As promised yesterday, my favorite geek and social media expert is joining us today to share some of her best tips on how to use Pinterest to market your private practice. (And, what she won’t tell you but I will is that her new book, Pinfluence: The Complete Guide to Marketing Your Business with Pinterest has even more!
(If you are interested in writing a guest post, check out the guidelines here.)
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A Guest Post by Social Media Expert, Beth J. Hayden
Do you have pinning fever yet?
If you haven’t heard of it yet, Pinterest is a hot new social networking site that allows users to create online image collages, then quickly and easily share those collages — called “pinboards” — with other Pinterest users.
Pinterest is a really fun way of attracting new clients, interacting with referral sources, and engaging with other professionals in your field. It’s also a great tool for establishing yourself as an expert in your field.
For inspiration on what therapists can do with Pinterest, look no further than Private Practice from the Inside Out’s own Tamara Suttle, who has pinned resources on her Pinterest profile on everything from depression to aging to public speaking. Her Pinterest account is a treasure trove of amazing stuff!
Tamara and I actually joke that when I introduced her to Pinterest a few months ago, I truly created a monster. In the short few months that she has been using Pinterest, Tamara has created over 130 boards and pinned more than 12,000 images and videos!
For more inspiration and ideas, check out these ways that therapists, coaches, and other helping professionals can use Pinterest to market their practices, build community, and build their reputations as experts in their fields.
Tell Your Story. You can use a Pinterest board to tell the story of who you are, why you became a coach or therapist, how you help people, and what your coaching or therapy style is. This is a great way to have people get to know you (and trust you!) One of the best ways to do this is to pin blog posts or pages from your website that tell your story. By pinning your own blog posts, your story gets told on your website AND on Pinterest!
Become a Content Curator. To gain respect as a trusted expert in your field, collect the best information on your topic and regularly pin it to your boards. You job as a content curator is to hand pick the most educational, informative and compelling “stuff” on the Web, and display it using your Pinterest boards. Therapist Rachel See Smith is a terrific content curator – check out her “Collaborative Resources for Therapists” board for ideas.
Connect with your referral sources. Create collaborative Pinterest boards for referral sources, affiliates and strategic partners, and let them pin to your boards, too! This is a great way to build relationships with people you’d like to work with. To add collaborators, click on any of your boards from your Pinterest profile, then click on “Edit Board” under the board name. Add any collaborators you would like to add under the “Who Can Pin?” section of the board details.
Use Pinterest to gather treatment ideas in your field. There are occupational therapists on Pinterest who have run amazing pinboards that give OT resources for therapists, parents, caregivers and other people interested in OT techniques. Check out Pediatric Occupational Therapist Christie Kiley for inspiration and ideas.
Pin about your hometown. If you own a local business, create a board just for your hometown that spotlights local events, landmarks, attractions and other cool stuff. This can also be a great way to get found locally in the search engines – pinboards get indexed by Google, too!
Use Pinterest as a coaching or therapeutic tool. Coach Mara Glatzel uses Pinterest as a tool to help her coach her female clients. “I coach women around bridging the gap between the life they deserve and the life they currently have,” Glatzel says. “I’ve found that for some women, creating a board with visual reminders of what they deserve is a fantastic way to refine & attract that dream life.”
Give book or movie reviews. Business coach Tommi Wolfe has a great board she calls “Books Worth Reading” where she gives recommendations for top-notch business books that she thinks her clients could benefit from. A great way to be a resource for your clients – and it’s fun, too!
Connect Pinterest with Facebook. If you use Facebook for marketing your coaching or therapy practice, you can integrate your Pinterest account with Facebook’s timeline feature, so you post content in both places at once. You can only do this with your individual Facebook profile at this time, however – hopefully they will soon enable this function for business Facebook pages, too!
More therapists and coaches are joining Pinterest every day, as helping professionals recognize what a wonderful marketing and engagement tool it is. I highly recommend you dive into the Pinterest world with both feet – it’s a fun and exciting tool with amazing potential for coaches and therapists.
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About the Author: Beth Hayden is a social media expert and
author of Pinfluence: The Complete Guide to Marketing Your Business with Pinterest. To learn more about how to get more Pinterest followers and how to convert pinners into buyers, download her free Pinterest e-course.
I love your ideas, Beth. As a visually stimulated and highly organized person I have really enjoyed Pinterest. It’s a great way for me to put together ideas for projects I’m brainstorming and the future I’m dreaming about…my favorite has been the board I have for my future private pratice office! I haven’t been on Pinterest much lately, but whenever I do I find myself inspired and my creativity flowing.
Tara, like you, I find it a great place to brainstorm and throw information together about projects I am planning. I often use it as a visual braindump!
Tara,
I took a stroll over to your Pinboard office ideas. I noticed while visiting you have pinned quite a few posts from PPIO on client progress notes. What a great way to remember the useful information you find here and the internet.
Nice to see you here –
Warmly, Brenda
PS: I remember while completing my program finding Tamara and asking her those questions about progress notes.
Oh, my goodness! Brenda that seems like such a LONG time ago! Thanks for the tip o’ the hat and the walk down memory lane!
It has been a pleasure!
Hi Tara – if you’re looking for office ideas, you should make sure to check out Tamara’s “Private Practice from the Inside Out” board. I loved her ideas so much that I used them in my book! 🙂 Thanks for reading!
Thank you!! Pinterest was a foreign concept before reading this. I have a much better idea now of how to use it and I can’t wait to start a board. Thank you for demystifying “pinning” and highlighting clear ways that therapists can use it.
🙂 See? That’s exactly why I’m so excited about Pinterest! It’s easy, it’s aesthetically beautiful, and it’s effective, too!
You’re welcome, Deanna! That’s exactly what I wanted to do with this post. I had the feeling other therapists and coaches were equally mystified. And there are *so* many cool ways to use it for business purposes!
Beth,
I am glad you and Tamara are collaborators. I get a double dose of awesomeness 🙂 when you guest blog for her. I like your idea about a collaborative pin board. I will be using that as well as the other ideas too.
It is inspiring and amazing how quicky you wrote and published a book. Congratulations on your accomplishment.
Thank you, Brenda
Brenda, I’m really intrigued with the whole collaborative pin board, too! Let me know if you want to pin on something together! My wheels are going to be turning on this one!
Tamara, Let’s have a brainstorm about collaboration. Bb
Thanks so much, Brenda! This year has been a total whirlwind – a very *exciting* whirlwind! Thanks for your ongoing support! Always nice to see you comment her and on my blog, too!
I’ve been using Pinterest for several months pinning play therapy tips and resources. It’s attracting play therapists to my training events. Great marketing tool. Here’s the link. http://pinterest.com/pamdyson/
Oh, Pam! I’m so glad you just wrote in and shared your Pinterest site. I was in a hurry when I was responding to Lauren and I didn’t stop to look up your pinboard but yours is definitely one that comes to mind as being very professional. Like you, mine are also attracting new traffic and new clients, too.
Pam, When I started following your Pinboards I was inspired by your one board on emotions. Hence, I have one too. I just repinned your floating emotions.
Thanks and here is mine http://pinterest.com/bomgardner/
Nice. Thanks for for letting others know how to find you on Pinterest, too!
As time goes by I am slowly creating very topic specific boards. Makes it easier for people to find specific content and for me to be able to find things I’ve pinned that I’ve not yet tried. Thanks for re-pinning my floating emotions.
Oh, yeah, Pam! That’s so right! I started off with uber general topics thinking that I wanted a lot of pins under one topic but now I’m finding it frustrating that they are not as specific as I would like. And, when I go to someone else’s pins looking for inspiration and information, it’s always the specific ones that I find most useful. I’m slowly going back through and parsing them out. Much smarter (and easier) to do that in the beginning and trusting that more will come! Thanks for the tip!
Yes, Pam – In my book I actually advise Pinterest beginners to make their boards as specific as they can. Most people (when they’re setting up their initial boards) want to make them as general as possible and then end up frustrated down the line when they dig deep into Pinterest (just like Tamara!)
Specific boards are always easy to search for and easier to get followers for – I think so, anyway!
Keep up the good work, though – you’re doing great!
Hi, Beth! I’m late in getting in here today but wanted to say “thank you thank you” for writing this post on Pinterest and sharing it with us. I know you are on a whirlwind right now with the publishing of your new book and I so appreciate you finding time for your favorite group of therapists here!
Hey, I really love that you mentioned pinning info about your hometown! Although therapists are beginning to do distance-counseling, most are still location-based. Your suggestion for location-based businesses is particularly savvy. Hometown info will definitely draw in the search engines and potential clients who are looking for that therapist to be 3 blocks away! Hadn’t even thought of that one!
Hi, Tamara! Always a pleasure to guest post here. Feels like I’m coming home. 🙂
I’ve seen some folks do fantastic location-based boards (BlogFrog is one that comes to mind – they have an awesome Boulder board) and I love the idea. I think it’s great for anyone who has a local business.
Hi Tamara,
Just another thanks for continuing to offer such relevant and timely information for us. I consistently learn or am prompted to think about at least one thing each time I read your blog and the resources you share. I also love following your boards on Pinterest. I am a huge fan of Pinterest and have both a personal and professional page (some duplicated content), so Beth’s guest blog was perfect. And I already ordered Pinfluence from the bookstore!
Thanks for following me on Pinterest, Dawn, and for your kind words, too!
Hey, once you get Beth’s book, I hope you’ll drop back in here to let us know what you think. And, as a side note, if you have a moment, even a quick 5 line review on Amazon.com helps authors make it on to the Best Seller Lists. (Who knew?!) So, if you really, really appreciate Beth sharing her info, consider dropping back in there to share your thoughts, too!
Thanks so much for ordering the book, Dawn! I hope you enjoy it!
Beth, I am so flattered to have been mentioned in your post! Yes, Pinterest is a fantastic way to organize work-related ideas. Many of my friends who are elementary school teachers practically live off of ideas that come from Pinterest because they are so creative and resourceful. Pinterest is also a great way to offer additional information and resources to blog followers because they can follow your pinboard(s) without you having to write a while post, and pinning really takes no time at all compared to blogging (if you’re disciplined about it!). Thanks for spreading the word on the usefulness of Pinterest as it relates to therapy!
Hey, Christie! Thanks so much for dropping in here to chat! I just ran over to check out your blog and have just passed on the link to a few colleagues, too. Your blog is really quite lovely and I’m loving your tips . . . and I don’t have children or even work with them. Still . . . a fabulous site chocked full of good advice! Thanks for taking time to share what you know. Making my way over to Pinterest to check you out there, too, right now!
I thought this post was a great way to use Pinterest and to market as a therapist. It’s funny, because I didn’t think that marketing a therapy practice could actually be visually interesting. But Beth raises some excellent points about how to use Pinterest. I think my favorite one was the tip about using it as a coaching or therapeutic tool.
Thanks for a great post!
Casey
Hi, Casey! How nice to find your voice here!
I, too, was a bit reluctant to see how building a private practice could be visually interesting but . . . you’re exactly right! Beth managed to make it actually FUN and INTERESTING to market! Who knew??!!!! Have you read her book, Pinfluence? It’s chocked full of goodies. (BTW – I’ve been following a social worker for a while who is brilliant in using the tech tools as coaching and therapy tools. I’ve still got a lot to learn!)
I’ve been noticing that some of the people I follow on Pinterest are gaining large numbers of followers in relatively short periods of time. For instance, one has gained over 20,000 followers in a matter of weeks. Are these people purchasing followers? I put a lot of work into making my Pinterest boards interesting and topic specific and I gain new followers everyday but it’s discouraging to know people are simply paying money without investing in the work. Anyone else feel discouraged?
Pam, When I get my weekly trending message, you are recommended on the list for me to follow. Just thought you might like to know….you are popular. I am intrigued too about 20,000 instant followers.
Brenda
Pam, I know you are serious in asking the question but I’m sitting here cracking up! Sorry but . . . you’ve got over a 1,000 following you on Pinterest! Are you kidding me?! Seriously, I don’t think that you can pay to gain new followers and even if you could, I wouldn’t. As with the other tools of social media (including this blog), quantity isn’t nearly as important as the quality of the follower, fan, reader, etc.
You really do select fabulous pins and not just anything that says “children and counseling.” You’ve got a fabulous niche and your pin boards reflect that. I suspect that if you look at who is following you, you have a very loyal group of play therapists and therapists in training who are out there proselytizing on your behalf every day. And, if you had 20,000 followers on Pinterest, I would be wondering how many of them were just blindly following you back with little or no real interacting or involvement with you. Better to have 200 that know your work, know your name, love you and tell others than to have 20,000 who say “Pam who?” and “So what?”
But, hey! Maybe Beth Hayden will drop back in here and give us her opinion!
Hey, Pam – I hope you are still following this thread. I was thinking of you today when I ran across this blog post on Fast Company – 7 Things Your Social Media Consultant Should Tell You Check out #3 – “I don’t care about follower counts.” 🙂 Just thought you might want a little reinforcement from someone in the tech world rather than just me – an LPC and mentoring / marketing gal:)
I’ve been doing some research and learned you can purchase followers on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Not something I feel the need to do to gain followers. One of the people I’ve been watching on Pinterest, since I commented here a week ago, has since gained an additional 60,000 followers. You can literally reload their page and see an increase in just a matter of seconds. Unbelievable that people feel the need to buy followers. I’d prefer to get them the old fashioned way. Earn them by posting relevant content.
OK, Pam – I don’t know why I’m surprised . . . . I know I shouldn’t be! And, if you stumble across info related to purchasing followers again, will you please leave a link? Good for you for not giving in to “follower-envy.” (And, for those of you who struggle with “practice-envy” stay tuned! Later this month (August 2012), you’ve got a terrific guest post by Ann Stonebraker telling you what to do about it!)
Admittedly, Pam, I too can get caught up in the numbers game. I know better. Beth taught me better but still . . . there’s that little greedy voice that forgets on occasion to just be grateful and trust. Thank goodness I have a community here who then serendipitously asks just the right questions for me to be reminded by reminding you . . . when it comes to those numbers . . . quality always trumps quantity.
Thanks, Pam, for dropping back in today to share what you’ve learned though. That’s really fascinating that you can see an increase in their numbers so quickly. I really have no need for lumberjacks and the inventors of widgets to tune in to me here or elsewhere. Just the psychotherapists . . . (and the doctors . . . and the speech pathologists . . . and the attorneys . . . and the dentists) and all the other folks interested in building a private practice that ROCKS. (Yes, that really was a tip of the hat to not just my targeted audience but also to some of the other professions that I know quietly lurk here;)
Hi Pam and Tamara –
Just wanted to throw my two cents in here…I totally get that it is frustrating to see someone gaining hundreds of followers an hour, but I want you to keep in mind two things:
1. Many of those “followers” may actually be fake accounts. The providers that sell these “buy-more-followers” kinds of services are often in the business of setting up fake accounts so they can easily inflate numbers for their customers. An icky practice, but it does happen.
2. Just like with any social media site, I want you to consider QUALITY over QUANTITY. I would much rather have 500 dedicated followers who like and trust me (and follow my pins religiously) than 10,000 who don’t care about me at all and never see what I pin.
With these services, you get what you pay for. The people who buy followers are not actually getting engaged community members when they use these services – they’re getting the right to say they have 60,000 Pinterest followers. And that’s about it. Personally, I could care less what the follower numbers are. I care more about how engaged your audience is, whether you are adding people to your mailing list from Pinterest, whether you are driving traffic to your site, and whether you are building your business from your social media efforts. And that goes for Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites, too!
In short, you guys just keep doing what you’re doing, and keep the blinders on when you see stuff like this. You will have a better and more engaged audience in the end.
Okay, climbing down off my soapbox now. 🙂 Great question, Pam!
–Beth
Thanks, Beth, for the soapbox answer. I never even thought about the fake accounts!:)
And, congrats on your new gig with Copyblogger! Now we can all say “We knew her when . . . . “
Thanks for responding Beth. I just needed to vent. Hope that my venting will encourage those who can get discouraged by people who purchase followers.
I hear you, Pam – this stuff makes me crazy, too. You can vent anytime!
Simply Google buy Pinterest followers and you’ll find a plethora of links.
Got it! Thanks!