Affiliate Marketing Through Pinterest
Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting products or services of other companies. You can find a product you like or feel you can sell. Then, you promote it to others and earn a commission on every successful sale you make.
A typical affiliate marketing framework consists of the following parties:
- Merchant: Also referred to as the creator, seller, or owner, the merchant is the person or company that creates and owns the product.
- Affiliate: An affiliate, also known as the publisher, is the person or a company that markets the product for the merchant and earns a commission on each successful sale.
- Consumer: The consumer or customer is the final party that purchases the product.
Why Pinterest for affiliate marketing?
Pinterest is the third-largest social media network in the U.S. and one of the top ten in the world. With more than 320 million monthly active users, it makes an excellent place for marketers to promote their products and services. The platform users are known to have the highest purchase intent compared to any other social media platform. Therefore, Pinterest turns out to be a versatile, impactful, and affordable marketing tool for businesses that tend to drive traffic to their websites or convert more leads.
Pinterest vs. other social media platforms for affiliate marketing
Pinterest for Business offers a wide range of features, such as analytics, campaign management, promotions, and more. But, so does other platforms. So, how is Pinterest different? Let’s take a look.
- Pins: Pinterest provides five different types of rich pins (product, article, place, movie, recipe), which are known to attract twice more engagement than regular pins.
- It is less “salesy”: Instead of adding a call-to-action that clearly indicates that you are trying to sell something, Pinterest offers a call to pin (CTP) feature. You can use keywords in your description too.
- No hashtags: Pinterest offers hashtags, but it’s better to keep them for Instagram and Twitter. Since Pinterest is a search engine within itself, you can skip the hassle of using strategic hashtags to drive more traffic.
- It’s more visual: As you open Pinterest, you are welcomed with beautiful visuals and infographics that immediately grab your attention. The interface is user-friendly and encourages customers to spend more time browsing through pins.
How to make money with affiliate marketing on Pinterest?
The first step towards affiliate marketing with Pinterest is to add affiliate links. Follow these steps to add a link to Pinterest:
- Create a pin by clicking on the ‘Create Pin’ option.
- Fill the title and description as usual.
- In the link section, add your affiliate link
- Add a picture that best reflects your product
- Put it in a pin
And you have your pin with the affiliate link ready. Now, you need to drive traffic to that pin and make money.
Pinterest affiliate marketing do’s and don’ts
If done right, you can create a good deal of passive income from affiliate marketing on Pinterest. However, there are a few rules you’d need to follow. These include:
Link disclosures: Pinterest urges you to always mention that your pin contains an affiliate link. It can be done by writing it in your description or simply using a #affiliate hashtag.
Specific boards for affiliate products: Your Pinterest profile should not be all about affiliate links. Create and share blogs and other useful content to build trust. And when promoting an affiliate link, create a board specifically for affiliate products. This way, your followers will know right away that they’ll be directed straight to the product page if they click on the pin link.
Strong descriptions: When affiliate marketing with Pinterest, your pins direct to the seller’s site or landing page and not on a blog or review. Therefore, it is crucial to use title and description that is to-the-point, informative, and compelling. You can use keywords in the description too.
Don’t overdo affiliate marketing: If you’re looking to create an affiliate marketing brand on Pinterest, you’ll need to strike a balance between the affiliate and informative links. Also, don’t promote any product you come across, and make sure it aligns with the aesthetic of your brand. This way, you will grow your followers and would be seen as a credible source for affiliate products.
No short links: Bit.ly or other short links are forbidden as per Pinterest’s Acceptable User Policy. Make sure to use complete links only.
How to scale your Pinterest account?
Once you create 8-10 pins and start gaining some followers, it’s time to scale up, look authentic, and have some followers of your own. You can do it by joining group boards. Group boards are places where different people can join and post pins. When you join a board, your followers will see pins from other people, which can be a bit diluting. But on the positive side, you get a chance to appear in front of hundreds of thousands of eyeballs as well.
Conclusion
Pinterest affiliate marketing requires a bit of practice and understanding, and it might take some time to show desired results. But once you figure out the right strategy, you can achieve an ROI higher than any other social media network.
