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I recently watched a FB video hosted by Alissa Meredeth who is a Content & Marketing Manager at Tailwind as well as Jeff C. of Manly Pinterest Tips blog. It was a wealth of information and although the subject was not group boards, this statement was spoken out loud by Alissa.
"Pinterest Group Boards are being devalued."
I know many of you spend lot's of time creating and participating on group boards. The speakers did not go into more details about this subject but I thought you all should know.
Group boards are pretty obsolete. If you are participating in them and have not seen results, my advice would be just don't waste you time with them.
For all we know, this statement may mean Pinterest will do away with them. At the very least the pins on group boards will not be shown predominately in feeds.
Just food for thought.
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Well that's just great! Ugh. I get a lot of traction from group boards. My reach skyrocketed once I made some of my own and joined a bunch of others. Pinterest is getting kind of junky, in my opinion. Too many pins that are just "5 Reasons Why You Should Take This Supplement," "Do These Three Things To Eliminate Wrinkles!" and related nonsense. Lynn-Marie Gildersleeve wrote:I recently watched a FB video hosted by Alissa Meredeth who is a Content & Marketing Manager at Tailwind as well as Jeff C. of Manly Pinterest Tips blog. It was a wealth of information and although the subject was not group boards, this statement was spoken out loud by Alissa.
"Pinterest Group Boards are being devalued."
I know many of you spend lot's of time creating and participating on group boards. The speakers did not go into more details about this subject but I thought you all should know.
Group boards are pretty obsolete. If you are participating in them and have not seen results, my advice would be just don't waste you time with them.
For all we know, this statement may mean Pinterest will do away with them. At the very least the pins on group boards will not be shown predominately in feeds.
Just food for thought.
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I really wish Pinterest would figure out what they are... They keep trying to recreate themselves and they are losing their focus.
I think if they do get rid of group boards that might be a gamble they lose, seeing how popular they are with pinners... I could see a huge exodus of people from the platform happen that way.
I have a few that I made and lots more that I just belong to and that is where almost all the Pinterest action is at, according to my Pinterest analytics.
Of course sometimes these blog internet gurus get it wrong.
Like a while back when they were recommending that you delete pins and boards, I didn't do either and saw no negative effects, and now we hear that Pinterest actually frowns on deleting boards and pins.
I think I will ride this one out also and just keep doing what I am doing and see what happens.
All the hoop jumping to keep sites happy is not appealing to me.
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Sometimes I think the changes and flip-flops we see in sites such as Pinterest is just people trying to justify their employment.
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Colorwash wrote:Sometimes I think the changes and flip-flops we see in sites such as Pinterest is just people trying to justify their employment. I think you might be on to something there...
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AugieDoggyStore wrote:
Pinterest is getting kind of junky, in my opinion. Too many pins that are just "5 Reasons Why You Should Take This Supplement," "Do These Three Things To Eliminate Wrinkles!" and related nonsense.
It was those types of pins that brought me into Pinterest. Those were the only kind I ever saw long before I ever saw anything from Zazzle. It was those types of pins, along with DIY Projects, Recipes, and the like (all of which I have boards for) that Pinterest was all about. The boards I have based on those types of pins get a lot of attention, re-pins, etc. None of it is nonsense if it can help someone in some sort of way.
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Gina ©gleem wrote:AugieDoggyStore wrote:
Pinterest is getting kind of junky, in my opinion. Too many pins that are just "5 Reasons Why You Should Take This Supplement," "Do These Three Things To Eliminate Wrinkles!" and related nonsense.
It was those types of pins that brought me into Pinterest. Those were the only kind I ever saw long before I ever saw anything from Zazzle. It was those types of pins, along with DIY Projects, Recipes, and the like (all of which I have boards for) that Pinterest was all about. The boards I have based on those types of pins get a lot of attention, re-pins, etc. None of it is nonsense if it can help someone in some sort of way. Oh I like recipes and decorating ideas and things like that. The pins I'm talking about are sketchy topics leading to sketchy websites. There's so many of them. I delete them from my group boards as fast as I can.
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AugieDoggyStore wrote:Gina ©gleem wrote:AugieDoggyStore wrote:
Pinterest is getting kind of junky, in my opinion. Too many pins that are just "5 Reasons Why You Should Take This Supplement," "Do These Three Things To Eliminate Wrinkles!" and related nonsense.
It was those types of pins that brought me into Pinterest. Those were the only kind I ever saw long before I ever saw anything from Zazzle. It was those types of pins, along with DIY Projects, Recipes, and the like (all of which I have boards for) that Pinterest was all about. The boards I have based on those types of pins get a lot of attention, re-pins, etc. None of it is nonsense if it can help someone in some sort of way. Oh I like recipes and decorating ideas and things like that. The pins I'm talking about are sketchy topics leading to sketchy websites. There's so many of them. I delete them from my group boards as fast as I can. I do everything in my power to avoid posting links to sketchy sites. And I try to clean up things when I can to make sure links are still working.
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Shelli Fitzpatrick wrote:
I think I will ride this one out also and just keep doing what I am doing and see what happens.
I believe this course of action is the best. If you are not seeing results don't bother. It would be interesting if you used a separate tracking code for group boards to determine what sales from Pinterest were from them. That would be the true measure of their worth. The video I watched as a gold mine of info. Funny Shelli you should mention the deleting of pins. This advice I got from a big blogger (not the gentleman that was in the FB video I watched) and I remember telling you all about it. Alissa and Jeff were both saying they had heard about this as well and kind of knew the blogger but didn't say their name. Both Alissa of Tailwind and Jeff said stop deleting pins. They mentioned it was just a waste of time. Just like changing descriptions or adding #'s to old pins. It does nothing for you. More things to stop doing... stop making board covers. Stop changing other peoples descriptions. Stop repinning your own pins within your own boards. It's better to pin fresh from the source again. But even if you just repin from Zazzle not even changing the description will help. P only "sees" the image and url. So effectively if you are just repinning with the same image it doesn't count as a new pin. Best practice is to repin the same url destination with a different image.
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Lynn-Marie Gildersleeve wrote:Shelli Fitzpatrick wrote:
I think I will ride this one out also and just keep doing what I am doing and see what happens.
I believe this course of action is the best. If you are not seeing results don't bother. It would be interesting if you used a separate tracking code for group boards to determine what sales from Pinterest were from them. That would be the true measure of their worth. The video I watched as a gold mine of info. Funny Shelli you should mention the deleting of pins. This advice I got from a big blogger (not the gentleman that was in the FB video I watched) and I remember telling you all about it. Alissa and Jeff were both saying they had heard about this as well and kind of knew the blogger but didn't say their name. Both Alissa of Tailwind and Jeff said stop deleting pins. They mentioned it was just a waste of time. Just like changing descriptions or adding #'s to old pins. It does nothing for you. More things to stop doing... stop making board covers. Stop changing other peoples descriptions. Stop repinning your own pins within your own boards. It's better to pin fresh from the source again. But even if you just repin from Zazzle not even changing the description will help. P only "sees" the image and url. So effectively if you are just repinning with the same image it doesn't count as a new pin. Best practice is to repin the same url destination with a different image. Interesting. The fresh pins point is one reason why I would think group boards were valuable. Because the board counts as one of your own and the pins on it do also in a way. Another is all the viewers the board gets count for you for whatever that is worth. But the biggest reason is the increase in potential buyers who might be among those viewers. When I pin to a board you created now my followers and yours can see it. It is kind of like how a retweet works on Twitter.
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So here's a thought/question:
Zazzle-focused group boards: Pins by many users, presumably from many different Zazzle stores.
vs.
Curated Zazzle-focused boards: One user pinning from many different Zazzle stores.
Does the devaluing of the former indicate anything concerning the future of the latter?
I'd like to think curating adds more value, but maybe that depends on how one is doing the curating. For example:
Is it better to devote a board to a particular theme with many associated products, or to a specific product with many different themes represented? Or is this a case of "six of one, half dozen of the other" as the saying goes?
Maybe one can combine both successfully, with a board focused on many examples of a specific product that adheres to a particular theme (such as curating leggings designed with gradient colors.) This can get very niche, which seems like a positive thing. But if it links back to many different Zazzle stores, I'm now wondering if it will suffer the same fate as group boards.
Thoughts?
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Felosarix wrote:So here's a thought/question:
Zazzle-focused group boards: Pins by many users, presumably from many different Zazzle stores.
vs.
Curated Zazzle-focused boards: One user pinning from many different Zazzle stores.
Does the devaluing of the former indicate anything concerning the future of the latter?
I'd like to think curating adds more value, but maybe that depends on how one is doing the curating. For example:
Is it better to devote a board to a particular theme with many associated products, or to a specific product with many different themes represented? Or is this a case of "six of one, half dozen of the other" as the saying goes?
Maybe one can combine both successfully, with a board focused on many examples of a specific product that adheres to a particular theme (such as curating leggings designed with gradient colors.) This can get very niche, which seems like a positive thing. But if it links back to many different Zazzle stores, I'm now wondering if it will suffer the same fate as group boards.
Thoughts? Well lets not bury group boards just yet, but if they do go away, I think that single user boards with lots of Zazzle stores are not much different than recipe boards from many different websites. At least I hope not... because I also have Redbubble boards with lots of different redbubble artists, and ArtPal too. I seriously think this might be nothing to worry about though. I mean take out the group boards and a huge % of Pinterest disappears. Also Pinterest is always nagging me to add more pins to get more viewers. Why would they do that if they are fixing to do a giant slash and burn? BTW adding more pins and boards did increase my viewers a bunch.
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Shelli Fitzpatrick wrote:
BTW adding more pins and boards did increase my viewers a bunch.
Yup, they just want to make sure you're contributing with content. The choice to participate in group boards is up to everyone. I've never gotten a referral from a group board item. That's why I haven't been using them (I left them all last year) an I still get referrals.
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Lynn-Marie Gildersleeve wrote:Shelli Fitzpatrick wrote:
BTW adding more pins and boards did increase my viewers a bunch.
Yup, they just want to make sure you're contributing with content. The choice to participate in group boards is up to everyone. I've never gotten a referral from a group board item. That's why I haven't been using them (I left them all last year) an I still get referrals. That is encouraging! I haven't gotten referrals from them either as far as I know but I do get lots of views from them and the more eyes the more possible clicks and saves and maybe sales or referrals. I have no idea how many of my sales started with people who came to Zazzle from Pinterest... especially the 3rd party sales which make up over half of my sales history.
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Shelli Fitzpatrick wrote:I think that single user boards with lots of Zazzle stores are not much different than recipe boards from many different websites. But are those commercial boards? I think it's different if a user who doesn't have a business account is pinning things from all over. Shelli Fitzpatrick wrote:I seriously think this might be nothing to worry about though. I hope so.
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Felosarix wrote:Shelli Fitzpatrick wrote:I think that single user boards with lots of Zazzle stores are not much different than recipe boards from many different websites. But are those commercial boards? I think it's different if a user who doesn't have a business account is pinning things from all over. yes, that is true... you can get flagged and shut down if you pin as a business without a business account. I converted my account over a couple years ago so I could pin like a business. I am pretty sure all or most of the group boards I have are also business accounts.
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As an aside, here's what's recommended to pin in August:
Labor Day
Fall Fashion
Camping
Tailgating/Football
Organization & Routine Tips
Grilling Recipes
Fall Weddings
Halloween
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I think group boards are good for your stats. They (I think) bring more views to your content as well as whoever is in the group.
Before I started my group board my monthly views were nothing to brag about (below 10k). Now it's 5 times higher and growing every week. The spike started steadily with the group board AND I use Tailwind on and off to schedule and automate. I just got back on Tailwind day before yesterday.
(They've added IG integration in Beta... so I need to start designing some Zazzle-related IG posts. The only bad thing is I can't add a clickable link. I guess you need at least 10k followers for that.)
It would really suck if they did away with group boards.
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Did you guys know that pins on sub boards are not searchable according to this blog post?(authored by Elke Clarke and LM Gildersleeve and based on a recent FB live video interview) I belong to a few group boards that are subdivided, but I don't sub divide my own. I have slacked off on using group boards because I have been trying to focus more on making some better boards of my own, but was not aware that the pins I have made on those sub divided boards are not searchable. I am not sure why Pinterest would do that?
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MelroseOriginals wrote: I am not sure why Pinterest would do that? That seems odd, but good to know! Pinterest is constantly changing their minds about everything, so I don't plan on making sweeping changes. Group boards are working for me, so I'm just going to keep on doing what I'm doing. Devalued this week, the best ever next week, blah blah blah lol.
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AugieDoggyStore wrote:MelroseOriginals wrote: I am not sure why Pinterest would do that? That seems odd, but good to know! Pinterest is constantly changing their minds about everything, so I don't plan on making sweeping changes. Group boards are working for me, so I'm just going to keep on doing what I'm doing. Devalued this week, the best ever next week, blah blah blah lol. I am not making changes either. There is definitely to much back and forth with what is best practice. I may not bother to pin to sub boards anymore though.
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I don’t usually bother now anyway. I don’t have sections on my own boards, and it’s too much trouble to hunt down sections on other people’s boards.
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MelroseOriginals wrote:Did you guys know that pins on sub boards are not searchable according to this blog post?(authored by Elke Clarke and LM Gildersleeve and based on a recent FB live video interview) I belong to a few group boards that are subdivided, but I don't sub divide my own. I have slacked off on using group boards because I have been trying to focus more on making some better boards of my own, but was not aware that the pins I have made on those sub divided boards are not searchable. I am not sure why Pinterest would do that? Not searchable from where? I just searched up your section and mine from the a couple of the "unofficial" boards we belong to on Google. I had never tried that before so it could not have been in my search history already. Adding: Quote: There is definitely to much back and forth with what is best practice. I am getting to the point where when I hear "best practices" I wince... I like this saying better "go with what you know"
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Shelli Fitzpatrick wrote:MelroseOriginals wrote:Did you guys know that pins on sub boards are not searchable according to this blog post?(authored by Elke Clarke and LM Gildersleeve and based on a recent FB live video interview) I belong to a few group boards that are subdivided, but I don't sub divide my own. I have slacked off on using group boards because I have been trying to focus more on making some better boards of my own, but was not aware that the pins I have made on those sub divided boards are not searchable. I am not sure why Pinterest would do that? Not searchable from where? I just searched up your section and mine from the a couple of the "unofficial" boards we belong to on Google. I had never tried that before so it could not have been in my search history already. It doesn't specify where they aren't searchable so I just assumed everywhere. Interesting. Maybe within Pinterest itself? More testing of that might be in order.
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MelroseOriginals wrote:Shelli Fitzpatrick wrote:MelroseOriginals wrote:Did you guys know that pins on sub boards are not searchable according to this blog post?(authored by Elke Clarke and LM Gildersleeve and based on a recent FB live video interview) I belong to a few group boards that are subdivided, but I don't sub divide my own. I have slacked off on using group boards because I have been trying to focus more on making some better boards of my own, but was not aware that the pins I have made on those sub divided boards are not searchable. I am not sure why Pinterest would do that? Not searchable from where? I just searched up your section and mine from the a couple of the "unofficial" boards we belong to on Google. I had never tried that before so it could not have been in my search history already. It doesn't specify where they aren't searchable so I just assumed everywhere. Interesting. Maybe within Pinterest itself? More testing of that might be in order. a test of the search term on Pinterest "unofficial wedding designers" yielded me a page with lots of various wedding stuff but some of my vintage wedding items from that board was among them
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I wish there was a source to back up that claim.
I have an animal pacifier board that is broken down into sections by the alphabet and it gets repins all the time. I'd have to check, but it might be my best product board.
IMO Pinterest created sections for a reason and encouraged us to use them too. I don't understand why they would do that and then make all those pins "disappear" from searches. Doesn't make sense to me...
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An internal Pinterest search "wall art by Shelli Fitzpatrick"...
serves me up wall art that I have pinned to lots of different board sections.
When I opened some of the pins from the Unofficial trades show boards it says that is where it was saved to. These are boards where I only pin to my own sections, and yet they are searchable.
Also if there happened to be a problem with being found in searches we can also use hashtags on our pins.
I was also able to find some of them by doing a Google search...
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JB Designs wrote:I wish there was a source to back up that claim.
I have an animal pacifier board that is broken down into sections by the alphabet and it gets repins all the time. I'd have to check, but it might be my best product board.
IMO Pinterest created sections for a reason and encouraged us to use them too. I don't understand why they would do that and then make all those pins "disappear" from searches. Doesn't make sense to me... It was stated in the blog that the information came from a Facebook Live interview, but the link to it goes to a different page not a FB video. When I made my initial post I thought that the link provided within the blog that my forum post went to, went to the video, but I didn't click it to check. I don't really use FB so I don't know if the live videos stay on or go away when they are finished. It doesn't say the pins won't show up in peoples feeds for repins so maybe if they get repinned from a section to a non sectioned board (not sure the best way to phrase that) they then show up in searches. I don't know... or maybe the information from the live interview was misinterpreted.
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Shelli Fitzpatrick wrote:An internal Pinterest search "wall art by Shelli Fitzpatrick"...
serves me up wall art that I have pinned to lots of different board sections.
When I opened some of the pins from the Unofficial trades show boards it says that is where it was saved to. These are boards where I only pin to my own sections, and yet they are searchable.
Also if there happened to be a problem with being found in searches we can also use hashtags on our pins.
I was also able to find some of them by doing a Google search...
That answers what I said in my last post about the pins that you are finding maybe being repinned to other boards. I have no idea. I guess I just took the info at face value... Maybe someone can find the original interview on FB.
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JB Designs wrote:I wish there was a source to back up that claim.
I have an animal pacifier board that is broken down into sections by the alphabet and it gets repins all the time. I'd have to check, but it might be my best product board.
IMO Pinterest created sections for a reason and encouraged us to use them too. I don't understand why they would do that and then make all those pins "disappear" from searches. Doesn't make sense to me... I found your duckling3 paci doing an internal Pinterest search, when I clicked through it took me to your board that has 4 sections.
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