Learning how to make money on Pinterest beyond the platform’s own programs may seem difficult since the site is primarily used for ideas and inspiration. However, there are actually a lot of ways for you to leverage your content to earn money on Pinterest, such as through affiliate marketing, advertising, and more.
With several monetization opportunities readily available, even smaller accounts will be able to make money on Pinterest. If you’re interested in turning your profile into a potential income stream, read on as we share the best ways to generate revenue on the platform and provide tips to enhance your earning potential.
Let’s get started!
Can You Make Money on Pinterest?
Yes, you can make money on Pinterest directly through your content or by redirecting traffic to an external website. A survey by PYMNTS and Amazon Web Services found that 43% of consumers use social media to find new products or services, with 4.5% using Pinterest to browse products and 1.1% directly purchasing a product from the platform.
While Pinterest falls behind popular apps like Facebook or Instagram in terms of the actual percentage of users, its advantage is that most of its users turn to the app for inspiration on their next purchase.
According to Pinterest’s own research, 89% of the app’s weekly users use the platform during their path to purchase. This means that you’ll have much higher chances of converting followers on Pinterest compared with other social media sites.
How to Make Money on Pinterest: 7+ Best Strategies
While you can’t directly monetize your content, as the platform doesn’t pay its creators like other sites do, there are plenty of other ways to make money on Pinterest.
Here are some of the best strategies you should consider:
#1. Try Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing isn’t just for blogs; you can also make money on Pinterest with affiliate links by promoting them in your pins. Then, you will earn a commission when someone uses the direct affiliate link to make a purchase.
To succeed with this method, we recommend joining affiliate programs that are relevant to your industry or niche on the platform. This way, you not only make money with your content but also maintain your appeal to your target audience.
Additionally, be sure to follow relevant affiliate marketing guidelines, as Pinterest may block you if it detects that you are spamming the platform.
Maxie Elise’s Pinterest profile is carefully curated to reflect her aesthetic, and a large portion of her pins feature an Amazon affiliate link.
#2. Create Sponsored Content
If you’re wondering how to make money on Pinterest by just posting pictures or videos, don’t overlook sponsored posts. Creators with a large following on Pinterest often receive collaboration deals from brands to directly promote their products on the platform.
Unlike affiliate marketing, where you post a generic link for a commission, sponsored posts are often paid a set amount in advance, making them a great option for creators who want to generate significant revenue.
A 2017 study by Time Inc. found that custom content is more effective at reaching consumers compared to traditional advertising. With influencer marketing making waves in this year’s social media trends, there are more and more sponsorship opportunities for all kinds of creators.
To maximize the impact of your sponsored post, it’s crucial to maintain your branding on all your content. Anything too “salesy” will have the opposite effect and may even deter your audience.
Dr. Munir Somji’s collaboration with Cetaphil follows the same format as his usual content—skin recommendation videos—and his background as a dermatologist adds credibility to this sponsored post.
#3. Join the Pinterest Inclusion Fund
Previously called the Creator Fund, the Pinterest Inclusion Fund is a six-week program that aims to empower underrepresented communities on the platform. If you get accepted into the program, you can gain valuable insights from industry experts and learn how to fully utilize the app in your Pinterest marketing strategy to maximize results.
In addition to these resources, Pinterest also provides participants with a cash grant and ad credits.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make money on Pinterest through the Pinterest Inclusion Fund:
- Confirm your eligibility. The Pinterest Inclusion Fund is meant for small merchant businesses, independent publishers, and boutique creator agencies owned or focused on minorities. You can check out their full criteria list to see if you qualify.
- Wait for applications to open. The program is active once per quarter, and if the current cycle is finished, you’ll have to wait for the next one to apply. You can sign up for Pinterest’s creator newsletter to make sure you don’t miss this announcement.
- Send in your application. Once the new cycle is open, you can send in your application and wait for the results. While Pinterest doesn’t specify the number of creators it accepts per cycle, the program has had over 150 participants since 2021.
Gabrielle Eva was part of the 2022 Pinterest Creator Fund and praised the program for helping her channel flourish and introducing her to various opportunities.
#4. Send Traffic to Your Blog
If you are generating advertising revenue through your blog, you can easily increase traffic to your website through Pinterest. In fact, managing and ranking keywords is much easier on Pinterest than on Google.
Pinterest users love discovering new ideas and products. If you create useful content that matches the keywords your potential audience is looking for, you may get some of that search traffic through Pinterest.
Here are some tips to increase your web traffic through Pinterest.
- Create multiple pins for each blog post with optimized titles, descriptions, and images that match the keywords people are searching for.
- Use Pinterest trends to find keywords that are trending among Pinterest users.
- Create an article-rich pin from your website to include the blog post title, description, and author information on the pin.
The Tipsy Housewife creates different pin variations for the same recipe on her blog to ensure maximum reach, visibility, and conversion.
#5. Utilize Pinterest’s Shopping Feature
If you’re a product-based business and are trying to learn how to make money on Pinterest without a blog, you may benefit from the platform’s shopping feature. According to Pinterest, businesses that place their products in the Pinterest Catalog receive five times more impressions than those that don’t, making this an effective tool for boosting sales.
Rather than simply redirecting traffic to your website, however, consider creating pins that allow customers to make purchases without leaving the platform. A smooth and seamless shopping experience will make your audience more inclined to purchase and allow you to convert more followers into customers.
But before you can sell products on Pinterest, you need a Pinterest business account and a claimed website that meets the platform’s merchant guidelines. You can also apply to Pinterest’s Verified Merchant Program to boost your credibility and give your audience peace of mind, knowing they are purchasing from a reputable business on the platform.
Golde makes it easier for their audience to recreate the recipes they post by utilizing the app’s “Shop the Look” feature.
#6. Participate in Group Boards
Joining and actively participating in group boards is an effective way for beginners to make money on Pinterest. Group boards are collaborative boards that allow their members to contribute by pinning and resharing images and videos.
By joining boards in your niche with a high engagement rate, you can introduce your content to a wider audience and direct more traffic to your blog or website.
That said, if there isn’t a relevant board in your niche yet, consider creating one yourself. This will help you effectively engage your audience and connect with other creators in the same niche, which can lead to potential collaborations.
The Running Tips group board has over 39 members and almost 60,000 followers, making it the perfect platform for promoting running products or content.
#7. Try Pinterest Ads
While the Pinterest algorithm allows for a much wider organic reach, if you are using Pinterest for business and would like to boost your reach and drive conversions, it’s time to try paid advertising.
Pinterest ads look just like regular pins but are strategically placed to ensure higher visibility on the feed and in search results. This feature is only available for Pinterest business accounts, though, so if you don’t have one yet, simply convert your current Pinterest profile to a business account for free. When this is done, you can start running ads from your existing pins or create new ones.
Mejuri’s regular pins showcase their selection of stunning jewelry, and while their ads do the same, these feature some details about the product and a quick call to action.
#8. Manage a Pinterest Account for a Business
If you aren’t a business owner or influencer and are wondering how to make money on Pinterest, consider applying as a social media manager. Entrepreneurs often have no time to handle their own social media accounts, while popular influencers prefer focusing on the content creation aspect of social media, so they hire someone else for the job.
A social media manager’s salary in the United States can reach $54,368 per year on average, but this amount can vary depending on your location and contract.
How Many Followers Do You Need to Make Money on Pinterest?
There is no minimum number of followers needed to start making money on Pinterest, but naturally, the more followers you have, the higher your income potential will be. This is because brands and other creators are more likely to sponsor or collaborate with popular accounts.
That said, the number of your followers isn’t all that matters on Pinterest. In fact, some may argue that the quality of your followers is even more important than their quantity, as a high follower count doesn’t automatically translate to higher engagement.
So, rather than simply trying to gain new followers, focus on creating high-quality pins that attract views and engagement to get the best returns from your monetization efforts.
4 Extra Tips for Making Money on Pinterest
If you only have a handful of followers, don’t be discouraged, as you can still make money on Pinterest and steadily build your following over time with these expert tips:
#1. Schedule Pinterest Pins
Regardless of whether you are a social media manager or a business owner, scheduling your pins with a complete social media management tool like Publer can significantly improve your chances of making money on Pinterest.
Instead of posting all your content at once, our tool allows you to post more strategically and maintain your visibility on the feed. Using our Pinterest scheduler also helps you save time when posting content so you can focus on other important tasks.
Lastly, scheduling your content allows you to target the best times to post on Pinterest to maximize engagement and reach.
#2. Post High-Quality Pins Consistently
If you want to make money on Pinterest as a creator, you must follow a consistent posting schedule of high-quality pins to increase your chances of reaching your target audience.
When creating pins, keep the recommended post sizes in mind to ensure the best quality. Visually appealing and eye-catching posts stand out in the feed and can attract likes and engagement, which can lead to more traffic and sales.
We recommend monitoring your Pinterest analytics to see which content generates the most interactions and using this information to guide your strategy.
#3. Optimize Descriptions for Pinterest SEO
Optimizing your descriptions for Pinterest SEO will increase your content’s searchability. As we mentioned earlier, the app’s main users utilize Pinterest for shopping inspiration, which means they will actively be searching for specific terms.
To make sure your content appears in search queries for your niche, you can conduct keyword research and find relevant Pinterest keywords to use in your descriptions. You can also use a hashtag analysis tool to help you find top-performing hashtags for your posts.
#4. Create Rich Pins
Rich pins provide the viewer with the latest information about your pins, such as price and product description, which can positively influence their purchase decision.
According to research by Daroch et al. (2021), insufficient product information is one of the top reasons that hinder consumers from making a purchase online. By ensuring that all relevant information about your products or services is readily available to the consumer, you can increase their purchase intent and boost sales.
Key Takeaways
- You can make money on Pinterest through your content or by promoting an external website.
- Affiliate marketing, Pinterest Shopping, and brand collaborations are some of the best ways to make money on Pinterest.
- While you don’t need a specific number of followers to start making money on Pinterest, your follower count can affect the number of monetization opportunities you receive.
- You can increase your chances of making money on Pinterest by scheduling and posting high-quality pins, optimizing your descriptions for Pinterest SEO, and following the platform’s creative best practices.
Ervin Kalemi
