Are You Breaking Your Promises on Pinterest?
I was searching Pinterest to repin content for a client’s account, and I was frustrated by attractive graphics with catchy titles that led to lackluster content that wasn’t worth repinning.
That experience is probably what made me zero in on a single phrase from Demian Farnworth in a Hangout on Air with Jason T. Wiser. He said that a headline is a promise.
Yes! That was exactly my frustration with Pinterest.
Those bloggers with the sub-par content have mastered the art of the pinnable image. They take a bright photograph or a snazzy vector background from a graphic subscription site and overlay a catchy headline in pretty fonts.
The image draws you in to click and repin. But if you visit the article, you are left disappointed because the content is no where near the quality you expected from that spiffy image and headline. Sometimes the article doesn’t even parallel what the image portrays at all, and you feel deceived by the virtual bait and switch.
Bloggers, your headline is a promise, and your pinnable image is a promise, too. If it doesn’t deliver, then you have disappointed a potential reader and harmed your reputation.
If people repin your broken promise image without clicking over, what have you gained? More people on Pinterest will have a chance to be disillusioned by your broken promise now.
What if someone is enticed to click? When they discover your broken promise, they will simply hit the back button. Sure, they are a blip of traffic (with a high bounce rate). But what good is that blip in your overall strategy? You have not gained a follower, a subscriber, or a customer.
Blog with integrity. Make sure that the quality of your written content parallels the beauty of your pinnable image so that you are not breaking promises on Pinterest.
