How to Make Money On Pinterest

Have you ever thought that Pinterest can be an effective tool for making money? Pinterest is a growing network, and with its growth, the opportunities come with it! Making money on Pinterest can be done in many ways. With millions of active users every month, you can use Pinterest to market your business whether it is a small or large business.

In this article, we will share how to make money on Pinterest and why it is effective. Take a seat and read on.

Build A Passion-Based or Interest-Based Account

It’s safe to say that most Pinterest users started building their accounts with passion and interest as their first base. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it! Building your profile with your interests and passion has more benefits for your business. It is the first step to expand your audience which gives you a lot of opportunities to earn. That being said, you hit two birds in one stone. Not only are you doing something that you are passionate about, but also profiting!

For example, if you are an interior designer, you can build your profile around the interior design niche. After a while, you will get a lot of followers for yourself who want to learn from your expertise. The larger your audience size, the more you can think of different ways to monetize your account. Sometimes you don’t have to wait until you have thousands of followers, which actually takes a long time. With just a few thousand followers, you’ll have marketers approaching you for collaboration.

Different Ways to Make Money On Pinterest 

Pinterest offers a selling platform for e-commerce businesses. Any user can directly purchase their favorite item on Pinterest through the “Buy It” button. This is a very convenient way to buy products online without visiting a separate merchant site. For e-commerce stores, a partnership with Pinterest will give them more opportunities for growth. Learn to Grow Pinterest Business for deeper understanding.

Advertising by way of promoted Pins is one of the ways Pinterest makes money. Promoted Pins are Pins that appear in search results and home feed that look similar to any user-generated Pins. The difference is that they are targeted and promoted to reach a wider audience.

Currently, Pinterest is working on a big international expansion, increasing advertising capabilities, focusing on video, and continuing its own e-commerce efforts to increase revenue. But for users who want to make extra money on the Pinterest platform, here are a few opportunities:

1. Content Contributions

If your Pinterest account is performing well, you’ll likely be signed in by businesses large and small for collaboration. That is why you need to compile your stats and show them to a potential partner. If you have good stats, guess what? These companies will be happy to work for you, especially if they find your audience a perfect fit.

Working with a brand without needing to be an affiliate or a brand itself means bringing interesting and valuable content to their business. You can approach these brands directly and present your interest in the partnership to them. You can help them, for example, by sponsoring specific pins, organizing a shared board, or coordinating “takeovers”.

Make sure to include your contact information, link to your Pinterest profile, and other important details when contacting them. A great example is below when Instagram influencer Oh Joy teamed up with Smuckers Jam to create recipe content for their followers.

2. Joint Promotions

The other way to make money through Pinterest is through joint promotions. A joint promotion is when you work directly with a brand and create a pin for them to promote their products or services. The content can include different ways to reuse the product, DIY projects using the product, or recipes you can create with the product. See the example below:

If you want to take this route to make money on Pinterest, you need to have a successful Pinterest account, great creativity, and the ability to consistently produce great pins with the following characteristics:

• Good concept
• High quality images
• Brand placement
• Good design

If you’re looking for brands to work with, Pinterest recommends checking out the Pin Collective.

3. Curate a Shared Board

You can also make money on Pinterest by working with a company to organize a shared board for them. These businesses will pay you a flat fee in exchange for creating a board for them on Pinterest that showcases their products and services. This is only achievable if you have good-sized, good-quality followers on Pinterest, and your niche is aligned with theirs.

In the sample photo below, you can see a popular Pinterest user called “Oh Joy” who is working with Target in a shared board called “Oh Joy for Target”. 

The best part about this type of job is not only that you will get paid, but also gain more followers for yourself. People who are loyal to the companies you work for will be more likely to follow you as well or view your posts. As for the “Oh Joy for Target” shared board on Pinterest, it currently has 3.2 million followers, making Oh Joy increasingly popular on the Pinterest platform just by working with this big company.

So before approaching any business to request a partnership, it is recommended that you show them your metrics, Pinterest profile, website, and other important details for references. Oh Joy currently has 14.9 million followers on Pinterest and is among the top 10 Pinterest accounts with exceptionally curated content. 

4. Turns Clicks into Cash

One of the best ways to make money on Pinterest is through affiliate marketing. Pinterest Affiliate Marketing allows content creators on Pinterest to earn a commission every time someone, like a follower, purchases the products you recommend. Your readers or buyers won’t cost them anything extra when they buy a product using your link. It won’t hurt them, but it will reward you financially.

The best part about it is that you don’t have to be an ecommerce store or someone who stores inventory to be an affiliate. Just sign up to become an affiliate marketer for a specific brand, and all you have to do is share a tracked link to your posts. Every time someone clicks and purchases a product, you earn a commission.

In the example image below, a Pinterest user has associated a lifestyle photo with their “I Like It” account, where subscribers can click on affiliate URLs to purchase products from. If someone buys the product, Krystin will earn some commission.

5. Use SEO strategies 

When it comes to making money on Pinterest, the most basic and important thing is to always apply SEO strategies to all of your Pins and Boards in order to land on the right pages. Good SEO strategies will not only see your Pins on Pinterest, but even on other sites, like Google.

Some pages on your Pinterest profile require SEO strategies, such as your “About” profile, Pin title and description, and board title and description.

When it comes to SEO strategies, one of the best practices is to keep the words clear and descriptive. Keywords should be inserted in a natural, clear, and readable way, not spammy.

Good SEO strategies will make your Pin discoverable on Pinterest. Most importantly, link your Pins to your store to increase traffic and sales. If you have signed up to become an Affiliate Marketer for a specific brand, you can also insert the store’s link to your Pin to increase your chances of earning a commission.

6. Create Contests on Pinterest to Sell Products.

If you own an online store and want to use the Pinterest platform to increase your sales, setting up a contest is a good idea! Contests on Pinterest are popular among marketers because they have been proven to be effective in increasing sales.

In addition, contests most of the time result in an increased engagement rate. When it’s done right, more users will pin, interact, and talk about your brand. It can not only increase traffic to your profile or website but also increase your followers and brand authority. Below is an example of a contest posted on Pinterest.

With contests, even users who aren’t really interested will be enticed to share your Pins to motivate others, like their followers, to join. This is why this method really works!

Conclusion

When it comes to making money on Pinterest, businesses and individuals can use different strategies to make it more effective. You can use any of the steps mentioned above, but make sure you don’t focus on just one method. If you want to achieve your goal, it is best to diversify your income. Given that Pinterest has a huge reach, this could mean that making money on their platform could last for many years. It’s good news! But for now, take advantage of the opportunities that this giant platform is offering to business using the methods discussed above.