Promoting on Pinterest

[randysgrandma]

I took a long break from creating and promoting. Now I am finding that Pinterest is much different than it was when I was promoting there before. Is the new format of Pinterest as effective as it was before? We now can't use tags to make our work easier to find. So I am wondering how our posts to Pinterest are ever found by people looking for specific items. Also, I have boards that I have created and am on some boards that are group boards. Some of those group boards have thousands of followers. My own boards have only hundreds of followers. Will I get better results posting to the larger group boards or to my own small boards? It seems the large followers of the group boards are mostly designers like me who seldom look at the things posted by others. Would it be a good idea to delete my items that have been there so long they are buried and repost them to bring them back to the top or would that be pointless or cheating in some way?

Thanks for any answers. 

[PacifierCity]

P has changed a lot in the last year...

Group boards... First off, I would not bother deleting your old pins.  There is little sense in that.  But I would suggest that you create a "new" pin with a different look for the product you wish to promote.  P is all about new and fresh looking pins.  Ones it has never seen before.  Group boards carry less wight in P's world now, according to may people who claim to be P guru's.  What does that mean?  It probably means that pins posted to group boards won't be shown as often in the feeds that most people look at when browsing P.  Many believe that posting to your own boards will result in more "impressions" (views)... or that P will show that pin more often in visitors feeds.

When one creates pins that have a url that does not land on a Z product url, the description one writes stays with the pin.  It is the title and description that are searchable and what is written therein is what people searching P find.  If one simply uses the P button under the share function in your back end or the P button under a product on a product page, P uses the general Z product description and not the designer written one. (at least I haven't seen this change back yet.)  Generally speaking, this is not helpful if one is trying to promote the art that is displayed on the product.  The title a designer created does stay though, so a little bit of the designers verbiage does get through to the pin.  Being able to create a pin for your product that leads to a blog or website, etc, should be more beneficial then linking it back to a Z product page... in theory.

Is using P as effective as before?  That is impossible to answer... It really depends on how you use P, how you pin, and where your pins go.  If you simply use Z's P pinning tools, then you will probably find that doing so is less beneficial than it was before.  If you create your own unique/fresh pins and drive traffic to a blog, etc... you may find that using P is more beneficial than before. 

Or you could be in limbo as so many of us are and just keep trying new things, different style pins, different landing urls, hoping that things will improve.

In the last year I/we have seen a major drop in traffic (impressions), a decent drop in linkovers, and a decent reduction in referrals... but, even after walking away for about 3 months, the referrals kept coming in.  So I/we are going to keep at it because it makes good business sense for us.

Hope some of the above is helpful

PC

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[SandyMDesigns]

What @PacifierCity mentioned is the information that I was given last year. It is what I have been doing since the changes (except this year). I am in more groups than my own boards.

Last year, I deleted about half of the groups and archive the rest. Leaving only my boards. I made more videos, more custom pins that lead to my blog. Seen the traffic drop to what is now laughable. None of what I did bring traffic, nor customers. This year, I brought back the groups I achieved and now pin in those as well. I do get more views this way but it is still not working.

Many people will swear that Pinterest worked for them then and now. 

[randysgrandma]

I have been watching my stats on Pinterest. The numbers go way up when I post on group boards that have thousands of followers and goes way down when I post only on mine that have only hundreds of followers. I still am of the opinion that Pinterest viewers are mostly lookers just passing some time and not serious buyers. But I don't know where else to promote. I will not bother my friends and family on Facebook because I know they are not potential buyers. I am not and will not on and will not join Twitter, Tik Tok or any of the other teeny bopper sites.  I can't blog. I have tried it and my mind goes blank. What I put on a blog is boring even to me. 😃 So I don't even bother. I am so glad that others promote my stuff since most of my sales come from third party promotions. 

[SandyMDesigns]

I have two blogs and occasionally write on some sites. But I am not sure that it is worth it either. I have to agree with you.

[mylittleeden]

I post directly using the zazzle links, I am more interested in getting my products and art out to public, not worried so much about referrals but of course they are nice. I use mainly group boards too on pinterest. But I miss the text not being for my particular items but auto generated and generic. With the loss of tags and editing I rarely get anything from pinterest anymore, referral wise but do get some traffic in. Hopefully some will chime in with a better solution but still quick ways to use it now. I posted a drawstring bag today it is showing in stock at zazzle, but it reads on pinterest as out of stock 🙁 and gives no description of the item either. I feel promoting is for those specialist out there not us that are better just designing. Here is what I got.

Link here shows drawstrings are in stock? https://www.zazzle.com/echidna_walking_with_a_flower_custom_name_pink_drawstring_bag-256532881347141...  T

How can we stop this sort of thing from happening, can Zazzle help us, better?

[randysgrandma]

A couple of days ago I posted a newly designed product on Pinterest. Within an hour it showed 2.2K views. That cannot possibly be right. 

[shellifitz]

When you build your own pins from scratch you have complete control over how they look.   I will usually take a screenshot of each view and either create a collage pin or a carousel pin with those images and paste the link, title and description into the pin builder.   or you can use the free version of Canva to design unique pins that are the exact right dimensions and use that image to build your pin.  see my page for some examples... here

[Barbara]

@shellifitz  I just spent only a few minutes looking at Canva as a way to build my own pins and was thoroughly impressed. Furthermore, it's a way to get around the problem those of us in the Promoter program have of not being able to promote people other than one's own self. The first chance I get to work on this, I will.

Thank you for mentioning it.

[shellifitz]

You are very welcome!  I love canva!   I have also used the create tool here at Z to create pins.  just set the dimensions to 1000x1500 px and you can create your own templates.  

[Barbara]

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@shellifitz wrote:

You are very welcome!  I love canva!   I have also used the create tool here at Z to create pins.  just set the dimensions to 1000x1500 px and you can create your own templates.  

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You just graduated to Emerald Level in helpfulness. Thank you!

[Ashrafhassan]

https://www.zazzle.com/i_love_you_baby_mug-168117919675600777

[angelafuller729]

• Pinterest accounts for 98% of my promoting/sharing efforts
• 80% of my pins are on my own boards
• Views are inexplainable  lol - my acct in the last year has hit 1M+ to 156k views, doing nothing different ...
• But people are clicking through! I've earned the highest amount of referrals this month than I have in any other year ($200+ just in referral fees)
• Titles and Descriptions are important.  Pinterest treats them differently on individual products than they do on collections.  Pic 1 is of a single product listing - my design description doesn't show, and Zazzle's product description only shows if you expand the product details arrow, however, Pic 2 shows if you post a link to a collection, your collection title and descriptions show  .  **Adding Pic 3 - because I also create pins in Canva. In this instance, I linked it back to a collection, which auto-adds the collection description.
  

[PAZP]

Most of us pinning have seen a huge drop in impressions in recent time. Even when we go into analytics overview and click the “Include Saved Pins” it looks like an improvement but its still much less than we’ve seen especially those of us who have been on there for years. 

I’m just curious if over the last week or two you’ve seen the majority of new pins that show ZERO views. Even when my stats went down over time I have a few views. 

So far this month I’ve only had one referral which is way down too. 

[angelafuller729]

My views are up a bit over the last two weeks, but yeah, it takes 2-3 days for the majority to even register as having any views. Outbound clicks are up 50% this past week but vast majority are related to Ukraine or holidays. Saved pins up 13% - no particular category stands out lol

[Marcia]

I've been getting that as well for the past few days. Really makes me wondering why I've even spending time pinning daily. I'm hoping it's a glitch.

[Marcia]

Ok, this is super depressing – I wrote to pinterest help this morning regarding the fact that I've gotten 0 views on pretty much all of the pins I've pinned in the last 2 days. (Pinning directly from Zazzle – I know, my bad but I previously I'd been getting SOME views...) This is the response I received back this afternoon: 

"Hi there,

Like other organic distribution platforms, engagement can increase or decrease over time. Pinterest takes different factors into consideration to distribute your Pins such as language, location, seasons, holidays, formats, trending topics, and type of Pin. When your Pin gets seen by someone, they can engage with it in different ways. Pinterest uses that engagement information to determine what content is most relevant to share with people.

Keep in mind, there's no set engagement window for Pins. It's possible that a Pin can gain engagement hours, days, months, or even years after its first published. This means you might see a brand new Pin have success right away, or older, previously published Pins suddenly increase in engagement.

If you see a discrepancy with your analytics, here are a few troubleshooting steps:

• Create regularly: Create Pins frequently and consistently to grow your following and increase your reach. Aim to create original content at least once a week. You can schedule Pins up to two weeks in advance that can be published in the future.
• Create your own Pins: Publish your own Pins with fresh, new content instead of saving other people’s Pins you find on Pinterest to see this reflected in your analytics. Pinterest no longer defaults to showing both published and saved Pins data in Analytics.Include saved Pins: The Analytics Overview page shows only published Pins data by default. Check the box next to Include saved Pins under the filters to include stats for Pins you’ve saved that are not linked to any of your claimed domains.

For more troubleshooting recommendations and a list of best practices, take a look at this Help Center article.

Thanks,
The Pinterest Team"

SERIOUSLY??? (BTW, anyone else notice this happening?) Should we not pin directly from Zazzle at all anymore? Ever?

[PAZP]

I do make the majority of my own pins simply so it is the 1000 x 1500 size. I even change that up a bit to see what happens. I've made idea pins and video pins. The idea pins have done well. The video pins used to do well but not so much anymore. I pin daily and lately have tried pinning at least five a day. So that reply you received @Marcia is basically telling me to do what I'm doing but I'm seeing A LOT of zero impressions. 

All that said, I've had to referrals so far this month so someone is finding the pins. 

[Marcia]

Sounds like you've been doing exactly what they want you to do. I've been pinning every product I make, that's why I pin directly from Zazzle. Occasionally I have made my own pins & I know I should be doing that a lot more. But after I've pinned I'd immediately see 1-7 impressions. And now, absolutely nothing, even the next day. Interesting that you're also seeing a number of 0 impressions, even with your own pins. Oddly enough today I had 2 referrals, which is a rarity for me. But then again, these were things I pinned awhile ago, when I was getting impressions. Ugh – I hate this – I just want to make products & not think about the promotion aspect...

[PAZP]

This is exactly what I was seeing like you @Marcia  ".... after I've pinned I'd immediately see 1-7 impressions. And now, absolutely nothing, even the next day. ". 

I'm hoping it's just another Pinterest adjustment that settles out and we start seeing impressions again. 

[SORS]

Hi!  I read an email from a Pinterest guru this morning and she said that Pinterest is having a glitch and that is why people are seeing 0 views on the pins.   Hopefully Pinterest will get this fixed soon. 

[Marcia]

That's what I was hoping. I did pin tonight out of habit & noticed once again I immediately got a few views on each brand new pin. And the pins that I've been pinning the past few days are also showing views. Even though I received the above response from Pinterest help. lol

[PAZP]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing that news @SORS 
I feel a bit better about it now. 

[PAZP]

I have noticed that over the last week my pins are getting a lot of initial zero impressions again. Then single digit impressions days later. Do you know if the Pinterest guru you know has mentioned this again. Thanks. 

[PAZP]

Lately when I go to my Pinterest accounts there are recommendations for specific boards. Today I saw a blast from the past that made me think of how many links are no longer any good.

This was the recommendation for one of my birthday boards.

 

[angelafuller729]

I spent about 2 hrs yesterday cleaning up old boards/pins.  Saw an increase of +2,000 views overnight.

[PAZP]

Wow, that's good to know. Maybe others will see an increase doing the same. I generally go through a board at a time and remove the products Zazzle no longer sells or designs I removed. 

[shellifitz]

There is no reason to delete old pins because they still lead to a Zazzle landing page where if you have a referral id link you can still earn a referral on anything they buy.   Many people will continue to browse Zazzle even though the product they linked from is no longer available. 

[PAZP]

Maybe people will continue to browse Zazzle if they weren't looking for something in particular and like browsing as we do on Pinterest. It's great that the referral will still be attached but for me the old pins have a RFID and that kills my referrals since I'm in the PP2.

If I get a 404 link for a particular search I just go back to another search option. BUT then again people call me a weirdo and I wear that badge honorably. 😂 I have no patience for dancing around when I'm searching for something in particular.

[angelafuller729]

I have to disagree on this one if you are part of the Promoter Program - there is no referral ID added to your pins.

[shellifitz]

Well yes, if you are only using clean links that won't help you.   Personally I have noticed my numbers drop when I delete pins or boards so I stopped doing that.   But we all have to find what works for us. 

[shellifitz]

just updating for those of you who remember our thread in the old forums.  My numbers finally stopped dropping and I am now making small gains.  I went from 3 mil monthly views to 595K  now I am back up to 620K and climbing a little each day.   I am not sure what turned it around but here is what I started doing.  

First I claimed my artist website ( which is with fineartamerica not zazzle)   

Then I started pinning handmade pins from my claimed website... a few each day. 

then I created some group boards for other faa artists to pin to 

then I joined some of their group boards and started using hashtags on my pins

then I created a few more idea pins ( this is hard because the pin machine at Pinterest doesn't always work) 

Then I started creating promo pins for my Zazzle products and my affiliate Zazzle pins and scheduling them with the Pinterest pin scheduling tool 

I also started using the frames when I post using the nifty tool (so that the pins are unique) 

I started repinning pins from other artists and starring the pins they pin to my group boards

I started following more people (and I have always followed back every real person that follows me) 

I have been creating new boards (a few every week and pinning to them) 

I have been pinning random stuff that has nothing to do with promoting to some of my oldest boards that I created 10+ years ago. 

I never delete pins or boards unless I have mistakenly pinned to the wrong board.  If I want to clean up my page I make boards private rather than deleting them. 

I think all of this taken together has helped because now instead of only mass pinning and looking like a auto pin bot I have been acting more like a person. 

One more thing I would note that may have helped me is that each day I do something different than the last day and usually about one day a week I do nothing on Pinterest at all.  

One more edit:  atm my referrals are way down but I have faith that they will pick back up soon.  I think it is more to do with current events than anything I am doing or not doing on Pinterest.  Most referrals I have ever gotten have been from older pins that I pinned months or even years ago according to the tracking codes. 

[PAZP]

Thanks for your thorough update @shellifitz 

I haven't changed too much on my three accounts but I pin at least five pins daily on two accounts and at least one daily on my affiliate account via the Pinterest scheduling tool.

Except for that glitch period identified by @SORS my meager account stats are improving. Although I noticed today that one dropped by 2000 impressions even though nothing seems to have changed. 

I still make all but a very few of my pins. I generally don't like sharing from Z because I don't get to see what the link looks like and being in the PP2 I won't earn a referral if one of those shortened links is used for that pin. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So, I'll keep on keeping on because that's all I have to promote my products. 

[Barbara]

I just discovered something on Pinterest I don't like at all--unless I'm missing a beat somewhere. Once posted, you can't edit anything on it. The little editing pencil doesn't appear the way it does when using either Zazzle's or Pinterest's pin-it button.

Never mind. I found Edit in a whole different place from where I expected it. 🙂

[PAZP]

I didn't want to start a new thread to ask this Pinterest question so I'm adding it in here.

Pinterest has a new tip that shows you can add multiple photos to one pin by resizing and adding more images. I’ve tried several browsers and multiply times to make it work. Each time I attempt to reduce the first image it enlarges the photo instead.

Has anyone tried making a pin with multiple images and if so how did you get it to work? 

[tracytrends]

Great 2022 catch-up thread - thank you.

I'm curious if anyone has any organization or strategy tips on how you handle Pinterest when you delete products or maybe your products are hidden due to "optimization needed". I've been away for a bit and noticed that when optimization is needed, any link to that URL is a dead link - which means anything Pinned won't bring a sale.

So I've been brain storming on a way to manage this.
- For starters, I know I shouldn't have anything in "optimization needed" status, so I will have to make a note to check that monthly.
- But let's say I look at the design and decide to delete vs optimize it. Then, the question is, "How to locate the pin and delete the pin?"

What does everyone do? Do you only post sold items? Do you have a tip to structure boards?
- I was thinking of having a board where I move sold so onlu some boards would have unsold, and maybe then I can find ones I want to delete. (I've a few stores, so many items, so this is sort of a pain)
*That's as far as I got brainstorming on how to avoid dead links, looking for ideas

[tracytrends]

Sorry, Follow up question. (I guess we can't edit in the new forum???)
If I have a design that says "Optimization Needed" and I change KW and change it to Direct Only, will the link work?
- And this also got me thinking about the 100K limit for products. Is that limit only for the marketplace?
- Could I create 200K products, have 100K in the marketplace and 200K linking from Pinterest (which would include an extra 100K direct only links)?

[Ashrafhassan]

https://www.zazzle.com/mohamed_salah_award_photo_print-190705428250261252