I Used To Love Pinterest

Dan, I agree. They have certainly gone down the tubes and I am inches from having everything of mine removed. I have a couple of images that have been pinned over and over one of which has never had a sale. From what I am seeing, not a great marketing tool. :(

Great points Dan. I never did feel Pinterest was useful for me as a promotional tool.

I quit using it a long time ago. I found a couple of my images had gone viral...but, they didn't link back to my site. I'm not sure how they lost their links, but I certainly had no sales from them!

Have to laugh. I finally just got active there within the past couple of months. That's me ... day late and a dollar short.

( rolling eyes )

I know some on here say it is a good source for sales but I have a hard time gaining any traction, it seams like unless you sell cooking supplies, our have this latest palio recipe not much happens.

TL Mair
http://tlmair.com

i dump stuff up there, get a couple hits a day from it, not enough to call it a success or anything. i never liked the format, its nearly impossible to find things. its great for craft projects, that's what its known for now. or if you want inspirations on how make a bird feeder from an old shoe or bottle. and you'll get lots. but try to find an image on there.. good luck. endless streams of images that may have your image or not. and it takes people away from my actual store. and of course there are like a 100 clones out there doing the same thing.

i'll post only new stuff there and will do so until it is no longer easy or if it dies.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

The only people left that love Pinterest are the very organized homemakers who love Martha Stewart.
A little birdie told me as she fluttered past my house on her way to Michael's for a craft class.


@Lois..well THAT'S why you lost your Aries status!!

on buzz feed its always known as -- we are going to do pintrest projects. aka craft projects. i think the site is meant for people that like collecting things, and that's it. i have a ton of boards dedicated to me, and while flattering, i don't think a single one went to my site, not to buy anyway. just to collect.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Why have all the big social media sites turned into junk? It's the classic corporate business model: find something that works, then pump it up bigger and bigger, push it harder and harder, until it doesn't work anymore.

Facebook could have been something really great. But no plan was ever big enough, no financial target lofty enough, to satisfy its investors. I notice that whenever I hear anyone talking about Facebook today, they're usually ridiculing it, or talking about how contemptible it is.

As to whether Pinterest is still a worthwhile promotional channel, I doubt it. But I'm in the process of putting all my work up there. Why? Because it's all that's left. Facebook and Twitter have become self-parodies. Flickr is just another place where your photos gather dust. What other online marketing possibilities are there, today?

I dump images there but don't feel Pinterest has helped me get any sales.

Whereas, FB has been the place where I can be seen by town residents. They are my target audience.

I use Pinterest for researching recipes and craft ideas.

"What other online marketing possibilities are there, today?"

Your website, your blog and your mailing list. Artists have 100% control over those. They will never morph into something you never intended, or cut your reach to one-third of your audience unless you pay to "boost," or suck visitors away from your site with rogue links or advertise car insurance next to your art.

Building your own ecosystem only seems like it will take longer than building someone elses ecosystem. It doesn't, and it's far more stable.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Raising hand shyly, I like Pinterest.

Putting hand down quietly.

Walking off before the stoning begins.

Dave

Of course the site has been barely working for the last two days.

Dave

I agree with Jim about the bigger they get the less effective they are.

I stayed away from pinterest from the onset. I couldn't see pinterest as an asset for an artist, and they get free use of our images for their program to function. However, pins on etsy last forever in their system. I got a message about a sold birdhouse someone had pinned in my etsy shop to see if I had anymore. I painted anohter one for her. So, I know of one sale that resulted from a pin.

Pinterest is weird - I'm not really 'getting' it, yet. I post pictures, other people see them because of 'interests', they 'pin' one mine on their own board, someone else might see their board - how does this end up going anywhere? But I'm not the target market for Pinterest so I'll always be an outsider, not really understanding the locals.

"I agree with Jim about the bigger they get the less effective they are."

Classic bait and switch, unintended or not. Build an enthusiastic audience then go public for outrageous amounts of investor cash based on "projected advertising revenue." Then open the advertising floodgates to prey on that audience.

The audience will stick around for months, possibly years giving each "improvement" a chance until they drift off to the next thing, leaving the advertisers to advertise to each other.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

i think its two things:

1. they made a platform without knowing how they would make money off of it, and now found a way.

2. it was a new big thing, and it was exciting and shiny. now its boring and common place. it was used a lot and now its not as interesting. i think pinterest right now, will become the MySpace of later on.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

Pinterest was always kinda iffy to me from an art promotion standpoint, just because I rarely saw people buy things off pinterest. It was such a crafty idea type place.....not really a purchase driven one, at least from my point of view.

The power of social media as a business, to me, is being able to reach people who WANT to be a part of what you do and over time turn that audience into sales. To me Pinterest was always behind Facebook in that regard. Twitter is kinda the same to me, it can be really powerful from a virility standpoint. Instagram has real promise to me......and its slow but I am starting to gain a little traction there.

The people I follow on instagram are all very compelling. I enjoy the platform.

"I agree with Jim about the bigger they get the less effective they are." I wonder if that applies to all web places.

Thomas, allow me to put words in your mouth :-) No wait, let me just expand on your post:

Sales are about interaction and engagement. Social media is called social because that is the intended purpose of the platforms. To the extent that artists interact and engage (rather than assume a "this is a store, fill the shelves" philosophy) is the extent that they will actually sell.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

I think the social networking sites of today will all end up with "free and ad-supported" on their tombstones. Until we all accept the idea of paying something for more powerful, flexible and worthwhile communication channels, we'll just continue to get more of the same.

I've figured out enough about Google Analytics that I'll be able to see if Pinterest generates any worthwhile traffic, once I get everything up there. I'm open to interacting with people on the site if there are ways to do that that are interesting and meaningful. Not seeing them yet, but maybe.

"Social media is called social because that is the intended purpose of the platforms." Well, maybe not really. That's the stated purpose; the real, intended purpose is to get you clicking on ads, or on posts from paying sources.

Don't trifle with an Aries, Marlene. Even a questionable one. heh heh

Well, I have used Pinterest. I am looking for a light fixture or a piece of furniture. I kind of know what I'm looking for, style wise. I type a description into google, click images, and get a huge page full of ideas. Many of which are from stores, but many of which are from ... you guessed it ... Pinterest. But you don't know that until you click the little Google images. Once on Pinterest, you've got a maybe 50-50 chance of the link not being broken.

Now logic would dictate that someone looking for wall art ... or tote bags ... or shower curtains ... would go through the same process. And ... maybe, just maybe, they'll land on a Pinterest page, with an unbroken link ... back ... to ... me.

: ))

Hope springs eternal.

Sounds like one big problem with Pinterest is that it's a forest of broken links. And that turns people off really quick.

Jim, my ratios were completely subjective. It may be worse, it may be better. I've never done a real test.

The problem I see with pinterest is people don't even follow the links. You don't have to.

Yes TL, I'm not sure if there is less useful content on the web or it's just harder to find behind all the scammy, spammy, click bait.

So LinkedIn is going to allow you to post photos of your lunch and cute little kittens?!

TL Mair
http://mairsphotography.com

When a big new shopping mall opens it has at least several interesting stores selling unusual stuff. A few years later it's full of t-shirts, hoodies and athletic shoes, and the big stores all have the same brands.

TL,

LinkedIn already does allow for that. But be wary, unlike FB, In users will disconnect.

Dave

So given the choice, knowing that the people that actually invest their money in things like Google, hoping to make a return on it, would you rather have to pay for each Google search you do?

I don't understand the thinking that all of this should be free to use and the people that invent and invest in these things should just do it so the rest of us have free Internet.

I particularly don't get it considering that the big complaint is coming from people that want to use all the facilities like, Google, Facebook, Twitter, all of the "free" stuff that is out there to put money in their own pocket selling their own artwork.

How would you suggest that these inventors and investors get their money back? You don't want to buy ads, you don't want to pay for the services in fees, you don't even want to see the ads.

Someone please tell me how that works? How do people keep inventing and investing in free stuff and never get their money back or a return on the investment?

Floyd,

I just hope Dan hangs in there. We need to be supportive. His expertise is not working like it used to.

Dave

@ TL, Andrew and others looking to clean up your ad-laden web experience:

Install Adblock. It's free, available for all popular browsers and kills nearly all ads throughout the web. It completely changes your YouTube experience. No ads.

Adblocker for Gmail is free and removes ads and banners from Gmail.

Firefox has a neat little button built into their browser called "Reader View." If you've ever tried to read an article on a poorly designed site with lots of visual clutter and too-small text ONE click shows you just the article in a readable font. Nothing else. Beautiful! Works on most sites and in many cases will defeat sites who will not let you in unless you disable your adblock software. Click on Reader View before the page fully loads and you're in.

The next major update for Google's Chrome browser will have an adblocker built in. They have seen the light and are desperately trying to get ahead of the adblocker curve. Their blocker will only permit "better user experience" ads. That is yet to be defined, but if an ad is non-compliant it gets zapped.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

DAVID BRIDBURG, your video is off-topic and irrelevant to this thread. Please remove it. Your comments thus far are also disruptive. If you can't constructively contribute then also please remove yourself.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Chuck recommended Bluecoat K9 for blocking entire sites and speeding up your surfing. See only what you want and block out all other attemps, the net will run faster.

Dave

Dan,

You were an expert you should be able to discuss these things calmly and rationally.

Dave

Back to the topic of Pinterest's viability.

All my pins lead to my FAA AWS, the pixels.com domain. This to me is a big risk factor if I'm going to spend the time pinning all my work. What happens if FAA goes away, or changes hands, and all those URLs break? Would I have to pin everything all over again?

While I'm happy to use FAA for print sales, I wish there were a way i could use my own domain as an intermediary for the pins, so I could patch things up if the current links broke.

DAVID BRIDBURG, remove that video. Last warning.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Jim,

If you use the P button for your browser, generally an extension wont that work?

Dave

Dan,

I wont be intimidated.

Dave

Sorry folks, I'm closing this until I can get a mod to remove Bridburg's video. Hopefully back up soon.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Removed. David, this is Dan''s thread. He asked you not to put that in his thread. Respect others as you expect respect, it works both ways.

Keep on topic now please everyone

After reading this thread I've yet to go look at my Pinterest site. Guess I better take a peek at it and see what's up.

If you can't constructively contribute then also please remove yourself. -Dan

Wise words to live by, not just to say to others who happen to have a different point of view. That's my constructive contribution.

I don't mind seeing ads on the internet. I get that that's why things are free. Internet ads are like TV or radio commercials.

The reason I say I used to like the internet, is all the useless garbage that it has become filled with. So many of the stories and articles are a place to park advertisements first, being useful and informative is not the primary consideration of most current day internet drivel.

I also feel that social media gives everyone a voice with an incredibly low barrier to entry, which is starting to look more and more like a terrible thing to me. At one point, if you wanted to put something out there on the web, you had to take some initiative. Pay for a web host, learn a little html etc.... and you had to have worthwhile content to get people to come and see your site.

I feel like social media has caused people to mindlessly click on whatever distracting links are fed to them, instead of actively searching for information and ideas they want to fill their heads with. Web developers have obliged, by filling sites with fake news, celebrity gossip and rumors, superficial how to articles, and other uninspired junk.

"How would you suggest that these inventors and investors get their money back? You don't want to buy ads, you don't want to pay for the services in fees, you don't even want to see the ads."

Fine Art America has no ads whether members are paid or unpaid, visitor or buyer. My belief is that Sean wants users to have the best experience possible. Ads would tarnish that experience.

People will happily pay for things they want/need. If these internet companies want people to pay them, they simply need to create something worth paying for.

When investors gamble that an internet startup will be successful most of them realize that they could lose their money. Many have.

When an internet company sells users and investors a slick, beautiful Plan A, but then switches to a not-so-user-friendly Plan B in order to be successful they *should* take some heat. They *should* lose their audience and catch flack from investors.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Pinterest is closely held company.

I like it, but it is very cluttered. If it was not the ads it would be the pins with the most saves. Either way it is cluttered. I get good traction with P. Not everybody does. I am not very concerned much of the time with what everybody else is posting.

Dave

"How would you suggest that these inventors and investors get their money back? You don't want to buy ads, you don't want to pay for the services in fees, you don't even want to see the ads."

Fine Art America has no ads whether members are paid or unpaid, visitor or buyer. My belief is that Sean wants users to have the best experience possible. Ads would tarnish that experience. "

You are missing my point. FAA is designed to sell art, FB or none of the other SM outlets are selling art or any other products except through paid advertisers. Selling art is FAA's profit center, their revenue stream. Selling art and membership.

The complaint here is that SM is not selling art at a high enough rate to satisfy many people here. But they are selling ads and the ads annoy those same people. That is their profit center, their revenue stream. FAA makes money catering to artists and art buyers. FB and other SM does not. They make their money catering to advertising.

If you (by you I mean people in general) do not want to pay a monthly fee to use FB and you do not want to buy advertising and you basically do not want to see advertising, how would you suggest that they monetize their service?

Why should they be expected to cater to the needs of the people that just want to use the service for free and not even support the advertisers that are paying for the service?

With the logic being used here I guess Ford should be still selling the Model-T.

All business that survives and makes money over any period of time has to change with the times. They go to where the money is. They have a fiduciary responsibility to their investors to do so.

They have no responsibility to continue to give their service away for free to people that are just looking for free stuff so THEY can make money off it.

@Floyd, I never said anything was wrong with paid adds, I have, and will again in the near future pay for adds on FB, I understand that is how the game is played pay to play, my complaint with Google search is at the top of each page once you do a search there are getting to be tons of paid adds for you to click on, most of those adds are NOT relevant to the search, not really blaming google for that, I am sure the people buying those adds are spamming, Amazon come to mind, and yes I use amazon, that's why it bugs me when they have a paid add, I click on it and they don't really have that item, but here is something else you might like, yes that bugs me!

As for pintrest I keep posting there, I figure it can't hurt, but that doesn't mean I understand the site,

Linkedin is another one I have trouble figuring out how to use it to help sell something, if I wanted a job I'd be golden!

Twitter just feels like it moves so fast it amazes me how anyone gets any traction from there, but I post to it, and there are some kind people who do retweet me, and I try to return the favor.

FB ust seams to be getting worse by the day, just so many memes and bickering on there.

This is all part of why I have my own web site away from FAA, I kind of let it slip during the holidays, but am working on it again now, trying to build content to interest google and people, to try and drive them to my AW, and yes Floyd I know you think that's silly, you've told me that is the past, the problem with FAA is people can come here and buy something, but there is nothing to keep them here, and keep them coming back, a blog and such on MY site could do that, and I have everything linked back to my AW, and it looks pretty seamless, as close as I could get it.

TL Mair
http://mairsphotography.com

Floyd, what you say makes perfect sense to me. It gives meaning to the saying "You get what you pay for" or don't.

Dan,

I went too far with that video. Sorry.

We each make of our career here what we want to make of it. I do not mind the down threads as some do.

You are not making sense of social media others are. As a newbie information based on that led me to look deeper.

I am not a successful marketer YET, but that wont stop me.

Dave

I just found the solution to the Pinterest Sponsored Pins problem. At least for the time being:

http://www.stoppromotedpins.com/

-- Hides Promoted and Picked For You pins on your Pinterest feed

-- Automatically hides unwanted pins every time you load your Pinterest feed

-- Dynamically adjusts your Pinterest grid layout after hiding unwanted pins

I've been surfing Pinterest for the last half hour and it's like going back to 2012. Absolutely gorgeous once again.

Pinblock is a free extension for your browser. F r e e. I may be getting ready to love Pinterest once again.



Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Thank you, Dan, for the classic earworm I've had for days......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e4nU8ikBJM