Be Careful When Using Pinterest For Business
Using Pinterest for business can be an exciting venture, full of potential for growth and connection. But navigating the platform's rules is crucial, especially when it comes to affiliate marketing.
I learned this the hard way when I lost access to my account after not fully adhering to Pinterest's guidelines. I have appealed and have lost the appeal. This is worse than a Bee sting.
Losing my account was rough and it all boiled down to not properly disclosing affiliate links in my pins. Pinterest requires you to include disclosures like "#ad" or "#affiliate" in the pin descriptions. This should've been easy—it's just a couple of hashtags and only on a few out of hundreds of my post. But those skips led to a suspension. Any pin that links back to a product or an article that contains an affiliate link requires this hashtag. You can use one or both. Do not skip this step!
The lesson here is clear: read and understand the platform's terms of service before diving into affiliate marketing. It is so important that I will say this again, "Every pin linking back to a product or blog post that contains even 1 affiliate link within it needs to be accompanied by that tiny but mighty hashtag disclosure". It's not just a suggestion; Pinterest seriously enforces this rule. I am their example!
Reflecting on my suspension, I'm sharing these insights to help others avoid similar pitfalls. Constantly updating yourself on the platform's policies and ensuring your pins are compliant could save you from losing access to a platform you rely upon for your business.
To maintain a sustainable presence on Pinterest, recognize the importance of following their rules and ensuring transparent communication with your audience. Use caution and always label your affiliate content correctly. These steps can help protect you from the missteps I stumbled over.
Let my painful lesson teach you how to avoid a suspension or account termination. I will gladly bare the hit if it prevents someone else from making the same mistake.
Do not give up hope if suspended. I created another email account and they have accepted it, and have verified my site. This is my second chance at life on Pinterest. It is my hope you can avoid this step. Starting over is a chore, but I can do it!
Disclosure- 60% AI Content with 40% of My Amazing Input.
Recent Comments
43
Thanks for sharing this, Michael.
Such a hard lesson to learn!
I always understood that you must use #ad if you’re pin is obviously an ad or if it’s simply a link to a product.
But, when your pin is simply linking to your blog post?
I have never done this, I guess I better start.
Good luck with starting over.
Jenny.
Hundreds of pins down. I am currently at 9 total. It will be a grind to get back to where I was, but I will do it eventually.
Michael
You are most welcome. I wanted to get it out there so others do not have it happen to them as well.
Good idea! I think I caught a WA training a number of years back that cued me into this.
So, thanks for bringing it up again!
Glad you were able to get back in with a new account!
Yes, with all the training over the years here at WA, sometimes finding something specific that was a video or blog post can be challenging when using the search feature.
I get it. You do your best to comply with everything you are aware of, and BAM! They sucker-punch you right in the wallet with small print.
Good question and I will get back to you on this. It was contained in the email I got from Pinterest but it did not include the specific rule or location. I will need to read up on it and will do so.
Michael
In the Community section. I have emailed again for further clarification. But the #ad or #affiliate was the reason highlighted for my termination. And it was on only a couple of post that I did not include them on that got me.
Is this the reason they told you that you got suspended, or did they not tell you? And who's pining strategy were you following?
It is the reason yes. And I am not following any certain strategy. Believe it or not I have a "Monkey See Monkey Do Approach". I flew into this blindly. I have watched some videos and have seen some training to be fair, but have never really applied a strategy per se.
See more comments
Thank you, Michael, for sharing this information. This journey is still so new for me, and I have been slow walking Pinterest and everything else associated with affiliate marketing because I am cautious, the dots have to connect, and I didn't want to do something in which I was completely unaware of the protocol or consequences or there is a gap in my knowledge, so I do things very slowly. It can be pretty trepidatious when you don't know what you don't know.
But I do know this...the information you shared, though a painful experience for you, will be significantly helpful to me and others. This is such a great community. It's not easy shining a light on our mistakes. You may have saved a lot of people starting out from bouncing into the same wall... and depending on our pain tolerance and persistence, some of us don't get back up as quickly and some of us not at all.