Life
8 Mistakes You’re Making On Pinterest
When it comes to social media platforms, Pinterest can be a lot of fun. Is there any place better to organize all the crafts, recipes and clothing inspiration you need in your life? No, of course not.
But while it's tempting to pin anything and everything you see, there's a certain code of conduct. To avoid being annoying to your followers (or even lose them altogether), there are eight common Pinterest mistakes you should avoid making. Everyone has done them at least once, but now's the time to recognize the error of your ways and move on to a new era of quality pinning.
Re-pinning Without Checking The Link
If you’ve been there, you know. You find something super cute on Pinterest and click to go through to the website, only to find some spam site instead. It’s terrible, and leaves you feeling empty. Don’t perpetuate the cycle. Before you re-pin, make sure the link is legit.
Writing Captions That Don't Make Sense
One of the best features of Pinterest is that you can update the caption before you re-pin. Adding your own caption (one that makes sense) means your Pinterest boards will be clear and easy-to-read, instead of riddled with mist-matched, promotional captions.
Not Organizing Your Boards
Boards are free - use them. Instead of using a catch-all board, such as “Things I like,” which is filled with recipes, vacation spots and clothing inspiration, separate those things out. So when your friend wants to scroll through a board filled only with your great taste in fashion, she doesn’t have to sift through your wedding centerpiece ideas, too.
Dominating The Feed
It starts innocently enough. While spending a night in, you decide to kill some time by browsing Pinterest. Suddenly, it’s three hours later and you’ve re-pinned several dozen images. Now, your followers are going to be absolutely bombarded with your stuff during their daily browse. Yikes. Try be reasonable when you pin - no one wants to follow someone who regularly goes on pinning benders.
Treating It Like Twitter
Hashtags don’t work on Pinterest. Don’t use them.
Using Stock Images
Uploading your own images? Good for you! Congratulations on being a content-creator, instead of simply a content-sharer. But if you’re using Pinterest to further your following - say, for your small business or blog - make sure to use compelling, interesting photos. No one wants to see stock photography - especially bad stock photography.
Image: Fotolia
Pinning Obvious Scams
Come on, you’re smart. There are some things that are obvious scams. Don’t re-pin them. Sure, it might promise that “if you re-pin, you can get Ray Bans for $4.99,” but chances are, that’s not gonna happen. Ignore and scroll on.
Image: Fotolia
Posting Too-Small Images
Before you re-pin, go ahead and click on it. If it shrinks down to the size of a postage stamp, don’t re-pin it. You’re just setting someone else up for a world of disappointment. You don’t need that kind of Pinterest karma.
Image: Fotolia
