Millions of people add products to their Pinterest boards every year. Find out how to earn passive income as an affiliate marketer on the platform.
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What is affiliate marketing on Pinterest?
Should You Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing?
9 Pinterest Affiliate Marketing Tips for Passive Income
Start making money with Pinterest
Pinterest Affiliate Marketing FAQ
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Pinterest is more than just a social media platform – it’s a visual search engine where users turn to discover ideas and inspiration.
Its credentials are more than relevant: 537 million monthly users worldwide and more than 7 million users in Spain , with an audience made up of 76% women and with 45% of users who have an annual income of more than 100,000 EUR.
For affiliate marketers, this makes Pinterest an opportunity to reach a highly engaged audience that is actively searching for products and solutions.
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If you have a keen eye, creativity, and interesting products canadian cell phone number to promote, you can leverage Pinterest to generate affiliate sales. In this article, you'll learn how to put your Pinterest account to work and generate passive income on the platform.
What is affiliate marketing on Pinterest?
Pinterest affiliate marketing is a type of affiliate marketing where sales are referred from the Pinterest platform. Affiliates upload videos and images as Pins to their boards and include their affiliate links to their products and services.
If visitors click on the Pins and make a purchase, the affiliate receives a commission on the purchase.
Pinterest affiliate marketing is much more targeted than social marketing, as it is based on the idea of community and sharing interests.
When advertising products on Pinterest, you typically want to reach an audience interested in very specific market niches such as travel, interior design, food, and other visually appealing areas .
Should You Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing?
Pinterest is an image-based social network and search engine where users can discover new products and ideas, and get inspiration for their projects. Content is in the form of a Pin, i.e. an image linked to an external link.
Users save these Pins to their boards, just like a moodboard or inspiration board.
Affiliate marketing on Pinterest is the process of promoting “affiliate Pins” on the platform, i.e. Pins that contain affiliate links and products, and receiving a commission each time clicks on the link result in sales.
Affiliates can use Pinterest to drive traffic to their affiliate content, whether it's blog posts, landing pages, or YouTube videos . Just like other affiliate programs, like YouTube or Shopify , the more people see your link, the more likely you are to generate affiliate sales and earn commission.
“I’ve managed to grow to about 50,000 followers on Pinterest and now 50% of my blog traffic comes from there,” says Daniella Flores, founder of I Like to Dabble , a website about extra income.
More than just a social network, Pinterest is a visual search engine. According to Pinterest, 80% of users discover new brands and products on its platform every week, making Pinterest a valuable channel for those who join an affiliate program.
In the past month, gel nails, winter outfits and Christmas decorations have all been trending on Pinterest. And Pinterest predicts growth in categories related to beauty, celebrations, fashion, decoration, hobbies and interests.
9 Pinterest Affiliate Marketing Tips for Passive Income
Know the rules
Create multiple Pins per post
Schedule Pins in advance
Use Detailed Pins
Create and collaborate on group boards
Improve SEO
Create an email list from Pinterest
Analyze the performance of Pins
Create ads with the best performing Pins
Once you decide that Pinterest is the marketing channel you want to invest in for your affiliate marketing business, the first thing you need to do is search the affiliate networks for affiliate marketing programs that are relevant to you and create a Pinterest account.
Below are some tips to help you start making money as an affiliate on Pinterest.
1. Know the rules
Pinterest is full of evergreen content, so it’s important to do your part, seek inspiration, and create creative content that speaks to your audience’s needs.
“On many other social networks, to be relevant you have to be consistent with your content creation, but on Pinterest we have Pins from years ago that still generate traffic and therefore revenue,” says RJ Weiss, founder of a personal finance website called The Ways to Wealth.
Part of the research process is getting a good understanding of the rules for creating, posting, linking to, tagging, and sharing content on Pinterest, and incorporating those details into your social media marketing strategy . Some of the key guidelines for Pinterest affiliates to follow include:
Avoid cloaking
Some users try to hide their affiliate links through redirects, shortened links, or tools like Bit.ly or Pretty Links. In Pinterest’s community guidelines , it states: “We encourage you to avoid surprises—users should be able to reasonably anticipate where your links will take them.”
Avoid hidden advertising
You must properly label your affiliate content as “collaboration” or “affiliate content” both in the Pin description and on the landing page it directs users to, as stealth advertising is not permitted by law.
In Spain, for example, the General Advertising Law includes strict guidelines on affiliate marketing, including a ban on covert advertising.
Don't use fake accounts
Some affiliates try to cheat the system by sharing content with their affiliate link from different accounts. However, the platform’s rules clearly prohibit this: “Do not operate multiple accounts or coordinate with others for the purpose of manipulating the Pinterest platform.”
Violating any of these rules could result in Pinterest blocking your content.