Important Pinterest Tips You Need To Know

 I hate getting in trouble. I always try to do the right thing, so it makes me sick to my stomach when I get confronted by someone for making a mistake. It’s even worse when you didn’t know you did anything wrong.

I got my first email from Pinterest that a complaint was filed about something I pinned to my I Heart Faces Pinterest Boards.

Email From Pinterest:

We’re getting in touch to let you know we received a copyright complaint and have removed one (or more) of your Pins. The complaint wasn’t directed against you or your Pin; it was directed against another user’s Pin of the same content.

While many copyright owners are happy to have their content on Pinterest, we recognize that some do not want their content to appear on Pinterest, or did not receive attribution for the content. When a copyright owner sends us a complete notice per the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), it’s our policy to remove the Pin(s).

Again, this complaint was not directed at you, or anything you did: we just thought you’d like to know why we removed your Pin.

Happy Pinning and thanks again for using Pinterest.

The Pinterest Team

No big deal and Pinterest was very nice about it, but here is the kicker… I didn’t pin it! Or if I did, I don’t remember ever pinning it. I feel bad that someone was upset enough to file a complaint.

I think it might have been pinned to a group board by someone else. Or, maybe it was a photo that an employee pinned a few years ago? Plus, the complaint was from someone else’s pin, then Pinterest researched and found it on my boards as well.

Anyway, I don’t like to get in trouble. EEK! And want to remind you of a few Pinterest tips so you won’t get in trouble like I did.

1.  Don’t repin a photo unless you know the person pinning got it from the original source.

It’s the worst when you repin something great and it goes to a spam site, or later you get a complaint notice from Pinterest.

I usually repin from trusted friends who know how to pin the correct way. If I’m not sure, I will click through the pin to double-check and pin directly from the source.

There are some people who repin everything and never take the time to click through to see if the photo goes to spam or a copyright protected site.

How do you know if a website owner allows their photos to be pinned?

• Most bloggers love for you to pin their images, but a photographer, Etsy shop owner or artist might not. Even though you see a Pin It button, it will be harder to tell from now on if someone wants their photos pinned, because Pinterest just announced automatic pin it hover buttons over all photos on Chrome. They say more browsers are coming soon.

• You can also look at a website’s terms of use.

• A website might have the no pin code on their site. When you try to pin the image, it won’t work. Don’t take a screen capture and pin it anyway. I’m sure many people do this, so it’s another reason why you should be careful of what you repin.

• If you see a round-up of 100 full sized photos and a Pinterest button is embedded on each photo, the original artist might not have given the website owner permission to use that photo in their round-up. If you love the photo enough to pin it, be nice and click through to pin from the original source. Sometimes this might take you a few clicks to find the original. I have even had to Google the description of the photo to find the original source, as some roundups give no link or credit! See my blog post rant about this here.

• If you are not sure of what to do, pin the photo to a private board.

2.  If you have employees pinning to your boards, give them specific instructions and be sure to check in on what they are doing often.

I have heard of people trusting an employee to pin to their boards and then getting kicked out of good group boards because the employee was not following the board’s rules.

FYI- Did you know you are not allowed to pay for pinners or get paid to pin products to your boards?

Pinterest says this:

A business can pay someone to help them put together a board that represents their brand. For example, it’s okay for a guest blogger to curate a board for a local boutique’s profile. We don’t allow that boutique to pay the blogger to Pin products to her own boards. 

A person can be given commission by an approved affiliate network. For example, it’s okay for a blogger to get paid when someone purchases a product that blogger has Pinned. However, we don’t allow the blogger to be paid just to Pin.

3. Follow Pinterest’s guidelines.

I put a snippet of Pinterest guidelines above, but if you haven’t read all guidelines in a while, read them here.

Have you ever gotten into trouble with Pinterest or filed a complaint before? 

You might also like my 10 Do’s and Don’ts for How to Use and Grow your Following on Pinterest.

Originally published on February 19, 2014. Last Updated on May 15, 2021 by Amy Locurto

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