Pinterest Contest Do's and Don'ts

Pinterest has grown leaps and bounds and now has 31 million users. The demographics of its users appear to depend on the area from which they are coming from. In the United States the majority of the users are 86 percent women compared to the users in France which are generally male at 74 percent. 

The material for Pinterest is sourced from a variety of web sites. The user can create a board of their specific content and there are an unlimited number of boards for each user. The content is generated by users either by uploading pictures or “pinning” photographs from websites. This means that companies and non-profits can then generate their own content on a user page. Then users can “pin” from other user’s boards if they do not want to be the source for new content.

If you like I have noticed that Pinterest is even changing the internet landscape. Websites like Mashable, Flickr, Craigslist, and more have been changing their layout to be similar to Pinterest.

Pinterest is built on creativity. This is the creativity of the people creating the content and that of those curating their own boards. Contests have appeared on Pinterest in different forms:

•             Best pinboard. Users create a pinboard under the contest guidelines, and brands select the best one.

•             Most likes/repins. Contest entrants create pinboards and specific images for users to like and/or repin, and entrants win based on the number of likes/repins they get.

•             Sweepstakes entries. Random winners drawn from a pool of entries. People can enter the sweepstakes by repinning an image and/or following a brand on Pinterest. (p. 1)

The problem for Pinterest with these types of contests is that it affects the content of the website. If everyone decides to pin the same pin to be entered into a contest it negates the creativity. To combat this Pinterest has released their own contest rules that they wish users to follow.

7 Pinterest Don'ts 

1. Don’t suggest that Pinterest sponsors or endorses your brand or contest
2. Don’t require people to pin from a selection—let them pin their own stuff
3. Don’t Run a Sweepstakes where each pin, repin, board, like, or follow represents an entry.
4. Don’t encourage spammy behavior, such as asking participants to comment.
5. Don’t ask pinners to vote with pins, repins, boards, or likes
6. Don’t overdo it: contests can get old fast
7.  Don’t require a minimum number of pins. One is plenty.

While that narrows down the possibilities for contests Pinterest also released ways to create successful contest: 

4 Pinterest Do's 

• Remember that Pinterest is all about people discovering things that inspire them. Reward quality pinning over quantity.
• Make it easy to get involved with clear and simple instructions.
• Read our anti-spam measures to keep your contest fun and useful.
• Check out our branding guidelines if you’re going to reference Pinterest in any way.

 This will probably cause the actual creators and the participates in the contests to be more creative. Then it will increase the content on the site. Combating the threat of stagnate content on Pinterest. 

For more information on the subject check out the article Pin to Win Contest Guidelines Updated: What You Need To Know. Also check out the Pinterest for Business site.

I am curious.

Have you ever participated in a Pinterest contest?

Would you like to?

How do you feel about having the contest judged on content?

P.S. My Pinterest account is found in the top tool bar or here.


Emily