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With over 300 million monthly active users and about 200 billion pins saved, Pinterest is becoming one of the most popular social media platforms today. Initially designed to be a place where people can share and discover new recipes, home tips, style inspirations, and other unique ideas, this channel can now be your very own global bulletin board. Whether you’re self-employed, a start-up or growing brand, or already an established business, Pinterest is a must-have channel that can grow your social media marketing strategies and be a means to earn. Here are 13 effective tips for how to make money on Pinterest.
Get to Know Everything About Your Audience
The first thing to do is identify who your Pinterest content is for. Choose a target market and learn the important things about them, like demographics, interests, and values, so you can create boards that will appeal to them.
Deep dive into their habits and interactions on the platform – what they look for in a pin, what kind of content they’re drawn to, and what makes them click through on links. Understanding all of these things about your intended audience will help you capture relevant leads and generate more sales.
Pinterest is an excellent platform to boost brand awareness and consumer engagement. But you don’t need millions of followers to be successful on the channel. You just have to attract the right audience and create opportunities for them to follow your boards.
Determine the Kind of Content You're Passionate About Sharing
Now that you have a better grasp of your target market, the next move is to decide on the content you’ll be sharing. Get serious about learning a new skill, creating something unique, or providing a one-of-a-kind service based on what you’ve learned about your audience. Whether it’s giving ideas on new recipes, decorating a bedroom, or making origami art, your content should appeal to your followers and something you enjoy and love doing. This will make it easier for you to create relevant and interesting boards and pins that people will want to follow.
Test Everything to Gain New Insight
It’s important to learn how to run and sustain a successful Pinterest business from those who’ve done it. Seek out training programs, tutorial videos, or online courses to see what established accounts look like and how they engage with users. Study which strategies and best practices make them effective on the channel.
However, keep in mind that businesses and industries differ from one another. What works for them may not have the same results for you. This is still a continuous learning process that requires at least a little trial and error, so be open to trying out various techniques to find out which ones will help you grow and achieve your business goals.
Build Your Authority and Credibility
Even with your tremendous knowledge and experience, if people don’t consider you an expert, they might not be drawn to check out your boards. To be a credible figure, lay out everything you’ve learned from the platform and from your research. Share concrete examples of your milestones or success stories from early followers to prove that your techniques actually work. This will show that you’re the real deal and you know what you’re talking about. If you look at pins that perform well, this is a huge factor: The person/brand sharing them has clearly demonstrated their expertise on the subject matter.
Another way to build your authority and bolster your reputation is to post on other websites and offer your expertise in online forum channels. Go to other social media platforms, find threads about your topic, and help answer the questions or offer solutions to the problems. You can even link relevant blog posts, boards, and pins to applicable queries. Not only will this position you as an expert, but it will also help drive traffic to your pages.
Do Affiliate Marketing
Another way to make money on Pinterest is to find companies that sell products you can promote on your own boards. When you signup and become their affiliate, you get a unique link to include in your posts. And when readers click on the link and make a purchase, you get paid a fee.
Here are some useful tips about affiliate marketing on Pinterest:
- Use Bitly to manage your links and to track the clicks on your pins or boards.
- Use affiliate links when you tag products for Shop the Look pins. But first, you have to join the ShopStyle Collective network.
- Find affiliate programs through networks like ShareASale, FlexOffers, or Amazon.
- Before you can be an established affiliate marketer, you have to grow your following, create pins on a regular basis, and boost your monthly page views.
Also remember that the products or services you promote, though they’re not your own, are still a reflection of who you are as a business. So, make sure to advertise only the items that you believe in or have experience using.
Implement Smart SEO Strategies
You have to create opportunities for people to find your boards and pins. Thus, it’s important to use effective SEO strategies to become more discoverable on the platform.
Make the most of your About section by being clear and descriptive when describing your business to people. Be sure to include keywords that you expect searchers to use when they’re looking for content like yours.
Take advantage of the 500-character description on each pin by using popular keywords and relevant links to make it more searchable. Remember to incorporate these naturally, where Pinners can easily read and understand, instead of adding random terms and running the risk of being spammy.
Contribute Content to Brands
Coming up with pins takes a lot of time and effort. That’s why brands often partner with people who can help them with this task. If you have strong creative skills and a unique style, showcase these in your own pins so brands can find and potentially link up with you. As their creator, you’ll help create fresh and visually-appealing pins that catch their followers’ attention and stand out from their competitors.
Do note that with this kind of partnership, the final pins only get published on the other brands’ Pinterest boards. They usually won’t reference you as the creator, so you might not get credit or be able to post them on your board. However, if you're wanting to learn how to make money on Pinterest, this is certainly an effective option.
Do Joint Promotions With Brands
Another great way to earn on Pinterest is to work directly with brands and develop pins that promote their products or supplement their on-going campaigns. This could be simple product placements, limited-time discount offers, or giveaway promos where final pins go live on the both the brands’ and the creators’ profiles.
Businesses often use this approach to grow their reach and increase conversions as their offerings get exposed to the creators’ followers. Keep in mind that to do this, you must be able to show brands that you’re a successful account who can conceptualize, design, and implement pins that resonate with both your audiences.
Curate Shared Boards With Brands
When you become an established account, you can work together with brands to curate shared boards that appear on your profile and theirs. In this partnership, businesses pay creators a flat fee to create boards that leverage their existing content, expertise, and followers.
To successfully do this, you need to find common topics that appeal to your audience and the other brands’. You may even want to introduce fresh tips and ideas to capture a new market. Make it even more well-rounded by including interesting content from other Pinners and those around the web.
Doing this is a simple yet highly effective way to get your name and content in front of a wider audience, and potentially have more sales in your offerings.
Connect With Your Audience
Many tend to forget, but Pinterest is still a social media platform. And what better way to be successful in this channel, just like the other networks, than to establish relationships and engage with your audience?
On Pinterest, the easiest way to do this is to re-pin other people’s pins, especially those targeting your specific market. When you do this, they’ll be notified of your interaction, check out your profile, and possibly go through your boards and pins. But remember to do this only to pins that are relevant to you (or your partner brands) as you wouldn’t want to come off as spammy.
Don’t Forget to Promote
Make sure your hard work pays off by letting as many people as possible know about your offerings on the platform.
Here are some tips you can do to promote your Pinterest page:
- Include a link to your Pinterest page at the end of your blog posts.
- Send an email broadcast at regular intervals reminding people to follow you on the platform.
- Actively participate in relevant groups and communities like Reddit and Facebook communities, who you can promote your page to.
- Consistently promote your page on your website and other social media accounts.
Teach Your Strategies
Make money on Pinterest by leveraging your knowledge, learnings, and experiences of doing business on the platform. When you’ve created a number of successful campaigns, either for yourself or with different brands, people will be eager to know how you did that. And many of them will be willing to pay to learn your strategies.
You can do coaching series, video tutorials, online training courses, and e-books to teach people the actual steps you took to become effective on Pinterest. You may even curate a board or have a blog where you can reach and inspire people who would want to do the same.
This is a great way to connect with and become more in-demand for both existing and potential followers. When you do, always remember to stay authentic and truthful when sharing your journey with others.
Try Running Promoted Pins
You know what they say: It takes money to make money. While it might take some experimenting on your end, don't be scared to pay to promote your pins. If you can ultimately see a return, then it's worth the investment!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it necessary to have a large following on Pinterest to make money?
While having a large following can be beneficial, it's not the only factor for making money on Pinterest. Quality content, strategic keyword usage, and engaging with your audience can also contribute to your success.
What are some effective strategies for monetizing a Pinterest account?
Some effective strategies include creating eye-catching pins with compelling descriptions, collaborating with brands for sponsored content, joining group boards to expand your reach, and optimizing your pins for search engine optimization (SEO).
Are there any specific niches or industries that perform well on Pinterest for making money?
Pinterest is diverse and caters to various niches, but certain topics like fashion, home decor, food, DIY, travel, and personal finance tend to perform well.
How long does it typically take to start making money on Pinterest?
The timeline for making money on Pinterest varies depending on several factors, such as the effort put into content creation, marketing strategies, and audience engagement. Some individuals start seeing results within a few months, while others may take longer.
More Money on Pinterest Today
There you have it – 13 effective ways to make money on Pinterest. Add in your time, hard work, and perseverance and you’re well on your way to earning more than a buck or two on the platform. As you become more active on the network, you’ll be able to further develop your own strategies. And as the social channel continues to grow, your opportunities can grow along with it.
