9 Pinterest Myths That Are… Just Myths.

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Once again I’m back talking about Pinterest. But this time I’m here because in the last few days I’ve heard lots of stuff about Pinterest and Pinterest marketing that aren’t completely true.

And you know I care about you, so, I dug them out to double check if they’re correct and to let you know.

Especially at the beginning, I fell for some of them but you don’t have to. I want to save you time so I made a list of the Pinterest myths that are… just myths:

1. Followers are not important

I think this is the statement that you hear most often. And you know what? This is completely wrong!

Yes, it’s true that Pinterest is a search engine and consequently your content could be found even if you don’t have many followers.

But believe me, followers still matter… a lot.

Do you know how Pinterest decides which pins prioritise in the distribution (which pins show more)? On the basis of the interaction that your followers have with your pins.

Yep, you heard me, your FOLLOWERS determine how often your pin will be shown by Pinterest.

So, I would say not only the number of your followers matter (more followers = more interaction = more distribution) but also the quality of your followers.

Think with me, if your content is about luxury items and your following is composed of frugal people would your pins get much interaction? I don’t think so. Hence, what will happen is that Pinterest will reduce the distribution of your pins. So, as I always say, follow for follow is a big no-no.

Another point in favour of having more followers is the new “only follow” feed. In this feed, pins are shown chronologically so you’re not playing against an algorithm. Your pin will be in that feed no matter what. And don’t you want to show your pin to as many people as possible? Yes, followers are important.

Lastly, what do you think brands will look at when they find you on Pinterest?

2. Monthly views are everything

Ah! This is one of the funniest. Do you know what that number means? Absolutely nothing.

That number means that all the pins that are in your profile (not only your pins from your domain) have been seen a number of times.

Seen. Not clicked through the website, not clicked for a close up, not even hovered on with the mouse. Plus, they can just be pins of other people that you have repined.

That number means how many times your pins were in someone’s screen. Let’s say that I open my smart feed and one of your pins happens to be there. Even if I don’t notice it at all your monthly views will increase. Do note that when I say YOUR pin I mean a pin that is in your profile. This doesn’t matter if it’s from your domain or if it’s someone else’s pin and you have repined it to one of your boards.

So, I think you would agree with me when I say that numbers mean nothing.

3. You have to pin lots

I have heard of people pinning hundreds of pins a day. Well it’s not necessary. Use your time for something with a bigger ROI.

I’m not saying that pinning a lot will damage your Pinterest marketing but it won’t help either.

Probably the only effect that will have is on the monthly views. At this stage you know that that numbers mean nothing.

What Pinterest wants is consistency. It’s better pinning only ten pins a day but do it every day than pin hundreds of pins one day and nothing else for weeks.

I know that being able to pin every day isn’t easy but get smart and invest in Tailwind so it can do the job for you!

Also, one of Pinterest best practices is to create fresh pins as often as you can. In fact, Pinterest rewards new content by showing it more so it will be great if you could pin multiple new pins a week. You could get this tool to help you with this task.

4. Repin your pins in bulk

You can repin your own content, and you should do so pinning them to all the related boards that you have on your profile but please space them up!

I’ve seen Pinterest profiles covered with the same pin, pinned back to back over and over again.

This isn’t only ugly to see but it’s also a big waste of time, effort and resources.

Let me explain myself.

You created a new pin, you’re really proud of it and you want to show it to as many people as you can so you start pinning it on all your boards, and of course, in all the group boards for which you’re a contributor, all at once.

Wrong!

What will happen is that

1. Your profile will look spammy (really bad)
2. Pinterest will flag you as a spammy person (worse than number 1)
3. Your followers will be swamped with your pin, do you think they will click all of them at the same time? (they will get really annoyed)
4. You will run out of places to repin your pin really quickly. Your pin will die in some lonely corner in Pinterest. (Poor pin)

Easy solution: Pin your pin in all the relevant boards and group boards but space them up. To do so, create your Pinterest profile in a strategic way.

Too hard? Use the interval feature in Tailwind!

5. If your pin is not doing well you should delete it

Do you know what the average life of a pin is in Pinterest? Six months.

If your pin isn’t doing well do not delete it. It could start bringing people over to your website at any moment.

As per Pinterest’s words, having a pin that isn’t giving much traction on your profile doesn’t damage your overall reach.

So, do not delete it. If you really don’t like it stop repining it but do not delete it.

6. Manual pinning is rewarded

This myth is a real school of thought.  But guess what? Wroooong!

Sarah Hoople Shere, Pinterest’s head of product marketing, in a recent interview with Tailwind has explicitly said that they don’t care if you pin manually or through a scheduler (you can check the interview at min 25)  (Of course it will be better if you use an approved scheduler such as Tailwind).

Don’t get me wrong this doesn’t mean that you can schedule your pins for one year and just forget about Pinterest. You should still be going on Pinterest once in a while to see how things are doing. Even if Pinterest doesn’t care if you’re there this is something that can help you understand what your followers are doing.

I know you are thinking about Carly’s Pinteresting strategies course. You heard so much talk about it and you probably bought it. And you did well! That eBook is great! It’s one of the few that gives you something that you can’t find for free. (No, really, I read an eBook by someone else that promised quick affiliate sales on Pinterest. But the only thing that it teaches you is how to upload a pin directly to Pinterest).

Carly’s eBook shows you the strategy that she uses but it really doesn’t matter if that strategy is done live or with a scheduler. That strategy worked for her really well but it would have also worked if she used Tailwind.

So, use your time for something with a better ROI and let Tailwind help you.

If you want to try Tailwind you can start for free right here.

If you want to learn Carly’s strategies you can enrol in the course here.

7. Hashtags are the devil

“Do not use hashtags on Pinterest” How many times have you heard it? Wrong! Or better yet, old! Yep, until sometime ago this was true but around June-July 2017 things changed.

Now not only are hashtags allowed on Pinterest but they are also encouraged.

Hashtags have their own feed and they show up chronologically.

Up to twenty hashtags are allowed for each pin, but you don’t really have to use so many. Choose two or three that are related to your pin and that aren’t too specific.

Remember that what still counts more are keywords. So, don’t steal room from the keywords by over-doing the hashtags.

8. The longer the better

Nope. I know that logically the more room your pin covers the easier it will be seen.

However, Pinterest’s recommended ratio is 2:3 so they still suggest that vertical pins could work better but at this stage they deter the use of the old “giraffe pins”.

Probably you have seen some of the really long pins that were going so well some time ago but the bad news is that, that kind of pin won’t be distributed anymore by Pinterest.

So, if your pins are really long it’s better if you make them smaller otherwise you won’t see them around.

Anything that has a ratio 2:3  will be ok. Pins that are really long won’t be shown at all.

I use Canva pro to create my pins, sometimes I change the size of my pins to experiment but usually, their 1000×1500 works fine.

9. Group boards are always good

Group boards are great (at least at this stage). It seems that Pinterest wants them to become less important as they aren’t being used for their primary function. But unfortunately not all of them are so great.

When you join a group board, that group board becomes part of your profile for better or for worse.

This means that if that group board doesn’t have much activity, Pinterest will considerer your profile low.

Also, if you pin one of your pins in a bad group board and no one repins from that group board, Pinterest will think that no one is pinning your pins and consequently will think that your pins suck.

Believe me, not all group boards are good. To understand more about Pinterest group boards read this article.

9+1 80/20 rule

This isn’t a real 10 but more a9+1 as it’s true but only for a limited time.

First let’s clarify what the 80/20 rule is.

80/20 means that what you pin should be composed of 80% content from other blogs and 20% of your own.

But this is true only when you just start on Pinterest, and here is why:

1. When you just start you don’t have so much content of your own so you want to fill up the gap with other people’s content.
2. At the beginning Pinterest has no idea of who you are so you have to show that you’re a great curator.
3. When your profile is still small you want pins of more experienced pinners to give it visibility.

After a while you can start pinning more of your own and less of other people’s content. You can even pin just your content Pinterest doesn’t care.

Anyway, I am still pinning content of other blogs that I think can help my followers.

I hope this list has helped to clarify a few things and makes your life easier. If there is something else out there that I have missed and you are not sure if is true let me know and I will investigate it for you.

If you are new to Pinterest and don’t really know what I’m talking about you can check out my FREE course Pinterest for New Bloggers.