True story: My Healthy, Low-Carb, No-Sugar Recipes Pinterest board has 170 recipes on it. Several of them look very similar. Now, was it the “almond flour easy LCHF bread” that I loved and the “Best Keto bread” I hated – or the other way around?
Then there was the recipe LCHF peanut butter fat bombs – loved them, but thought next time I should use more stevia. Unless I have cleverly left a comment on the pins or deleted the one I didn’t like (not likely), the only way to know is to make them again or hope I remember (fat chance). Pinterest Fail.
Enter Pinterest “Tried it”
It’s like Pinterest read my (forgetful) mind (again). Now, I can click on a “Tried it!” button and give a smiley face or a frowny face for feedback. I can also add helpful notes and even upload a photo.
All my “tried it” pins are easily accessible from my profile on desktop. It would be lovely to see all the tried its by board, but perhaps that is coming.
Visit another pinner’s profile, and you can see all the pins they’ve tried, too. Here are mine. If you take a look you’ll see I uploaded some random photos just to try it out. 🙂
Read Peer Reviews – Right on Pinterest!
Everyone loves an honest peer review. It helps us decide to try something or move on. We can get tips on making it better (“try cooking the onions first!”) and user-supplied photos of what the finished product looks like when mortals attempt (hint, never like the pin!).
Let’s say I’m looking for a new LCHF bread recipe. You can never have too many! 🙂 A search pulls up an endless list. I tend to choose based on photo and maybe description. But now, I see that a couple of the pins in the results have the little “tried it” check mark. Those will be MY first choice.
When I click on the pin, I can see that Laurie tried it, and read her comments. That second person who tried it either didn’t complete the feedback form or she did it when it was just rolling out and glitchy – all I can see is that she did try it, no feedback.
After I make it, I can go back in and leave my own feedback – both for my own reference and for others wondering if it’s worth it to try it.
“Tried It!” Growing Pains
Strange thing is, I can leave “tried it” feedback on a pin and see that my pin is pulling in feedback from others. But then I see a pin for the same content that has no “tried it” at all. Over time, surely the feedback will be combined and follow all pins of the same content. Aggregation of repin count has also been a bit spotty, so while we know Pinterest has the technology to do it, it may not be completely ready for prime time yet.
I have had “tried it” on desktop since mid-June 2016. It only officially rolled out this month. Some people have it on mobile, which makes sense – who ever cooks by laptop or crafts next to their desktop screen? I still don’t have it on mobile, which means I cannot even see “tried it” feedback on mobile. Weird, right?
“Tried It!” – for Recipes and Crafts Only?
Nah. Sure, they’re the most obvious fit – and really that’s all I’ve used them for so far, but there is also potential for use with content of all kinds. Did that blog post give you a tip that increased your website traffic? That deserves a smiley face! Did that quote brighten your day? Say thanks!
“Tried It!” As a Content Creator
Funny, most marketers are really excited about this new feature, but many bloggers are not. They fear trolls will load their pins with negative feedback. Fortunately, you can “report this content” if you feel the review is abusive or dishonest (or, really, for any reason).
I’d like to think pinners are nicer than that. I’m looking forward, not just to time-saving recipe feedback, but also to getting feedback on my own work. Was that post helpful? Did it leave unanswered questions? Help me get better.
This will only work when either the feedback is all combined and shows up on all instances of pinned content OR if content creators are notified when feedback is left on their pins.
At right is the notification I when my fellow Pinterest junkie, Kelly, “liked” feedback I left. I don’t have the option to do that yet! Also, it’s about as clear as mud, isn’t it? “Kelly Lieberman liked your note”? What does that even mean? Oh well, at least it alerted me to go look.
NOTE: This was the first and last time I’ve seen notifications for feedback. Could be no one is using it and it could be Pinterest is still trying to figure out how they want to handle them.
It may in the future make sense to put a “please leave feedback” request in our pin descriptions, too.
Pinterest “Tried It!” Search Implications?
I already confessed that I’m likely to check out a pin with feedback before one without. Will Pinterest use feedback as a way to promote or depress pins? If you have more smileys, will your pin get more impressions? If this is not the case in the future, I would be very surprised! Pinterest already utilizes user signals such as repins (or saves) to influence the algorithm.
Of course, they’ll have to get the kinks worked out first, but now that Pinterest is yet another place people can (and will) leave feedback on your content, let’s make sure we get as many smiley faces as we can by using great images, helpful descriptions and, most important of all, creating great useful content!
Look What Else You Get!
If you click on a pin with “Tried it!” feedback, it pulls up a whole “about this pin” window. (Note: you could do this before by clicking on the number of repins, I just never had.) Toggle to “saved” instead of “tried” and you can see which boards it’s been added to.
This is a great way to find new boards to follow, and also to see why people are pinning this content. Is you chicken alfredo recipe ending up on a lot of boards called “dinner recipes” or is it more likely to end up on a board called “chicken recipes”? This can give you ideas for new board names as you start to understand how people are categorizing your pins in their own accounts.
PS – I love that 41 people have tried this article on telling their dog, “I love you.” 🙂
Have you seen or used “Tried it!” on Pinterest, yet? Do you think it’s going to have an impact?
Need to up your Pinterest game? Grab the checklist!
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Other resources I promised in my Facebook Live tease:
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