Pinterest Etiquette

Following on from our previous Blogs about Pinterest Essentials and Pinterest Lingo,  we hope you have been busy pinning!  This final Blog about Pinterest is  to provide are a few pointers on Pinterest etiquette:

• Try to be imaginative with your boards.  Think about all topics that relate to your interests. Don’t just fill your boards with adverts and promotions.
• Connect and engage with your followers like you do on Facebook and Twitter, and ensure you regularly look at the content they are repining.
• Take a bit of time setting up your profile.  Ensure it has links to your Twitter page and website and well as a short bio
• Make sure all pins include the right caption and information and ensure the description for each {Pin includes keywords and hashtags.
• Don’t leave descriptions blank or just leave your website URL as this has an impact on how ‘searchable’ your Pin is.  If the description of your Pin has a few hashtags it will easily found.  If the description is blank or just has your website url it can reflect badly on your brand.
• Repin all you want but always give credit to the owner of the content. If you did not create the content/image, do not imply that it is yours.  Editing the source link is definitely a Pinterest no-no.
• Include price tags: pinterest users aren’t just looking for creative inspiration, they may be ready to buy.  Make sure you include a price tag in the pins you create or repin.  Apparnetly Pinterst pins with prices get 36% more likes than those without.
• Find popular Group Boards – using popular Pinterest group boards is a great way to reach more people to get repins, followers and traffic.  PinGroupie is an easy to use and free tool that finds group boards.
• Do comment on other’s Pins but don’t post spammy comments and link to your website in comments.  Leave something constructive and helpful; you’ll find if your comments are genuine then you will be a more effective Pinner
• Make sure you pin regularly throughout the week if possible.  Don’t just pin once in a while as all you will be doing is flooding your Followers’ feeds.  This is likely to annoy others and end up with less followers
•  Pin at different times throughout the day 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm for starters and notice the days & times you get the best engagement from your followers.  You can then start to regularly pin at those times.
• Make sure you share your own content, but don’t just share your own content! It’s all about moderation – try to follow the 60/40 rule.  Pin 60% of content from other sources/followers/boards and 40% of your own content
• Make sure you create new boards but don’t create a board unless you can pin at least 5 items to it. If you can’t initially find 5 pins for your new board, you probably won’t use it anyway, and empty boards do not attract followers.
• Finally make sure you have fun! Pinning is addictive……….