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Lately, I have been investing a lot of time and research into Pinterest and as a result I have gained hundreds of new followers in the last two months. While reading tips from social media gurus, I have come across some common myths that I feel absolutely compelled to debunk so you don’t have to waste your time like I did.
Undestand how peeps use pinterest
To get the most out of pinterest, you first have to understand how people are using pinterest. Folks will go to a search engine or directly to pinterest when they are in need of curated inspiration. Pinterest, unlike other social media, works very much like mini-websites and you have to treat it as such. The most popular pins (other than cute cat pictures) are original content with well researched keywords.
It’s a match!
The more closely your pin matches up to what they are searching for the higher it will appear in a google or pinterest search. For example, if your pin is “teenage bedroom ideas” and your board is called “teenage bedroom ideas” and they are searching for “teenage bedroom ideas” your pin will come up very high in a search. If the pin is inspiring and is what they were looking for, (in other words, it really is a great idea for a teenage bedroom, not a picture of your jewelry for sale) then they will repin it. In addition, the more repins a pin gets, the higher it appears in these searches.(by the way, my pin of teenage bedroom ideas has been repinned over 3000 times … you can check out that pin here)
Here are some of the common myths you will come across when reading about pinterest. I am interested to see if you agree.
Myth #1. You have to pin when others are pinning.
This is absolutely false. My most popular pins gain momentum over time, so although they may be repinned during the most popular times people are on Pinterest, there is absolutely no benefit to adding a pin a a certain time. This all boils down to how people use Pinterest differently than other social media. Although facebook and instagram are very dependent on a feed or a chronological timeline, most people are using pinterest to search for ideas rather than just checking feeds from people they are following. In addition, the ideal is to have your pin show up in a google search for people searching for items like your pin.
Myth #2 You need to use hashtags.
What I have discovered about pinterest is not only are people not using the hashtags, but using hash tags can hurt the traffic to your pins. My most popular pins have absolutely no hashtags. Again, this comes down to how people are searching on pinterest and on google. If they are looking for “teenage bedroom ideas” they are not going to type in “#homedecor #ideas #teenager” The best caption for your pin are well researched keywords.
Myth #3 Commenting brings in followers
This is a strategy that I tried because the gurus told me I should and I have to tell you that it does absolutely nothing for you. Again, this is because pinterest works differently than other social media. Pinners are less interested in checking feeds than they are in searching for inspiration. So, how do you get followers? By posting inspiring pins with well researched keywords. That is it.
Tania– but that pin should link to the particular post about the recipe… not your most recent blog post. IN other words, if someone were to pin the picture above it would link to http://schulmanart.blogspot.com/2014/01/top-myths-about-how-to-use-pinterest.html not schulmanart.blogspot.com
I think what Egretta may be referring to is when someone pins something from someones but isn't on the actual blog post. For example if someone goes to my blog just by typing in the littlevintagecottage.blogspot.com and then pins a picture they see without clicking on the actual POST title they are interested in then by the time someone on Pinterest sees it and clicks on it it takes them to my blog as a whole and not the specific post that the picture is from. That has happened to me numerous times. So if I blogged about a recipe on December 25th and someone goes to my blog today that recipe post will be buried under over a month's worth of new posts.
Tania
Hi Egretta- The pins always link back to the original source no matter how many times it is repinned! (as long as no one removes the link information along the way… ) If you find a recipde you should be able to click on the picture to take you to the blog or website where that recipe was found. Hope that helps you!
I really like finding inspiration on Pinterest, but here is my question. Say I find a terrific looking cookie I want to make. I click on the repin and it goes on and on. How do I ever find that recipe? Or if it is decorating a room….how do I fine the first sourse?
PS – Being a bit cheeky you can find me on pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/byelsieb!
Great post. Really interesting. Must get to curating some sensational pins!