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How to Properly Use Pinterest

Contrary to popular beliefs, Pinterest is not just a virtual pin board. Think about it, what you

post is seen by all your friends, followers and the user looking in the categories you assign your

boards. It is social bookmarking, with pictures.

This is what I have learned about how to use your pins and boards effectively.

Make sure your boards go to relevant category: There are 32 different categories on

Pinterest. They have art to education to humor to kids to pets to other. Makes sure your

boards belong to a category. If you are not sure, edit your boards.

Make sure your pictures go to the correct link: The one thing I hate the most is seeing a

really cool picture, clicking the link, and not seeing the tutorial, or the blog post that

belongs to the picture. I spend hours and hours looking for it. Drives me nuts. I do know

that some blog will automatically send you to the first page and it could frustrate

someone. If you see a tutorial or blog post, click the date or the title to have the direct

link before pinning. Your followers will love you for it.

Make sure you leave full comment/description: This is the biggest mistake I see on

Pinterest. I still make this mistake, especially when I repin. As much as you hear that

Pinterest is for you, it is not entirely true. For example, if you see a hat, the worst thing

you can do is say, “cute hat” or even worst, “hat.” Write a short complete detail. If it is a

crochet pattern say, “Sock Monkey #crochet Pattern by the Fancy Hooker, on sale on

Etsy for $3.99.” When your followers see it, they will know exactly what it is and they

would know if it is something that they would like to repin. (FYI, you can use a hash

mark (#) for tags, Pinterest searching engine is horrible. I hope it gets fixed soon)

Repin for the original pinner: The original pinner did a lot of work finding that awesome

pin your just saw. Make sure you do the right thing by repining from the original. The

only time I do not pin from the original source is when I have to find the original post.

Pinning your own items: Pinterest has a rule, it is not for self-promotion, so please do not

pin your items. I have known they do monitor major companies, but I have not seen them

look at individuals. If you made an awesome something or other, I would recommend

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that you upload it to Photobucket, Flickr, Tumblr or LiveJournal before pinning. This is

why. You can add a full description of what you use, how you used it, and your

experience. Users want to see this.

Like vs. Repin: The only difference between a like and repin is where it is stored. If you

like a pin, it gets thrown onto “a board” of items that you like. No one can see it, unless

they go to your likes on your profile. The new likes are on top. I use likes to store items

before I am ready to pin. If you repin an item you place it on a categorized board. All

users who look at these categories will see your pin and will be able to re pin it.

These are my rules from being a pin addict. I hope they help you out. Now, Happy Pinning.