Anyone looking to earn money online — from content creators and influencers to eCommerce site owners and affiliate marketers — might find Pinterest a good source of revenue.

                By                    Andrea Norris
  • What Is Pinterest
  • Ways To Make Money

According to Pinterest, 433 million people use the platform each month to search for and pin tips, project ideas, new products and other inspiration. If you have a product or service that matches what Pinterest users are searching for on the platform, you may be able to generate a regular income stream in several different ways. Money-making opportunities also exist on the platform for those who don’t sell anything. Read on to learn more about how you can make money on Pinterest.

What Is Pinterest?

Founded in 2010, Pinterest is a popular visual search engine that allows users to search, save and create pins of interest to themselves or potential customers. Some pins are aesthetic photos or informational text, but many also often link to blog posts, online stores or other sites. What began as a simple photo-sharing site is now recognized by 79% of people on social media in the U.S. and is a lucrative platform for influencers, creators, marketers, bloggers and other small business owners to build a brand, find additional web traffic and generate revenue.

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Can You Earn Money on Pinterest?

Businesses, creators and influencers of all sizes and types — established or brand new — have opportunities to earn money directly and indirectly on Pinterest. You don’t even need a business account for some earning methods. However, a business account does provide beneficial analytics tools and is necessary to use some of the platform’s money-making features.

How Many Followers Do You Need on Pinterest To Make Money?

One great thing about the Pinterest platform is you can begin monetizing without having a single follower, depending on how you want to earn. So new bloggers or creators have many of the same opportunities to make money as established influencers or those already selling through an online store. It all comes down to understanding how money can be earned using the platform and how that method can be applied to a specific income stream.  

10 Ways To Make Money on Pinterest

Some of the following ideas require that you meet specific requirements and complete an application process, but several are open to anyone using the Pinterest platform:

1. Run Pinterest Ads

Those with a Pinterest business account can run ads on Pinterest to achieve different goals, including driving traffic to a blog, website or storefront, creating brand awareness, encouraging newsletter sign-ups and more. Ads can help you generate revenue either directly by sending potential customers to product pages or indirectly by generating traffic to blog posts or newsletters that are monetized in other ways.

Best for: Driving traffic to a specific site or web page

2. Create Product Pins

Those who sell products can easily get products in front of potential new customers on Pinterest using Product Pins. Product Pins have a specific format and are enriched with metadata that let Pinterest users know the pins are shoppable. These pins contain prices, product availability, a product description and link back to a specific product page through which a user can place an order.

Best for: Anyone who sells products online, whether through their website or a third-party site such as Etsy

3. Help Other Pinterest Users Shop Your Look

“Shop the Look” pins are another avenue for pinners to earn extra money simply by promoting what they already wear and use. Once your account is set up, create your “Shop the Look” pins. You earn a commission if someone is interested and orders using your link.

Best for: Fashion influencers and bloggers

4. Create Idea Pins To Promote Brands Partnerships

Idea Pins are a multi-page pin format, similar to Instagram Stories. You can also use the paid partnership tool to be matched with brand partners and possibly get paid for promoting partner brands.

Best for: Influencers, bloggers or creators with a large following

5. Get Sponsorship From a Company 

Another way to get paid to promote a brand is to land a sponsorship. Once you have a following on Pinterest, look for companies in your niche and approach them for sponsorship. If you have impressive Pinterest statistics, you can quickly find brands willing to pay you to promote their products or services. Offer them a deal to display their branding on your Pinterest account for an agreed period, like six months or a year.

6. Promote Affiliate Products and Services

Many companies are looking for affiliates to market their products at a commission. Look for companies whose products align with your audience and sign up as an affiliate. You can promote the products on your pinboards with affiliate links in place. Your money-making potential goes up if you can link your pins to your website to use affiliate links.

Best for: Affiliate marketers and those who don’t have their own products or services to sell

7. Apply for the Pinterest Creator Fund

The Pinterest Creator Fund is a program that provides underrepresented Pinterest Creators financial and educational support with their Pinterest content creation. Pinterest Creator Fund members may receive a financial grant, expert training and access to other resources.

Best for: People that identify as being part of an underrepresented community

8. Earn Creator Rewards

Pinterest Creator Rewards is a program that pays Pinterest creators who reach specific Pinterest monthly goals. Pinterest Creator Rewards is a new feature that is not yet open to all Pinterest creators, but it should become more accessible once it completes the testing phase.

Best for: Frequent Pinterest users with a large following

9. Manage Other People’s Pinterest Accounts

Managing a Pinterest account, creating quality pins and pinning content takes time. Some business owners and influencers are more than happy to pay someone else to perform essential Pinterest tasks that free them up to focus on other parts of their business. You can find many courses online that will teach you how to use the platform to build traffic and generate revenue and put you in a position to get paid for helping others earn money on the platform.

Best for: Those looking for an income stream that does not involve selling

10. Teach Pinterest Strategies 

If your Pinterest strategies are effective, you can make money teaching other users. This is particularly effective if you’re successfully making money from your strategy. Create courses and e-books on what you know on the platform and sell them.

Best for: Those who are finding success with the platform and want to monetize their strategies

Takeaway

Discovering how to make money on Pinterest, with its many advertising and creator tools, is pretty straightforward once you learn the best ways to utilize the tools that make sense for your business or side gig. Those who own a business or e-commerce store, sell a service or earn by promoting others’ products will find several ways to use the platform to drive traffic and generate sales. Focus on a few tools that resonate with your niche and experience, and you are on your way to earning extra money.

Lydia Kibet contributed to the reporting for this article.

Information is accurate as of Oct. 13, 2022.

Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.

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