Looking for Pinterest tips and feeling scattered? You’re in the right place friend. Whether you’re an established brand or just starting out (I have experience as both), you might be believing these common myths. Let me help you sort them out.

There is just so. much. information. out there. Here’s the good news: I have no patience for doing things that don’t make a direct impact (who has time for that?!). I work as a Director of Content & Community for a brand by day and spend nights (and often weekends) creating content for my entertaining blog. I’ve been doing this combo for nearly EIGHT years so I do know a thing (or two!) about time management. I also know how easy it can be to about read something you’re struggling with and simply take it as truth. I don’t want you to do that. I hate to hear fellow bloggers and business owners feeling defeated, confused, and overwhelmed. That’s 100% why I started “talking shop” here. And that’s why I’m sharing 5 Pinterest marketing myths and mistakes to avoid.

Before we jump in, I just want to say that I don’t always share the most popular of strategies. They likely aren’t the same things you’re reading other places but they are my truths and exact strategies I use . I have had a lot of success building brands on social media since 2006 and am a thought leader in my field. I don’t like fluff, and I don’t like to focus on things that don’t produce results. Just thought I’d get that out of the way before we jump in. 🙂

MYTH: There are “best” times to post to Pinterest. 

TRUTH: It doesn’t matter when you pin, just that you DO pin (and do so regularly).
MORE: If you read this post on increasing Pinterest traffic, you’ll recall I told you that binge Pinning is 100% fine. This is because Pinterest doesn’t push out all of your pins in real time. Instead, they use an algorithm to drip out your Pins to your followers’ feeds based on really smart criteria that their really smart developers have created. I don’t pretend to be able to explain it. I just pin, and know my content will be seen when it’s seen. This is a good thing friends.

MYTH: You shouldn’t Pin the content back-to-back to different boards because Pinterest will “ding” you.

TRUTH: You should certainly never Pin the exact same image to Pinterest. Rather, you should create a few versions of a Pin that points to your content. Not only will Pinterest see each Pin as “fresh” content which is a plus, you will be able to see what type of images people engage with. Now, about Pinning back-to-back. Pinterest does not really care if you pin that content to all 5 of your applicable boards. In fact, they don’t really care if you pin it to 10 boards. Now, if you pin the same image back-to-back say, 100 times, you’ll probably trigger their spam filter. But you’re not going to do that. However, it would be BETTER if you Pinned 1-2 of those new Pins, and then used Pinterest’s scheduling tool to have those other Pins go out over the next few days. So, save yourself some time and go ahead and pin those cocktail Pins to your “Cocktails” and “Recipes” boards and then schedule them to your “Summer” and “Entertaining” boards for later in the week. Make your life easier and just get it done at once!
MORE: Now I hear you saying, but then when someone goes to my recent pins, it’s going to be obvious I pinned it like 5 times. To that I say, don’t worry because NO ONE is going to your recent pins. The only people might are fellow bloggers who are stalking you ;). The average Pinner never goes to profiles. They simply log in and browse their feed or begin searching. The only reason you might not want to do this aggressively is if you have a Pinterest widget on your blog or website that pulls in your most recent Pin. That could look weird if the whole thing was one image repeating. I get around this by closing out my Pinning session by pinning five images I would want displayed on my blog to ensure those are what are displayed until I pin again.

MYTH: You should keep making new boards so Pinterest gives you boost in their system.

TRUTH: I hear a lot of people fretting over how many boards should they have, should they be creating new ones, how often? Honestly this does not matter. Creating new boards alone, is not something that will give you a boost. Pinterest just wants to see you logging on, pinning (from outside of Pinterest), and Re-Pinning (on Pinterest), consistently. That will make you appear to be an engaged user that is providing value to the platform and help that will boost your visibility. Of course, creating boards that are relevant to your ideal reader and customer cannot hurt. But it’s not something to stress over or to force. Honestly, I haven’t created a new board in over a year on either my brand account or personal account. This one, you can just let go. You’re welcome.

MYTH: You should have custom Pinterest board covers that are branded and beautiful.

TRUTH: The first truth here, is that board covers are a big pain to make. Now with that said, it’s also not going to really move the bar for your blog, brand, or business. If you happen to have extra time to spend doing that, and it would make you feel good–go for it. But like I mentioned above, users don’t really go to your profile and aren’t really judging your board covers. Your time would be better spend focusing on the content you are Pinning.

MYTH: You should delete old pins that have no Re-Pins

TRUTH: I’ll admit my instinct is to never go backwards. Focusing on things in the past takes up valuable time and energy from moving forward with things that will boost your business. However, I wanted to double check this one since so many other articles advocate deleting old pins with no/low Re-Pins. I reached out to my Pinterest contact and he confirmed my instinct, this does not matter at all. A lot of people report seeing a boost in their Pinterest performance after deleting a bunch of old pins but this could be attributed to something else they were doing, or just be a coincidence. As an entrepreneur, or if you have a lean team, you should always be pushing forward. Don’t spend too much time going backwards. This one is one of those things you should not waste your time doing. Trust me. Deleting pins with low engagement will not gain you any advantage.

Were you wondering about one of these areas above? I hope after reading through these “truths” you feel a little less overwhelmed and more clear on what matters (and what you can let go). It’s easy to overthink things when it comes to social media–here’s to you focusing on strategies that will boost your business and avoiding these common Pinterest marketing myths.

Let me know in the comments if there are other areas you’re struggling with. I’d love to help!

Want more Pinterest marketing tips?

• How to create strong Pinterest descriptions that drive traffic.
• Traffic slump? 3 ways to boost Pinterest traffic, now.
  
• 3 Things you might be doing wrong on Pinterest.

And, if you like actionable strategies that will help you increase success from Pinterest, check out my course: Insider Pinterest Masterclass. 

Tori Tait is sharing her experience as a Content Director and Pinterest expert. Since 2006 she's been helping entrepreneurs build their businesses online through simple & smart marketing strategies.