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
- Don’t suggest that Pinterest sponsors or endorses your brand or contest
- Don’t require people to pin from a selection—let them pin their own stuff
- Don’t Run a Sweepstakes where each pin, repin, board, like, or follow represents an entry.
- Don’t encourage spammy behavior, such as asking participants to comment.
- Don’t ask pinners to vote with pins, repins, boards, or likes
- Don’t overdo it: contests can get old fast
- 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
I'm not really sure I can get behind contests on pinterest. I love the concept because it encourages creativity, but when ot comes to judging, who is to say that one person's creativity is better than the other? Really makes you think.
ReplyDelete♥ Em from Mascara Warrior
Yeah I think it can cause some conflicts. There would have to be specific guidelines for how the pins would be judged. I have noticed a lot of brands are still doing contests that are not within the guidelines.
DeleteI am so glad you commented on this! I actually posted this as part of one of my classes.
Emily