So you’ve heard that Pinterest is the underdog of social media (because it’s really a search engine.) But it’s radio silence over there.. you’re seeing tumbleweed swoop past your screen and you’re about to give up.

But don’t throw the towel in just yet!

Whether you’re on Pinterest to create brand awareness, drive traffic to your website or to gain subscribers; if you are finding that you’re not getting anywhere, you might be making the following mistakes:

Mistakes you might be making are:
• You’re using Pinterest in the same way that you use social media
• Sharing your pins over and over again
• Not diversifying your pin titles
• Not diversifying your pin images
• Pinning the same Pins too often
• Using the same keywords over and over again

These mistakes are ones I’ve seen on a daily basis and is half the reason why I’m asked to handle Pinterest accounts for my clients. Sometimes they just can’t wrap their heads around the platform!

This is why I’ve decided to go into detail below about how you can rectify these mistakes:

Mistake One – You’re using Pinterest in the same way that you use social media.
I can not stress enough that Pinterest is NOT a social media platform. It is a visual search engine with similar elements especially as it’s all about encouraging engagement at the moment. But generally, it’s very different in comparison to other social media platform.

To avoid this mistake, utilise your keywords when it comes to your Pinterest. A search engine relies on keywords and people are going to be looking on Pinterest for certain things with the intention of buying, so by using the right keywords, you are able to utilise Pinterest correctly. 

Mistake two – Sharing the same content over and over again?
I’m not talking about sharing the actual URL repeatedly, I’m talking about sharing the same image over and over again, It doesn’t work. It’s being seen to be spammy. If you were to see the same post on the internet over and over and over again, you’re going to get really fed up with them.

It’s like with the memes you see online. It’s funny at first, but when you see the same one repeatedly for weeks on end, it just gets boring. It’s monotonous and you’ll just scroll straight past. And this is exactly the same when it comes to Pins. If the image is exactly the same, don’t you think you should be changing it up?

When it comes to products and blog posts, you can share that as many times as you want to (within reason of course.) But you can constantly create new, fresh images and it can all drive to the same webpage.

Mistake three – Not diversifying Pin titles.
You need to be using a hook to reel people in with your Pin title. Rather than just saying what the product or the service is you’re putting out there, make sure your Pin title is clickworthy.

For example, if you’re a photographer dealing with newborns and maternity, rather than just saying maternity photoshoot, due to a few shoots having different maternity dresses; a Pin title stating something like . I can then put something in like “fashionable maternity outfits” or “10 maternity photoshoot poses for inspiration.”

This will then help a photographer looking for inspiration or a mum-to-be looking for outfits to wear at a photoshoot or baby shower. If they type in these keywords then they will discover these Pins and hopefully click onto the website to increase traffic!

By changing your pin titles, you’re going to be seen and you’re going to get people out there, it’s just a case of doing your research and having a look at what’s popular with the keywords. Because let’s not forget that it’s still is a search engine and by using a range of pin titles you can get some traffic.

Mistake four – Not diversifying Pin images.
Are you using just plain images with no text overlay or are you switching it up by having a smaller image and adding in filters and text overlays? That in itself tells Pinterest that you’ve got a new image.

Have you tried a minimalistic look? Maybe it’s a different look to your standard, but as long as it’s in your brand style and it sticks to the way that your branding is, then why not?

Test a different look out and see if it works, you might find that something that wouldn’t work for your Instagram audience, might work on Pinterest, but if it doesn’t? Well, at least you tried it out!

Mistake Five – Not spreading your Pins out enough
You’re allowed up to 10 pins for the same image. If you all sharing the same image every day, it’s not going to work. If you’re using the old method of just re-pinning straight away, again, that’s not going to work either.

People say to spread out your pins for a minimum of two days. I do have some clients that by doing it about four days at the minimum, it works. I also have some clients that you need to wait about a week to re-pin because it just works for their account.

There are no hard or fast rule that you have to stick to. There’s no guarantee that on the third day, as long as you re-pin then you’re going to gain traction, because that’s not the case here.

There are some pIns that do really well after a few days, there are some pins that after seven days are still struggling and it’s a case of working out why. Finding that reason, pin point the issue and rectify it.

This is the whole thing about Pinterest, it really is a constant test.

You’re constantly trying out what works, what doesn’t; especially in my case because I deal with a variety of industries, so you need to know what works. But by utilising so many different industries, it gives me the experience to be able to help you guys put what I’ve learned into practice, to stop you making these mistakes yourself.

Mistake Six – Ignoring the new features.
The latest, but not newest feature that is hot right now are Idea Pins. There is also a new feature called Takes” which is where, if you want to reply to someone similarly to TikTok, you can reply via an existing Pin, or a new Pin. This is a pretty amazing new feature that helps to boost engagement!

If you’re not using Idea Pins or utilising Takes, then you’re missing out on the ability to engage with other accounts. Don’t forget to do your research on current trends in the trends section. New features are what’s going to get you traction. So if you’re not using them, you’re going to be far behind others and miss out on opportunities.

Now it is not just Shopify that allows you to sell through Pinterest. WooCommerce have recently released an update, so if anyone uses WooCommerce as a merchant, you can now utilise the shop and sell on Pinterest too! They’re making it more accessible to other businesses in the UK and this new update is going to be a game changer. Yes I know I say that all the time, but the more they’re updating the platform, the more I’m just like “Yes, this is brilliant!”

So folks, don’t forget to use your takes, use your Idea Pins and if you’re on WooCommerce, sign your shop up to get that installed.

It’s going to be absolutely amazing. It really is. I’m so excited for the future for Pinterest.

Brucey Bonus:
I have spoken about this previously, so it’s not a mistake as you should already know that you should be doing this already.

I’m talking about keyword research

You need to be using your keywords. but more importantly, you need to make sure your keywords are updated on a regular basis.

They need to align with the current trends!

If you’re using six months old keyword research, it’s more than likely not going to work anymore. So you need to update your keyword research to make sure that what’s good now is what you’re using.

I had a client she was doing so well. And then. I realized after a while this was years ago when I first started, I hadn’t updated their keywords. And then I was like, hang on a minute, changed up the keywords and her account with flying through the roof again, I was like, okay, that’s clearly what had been done.

You don’t want to see all of your time, effort and hard work go to waste because you’re not keeping up with your keyword research especially as that’s just going to prevent traffic to your website and of course miss out on potential sales!

So a recap is:
• Mistake one – Using Pinterest as a social media platform
• Mistake two – Sharing your pins over and over again. 
• Number three – Not diversifying Pin titles 
• Mistake four – Not diversifying Pin images
• Mistake five – Not spreading Pins out enough
• Mistake six – Ignoring the new features
• Brucey bonus – Don’t forget to update your keyword research.

Do you want someone to take the account off of your hands? Do you need help with your account? I’m always happy to do things like a power hour or a one-to-one session with you.

Book yourself in for a free chat with me here to run through some of your Pinterest plans alongside a cuppa!

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