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Are you making these common Pinterest mistakes?
I have noticed several mistakes being made on Pinterest. Businesses need to figure out what these mistakes are and eliminate them before it’s too late as mistakes can withhold the ability to generate sales and leads. Below you will find a list of common Pinterest mistakes I have spotted. I have explained each Pinterest mistake thoroughly and the steps you must follow to avoid them to reach your audience and promote yourself better…
1. An incomplete brand page:
I quite often come across brand pages that are incomplete or just very wrong. A complete brand page is the key to building a brand on Pinterest and helping you generate more website traffic and increasing sales. It can also help you attract more relevant followers and make it easy for people to locate you through online search.
So if you want to make it effortless for people to find you through online search and to interact with you make sure you complete your brand page. Here are some quick tips on completing your brand page:-
a) Have a complete about section so that people can easily find out everything about you or your business through the Pinterest page itself. This will also make it easy for people to find your brand page through online search.
b) Verify your website as this is good for SEO too. It can also help drive higher amounts of traffic as your web address will be more conspicuous because the complete URL will be displayed. You will also be able to use the web analytics tool after verifying your site.
c) Use a relevant business name, profile image and user name to make it easy for your audience to recognize you. Add your location too.
d) Link your social media accounts to your Pinterest accounts. Linking your Twitter accounts is compulsory. Facebook on the other hand is optional as you can only link to your personal profile at the moment.
e) Select attractive pins as board covers and rearrange your boards so that the most important ones are at the top.
An example of a complete Pinterest brand page is M2 Media Management’s. You will notice that they follow all the points mentioned above.
For more tips on setting up a Pinterest business page check out this post.
2. Posting everything at once:
The most common mistake I notice every day is people just pinning everything at once. People follow several people on Pinterest so that they can see all their pins. They don’t want to see your pins only. If you pin everything at once your pins will drown out the feed and this can annoy users and they could end up unfollowing you. Therefore schedule your pins so that you have one or two coming out every one or two hours. This will not only keep your current followers happy, but will also help you attract new ones.
3. Not adding categories:
Many users either forget or don’t seem to realize that they can add categories to their boards. Adding board categories, is something that should be taken very seriously as it can give your pins more exposure.
Usually only people who follow you or those browsing through your brand page can see your pins, but when you add board categories, your pins will appear in the category the board belongs to and people browsing through that category can see your pins, thereby leading to more engagement and website traffic. So make sure you add relevant board categories to your boards to help them reach a larger audience.
4. Not sticking to topics on boards:
This is a common Pinterest mistake I have come across. It’s not just enough if you add categories to your boards – you need to stick to sharing relevant pins to that board. The pins you share should be relevant to the board’s overall theme and to the category it belongs to. If you share irrelevant pins to a board it could lead to people unfollowing you and your pins being flagged. So share only relevant pins. This will help you build a better brand and help you gain relevant board followers. If it is a board on animals share pictures and content relating to animals or if it is a board on food share pins relating to that topic – don’t share other topics here.
(Note: Would you like to learn more ways to get the most out of Pinterest? Then you must checkout the The Complete Pinterest Marketing Bundle.)
5. Writing no descriptions:
I sometimes come across pins that have no description at all or have a full stop or some other characters or words that make no sense at all. When people look at these pins they won’t know what they are and what they lead to and this could discourage them from finding out more about them or sharing them. A good description that tells the reader more about the pin and where it leads can get more people to interact with it. So before you pin, take some time, have a good think and then write a good description.
Check out Social Pickle’s, Facebook Marketing board, on Pinteret, where you will find examples of pins with good descriptions.
6. Not sharing content:
Many businesses that are new to social media don’t understand the importance of sharing content. They want to set up their Pinterest brand page and create a products page where they can promote their products as soon as possible. This is not how Pinterest works. If you want to use Pinterest successfully, you need to share a lot of content, build an audience, gain trust and then and only then share information about your products. This way you will gain maximum exposure and generate more sales and leads.
Someone who shares a lot of content is Ching ya. On her Pinterest page you will find many boards filled with a lot of useful content.
7. Too much self promotion:
Another point to keep mind is that you shouldn’t just share your own content – you need to share the content others create too. Actually it works better when you share others content more than you share yours. Sharing others content will not only give you more options, but it will also help you build relationships with other users who in turn will promote you back.
8. Not promoting your pins and brand page on other networks:
One of the best things about Pinterest is that it makes it easy to share your pins across other social networks. With a few clicks you can either tweet your pins or share them on Facebook. But I don’t see many people taking advantage of this. When you share your pins on other networks it will help you attract new followers from there. So whenever you think your followers on Facebook or Twitter might enjoy a pin share it there. You could also add the Pinterest app to your Facebook profile or page as it will be easy for people to find your brand page through Facebook.
Writers Write makes the most of this technique. They upload images onto their Facebook page and then place a link to the same pin in the description. Some of the people who like the image might visit the pin and share it or they might like the entire board or brand page and follow it.
9. No effort to socialize:
One of the most popular activities on Pinterest is just pinning and repining pins onto a board. Although this is a good activity, it’s not enough. People need to do a lot more on Pinterest to try and socialize with other users. You can socialize with others by liking and commenting on pins. You could also tag other users.
10. Not verifying content:
Quite often when I click on a pin I am lead to a page which is completely irrelevant to the image or the description. This can really annoy people, as when they click on a Pin they expect to go to the page that was described by the image and the description. So before you share something check it and make sure it leads to where it says it leads to and contains the information your audience is looking for.
11. Having no plan:
For a successful Pinterest campaign a plan should be in place. You don’t just go there and start pinning and hope for the best. A plan should be created where you have an aim and audience in mind and work towards reaching that aim and audience. This could be to just gain followers, to build a brand image, to increase website traffic or to increase sales. So instead of blindly pinning, create a proper marketing strategy, set some goals and work towards achieving those goals.
12. Not measuring:
This is an important step that shouldn’t be missed. At regular intervals, businesses need to measure their ROI. They need to check it their efforts are paying off and their aims are being met. If it is working, they can continue doing more of the same and if it is not they will need to alter their strategies. The good news for businesses is that now they can easily do it by using Pinterest’s new free web analytics tool.
Make not of all the mistakes mentioned above and try not to commit them. This should automatically have a positive effect on your Pinterest campaign.
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Did I forget to mention any other common Pinterest mistakes? Have you got some tips you would like to share with us? Please leave your comments below.
Would you like to create a Pinterest marketing strategy and use it set up the perfect page and get yourself followers, repins, traffic and sales? Then get The Complete Pinterest Marketing Bundle…
