Pinterest seems to be a bit of marmite issue for bloggers – either its your friend and your site is booming because of it or you hate it. Personally I seem to fluctuate between the two some months its the best others its seems like a lot of work for the return. Wherever you are on the spectrum it is pretty clear that Pinterest is important for digital marketing so to help you we have compiled the top five mistakes people make when they are using pinterest.
1. Thinking Pinterest is just like all the other social media sites
Depending on who you talk to Pinterest is a social media site. I mean google analytics lists Pinterest in its social tab. Also it acts a bit like other social media sites. It has followers, likes and groups in a way (i.e group boards). But its not really a social media site.
So what is Pinterest then? It is a visual search engine. It is basically like the google of images and graphic content. People use it to find content in much the same way they would use google or duckduckgo. As such, when you are working with Pinterest you need to treat it like a search engine and put keywords at the center of your research and posts.
2. Focusing on Views
Much like above the views you are getting on your Pinterest account do not mean the same thing they would on your Facebook profile. It can be exciting to see your account reach a thousand or a million views. It sounds pretty impressive right? Especially as it appears so prominently on your profile. But in reality its a pretty meaningless figure.
The number of views your profile gets includes all the content you have pinned including other peoples content (if you pinned it). So if that content is viewed you might get a statistic added to your profile but really it does’t help you or your profile. Also a view really just means that your pin appeared on someones screen for a second. It doesn’t mean they looked at it, clicked on it or actually paid any attention to it at all. This is the stuff you really after – clicks through to your site and actual engagement with your content.
3. Getting caught up in follower numbers
Another hangover of the social media vibe of Pinterest is this view that followers are important. And they are but only if they are engaging with your pins.
This has become clearer with all social media really but these things are not a numbers game anymore. Having thousands of followers who are only following you because you followed them are not helpful. What you really need is less followers that will click your links, pin your pins and generally share your content. These followers are gold and you can get them by focusing on Pinterest as search engine. Get your Pinterest SEO skills up and get your content visible to the people who are interested in you.
4. Forgetting about keywords
Just like with google SEO, keywords are crucial to your success at Pinterest. You need to do your research before posting your pins. Have you found low competition, relevant keywords to add to your description and title. As said above it is all about getting your pins to be visible to the right people so you need to find the words they will be searching Pinterest for. You can find these words by searching Pinterest or using a keyword tool like keysearch (which is also free!). Also, if you are already doing keyword research for SEO these words will probably work well for Pinterest too!
5. Thinking success will be quick
Just like with SEO results on Pinterest will be slow to take off though it should be quicker than google. Its often advised that 3-6 months of consistent pinning of quality pins is needed to start to see good results. Of course if you are in a highly competitive niche it may take longer but it should still get there. So don;t get disheartened and give up after a few weeks- keep going and you will get there!