip Five for Working with a Pinterest Manager
Patience. Pinterest is a medium to long-term game.
One of the things you need to know, and responsible Pinterest managers like Sarah are brilliantly upfront about, is that success on Pinterest takes some time. Pinterest is more like a search engine than social media, which has the brilliant benefit of meaning that a pin pinned today can be discoverable and successful in months or even years from now (as opposed to that Instagram story that disappears after 24 hours).
The other side of this though is that to get and keep momentum takes time and you might need to invest quite a bit of time and money before you start seeing results and an ROI. Being patient and understanding this alongside your Pinterest manager, whilst also being analytically minded and keeping an eye on the data so you can make smart decisions together on any changes needed is an important factor in a successful relationship, and therefore a high-performing account.
Bonus Tip Six for Working with a Pinterest Manager
This one goes for working with any colleague, or outsourcing any part of your business… and is defs something I learnt the hard way as a new manager back in the days I worked in the directorship for a big education charity (when I did this pretty badly!)
Trust.
When you choose someone to manage something for your business, it’s your duty to be clear about the desired outcome, and then trust them and their expertise to achieve that however they see fit (within the values of your biz of course). That doesn’t mean that you don’t collaborate, or challenge when you feel necessary, but giving your Pinterest manager the trust and space to do what they do best is a really important part of a successful relationship.
Summing up
In summary, being clear on your businesses clients and goals, having great content, strong communication systems, patience and trust are my top tips for working with a Pinterest manager. Did I always do these things perfectly? Absolutely not… Sarah would definitely be able to dish the dirt on the times I was the less-than-ideal client!! But in the spirit of honesty (Sarah hadn’t seen this post before I sent it to her) I genuinely believe that by doing these things you’re setting yourself up for a fabulous working relationship with your Pinterest manager and ultimately achieving the goals you set out at the beginning for your business!
As a Pinterest manager, I’ve gotta chime in here and say that I whole-heartedly agree with everything Helen shared!
I plan to share my own tips for getting the most out of your relationship with your Pinterest manager, whether that’s me or not, but for now, I wanted to let this blog breathe on its own.
It’s always fascinating for me to hear what my clients’ experiences of outsourcing their Pinterest is like, and Helen has been so insightful throughout this whole post. Even though she claims to be a less-than-ideal client, I genuinely valued our experience together so much! Not every client is as data-minded or committed to providing valuable content like she is, which made collaborating a joy!
If you’re looking for a Squarespace web designer for your business, I highly recommend inquiring with Rising Tide Creatives.
And if you’re looking for a Pinterest manager who is calm, warm, logical, and going to take things off your plate instead of adding more to it — in Helen’s own words, of course — I’m your girl!
