Pinterest is the fastest growing website on the web, and there are over 70 million users on the social network. As Pinterest continues to grow, it becomes more important to avoid making mistakes on Pinterest. Sure, no one is perfect, but there are common mistakes people are making on Pinterest that you need to avoid. These are the 10 Pinterest mistakes that you need to avoid.
- Pinning on one board. The difference between Pinterest and other social networks is that Pinterest allows you to categories your content and organize that content on various boards. If you pin on one board, you are losing out on what makes Pinterest unique.
- Only pinning about your business. There are a plethora of topics that you can pin about. Do not limit yourself to your business. Pin about some arts and crafts, food, clothing, shoes, or anything you want to pin about.
- Not commenting on other pins. Only 1% of the average pinner’s time is actually spent commenting on other people’s pins. That means even if a pin goes viral, few people will comment on that pin. If you are one of the first people to comment on those pins, you will get extra spotlight, and possibly, more followers.
- Not repinning or liking other people’s pins. When you like and repin other people’s pins, those people will be grateful that you helped to spread their content. Some of these people will decide to follow you and engage with your pins in return. Since you have the power to repin other people’s pins onto your boards, you can also create more boards and have all of your repinned pins from a certain category go on that board.
- Not interacting with the followers you have. Comments are rare, but when they come, you need to interact with those followers. Leaving a comment below someone else’s comment will encourage a conversation to develop. The longer the conversation goes, the more likely that person is to visit your blog, subscribe to your blog, and eventually buy one of your products.
- Not following your followers on their other social networks. There are many Pinterest users who also display their Twitter and Facebook accounts in their bio (in the form of tiny icons). Clicking on those icons will allow you to get to those social networks where you can follow your Pinterest followers on their other social networks. If people are following you on Pinterest, and you follow those people on their other social networks, those people will be more than likely to follow you back.
- Not pinning videos. Videos are a great way to increase engagement, but few people pin videos on Pinterest. People can watch videos without leaving Pinterest, so if you have a board with all of your videos on it, your followers can watch all of those videos without leaving Pinterest. When all of the videos are done, you get extra views, and your followers may decide to take a look at your other boards.
- Not having group boards. If you decide to take the week off from Pinterest, your boards will be left inactive, and engagement will slowly go away. However, if you have group boards, you can rely on individuals to update your group boards. As your group board gets more contributors, it may eventually be able to get updated once every hour without you logging in.
- Worrying about how many times you pin. People do not mind that you pin too many times as long as what you pin is valuable. If you read 7 books written by the same author in two weeks, and you were given an 8th book by the same author to read again in two days, chances are you would read that book. You like the author enough since the books provide value and decide to read the 8th book.
- Getting trapped on Pinterest. Pinterest is a great tool to get more traffic and exposure because it is a very addictive social network. Although Pinterest is an addictive social network, there are other things that you need to do as well. You need to grow your presence on your other social networks and focus on the methods you use to bring in your income. Don’t let 10 minutes on Pinterest turn into a few hours.
There are many mistakes that can be made on Pinterest, but these are the 10 biggest ones. By avoiding these mistakes, you will have a better experience on Pinterest and be able to optimize it effectively.
What are your thoughts on these Pinterest mistakes? Do you have any additional tips? Please share your thoughts and advice below.
artemisjjones says
There were a few that I was not doing. Good tips, thanks Marc.
Marc Guberti says
Thank you Artemis. I am happy to hear that you liked the tips.
Personalized Today says
Excellent advice! I wish I had read this sooner!
Marc Guberti says
Better late than never 😉
John cawley says
Thanks Marc, great insight. It does seem to me when I pin a photo of our socks and follow it up with a sneaker photo, then maybe a basketball player a pattern of a story developes
Marc Guberti says
You can definitely use Pinterest boards to depict stories of people using your products. That is a great idea.