Why You Should Click Through Most Pins Prior to Pinning.
Hey blogging friends. Ahh, Pinning on Pinterest 🙂 What a great platform. However, I have noticed something on Pinterest as of late and thought I should probably share.
I am a firm believer in Pinning only content I have actually read or at least scanned through for relevancy. I don’t want to fill my boards with random junk.
Sadly, Pinterest scheduling tools make it exceptionally easy for millions of users to do just that. I follow a few bloggers who post over 150 pins a day. I know this is a growth strategy employed by thousands of bloggers to grow their audience and pin consistently. Tribes, group boards schedulers, and tailwind all make it very easy to do this.
As for me, I too use tailwind and tribes to schedule pins on occasion but when it comes to mass scheduling I take another avenue. I use tailwind to pin to my dream home, closet, quotes, and inspiration boards but when it comes to my blogging hints and tips or business I choose another route.
I will schedule intriguing blog titles to my Pinterest likes board which is now hidden and read the content when I have a chance. Then I will move the pin to the appropriate board or erase it altogether.
Manual Pinning is a better option.
I do this for a few reasons.
Pros and Cons
First, I want to know what I am pinning will actually benefit myself and my ideal audience. I trust it’s only fair to promote what I believe in. Same goes for affiliate links and product selections.
Second, many articles lead you to believe they are about one subject but in fact lean another direction. I recently clicked on an article about what to send your email list and it turned out to be a sales funnel guide instead of a general email suggestions guide. Good pin but belonged in a different category than where I had put it.
The title was completely misleading.
Actual Cons
Third, and the most alarming, Scams. I am a little surprised that Pinterest has not caught this but I have clicked on three links today alone that led me to a sales pitch landing page for something completely unrelated to the picture or headline on the pin.
For example, I clicked on something that said: “How to gain 1000 subscribers in 90 days”. When I opened it I found a single landing page asking me to give up my info in exchange for a sure-fire method of earning money buying real estate.
Another (single landing page again) offered to sell me an email list of “targeted readers”. How seriously unclassy. You cannot buy a true community.
Um, yeah not what I want to be pinning for my loyal friends and readers.
But the Pins themselves were eye appealing and had amazing headlines. Bait and Hook anyone?
For the record, I did report these pins.
And last but not least, broken links. I have a blog friend who I know pins stellar content. Of course, I often repin her pins and I recently opened one to learn her newest strategy and it said: “oops, link unavailable.” I immediately shot her an email so she could fix the pin. Sure hope you’d all do the same for me or send me a message on Pinterest at the very least.
Providing Value
While I understand the use of tailwind for mass amounts of pinning, I think there is something to be said about manual pinning and choosing content wisely.
Again, I find these tools great for my favorite clothes, kitchen designs, travel pictures, hair ideas, and things such as these. But when it comes to suggesting blogging or business advice, I want to know which category the pin belongs in, and if it is quality enough to be pinned to any board at all.
I certainly might not be the fastest growing blogger out there, but I want to be one of the most trusted by my readers. I aim to build genuine connection and actually help people. Over pinning junk to grow a following is not cool. Spamming people with irrelevant content, broken links, or disguised affiliate sales pitches that aren’t even our own is just bad business.
xoxo-Deanna
P.S. For another great Pinterest Article about making multiple images click here.