06 July 2015

Why I Don't Pin Your Content (And How You Can Change That)

For bloggers and business owners, Pinterest is a potential plethora of traffic, growth in readership, potential customers and endless exposure. It’s easy to become mesmerized by the shiny, pretty packages it contains and become complacent about the things you pin and how you use Pinterest in correlation with your blog or business…

But you really shouldn’t.

As a marketing professional, I see four common {but huge} no-no’s that happen all too frequently, especially with bloggers so today, I’m going to share my industry expertise to help you avoid these common pitfalls of Pinterest.

Why I Don't Pin Your Content And How You Can Change That



Problem One :: Your Pin Graphics and Pictures Suck.

You may have the best advice for getting your baby to sleep through the night. You may have the best idea for how to refinish grandma’s old bookshelf and you may very well have all the answers on how to get through potty training without pulling your hair out but no one on Pinterest will ever get to your site to read your material or re-pin your content. 

Why?

Because the Pinterest graphic for your material sucks or in a lot of cases, is completely non-existent.

The fix: The reality in using Pinterest is that it’s a visual medium. The sheer existence of Pinterest relies on pictures and graphics. Your potential users are drawn to pretty, well-designed pins for content and in most cases like myself as a blog/business owner, I will absolutely not share or re-pin content that doesn’t look clean or professional.

Why?

Because what I pin is a reflection on my brand and business. Everything I do with regards to Shiraz In My Sippy Cup sends a message to my followers, but more importantly, potential customers and business partners. So while you may have kick ass content, most people on Pinterest won’t ever have the chance to read it because they won’t click through your crappy graphics to get to your site.

Any blog or business should have a monthly budget allotted for post graphics and here’s the good news – you don’t have to invest a ton of money into software products to get pin-worthy posts. What’s my secret? For about 99.9% of my Pinterest graphics, I use Canva.com. The best part? The majority of my use is FREE. Canva is a robust graphics program that allows anyone with any level of graphics knowledge, the ability to easily and effectively create professional, pin-worthy posts. The program has pre-made Pinterest templates that you can customize to your liking and if there is a charge, the fee is usually only $1. In a month, I may spend $5 or less for all of my posts and in my opinion, $5 is worth it. I would drop that on something useless in a month so why wouldn’t I invest it into my business?


Problem Two :: You Don’t Make It Easy to Share Your Content

So there I am, reading your post, and I LOVE it. You’ve got me hook, line and sinker. The only problem? 

Nowhere on your site do you give me the ability to pin your post. I hover over your pictures hoping the “Pin Me” graphic pops up but alas, no dice. I look on your sidebar and at the bottom of your post for your social media sharing icons but, nope. You don’t have those installed either. What’s the deal?

The fix: The inability for me to easily and conveniently share content is a huge pet peeve of mine in the blogging world. I’m completely dumbfounded that so many bloggers still don’t understand this one simple concept in sharing content: Your readers want simplicity. 

We don’t want to have to copy and paste and pull up links and basically sign a mortgage through the Pinterest website to simply share your content. You can fix this very easily by visiting Shareaholic.com and installing your own social media sharing icons for your site. The whole process from installation to completion took me around five minutes and the gains to my blog have been invaluable as the app also includes stats and analytics. My readers can easily select the Pinterest icon to share my posts and of course, I always have a pin-worthy picture to accompany my post.

Boom. Done.


Problem Three :: You Love To Go on Pinning-Sprees

I have literally seen certain users pin 50 – 100 images in a five minute period; everything from food, to sports, to silly pictures, to well…crap. Nothing will tune me out more than spam and yes, when you’re pinning like your life depends on it, I call that pin spamming. It’s overwhelming but more, it’s downright annoying.

The fix: Set aside a few specific times per day to pin and during those times, be focused on what you want your content to be. Remember, what you choose to pin is a direct reflection of your brand. Try to be specific in your goals and what you’re trying to accomplish. If you know that you and the hubs are getting ready to do a huge kitchen overhaul, consider setting up a private board.

Pinterest came up with this nifty little idea a couple of years ago and it really doesn’t get used to its full potential. These private boards are an excellent way of pinning a ton of stuff without clogging up your fellow pinners’ stream.


Problem Four :: Your Pins Don’t Go to Permalinks or Are Broken Links

So I’ve found your incredibly well-designed Pinterest graphic and you’ve pulled me in with an interesting title. I take the bait excited to read what you’ve got and click on your pin to only find that you’ve either deleted the page on your site that it’s associated with or the link doesn’t work. Annoying!!

The fix: It’s a good idea to do some maintenance on your Pinterest boards from time to time. If you delete a blog post, make sure you take down the pin on Pinterest so that it doesn’t keep getting re-pinned. Before you pin content to your own boards, click through the pin to make sure it works and that the information is correct or better, something you would want your business or blog associated with. Many times I’ve found that links don’t work or that I don’t really agree with the author’s viewpoint in their post.

Bottom line, if you’ve got the time to cruise Pinterest, take the extra couple of minutes to check and make sure the pin works because if all I’m getting from you are constant issues, I’m out.


So there you have it. My professional advice on how to avoid the top four common user mistakes I find most on Pinterest. What issues do you run into that drive you crazy?
Courtney @ Shiraz In My Sippy Cup
Courtney @ Shiraz In My Sippy Cup

Courtney is a published author, mom, taco enthusiast, and a Star Wars and Tennessee Volunteers fanatic. She's never met a piece of sushi she didn’t like and enjoys an amazing glass of wine and a great cut of meat. You can read more of her wine-induced, sleep-deprived adventures on The Huffington Post and Scary Mommy.

39 comments:

  1. Lindsay KatherineJuly 6, 2015 at 7:28 AM

    Great advice- I find your dry humor entertaining as well : )

    Lindsay http://itssimplylindsay.com/

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  2. So true, Courtney. There's a lot of crap that I don't pin as well, mostly because of the images. Pinnable images are a MUST!!!!

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  3. This is awesome! I totally agree with you about not wanting to pin a crappy picture. I've found the minute I upped my pinnable images, the more my posts were shared. Great advice!

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  4. I think these are all excellent tips Courtney! I try to go through and check on my pins periodically, it's time consuming but feels really good afterwards, like spring cleaning. :)

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  5. In just figuring Pinterest out but have already used most of these tips for my own images. Good to know though!

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  6. Great tips! Pinnable images are SO important!

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  7. Great idea about going back and making sure the links work!

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  8. Thanks for sharing! These are awesome tips! I somehow STILL have not discovered the magic of Pinterest for blog traffic, but it's next on my list!

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  9. Pinnable images and GOOD photography is sooooo important. And so overlooked. By me and others! Time to get on top of it I guess! :)

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  10. I hate when people don't have "pin it" buttons. It has always stopped me from sharing their content. I added the Pinterest browser button, but still...people need to have their own. Most people won't go through the effort of pinning posts manually. It's such an easy fix that makes such a big difference!

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  11. Thanks for the Pinterest advice. We need to work on our graphics and photographs.

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  12. I love how shareaholic has the pin me graphic to use. It's so easy. I recently starting using Canva but haven't checked out their PInterest templates. Thanks for the tips!

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  13. Broken links are such a pet peeve of mine on Pinterest, especially when it's a pretty popular pin. And it's awesome to see another Canva user. That tool seems to be gaining A LOT of traction lately among bloggers.

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  14. My blog goal IS Pinterest right now and so I totally appreciate this post. Looking back on not-so-old posts, I can't help but shudder at what I didn't do particularly well. You're right about regular Pinterest maintenance! It's a must! Loved this post through and through!

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  15. YES! I hate hate some of these things so much... although I do occasionally pin things to secret boards when they have bad graphics, just because it gives me ideas!

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  16. Thanks for the great advice. I'm working on some of these, others I already have down.

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  17. These are good tips. You can have a blog Pinterest page separate from your personal page too!

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  18. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:34 PM

    Thanks! And yes, great tip! Thanks so much for reading and have a wonderful week.

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  19. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:35 PM

    It's all definitely a process of learning and knowing how to work it. Thanks so much for reading!

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  20. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:36 PM

    I do that as well! If I'm being honest, I have a secret "Misc" board to pin crap too simply because I like the idea but don't want it public. Thanks for reading, friend!

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  21. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:37 PM

    It all definitely takes time and thought. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if we don't take all the fun out of it simply by trying to be too "business" like about it all. Finding the balance is key. Hope you're having a good week!

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  22. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:38 PM

    Thanks, Alana. I'm so glad this was helpful for you. Don't beat yourself up too much. Social media is definitely a learning process. I still learn things all the time and have to remind myself about certain things. Thanks for reading!

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  23. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:39 PM

    I totally love Canva. It's such a great program and yes, broken links SUCK. Especially when you really reeled me in by the title and then I can't get to it. Thanks for reading!

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  24. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:40 PM

    I love the Pinterest templates! They are so easy to use and I also get a lot of great ideas from them, too. Thanks for reading, Melissa!

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  25. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:40 PM

    Thanks so much for reading Shelah!

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  26. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:41 PM

    It's really all about convenience. Who wants to do 10 steps when 2 will suffice? Not me! Thanks for reading - hope you're having a great week!

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  27. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:42 PM

    It's constant work, right? I admit that I even have to remind myself of my own rules, lol. Thanks so much for reading.

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  28. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:43 PM

    I honestly don't think there is any true magic formula that will guarantee anything but I do think there are things you can do to be consistent to grow your following and readership, like great content, graphics etc. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

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  29. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:43 PM

    Thanks Jessica and thank you for reading!

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  30. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:44 PM

    Thanks, Meg and thanks for reading!

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  31. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:44 PM

    I'm so glad this information was helpful. Thanks so much for reading, Bethany!

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  32. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:45 PM

    That's the way I feel about it too. It takes so much work but I always feel better about it when I'm done. Thanks so much for reading!

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  33. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:45 PM

    Thanks, Kristy. People want to be associated with good work so it's important to stay on top of your game! Thanks for reading!

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  34. Courtney PattersonJuly 7, 2015 at 4:46 PM

    Agreed! Thanks so much for reading!

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  35. I read this when you first posted it and take all of those items into consideration when post! Thank you so much for sharing your insight into this! I appreciate it!

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  36. I always test out links before pinning them. Nothing makes me more angry then thinking I've found a pin with all the answers to life's problem only for it to be a broken link. Thanks but no.

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  37. Haha right?!?! All the blogging tasks sometimes take up more time than the enjoyable part - just writing the damn stuff you want to share! ;) Thank you; I'm having a good week and tackling small piles of things to do slowly but surely! I hope you're having a great, productive week, too!

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  38. Love it. I admit I am overdue for some pin maintenance, and your other points drive me crazy! If it is too much effort for me to pin, I simply won't.

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  39. Great tips thanks alot! :)

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