As with any other social media platform of this size, Pinterest is also an excellent network to start earning money through.
It isn’t just a photo-sharing social media system but an invaluable medium through which entrepreneurs can generate a following and begin generating revenue.
This article will run you through the best ways to start earning money with Pinterest.
Contents
What Is Pinterest?
Pinterest is an online site that allows users to follow one another & publish content in a visual format.
Differing from the typical social media layout, content shared on Pinterest is displayed through imagery/infographics that, when clicked, redirect users to exterior sites.
Pinterest currently has over 100 million users and this number is rapidly growing.
Pinterest Generates Followers, Not Money
First and foremost, it’s important to be aware that Pinterest itself isn’t a money-giving platform.
Pinterest won’t be paying you for using its system, nor will it pay you for generating a large amount of followers.
In generating followers, you will have a wider reach and thus a greater influence.
It is exactly this influence that will increase your value as an entrepreneur.
Making Money On Pinterest By Influencing
As we’ve discussed in previous articles, social media platforms are not themselves a money-making method, rather a tool through which you can generate a following and become noticed as an influential figure.
Your influential power can be exercised through advertising, ecommerce and many other outlets.
When business notice your large following they’ll see you as a valuable asset and consider paying you to drive traffic to their work.
This is where the money is made…
Niche Vs Passion
I’d highly advise that, throughout your Pinterest endeavour, you follow your passions.
Many people will tell you that the most effective way to make money as an entrepreneur is by discovering niches (specialised segments of the market such as painting/sewing) that attract large amounts of traffic and ruthlessly exploiting them.
An example of niche-exploitation would be conducting keyword research and identifying a popular niche.
Once found, one may set up a website and pump a load of information into it about this niche, regularly creating content that they care little about for the sake of making money.
Following Your Passion
While, yes, if done right this method will probably make you a decent amount of money, it’ll also bore you to tears – especially when using Pinterest.
I say this not because Pinterest is a particularly boring platform but because you’re going to need to post a lot of content at first.
- If you don’t care about the content you’re forcing yourself to write you’ll simply get bored and give up.
- If you don’t give up, you won’t enjoy what you’re doing and while having money is all well and good there’s not much point if you hate the means through which you attain it.
To summarise this, follow your passions.
Don’t write about something you hate for the sake of earning money because you’ll only grow tired of it and will likely just abandon it.
Understand Your Target Audience
It’s always wise to conduct your keyword research after you’ve identified your passions.
While I’d strongly advocate delving into a niche that you love, that niche is worthless if it doesn’t generate any money.
It’s your responsibility to find a sweet-spot between your passions and the interests of the public.
Finding a niche that you love and that makes money is key to your success.
Once you’ve found this sweet spot, it’s then time to draw up your target audience.
Who Will You Market To?
If you’re into music and you’ve decide your niche is going to be vintage guitars, consider the types of people that will actually be interested in this niche and market specifically to those types of people.
By this I mean you should tailor your content to appeal to the types of people that it would interest.
In the case of vintage guitars you may expect an older audience to view your content, an audience that perhaps would also be interested musicians such as Keith Richards/Eric Clapton.
Thus, it would be sensible to post content related to these interests as your audience will take a liking to your page and follow you.
Posting content that appeals to a specific target audience is key to generating a dedicated following, not just a mass collection of inactive users that’ll never make a purchase through your account.
Be persistent with your content publication, trying to pump out photos/links/statuses multiple times a day.
You should see your follower count gradually start to grow and an increasing number of people interacting with your page.
This is a good sign that you’re doing this right.
Optimising Your Content
It’s important to keep this audience interested in your page as it’ll be these people that you begin to sell to.
When you start to generate a few thousand followers, marketers will start to approach you with offers to advertise their company.
It is at this point that you’ll need to choose which company you decide to promote.
Choosing The Right Offer To Promote
Once you’ve been approached by companies asking you to advertise for them, or have a list of companies that you could approach and advertise for, it’s time to decide which ones you’re going to partner with.
As said before, it’s vital that the content that you produce appeals to your target audience and your choice of company should, again, align with this audience’s interests.
For the sake of consistency we’ll again use the vintage guitars example.
If, as a Pinterest figure, you have attracted a decent sized following based on their interest in vintage musical instruments/musicians, you should of course target companies that sell these instruments.
These companies will value you very highly as an advertiser as your audience are exactly the types of people that they can begin to sell to.
Thus, you should aim to choose a company that sells products that you can advertise to your following.
Pinterest Marketing Tips For Making Money
Once you’ve made your decision, it’s time for you to begin actually marketing for this company.
This can be done in a number of ways however our main focus will be affiliate marketing.
If you already have experience in the online world of entrepreneurship you probably already have a very good idea of what affiliate marketing actually is.
If you’re new to this, allow me to give a very simplified overview.
Affiliate marketing is simply the process of signing up to affiliate programs and advertising products for a company.
When you sign up, companies will send you URL links to their products.
These links are customised to you as a marketer – they’ll ensure that money is sent to you specifically for your services.
You’ll then drop this links across your chosen platforms – Pinterest in this case.
When your followers click on these links and/or make a purchase using them, you will be paid a percentage of the sale for your work.
Now, if you’re marketing vintage guitars for an instrument manufacturing company, your Pinterest followers should follow these links and make purchases.
This is where your profits will be coming from.
Advertising & Promoted Posts
Take a look at any influential social media figure – the Kardashians, big-name models, bodybuilders and you’ll notice they’re advertising a tonne of products through their pages.
Even if it’s a subtle post such as ‘Using this new face mask by xyz today, loving it! [link to said product]’, these are exactly the affiliate links that you’ll be making use of as an affiliate marketer.
Advertising is everywhere.
Affiliate Marketing On Pinterest
Affiliate programs are incredible easy to find and virtually all big companies will have them in place (Amazon offering a scheme called Amazon Associates, allowing you to advertise any one of Amazon’s many thousands of products).
Simply conduct some Google searches on the brands that your target audiences would like, enquire about affiliate schemes and then begin advertising through your Pinterest page.
From here, the key to your longevity and prosperity as a Pinterest figure is consistency.
If you begin advertising with just a few thousand followers, all you need to do thereafter is increase your following.
The larger your follower base becomes, the more valuable you will become as a marketer and the more money you can therefore start to earn.
Be persistent with your content production, interact with your followers where you can and do everything in your capacity to keep those numbers rising.
Do this and you’ll be sure to succeed.
