As we’ve said before, Pinterest is currently one of the most beneficial social media tools for businesses of any size. It seems Pinterest has become an online phenomenon overnight and small business owners everywhere are trying to make the most of this new, visually driven social network. Yes, there are a million and one ways that you can brand yourself on Pinterest and other social media websites. There are also, however, several things that you should avoid doing. Here are the most common Pinterest mistakes that photographers do:
1. Not Using the “Pin It” Button on Your Website
Ye want to make it as easy as possible for your followers/customers to pin something they want to share. If they see something great on your website and they want to pin it, give them an easy way to do this. This is important for all businesses using Pinterest, but especially critical for retail and e-commerce businesses. The “Pin It” button gives your fans an effortless way to share your content with an even larger audience and is a sure fire way to increase traffic to your website.
2. Using Pinterest for direct marketing strategies
When you join Pinterest, one of the rules is that you cannot use the website for direct sales, advertising, or marketing efforts. If you plan on promoting yourself in an overt way, you could risk having your account closed by the support staff. Having said that, you can still promote your business, you just need to do so in a more discrete way. Rather than just posting pictures of your products, it is also recommended that you fill your boards with things like gift ideas, community events that you have participated in, or inspirational ideas. This will ensure that you are still marketing your business, but in a more discrete manner that won’t get you banned from the site. Once the value you provide to your followers is far bigger than your self-promotion, you shouldn’t be worried.
3. Pinning All Content to One Board
This is annoying, overwhelming and just plain dumb. The great thing about Pinterest is how it provides an easy solution for organizing a variety of visual content. Every successful website features effective navigation to help users find what they’re looking for. This should be the same thing for your Pinterest boards.
Pinning everything to one place creates a whole mess of images. Pinterest is another place to reinforce your company’s brand. However, pinning everything to one place will muddy your brand, making you appear incompetent, cluttered and downright untrustworthy. On the contrary, well-organized boards and categorized pins make users much more comfortable with your brand as a whole. Instead of having one or a few general boards, we suggest making several, incredibly detailed boards to make it as easy (and interesting) as possible for your followers.
4. Pinning Everything
Probably one of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make on Pinterest is filling their page with junk. Just as no one wants their inbox filled with junk mail, no one wants to search through the clutter on your Pinterest page. Filling your page with everything and anything can make it overwhelming for viewers, often steering them away from your page. As such, always stay focused when creating your pins. Don’t be afraid to post relevant and interesting content, but avoid over-posting, it will just cause confusion.
5. Not sharing pins elsewhere
When you pin something particularly good, you should tweet it or post it to Facebook or anywhere else you have a social media presence. Don’t spam your following, but let them know that you have an active Pinterest account and that they should hop on board and follow you on Pinterest!
These are just a few missteps we’ve come across on Pinterest. There’s certainly more, so please feel free to share some of the most irritating Pinterest blunders you’ve seen in our comments.
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