Several weeks ago Pinterest rolled out some changes to its guidelines for brands. One very important change was to its contest and sweepstakes guidelines. The following is a list of their Do’s and Don’ts in a world that had once heavily relied on Pin-It-To-Win-It contests:

Pinterest Contest Guidelines

 Whoa, Pinterest! That long list of Don’ts is significantly longer and more detailed than your list of Do’s. But what does it mean to brands? In a nutshell, no more Pin-It-To-Win-It contests, or at least not the way we have done them in the past. These new guidelines force brands and marketers to be more creative in the way they manage their Pinterest contests.  Pinterest wants contests to be more about the content, not the activity behind a pin. And this is a good thing for brands! Brands should inspire their customers and should reward it accordingly. And don’t be afraid that news about your content won’t spread like wildfire like it did in the past. Remember, great content on Pinterest finds it way in front of people on its own. You WANT people to look at a pin and say, “Hmmm… I like that!” and repin it on their own, not because they have to. THAT is a surefire sign of quality content.

Next stop for Pinterest? Pins that are more useful!

This is something that all brands should be really excited about!!!

So how exactly can pins be more useful? Well, let’s think about the origin of a pin. Here you are, looking at the latest pins on Pinterest- tralalalalalala -when BAM! You find a really sweet recipe that you want to try, for some of other day of course. So you pin it to one of your boards. Several days later you are having trouble deciding what to make for dinner when you remember that recipe you pinned on Pinterest, so here you go, looking through your pins and well, there it is…

Pinterest makes pins more informative!

And how sweet is it that all the ingredients that you will need for this Oven Fried Chicken recipe are located right on the pin, like a little recipe card?

Too cool for school!

Right now there are only three types of rich pins that are available:

Product pins for things like clothes, cookie cutters, air plants and furniture. Pins will include pricing, availability, and where to buy (updated every day!)

Recipe pins from your favorite bloggers and websites. Pins will include cook time, ingredients, and servings

Movie pins. Pins will include content ratings, cast members, and more

To get started, you will need to prepare your website with meta tags, test out your rich pins and apply to get them on Pinterest. If you’re not technical, feel free to contact us so we can help get this going for you!

I really like the direction that Pinterest is going with their changes. They seem to be really trying to make in easier for brands to monetize using Pinterest without compromising the content integrity of Pinterest, as well as the brands that use it. Way to go, Pinterest!

Only 3 hours???

 If you have a Pinterest for Business account but are not sure how to maximize your efforts, contact us today for a FREE Social Media analysis.

Don’t have a Pinterest for Business account and have considered starting one but you are not sure if Pinterest is the right platform for your business? Contact us for a FREE Social Media Analysis.

Pinterest Gets More Pinteresting has been written by Jessica Damiani, Social Media Coordinator for Webhead Interactive, serving the Tampa Bay ans Surrounding areas

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Blog by Webhead Interactive