Learn from my Mistakes with Artificial Intelligence

Did you know that Pinterest is the third most searched site on the internet, behind Google and Youtube?  That's a lot of people clicking to find that thing they're looking for, or to be amused, or just to wander.

Join me as I continue my quest to master "all things Pintererest."  Everything I'm learning, I'm sharing here, and even as a blogger and TpT teacherpreneur for some years now, there's still so much to learn!  Last week, I blogged about some of the most important take-aways I've learned about Pinterest.  If you want to read that, click here.

Let me start my story with this product.  I made it to give my student writers a fun way to write persuasively and also to think about point of view.  I wanted to put a turkey on the front for obvious reasons.  I made sure to check the SEO on TpT so I titled it something that ranked it pretty high in search results - Thanksgiving Turkey Persuasive Writing Activity.

So far, so good.

Next step: create one or more pins for the product.  And here is where it got interesting.

Like Google, Pinterest uses Artificial Intelligence to help match pictures more closely to what its customers are searching for.  Their intention is to make sure that their customers (our customers, too) are getting what they're looking for.  So, if you're searching for "Thanksgiving writing activities" it'll bring up a lot of writing choices for you to scroll through.

And here's the kicker.  According to Kate Ahl of Simple Pin Podcast, 40% of all purchases come from those related searches.  So you need to make sure that your pins are being moved in the direction of your customers!

BUT, if your picture is hard to figure out, or the artificial intelligence designates it as something other than what you thought, the wrong customers will see your pin.  And all the hard work you did will be missed.

Unfortunately, here is where I failed.

BIG TIME!

As a creator of upper elementary and middle school products, there isn't the same need to show and color your product like there is with products for primary grades.  So, as part of my branding, I like to use informative and sometimes fun photos in my pins.

And that's where the problems begin.
What went wrong here?

Do you see the icon that the green arrow is pointing to?  That's the AI button, showing what other pins are associated with yours, based on the picture.

And almost every related pin was about how to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving.

So, I tried again.

I thought fading the background and bring the text forward would help.

It didn't.

Attempt #3 brought some interesting related pins.  Now, in addition to turkey baking, there were related pins about visiting Turkey, the country.

Folks, it took five tries and I'm closer, but still not completely there.

This is not an easy thing to master!  I'm not a designer and like many of you, I'm trying to figure out how to best design a pin while staying within my brand.

My Suggestions

1.  Create a secret board just for your new pins.  

2.  Put your new pins there, and click on the AI icon to see what it brings up.  If the related search is what you want, move it to your boards.  If it isn't, see what the related pins are for, and go back to the drawing board.

3.  Yes, it's more work.  Yes, it takes time.  But if your pins aren't getting in front of your ideal customers, then you need to spend the time on this.

And I'll be right there with you, learning as I go!  

If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments below so that we can all learn together.

And if you should want a fun writing prompt for this holiday, you can click here.