Pinterest launched in 2010 and has become the go-to platform for food, fashion, and home decor inspiration. Today it has 445 million users worldwide, making its money via advertising, specifically, promoted pins, and having amassed annual revenue of $2.803B for 2022, an 8.71% increase from 2021. For bloggers, influencers, and e-commerce businesses, the visual platform has also proven to be a powerful source of revenue, additional income or revenue-boosting activity for wider online business ventures. So here’s the question: can you make money with Pinterest?
1. Set up your Pinterest account
First let’s consider the basics – to make money on Pinterest you have to get involved in the first place, which means setting up an account and establishing your audience and interests. Much like any other social media platform it pays (literally) to make a name for yourself within a particular sector or theme so you can target your posts and establish a clear market for your content to appeal to. A few things to be aware of:
Can you get paid on Pinterest?
Pinterest is different to the likes of Instagram, in that it doesn’t enable programs like product tagging and affiliate links for direct earning capacity. However, there are various ways to earn through the platform directly and indirectly. It hinges on driving sales, whether that’s through affiliate relationships or because you have your own e-commerce business. In short, this is a site that’s about shopping.
How many followers do you need on Pinterest to make money?
As with all social media platforms, there’s no set number of followers you need to make money – it’s really all about engagement. However, the received wisdom is that you need at least 1000 followers to successfully market on the platform and consequently make money with Pinterest.
How much money can you make with Pinterest?
There’s no set amount of money you can make with Pinterest. It depends on what you’re doing and, simply, how successful you are at doing it. The downside is that you could make nothing, and that’s the case for a lot of people. The plus side is that there’s no upper limit on earning potential, especially if you tie it in with other platforms such as e-commerce sites and other social media opportunities.
2. Make sure your account is properly set up to maximise money-making potential
Much of making money from Pinterest begins with doing the groundwork correctly. It might sound simple, but setting up your account properly – filling in all the relevant bits of information is important. For example:
- Upload a profile picture that’s Pinterest-worthy
- Set it up as a business account and verify your domain
- Install the ‘Pin it button to your web browser
- Get familiar with and use Pinterest’s tools
- Be clear about your niche area and make sure your account represents your signature style
- Create your first three boards
- Tell your network about your account to start generating traction
3. Understand how the platform works
Pinterest is different to other social media platforms in that users are very much in the mind to shop a lot of the time. The types of things they look for there (the interior inspiration for example), mean that users are wired to shop – if they see something that inspires them they’re more likely to want it. Hootsuite says: “While people shop on other platforms, Pinterest is the one where shopping is the intent.”
Maximise your content potential
4. Optimise your Pinterest SEO
Much like any other platform, your Pinterest profile and individual pins need to be optimised for your target market to find you. So don’t forget to dot the Is and cross the Ts when it comes to creating content. Optimise your pin descriptions to include relevant keywords to help people find you in your niche area. It will help your pins stand out and while this doesn’t make money directly, it will boost your profile and give you the best chance of maximising the more direct money-making routes.
5. Research your target market
Being an influencer on social media and ultimately making money on Pinterest or any platform is almost impossible unless you understand your target market. Research them, and understand who they are, what they want and the kind of content they’re interested in consuming so you can tailor your Pinterest account to appeal to them. You might find that you have multiple segments within your target market and thankfully in a world of digital marketing, all the data is available to you so you can really get to know them.
6. Focus on creating great content
It will come as no surprise to you that Pinterest is about great content. It’s a highly visual platform and it’s all about inspiration, so if you want to make money using it, then your content has to pop. Once you know who you’re appealing to, make sure your posts and the ones that you reshare from other platforms stand out, but also that they give all the information a potential shopper might want. That means you need to be:
- Visually inspiring
- Create Pinterest boards and pins with clickable images and titles
- Create new boards regularly
7. Get involved in the community
Social media is what it says – social. It’s not just about putting content out there, it’s about engaging; it’s about being involved, not being self-involved. So take time to connect with the online community, sharing other people’s posts, commenting and being a contributor. This will help increase followers, which as you get to the point of monetising your content will help to maximise sales and that’s the crux of how to make money on Pinterest. Ways to get involved include:
- Join group boards and make your personnel boards every month
- Repin pins from your feed
- Like and comment on other people’s pins
- Use the ‘Pin it’ button to post things as you find them online
- Find businesses/brands/influencers similar to yours on Pinterest
8. Research Pinterest Analytics
An influencer’s job is never done. Between the changing wants and needs of your target market and the constantly updating algorithms, there’s no such thing as the perfect post. Once you start posting, keep an eagle eye on what’s performing well. I always think learning is the most important thing any business owner can do, and when it comes to making money on Pinterest, analytics are your friend. Keep an eye on Pinterest Analytics to see which pins perform best and what you can do to replicate and build on those successes.
9. Cross-pollinate by promoting pins on other social media platforms
Got more than one social media account? Gain traction on your pins and get your follower numbers up by encouraging your followers on other social platforms to get involved with your Pinterest account. Let people know they can shop your posts and encourage an already engaged audience to get involved with your new channel. It’s a great way to boost your audience and ultimately drive more engagement and sales.
Monetise your content on Pinterest
Once you’ve done the groundwork you can start actually making money with Pinterest, by monetising your content. Pinterest feeds off creativity – it’s a visual platform that’s all about inspiration, so they should be invested in rewarding creators for literally being on the platform.
10. Partner with brands to make money with Pinterest
As with all social media platforms, brands love Pinterest because it creates a community and inspiration around what they offer. The more authentic content that points to their business the more money they make, so if you create a platform that people listen to – i.e, if you become an influencer on Pinterest, you can partner with brands and get paid by them. Pinterest supports this in a very direct way with its paid partnership tool. You just make an Idea Pin in the app, add the paid partnership label and tag your partner brand. When they approve the request, their brand name will appear on your Idea Pin and they can choose to promote your Idea Pins as ads as well. Within the partnership tool, you work directly with the brand to define the payment terms and process rather than being paid by Pinterest itself.
11. Create affiliate links with brands
You can tag Idea Pins using affiliate links so that you earn commission when people click through and buy. While Pinterest isn’t directly involved with affiliate agreements, so you would arrange commission and terms directly with brands.
12. Make your Pins shoppable
Consider the user mindset on Pinterest in relation to what you’re selling. Again using the Idea Pins within the platform, you can search and tag any product that you want to recommend to your audience. This is particularly helpful if you either have your own products to sell and you’re marketing them on Pinterest. Shoppable Pins are mobile-friendly, secure, and easy ways to buy your favourite products with just a few clicks, so they’re a great way to encourage sales and make money with Pinterest.
13) Make money on Pinterest with Google Adsense
Google Adsense gives publishers a way of earning money from their online content, with estimates ranging from $0.2 to $2.5 per 1,000 views. Ads are created and paid for by advertisers who want to promote their products and are matched to web content based on their content and visitors. Different advertisers pay different prices for different ads, so what you can earn varies. If you’re creating blog content for example, once you start gaining traction on Pinterest, you can apply for Google Adsense to your blog and share it on Pinterest to boost page views and get earning.
Perhaps the most important thing about making money with Pinterest is that you need to approach it with intent, which means creating a strategy and having a clear idea of what your objectives are on the platform. Use the platform intentionally to create pins and attach links, commit to an approach but also be willing to adapt as you learn.
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