One thing that always tripped me up when I was new to Pinterest was understanding, formulating, and executing a Pinterest marketing strategy. There are a lot of ways that Pinterest is different from other social platforms, so posting like you would on Instagram or TikTok won’t be as effective.
A successful Pinterest strategy is more than just adding Pins to Pinterest. If you’re unfamiliar with the best practices for posting on Pinterest, you’ll likely make one of the mistakes listed in this post.
We’ve already talked about setting up your account correctly, creating content for Pinterest, and optimizing your website for Pinterest engagement. In this final Part 6 of the Pinterest Marketing Mistakes series, we’re going to talk about the actual posting strategy that brings all this together.
Table of Contents
Pinterest Strategy Mistakes That Limit Your Reach
Whether you’re just starting out or you’re trying to optimize your existing Pinterest strategy, knowing what’s working best now (as of June 2025!) will help you create a more effective strategy that gets you results without triggering spam filters or wasting valuable time.
This guide focuses on:
- How much you should really be posting to see the most growth without trigger spam filters
- How to stay consistent even if you don’t have time to create new Pins every day
- Why Instagram auto-posting and repinning your content hurts your reach and what to do instead
- Smart strategies for optimizing your boards and maximizing reach with your own Pins and curated content
- Best practices for promoting seasonal and time-sensitive content (and if you should)
The Pinterest Marketing Mistakes 6-Part Series
Hey, there! Welcome to the Pinterest Marketing Mistakes series here on Soft Digital Era!
I don’t know if you can tell, but I can be a bit of a yapper so I’m trying to do my best to keep this informative, but short and sweet. That said, I’ve still had to break this guide down into 6 parts to cover everything without being too overwhelming.
Check out the other posts when you’re ready!
- The 4 Biggest Reasons Why Pinterest Marketing Isn’t Working for You | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 1
- 6 Pinterest Account Strategy Mistakes Killing Your Reach | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 2
- 6 Reasons Why Your Pinterest Pin Designs Don’t Convert to Clicks | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 3
- 7 Pinterest Content Creation Mistakes Ruining Your Views & Clicks | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 4
- 7 Ways Your Website is Costing You Pinterest Engagement | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 5
- 8 Pinterest Strategy Mistakes That Limit Reach & Cost Clicks | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 6
8 Pinning Strategy Mistakes
While creating eye-catching Pins is important, you also need a strategy to consistently put out new Pins according to Pinterest’s best practices. Without a well thought out plan, you risk missing out on valuable reach through recommendations or search appearances. In the worst cases, you may have your account suspended for spammy behavior!
In this section, we’ll explore common mistakes that many creators make when uploading and saving new and curated third-party Pins, and how you can avoid them to maintain growth on Pinterest.
Saving too many Pins
Pinterest has changed a lot over the years and you may come across some old advice that tells you to be 50+ times per day. While Pinterest does reward consistent activity, saving too many Pins in a short period can trigger spam protections.
The fix:
Aim for a balanced pinning schedule. With Pinterest, less can be more! 1-3 Fresh Pins per day (or week if you’re still working on building up content) is all you need to get started, then you can gradually increase that to 5 Pins per day once you’re more established and have more content to share.
Pro Tip:
Unless you’ve just created a new account or a new Pin board, keep daily pinning to 25 Pins or less. Most established accounts (6-12+ months or older) see the best growth with anywhere between 5-15 Pins per day.
Saving Pins inconsistently
Since it’s heavily search based, posts on Pinterest have more longevity than any other platform (much like Google). However, this doesn’t mean you can just drop a Pin even now and then and expect your account to grow.
While it’s not as necessary to perform social actions such as liking or commenting with Pinterest, they still want you to be active on the platform. Pinning once in a while and then disappearing will hurt your reach in the long run, as the algorithm rewards consistent posting.
The fix:
Set up a consistent manual pinning routine or use a scheduling tool (either native and third-party) to space out your Pins evenly. Even if it’s just a few Pins daily or weekly, consistency will signal the Pinterest algorithm show your content more often. Even the old content!
Auto-posting from Instagram
I’ve already mentioned that Pinterest images perform best when they’re sized properly for Pinterest. Since it’s a search platform, you also need a description that specifically optimized for keywords most used on Pinterest.
Instagram image sizes are usually different from Pinterest’s and the Instagram captions are vastly different as well. Because of this, auto-posting can result in poorly formatted Pins that don’t perform well and may actually be hurting your reach.
I’ve also seen one example where an Instagram carousel uploaded with each slide as a new Pin. Yikes!
The fix:
Create separate graphics or rework existing images for Pinterest’s vertical orientation. Provide a relevant, keyword-rich description rather than relying on your Instagram captions. Also, ditch the hashtags!
Repinning too much content from others
While it’s okay to repin relevant content when you create a brand new pin board, it’s not necessary to rely too heavily on others’ Pins. The last thing you want is a viral Pin that doesn’t lead to your own content or help you earn from an affiliate offer.
The fix:
Focus on creating and pinning your own content. Only use curated content if it’s highly relevant to your niche and provides additional value to your followers.
Most of your repinning should happen when you create a new Pinterest board or want to optimize a board for a specific keyword. Adding high ranking pins will help Pinterest categorize your boards for that keyword faster.
Curated content is also great when you don’t have much of your own content to share, but need additional content so you don’t end up suspended for spam.
Pro Tip:
When I create a brand new Pinterest board, I like to add the top performing Pins for the keywords the board is targeting to the board. This will help Pinterest associate your own Pins with those top ranking Pins.
Repinning your own Pins
Remember, Pinterest wants FRESH images! Constantly repinning your old content without any updates won’t do you many favors with the algorithm and can even trigger Pinterest’s spam filters.
While it’s best to save a link to at least 5 related boards, you don’t want to do this through repinning/saving.
Reminder: A “repin” happens when you hit the “Save” button from within Pinterest.
The fix: If you want to reshare old Pins, refresh or redesign the Pin images, then link to the same content. This counts as fresh content on Pinterest. Make sure you save new graphics for your existing content into 5-10 different keyword-rich boards for best results.
Pro Tip:
Remember, your board names should be your target keywords. Choose enough keywords that best fit with your content and you’ll have plenty of boards to choose from for your Fresh Pins.
Saving Your Pins to only 1 board
Saving a Pin to only board will drastically decrease the amount of content you can post to Pinterest. You’ll also be missing out on tons of opportunities to associate your content with all the right Pinterest keywords.
The fix: Save the same Pin to up to ten relevant boards over time. Make sure the boards are genuinely related to the content and don’t spam unrelated boards.
Make sure you have enough boards to Pin each of you links to at least 5 times, but space out those Pins so the board doesn’t look spammy. If you don’t have enough you can always create some more!
Pro Tip:
Don’t get too granular with your board names. You don’t want to have a board where all you see is 1 link over and over again.
Ignoring seasons and Pinterest Trends
A lot of people get anxious when they see their traffic go from high numbers to low numbers. In most cases, this is just the result of changes in seasons or popularity of certain topics on Pinterest.
Building a strategy that takes advantage of seasonal content and trending searches can give your Pins a big boost. By ignoring popular trends, you might miss out on high-traffic opportunities.
The fix:
Use Pinterest Trends or watch for seasonal shifts in your niche. Pin seasonal or trend-aligned content ahead of time. For some topics, Pinterest can predict where trends are headed ahead of time.
Pinterest recommends pinning holiday or seasonal content at least a month in advance to capitalize on user interest. Many Pinterest experts will advise to start 2-3 months earlier for maximum results.
Pro Tip:
Capitalize on holiday related angles to boost sales or known seasonal events, such as starting to Pin back-to-school items in May so it’s ready once parents start looking in July and August. This is a great way to plan ahead for new digital product ideas and releases as well.
Saving time-limited offers
Because Pinterest is a search engine, Pins often take a while to gain traction. If you’re running a flash sale or some other limited-time deal, your audience will miss out if you only rely on Pinterest to spread the word. By the time your Pin gains enough impressions and clicks, the deadline for your offer may have already passed.
The fix:
Stay away from promoting events that will end quickly. If you do promote them, make sure there’s some other value that viewers will walk away with even after the event is over, like a waiting list so they don’t miss out the next time.
It’s best to send your short-term offers out via email. Instead of trying to use Pinterest to promote the offer itself, use Pinterest to build an email list so you can send them news about your limited-time offers in a timely manner. This is something you can do all year round.
Pro Tip:
If you do want to promote limited-time offers, the best way to do that is through ads. However, that will cost you money, so you need to understand how to best utilize Pinterest ads before attempting to use them. This way you can get the best results for the cheapest price.
Time to Transform Your Pinterest Strategy
Now that you understand these common Pinterest strategy mistakes, it’s time to take action and implement what you’ve learned. Here’s how to get started:
- Review your current pinning schedule: Take a look at your daily pinning habits and adjust them according to the guidelines above. Remember, quality over quantity!
- Audit your content distribution: Check how many relevant boards you’re saving each Pin to. If you’re only using 1-2 boards, create more themed boards to expand your reach.
- Plan your seasonal content: Use Pinterest Trends to identify upcoming seasonal opportunities and create a content calendar that aligns with these trends.
- Set up a scheduling system: Choose a Pinterest scheduler that works for you and create a consistent posting routine that maintains steady activity without triggering spam filters.
Remember, implementing these changes doesn’t have to happen all at once. Start with one area that needs the most improvement and gradually incorporate the other strategies as you become more comfortable with your Pinterest routine.
The key is to remain consistent and patient while tracking your results. With these optimizations in place, you’ll be well on your way to building a Pinterest presence that drives sustainable traffic and engagement.
The Pinterest Marketing Mistakes 6-Part Series
Check out the rest of the posts in this series for my full mistake-fixing plan and turn your Pinterest account into a traffic driving machine!
- The 4 Biggest Reasons Why Pinterest Marketing Isn’t Working for You | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 1
- 6 Pinterest Account Strategy Mistakes Killing Your Reach | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 2
- 6 Reasons Why Your Pinterest Pin Designs Don’t Convert to Clicks | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 3
- 7 Pinterest Content Creation Mistakes Ruining Your Views & Clicks | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 4
- 7 Ways Your Website is Costing You Pinterest Engagement | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 5
- 8 Pinterest Strategy Mistakes That Limit Reach & Cost Clicks | Pinterest Marketing Mistakes Part 6