Pinterest Advice for a Beginner?

[Marblewave]

Hi all,

Would anyone have tips for a complete beginner of both Pinterest, and Zazzle's Affiliate Program, please? I've looked at websites, videos, threads etc. but the advice I found was mostly for people further on, and I've found it tricky to pick out the basics. What are the things that seem obvious if you've used Pinterest for a while, but a newbie like me might not be aware of?

Having joined Pinterest this morning, I put a few of my Zazzle products onto a Pinterest 'board'. So far, so good. I'm now wondering about adding pins which others have made - what are the dos and don'ts? Is it OK to click 'Save' on someone else's pin which I find on Pinterest, so it appears on my board? How about if I find a pin elsewhere on the Internet, is it OK to save it to my own board if it would be a good fit? Under what circumstances would it be a copyright problem?

Regarding the Zazzle affiliate program, whose products may I put on Pinterest using my own affiliate link? What is permitted or not? Are there certain types of link or pin which cannot be re-pinned to my own board?

Is it a good idea to sign up for the Business account on Pinterest?  Is it compulsory, if we are pinning our Zazzle products which we hope will sell?

Thanks for reading this 🙂

[idraw]

@Marblewave 
here are some hopefully helpful links—-

<https://community.zazzle.com/t5/promoting/info-about-pinning-on-pinterest/m-p/25325>

<https://community.zazzle.com/t5/promoting/pinterest-enable-rich-pins/m-p/25551>

< https://community.zazzle.com/t5/promoting/pinterest-audit-guide/m-p/25553>

< https://community.zazzle.com/t5/promoting/daily-pinterest-tasks/m-p/25549> 

[Marblewave]

Thank you, @idraw  Will have a good look through those.

[SORS]

Thank you!  Great links! 

[Marblewave]

I have now started a few boards and spent time adding pins. Only trouble was, which I realised this afternoon, that I clicked 'save' on the Zazzle pins I liked on Pinterest, instead of creating the links via the Share button on Zazzle itself. So I'm now undoing most of those, as I had intended for my affiliate ID to be connected to them. But at least I learned something today 🙂

[terryjstudio]

Oh my Goodness Marblewave. Did you just explain to me something I have been trying to figure out for an age? Where exactly is this "share" button? I have increasing sales of my own stuff from 3rd party but I've never figured out how to promote other people's work exactly.  It's hard to get 10 and 15 cents on my original work but if that is the game, and I can make more being an affiliate as well, I'm in! Off to look for the Share button. 

[Marblewave]

Hi terryjstudio!

Good to read your post.  I'm still learning but happy to share what I've figured out so far...

Have you joined Zazzle's Associate Program yet?  This is the first step, so that when you promote work by other Zazzlers, the referral can be tracked to you, so if a purchase is made you will earn a percentage. How to Join the Associates Program – Zazzle Help Center

The share button is a rectangle with an up arrow on top. Go to the product you wish to share; the button is on the top left of the product photo. Click the button and it gives a choice of social media where you can share the product. As long as you've joined the Associate Program, the link it generates will automatically include your referral ID.

[musingtree]

Did you ever get answers to these questions @Marblewave ? I am starting out with Pinterest and was interested in promoting other people's designs as well and am not sure if that is okay.

[Marblewave]

Hi @musingtree 

Yes, I found out that it is fine to promote other people's Zazzle designs on Pinterest as well as your own 🙂

[Fayday]

Hi Marblewave-  I'm no expert, but I have discovered that for me  I have to follow  100 people to get 30 people to follow me back. I'm an affiliate too, but  I pin my Zazzle from Zazzle.  I pin and share lots of other things from pinterest.   I have joined a number of group boards and also started group boards. What is your  pinterest URL?

Fay

[Marblewave]

Hi @Fayday, thanks for replying. I have joined a couple of group boards and started a few of my own. I have just made my first more detailed pin, by clicking on 'Create Pin' and adding my own image and text. I'm not yet sure how it's different to 'Create Idea Pin' though (aren't all Pins about ideas? Also what is a 'rich pin'?). I'd love to know more about the group boards - did you just search for them and ask to join, or were they recommended somewhere? My Pinterest is here: Pinterest  What is yours?

[Fayday]

Hi- I don't really know what rich pins are. About the group boards, first I was invited to a few.  Then recently I  started some of my own. I have  a leggings, a phone case , a pillow , a tote bag and a rug board. I would invite you but I need to know your Pinterest URL first.  follow me and message me. mine is https://www.pinterest.com/fayjonesday/

[Marblewave]

Done - thank you! 🙂

[Malissa]

@Marblewave   You can tell a rich pin from a "regular" pin because a rich pin will have text under it in the Pinterest feed where the other kind will not.  A rich pin is a pin that contains information from the source. You must have a verified account for a rich pin to show from your own website- getting verified is pretty easy but it requires you to add some code to your site or to your dns server- I think.   It has been years since I did it, but a google search will give you instructions.

For example, any pin you make directly from Zazzle will show the info under it for the product because they are verified.  If you have a verified recipe blog, it will show some of the recipe.  For me, If I pin from my website, it shows the title of the blog post under the image on Pinterest and then when you click on the pin it shows whatever I have added to the description field in the edit post section of my blog.  It varies from site to site what snippets of info P picks up.  I use a blogger blog for my website and so the little bit of metadata text is all that shows for me. 

[Marblewave]

Thank you, @Malissa  🙂 

[stevepaint]

I have a Pinterest account for a number of years and was started to promote my jewellery business and photography etc. I have 1000 following. 

This account was a private not a business account and decided to start a new account to showcase my POD items I have for sale, but after more than 2 months no views and no followers.

Am I best served by pinning on this private account given the number of followers? And either staying as private or changing from private to business?