Pinterest Passion With Purpose -

At the time I first drafted this post in the beginning of April I was in the midst of a huge overhaul to my Pinterest profile. It has become really apparent in the last year just how much time we as entrepreneurs spend on social media. On average 20 hours a week according to a recent survey by Constant Contact. The report vividly illustrates the challenges to small business owners. So much so I feel it to be a relevant topic to cover as an important part of an artists process. 

I wanted to write specifically on my task of taking my Pinterest page from a stagnant un-purposed account to something entirely different. Only because I found the whole process to be quite remarkable in how far the rabbit holes go. Not just with social media as a concept altogether but how each individual platform has its own set of nuances and rules. 

Pinterest is no exception. While it may be the eye candy indulgent platform many of us know it to be it is also a powerful image driven search engine. Regardless of industry, it can be a dynamic tool in generating organic traffic to your site. Which is the big picture goal of any digital marketing strategy regardless of the business you are trying to promote. 

My rabbit hole journey started with a multiple page audit drafted by Blue Fairy Studios that covered everything from:

• board consolidation

• content creation

• SEO keyword optimization

• page title/board descriptions

• pinning strategy and so much more.

I don't know about you but when faced with something I am completely unfamiliar with and receiving that much unexplored information can be completely terrifying. I think it's safe to say that the feeling I had in the moment was that of standing at a precipice without a rope where the only way is down. 

But I had the beginnings of a road map to help me get started. Besides, I believe that you should try to do something everyday that scares you. I dedicated every working moment over the next couple of weeks refining my profile to the point of ad nauseum.  Implementing all of the best practices for Pinterest down to the last details of creating custom board covers and over 100 unique pins in the recommended size dimensions just for my business board. Not to mention learning an entirely new scheduling platform to consolidate my pinning strategy. 

I realize that when I talk to much about the nuts and bolts of what goes into digital strategy eyeballs begin to gloss over. So, as not to bore you with an itemized task list of what I accomplished during those weeks just know it was a tremendous amount of effort. I don't say this for accolades but rather an attempt to communicate just how involved every aspect of being a creative entrepreneur is, especially with social media. 

A big question you may be asking yourself at this point is, why all of the effort? This is a great question indeed. Most of what we do as small business owners is to achieve some sort of desired outcome as a result. The benefits of such actions can sometimes be elusive and unclear. Especially when weighed against the time investment of:

• Learning all the various tools

• Researching where your customers are hanging out online

• Figuring out how to read the data to measure success.

All as a tip of the iceberg as far as time expenditures go.

The jury may still be out on the long term benefits in support of my work to my Pinterest page but I did manage to go from 822 monthly viewers (as seen in my above screenshot in the title image to this blog post) to 45k since April. 

So, small wins as far as data is concerned but the bigger over arching reason I do any of this is to connect with people like you. Anyone who has interacted with my jewelry brand is someone I care deeply about because without you I have no audience to share my art with. The amount of effort I put into social media is motivated by YOU! You make it all worth it and you can support my art without ever spending a cent. You can do this by:

• Join the conversation and join me on my social media channels

• Liking my posts

• Commenting on my posts regularly. I LOVE reading your comments!!! They truly make my day! 

• Sharing my posts

It's that easy! With all of the algorithm changes that constantly plague every social media platform we as artists rely on our fans to help get our work more visibility to other people who may appreciate it like you. After all it is you that gives purpose to my art and fuels my passionate efforts. I only hope that I am creating content that actually inspires you as much as you inspire me. A big thank you to all who have supported me over the years. I couldn't do this without you.