These days, everyone wants to know how to make money online. And the good news is that there are countless ways to create a source of income on the web. One way is to use social media – Pinterest in particular.
Pinterest has become one of the largest social media sites with over 433 million monthly active users. Many people are using the platform as a way to create a part-time and full-time income.
Imagine being able to publish pins, and then make consistent income for months and even years to come. Or, you could get paid for simply promoting some of your favorite products. The list goes on.
If that sounds interesting to you, read the rest of this guide to discover some of the most creative tactics on how to make money on Pinterest.
Can You Really Make Money on Pinterest?
Making money on Pinterest is possible, but it’s not necessarily easy. While Pinterest won’t pay you directly for using its platform (unless you’re in the Pinterest Creator Fund or Creator Rewards programs), you can still make money in a variety of ways.
For instance:
- You can make affiliate sales and you’ll get paid by the affiliate program.
- You can establish paid partnerships and you’ll get paid by the brands.
- You can sell products on the platform and your money will come from the customer.
… and so on.
If you have a good strategy, you can monetize your content through a variety of ways, including affiliate marketing, brand partnerships, selling your own products, and many others that we will look at below.
If you have a special interest or hobby, Pinterest provides you with the perfect platform to leverage your passion. You’ll be able to grow your audience, create quality content for them, and monetize it using proven tactics.
The bottom line is that if you’re willing to put in the hard work, you’ll enjoy the benefits of earning consistent income from your efforts.
Just remember that the amount of money you make will vary according to a variety of factors like:
- Your niche
- Audience size
- Engagement rates
- Type of content
- Exclusivity, etc.
Some people make a few extra hundred dollars each month, while others make hundreds of thousands of dollars.
For the most part, the highest earners on Pinterest are those in the TV and film, sports, and music industries. However, there are still opportunities for anyone to make significant money on the platform – even complete beginners.
With that said, let’s dive into the best ways to make money on Pinterest.
Best Ways to Make Money on Pinterest
I’ll start off this guide on how to make money on Pinterest by going through some of the best methods to do so.
1) Use Pinterest to Grow Your Blog Traffic
There are many things on this list that will help you make money on Pinterest, but none with a higher earning potential than blogging – and Pinterest can be a huge source of blog traffic.
You can send Pinterest users to your blog, and get enough traffic to join premium ad networks like Ezoic, AdMaven, and Adsense. Many bloggers make consistent income from showing ads on their blogs, and the best part about this monetization strategy is that it’s scalable and comes with a huge earning potential for passive income.
If you don’t have a blog, start by creating one. I offer a free course that guides you step-by-step through the process of starting your blog.
Once your blog is up and running, you’re ready to start making money. Note that some ad networks require you to have a certain number of monthly sessions or page views.
The good news is, while you work on building up your traffic levels to meet the requirements, you can monetize your blog in a variety of other ways, including:
- Affiliate marketing
- Growing an email list
- Selling physical or digital products
- Offering online courses
- Offering your services online
…and more.
2) Join the Pinterest Creator Rewards Program
This is one of the newest ways of making money on Pinterest. The platform has a Creator Rewards program where creators get paid for making original Idea Pins.
These pins either have to meet specific criteria or reach certain goals. Specific prompts are published on Pinterest and pinners create Idea Pins for each one. This feature is currently in testing to select early access users, and there are certain criteria you must meet in order to be able to apply.
To be eligible for the Pinterest Creator Rewards program, you must meet the following criteria:
- Have a Pinterest business account
- Be 18 years or over
- Use the Pinterest app on your mobile phone
- Be a legal resident of the US or the District of Columbia
- Have created at least 3 Idea Pins in the last 30 days
- Have at least 250 followers
- Create original content
- Have 150 saves of published pins within the last 30 days
You can apply for this program through the Pinterest app, and if you are eligible, you will be able to tap the “Get started” button. If you are not eligible, you won’t have the ability to apply.
2) Pinterest Creator Fund
The Pinterest Creator Fund is designed to provide support (both educational and financial) to a select group of Pinterest creators to help them create content on the platform.
The fund focuses on underrepresented groups and if you’re proved to join, you’ll receive:
- A financial grant
- A 5-week workshop program
- Pinterest ad credits
- Personalized Pinterest strategy consulting
While the program is extremely selective, those who have joined reported great results. On average, Pinterest fund creators get 72% more monthly viewers, and 2.9x more Idea Pin impressions compared to their previous performance. This is a great incentive for you to join this program.
Note that applications are currently closed for this cycle, but another round will open soon. You can join Pinterest’s Creator newsletter to ensure you hear about future possibilities.
3) Work with Brands
Another exciting new way to make money on the platform is to work with brands. You can become a Pinterest influencer and get paid to promote your favorite brands and products. In fact, a lot of influencers’ media kits now include Idea Pins.
A newly released feature on Pinterest, the Paid Partnership tool, allows you to tag the brands you’re working with. Once the request is approved, their brand name then shows up on your Idea Pin. The brands you work with also have the option of promoting your Idea Pins as ads in order to boost your reach and get your pins in front of even more people.
So as you can see, getting started using this moneymaking strategy is easy. Simply create Idea Pins, talk about products you love, and then tag the brand.
You can also form deals outside of Pinterest using sites like Upfluence, Open Influence, and other influencer marketing platforms that connect businesses with Pinterest creators. Increase your likelihood of landing a brand partnership by focusing on growing your followers, increasing engagement, and getting more impressions.
4) Sell Your Own Products
Another great way to generate leads and sales is to promote your own products on Pinterest. Lately, the platform has been increasing its focus on eCommerce and has come out with a few new integrations for WooCommerce and Shopify. A lot of pinners have also experienced success linking their Pinterest pins to their products on marketplaces like Etsy.
Now users can find new, trustworthy brands to shop from using the newly introduced Verified Merchant Program on Pinterest.
By becoming one of the vetted brands, it makes it easier for shoppers to discover and buy from you.
Some of the advantages of joining include the following:
- Get an exclusive badge
- Appear in shopping experiences
- Enable your shop
- Gain access to special features
… and more.
The Verified Merchant Program is free to join and it will make your brand stand out. Merchants who’ve joined the program have seen a 17% higher conversion rate compared to those who don’t participate. So go ahead and apply now to start enjoying the program benefits.
Pro Tip: Pinterest offers tips and how-to guides on ways to promote your shop on the platform. You’ll be able to learn everything you need to know about reaching the right people at the right time, using Pinterest product catalogs effectively, and getting standout results from your shop.
5) Become an Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketing is a lucrative business model for social media. Whether you want to be an influencer or monetize your content on Pinterest, you can use affiliate marketing to start earning a steady income on the platform.
Promote links directly on Pinterest and earn commission from any sales generated. You can link standard pins and video pins to your affiliate links, and you even have the option of using affiliate links to tag products in your Idea Pins. This gives you the ability to monetize all of your pins, which is amazing.
To get started, make sure you familiarize yourself with Pinterest rules and community guidelines.
For instance:
- Don’t use URL shorteners like bit.ly
- Disclose all pins with affiliate links by using #ad, etc.
- Check that your affiliate programs or networks allow you to promote product links on Pinterest
Make sure you learn all the rules before getting started so you can protect yourself and your Pinterest account.
If you’re just getting started with affiliate marketing, read Pinterest’s business blog for brands and creators to learn more about a variety of topics that will help you become a successful affiliate, including:
- How to choose the best products to promote on Pinterest;
- How to add affiliate links to your pins;
- And tips for getting your links seen and clicked.
6) Sell Pinterest Templates
Pinterest users are always on the lookout for templates that can help them save time during pin creation.
Create gorgeous, high-quality templates for pins and you can sell them on the platform. You can even sell them on other sites, including your blog, Etsy, Shopify, etc. Additionally, you can offer your services on Fiverr and other freelancing marketplaces to get even more exposure to potential clients.
The best part about this monetization method is that creating pin templates is quick and easy. You don’t even need a lot of design experience.
You can use simple drag-and-drop graphic design tools like Canva or Snappa to make your branded pins and start generating recurring revenue on Pinterest.
7) Become a VA on Pinterest
If you know your way around Pinterest, then you have an opportunity to earn while helping others get results on the platform. You can become a virtual assistant and take on roles such as:
- Scheduling pins
- Doing keyword research
- Designing pins
- Auditing the account
… and more.
Clients will pay good money as long as you can help them get the results they want. There are a lot of active groups and online courses where you can learn the ins and outs of Pinterest to hone your skills and increase your value to individuals and brands looking for help on the platform.
The more you know about the platform and how its algorithm works, the easier it will be for you to leverage it to your advantage as a Pinterest VA.
Who Are the Highest Earning Pinterest Accounts?
Now that you know all the foolproof strategies for you to potentially start earning an income on Pinterest, it’s time to gain some inspiration by looking at some of the highest-earning Pinfluencers on the platform.
Today’s biggest earners average around 1.8 million followers and earn about $250,000 yearly. The current biggest influencer on Pinterest, HelloSociety, made over $12.5 million last year.
Here’s a list of other top earners on the platform:
1) Joy Cho – @ohjoy
Number of Followers: 15.2 million
Monthly Views: 2.8 million
Estimated Earnings Per Post: $7,000 per post
Oh Joy is a lifestyle brand and design company created by Joy Cho. The brand creates licensed products for a variety of uses, including home decor, pets, kids, and furniture collections with retailers like Target, Urban Outfitters, Petco, Keds, Band-Aid, and more.
2) Maryann Rizzo – @maryannrizzo
Number of Followers: 9 million
Monthly Views: 6 Million
Estimated Earnings Per Post: $4,100
Maryann is an interior designer with a keen eye for everything beautiful. She has over 168 boards on Pinterest and is popular for showcasing different design features that are unique and inspirational.
3) Poppytalk
Number of Followers: 10.4 million
Monthly Views: 1.5 million
Estimated Earnings Per Post: $4,800
This Pinterest user creates consistent income by working with brands to promote products in the “entertaining and fun” niche. As you can see from the Pinterest board outlined above, you’ll find everything from recipes to party decor and more. With 10.4 million followers, this popular Pinterest board offers an exciting variety of inspiration and information.
4) Honestly WTF
Number of Followers: 7.1 million
Monthly Views: 10 million
Estimated Earnings Per Post: $3,300
HonestlyWTF is a lifestyle brand that curates and shares stories covering art, fashion, travel, DIY, and interior design. The brand’s Pinterest page is managed by Erica Chan Coffman, one of the co-founders and executive editor of the HonestlyWTF blog.
5) Jane Wang – @janew
Number of Followers: 7.7 million
Monthly Views: Unspecified
Estimated Earnings Per Post: $3,500
Jane Wang is well known for her inspirational content that covers a wide range of topics. She’s also the mother of Ben Silbermann, a Pinterest co-founder. With over 7.7 million followers and 56,000 pins, she earns up to $3,500 for each post on Pinterest.
5 Tips to Earn the Most Money on Pinterest
As you’ve seen from the tips outlined above, there are many ways to earn money on Pinterest. However, it’s important to note that while everyone can earn money on the platform, only a select number of people take home the majority of the income.
How do they do this? By following certain best practices.
Here are some of the most prominent ones to follow if you want to learn how to make money on Pinterest.
1) Create a Pinterest Monetization Strategy
The first, and most important way to earn more on Pinterest is to have a strategy. If you’re just pinning willy-nilly, you likely won’t get the results you want. You need to be strategic about how you do everything on the platform, which is why the first step is to come up with a strategy using the information outlined in this article and a bit of additional research.
So, for instance:
- If you want to work with brands, then your strategy can include a plan to consistently create Idea Pins so you can increase your impressions and followers.
- If you choose to use the platform to send traffic to your blog so you can make money through ads, then you may want to optimize your blog and use Standard Pins which tend to be the easiest types of pins to get outbound clicks from.
- If you want to monetize your blog through affiliate marketing, then you might want to create more blog posts with buyer intent keywords.
2) Increase Your Audience
To make more money on Pinterest, you must increase your follower count, and an effective way to increase your audience on the platform is to conduct keyword and trend research.
Pinterest SEO is important for anyone who wants to achieve success on the platform because it will help you discover lucrative content ideas and allow you to optimize your pins for the platform’s algorithm.
You must optimize your profile, pins, and boards using relevant keywords so Pinterest’s algorithm will understand exactly what your pins are about and distribute them accordingly.
Most people find keyword research to be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. If you’re not sure how to get started, I have a free course on foundational keyword research that will teach you the secrets to getting your content in front of thousands of visitors every day so you can scale your growth with the right keywords.
3) Be Consistent
As with every other way to earn online, consistency is key if you want to make money on Pinterest. The only way, you’ll see growth on the platform is if you create content and engage with your audience on a consistent basis.
This is the only way to keep the momentum going, and the more you pin, the higher the chances that the algorithm will send traffic your way.
Publish at least one new pin each day (ideally more), and you’ll soon start to see growth in your traffic and following, and consequently, more impressions and sales.
4) Choose a Niche
One of the benefits of having a niche on social media is that it provides you with the ability to come up with laser-focused marketing and sales campaigns with a specific audience in mind. When you have a niche, there’s little room for guesswork and way more room for you to get creative with effective, customized messaging.
For example, you’ll find it easier to grow a loyal and engaged audience when you niche down. It will also be easier to secure brand deals if you consistently create content within their niche instead of touching on miscellaneous topics.
Also, as an affiliate, you’ll get higher conversions because you’ll be able to recommend products and services that your audience is actually interested in.
5) Leverage Pinterest Analytics
Using the platform’s analytics can help you form a stronger strategy so you can earn more from your efforts. The analytics reports will be able to show you a lot of helpful metrics, such as:
- Your most popular content
- Content that gets the most engagement
- Pins with the most saves
- Content with the most outbound clicks
- Most impressions, etc.
How do these insights help you earn more and Pinterest?
First of all, you get to see exactly what content users like so you can provide them with more relevant content.
So, for instance, if you notice that your followers like Idea Pins the most, then you can create more of those to get better results from your campaigns.
You may notice that pins with a specific color perform better than the rest, or maybe pins that show your face get more engagement – whatever the case, you can then create more pins like those to help you supercharge your growth.
I hope my guide on how to make money on Pinterest has helped you understand the intricacies of using this platform to make money. Good luck!