Pinterest guidelines for contests and sweepstakes were recently updated to allow brands more flexibility in running promotions. Gone are the mandates around forbidding using likes and follows for entries or votes. Instead, the guidelines now ask that brands simply discourage spam by both limiting entries and not requiring people to pin the same thing over and over.

These new guidelines can be found within the Acceptable Use Policy on the Pinterest site and as follows in text and image versions:

• Don’t require participants to Pin a specific image 

Explanation: Successful contests encourage creative and authentic behavior. Give Pinners the ability to choose Pins based on their tastes and preferences, even if it’s from a selection or a given website. Don’t ask Pinners to Pin a specific image.

• Don’t allow more than one entry per participant 

Explanation: Contests that incentivize users to submit multiple entries per person feel less authentic and can negatively impact other Pinners.

• Don’t suggest that Pinterest sponsors or endorses you or the promotion 

Explanation: Review our brand guidelines for general rules around using our brand assets and showcasing Pinterest content.

 

What is GONE from prior versions of the Pinterest guidelines are the following previous mandates:

• Don’t require that consumers pin or repin your official rules

The idea behind this old requirement was that by requiring people to pin or repin rules, the promotion was making people post the same pin over and over and not allowing people to pin what they wanted. Given the recent FTC guidelines regarding disclosure, however, even though Pinterest does not require you to pin rules, there are still some legal requirements you will need to follow. For instance, the FTC wants entrants to disclose that their pin is considered a sweepstakes or contest entry so that others will know that they had an incentive to post it. By including the word “sweepstakes” or “contest” in a unique hashtag or as a separate hashtag you can take care of this FTC requirement. For more on this see our post on FTC requirements and Social Media best practices.

• Don’t offer sweepstakes entry based on a pin, repin, pinboard like or follow.

This mandate, and the next, was originally enforced because Pinterest wanted users to engage on the platform to share and reshare original content with people and brands. By not including this requirement, sharing and liking content seems to be back in the mix for entry.

• Don’t attribute votes to pins, repins, creating boards or liking the aforementioned.

Pinterest didn’t want to be a voting platform. They wanted “authentic behavior.” By leaving it out now, maybe they have come to realize that voting can be part of an authentic experience.

 

Pins, repins, and even likes, follows and voting, could be part of your next Pinterest promotion. Just make sure your promotion is legal, has official rules, and follows the guidelines and Pinterest acceptable use policy.

 

For help on your next Pinterest promotion contact us and we can help with rules and entry tracking on the Pinterest platform through our social tracker.

To read more posts by Marden-Kane, please visit our main blog page or subscribe to our email list.