Pinterest Marketing Etiquette

By Kelby Carr

Part of the Pinterest Marketing For Dummies Cheat Sheet

All of the time and effort in the world spent marketing on Pinterest is useless if you annoy everyone there (or, worse yet, get reported as spam!). On Pinterest, the emphasis is on sharing great images and being creative while you do it. Companies that only pin their own content and follow no one back are not engaging well. Here are tips on marketing etiquette:

Avoid constant self-promotion. It is perfectly acceptable to occasionally share a pin that is from your site or self-promotional as part of your Pinterest marketing, or even to have boards dedicated to self-promotion. As a general rule, pin images that are self-promotional no more than 20 percent of the time. You should also avoid several self-promotional pins in a row. Spread it out!
Follow people back. When someone follows you, unless there is an overwhelming reason not to, you should follow them back. Many brands make the mistake of collecting followers and following few (or none of them) back. If you want to build rapport with customers and fans, you need to make Pinterest a two-way street.
Interact with others. Don’t just pin and wait for people to interact with you on Pinterest. Repin (sharing another user’s pins), like, and comment on others’ pins.
Be a careful pinner. Don’t upload images you don’t own. Don’t pin from Google search results and other sources that are never the original source of the image (pins from the web automatically link to the location where you find them). Don’t pin a post directly from the homepage of a blog, but click the headline go to the permalink so people will find it later.
Have fun! Pinterest is no place to take your company too seriously. The great thing about Pinterest is it truly brings out the human and fun side of a brand. Embrace it instead of fighting it. Think of fun and silly boards that would be engaging and tie into your company.