The commenter stated:
"the terms of use on Pinterest is to NOT use it as a platform for your marketing purposes. I almost feel embarrassed when I see someone pinning their own business/artwork. Its not what Pinterest was intended for."
I am aware that Rule #3 of the Pinterest Etiquette states:
Avoid Self Promotion
Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.
With that said, I've only pinned about 10 images of my artwork and I tend to only use a credit link stating the artwork title and my name. No flashy comments like "buy my fantastic shit" or anything and I hide the pins within my boards.
I kicked around the idea of creating a special board for my artwork but I felt weird about it. I have a link to my website in my profile and if people are interested enough in my pin collection as a whole (which is awesome, by the way), they have a way to find me.
I did have an inquiry on my website from a Pinterest user asking about a particular piece of art that was pinned but I'm not even sure if I was the one who pinned it or if someone else had and I just repinned. The whole process is a bit OCD over there and you can get lost in the flurry of pinning and repinning.
Either way, my artwork is out there and it's beyond helpful to see the comments that pinners post when they repin. It's really the only completely honest feedback that I receive as an artist because pinners usually aren't thinking that the artist will come upon their pin and therefore they are brutally honest.
Those are just my thoughts on it.
As far as self promotion goes, I *never* use the price tag feature. It's tacky and I hate it. Yuck. If I repin something that has the price banner slapped across the upper left corner, I remove it! Simple as that. I'm pinning because I love something, not because I want someone to see how much it costs.
I know of artists that are using it and I feel like it's a personal decision. Everyone does things differently and my way isn't any better than yours. One way simply works better for me and my way doesn't include a big ugly price banner.
Obviously there are a lot of folks that don't read a website's TOS when they join and are probably unaware of the fact that Pinterest is supposed to be for promoting others or plugging cool things from the web. It's a visual collection of awesomeness and wasn't intended to be another place for artists and businesses to sell themselves.
However...
Giant brands are getting into the game and one has to wonder what their intention is. I'm only following one big brand, Kate Spade, and their/her/its pins are more related to trends then self promotion.
I think there is definitely a way to harness Pinterest for its marketing value without being a complete dweeb and I'm sure to figure it out eventually. In the meantime, I'm very interested in hearing all of the points of view about this. There is something to be learned from all this, for sure.
