During our childhood, pinning all the images together and binding them was a task of every holiday. Undeniably, it was fun. Pinterest is just a digital version of that ritual- with more features and users.
What exactly does Pinterest do?
Why is it so famous?
Well, there’s no easy answer to that. It has got to do more with people’s preferences than the purpose of the app on the whole. Well, any social media platform’s sole purpose is to connect people, make the feed binge-worthy, and give updates based on the trends.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat are some of the social media giants out there ruling the market share. Their secret sauce is content and messages. In fact, content and messaging are the killer duos to attract people. Then how and why an image-featuring platform like Pinterest rose to prominence? We are getting there.
Pinterest is a picture’ La La Land. There’s a little room for content and a whole space for images on this platform. While the other social media platforms throw the content of all sorts in your feed, Pinterest changes the game. Let’s say you are someone who uses Instagram just for saving your favorite photographer’s work. But the search is too diverse.
From films to rocket science, there are many creators who post content of all topics regularly. They could be funny videos, informational posts, memes on philosophy, and literally everything under the sun. If you are looking for specific posts following the hashtag, your chances of finding the exact picture are highly unlikely. Under one hashtag, there are thousands and even lakhs of posts ranging from videos, memes, Gifs, etc. With Pinterest, you can access filtered search.
The fact that Instagram, Facebook are diverse social media platforms gives Pinterest an edge. Wondering how? Well, with over 335 million users worldwide, the weekly engagement that it generates speaks for itself. But what exactly is Pinterest? How does it work? Let’s discuss that first.
Page Contents
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is an app full of pictures and ideas. It is a visual discovery platform to find ideas about photography, cooking, interior decoration, etc. By ideas, we mean- one can take inspiration from the images and create or develop their respective themes.
For example, there is a budding food blogger and vlogger who is looking for different plate decoration ideas. Ideally, they turn to YouTube for tutorials or google images. But the results on both these mediums are limited and repeated. On Pinterest, there will be an exhaustive catalog of each topic. For one keyword, one can find thousands and lakhs of pins of diverse types. It is easy to use, take inspiration, and develop ideas.
To make money on Pinterest, firstly, one should understand how this platform works. Here are some basic terms that will help you navigate on this platform effortlessly.
Pins:
Pins are nothing but the saved pictures on the platform. Whenever a user searches for a specific keyword, pictures of that category appear on the feed. If they like the idea, they bookmark (pin) the image to their personal Pinterest account. Every image posted on Pinterest has a link that re-directs to a blog, website, or the respective stakeholder.
For example, Kate runs a bakery in her town and uploads pictures of desserts on Pinterest. She uses this app as a medium to connect with her target customers who love desserts and cakes. Whenever she posts an image of dessert, she gives a brief description- mostly a catchy phrase or a small note of ingredients used. Along with the description, she links her website link to the image. So whenever a user saves (pins) the image, he/she can create an entire space in their bookmarks (pins).
Boards
It is natural to have an urge to pin everything we come across. Maybe out of fear of missing out or to keep things in handy. With hundreds of pins lying in your account, finding the right pin at the right time might get difficult. Pinterest allows users to balloon all the pins into respective collections. These relevant collections of pins are called boards.
Boards help users to organize their pins accordingly and save a lot of time.
What makes Pinterest interesting?
Pictures, quite literally
One might wonder what is so special about pictures!? Of course, even Instagram and Facebook cater to the same segment of image-driven content. What makes Pinterest so special? It’s an obvious question one raises.
But are the above-mentioned platforms all about pictures and ideas? Do they help you find what you are exactly looking for? Yes and No. Yes because Instagram is majorly an image and video-driven social networking platform. Finding the desired themes from the hashtags catalog makes it difficult.
Instagram is primarily an image sharing social networking platform. But it is also bombarded with different types of content. It requires a lot of effort for picture-only content to garner attention. Quirky and funny posts have an edge in going viral on this platform.
An average cartoonist, photographer, or creator puts more effort into making the image beautiful than strategizing on reach. Pinterest wins the race here. Although strategizing is an essential factor on every platform, Pinterest strategizing lies in the picture in itself.
The tags we associate with the image and the quality of the image combined with analytics will contribute more.
Popular section
In Instagram and Facebook, likes and engagement determines the credibility of a page. More the followers, more the posts engagement. But in Pinterest, the case is different. You don’t need many followers to get the desired reach. Whenever you post a picture, your content is not restricted to your followers. Almost everybody who uses Pinterest and searches for your theme can see your content and engage with it.
While posting, you can come across the option- Everything. On choosing this option, everybody can see your post and pin it.
Posts with higher shares and engagement (likes, comments) get featured in the popular section. For newbies, this is a great way to connect with a new audience and new followers.
Pinboards
Pinterest is a pro when it comes to organizing posts based on images. We come across many beautiful pictures per day. It is harder to find the precise bookmarked content from the hundreds of pins. Pinterest has ‘Pinboards’ which helps in categorizing the images in different brackets. Pinboards act as File Managers, where the pictures of similar categories are stored under the board.
Let’s say you mostly pin pictures of mountains, interior decoration, and cartoons. Generally, the pins are saved in the format of recent to last saved posts.
But on Pinterest, the pinned posts are saved based on their category relevance. In the Pinboards, the images are further saved in the order from latest to last. This feature makes organizing and viewing easy for users.
How to make money on Pinterest
Making money on Pinterest is exciting and creative. You can literally get paid for your creativity and strategy approach. The common notion is that social media platforms are alike. But every social media channel caters to the needs of a diverse customer range. The strategy used for Facebook is totally not ideal for Quora.
Similarly, Instagram strategies would not work for Pinterest. Although both the platforms are content-driven, Pinterest is exclusively for sharing pictures. Instagram did start as an app for sharing images but later, it changed. Slowly short videos, long videos, and the recent development- reel, began occupying the spaces. For something as exclusive as Pinterest, a unique strategy that touches the niche sells the most.
Pinterest offers both individual and business account based on an individual’s purpose. Well-established and budding businesses target Pinterest audience for directly reaching their target customers.
How Pinterest helps businesses?
Pinterest drives targeted traffic for your profile. As mentioned above, on every post you can provide a link to your website. If any user pins your picture, he can always see your brand. In case they are really interested in your idea or product image, there’s a high chance that it will lead to a sale. These links hold importance. These links are the best way to generate referral traffic for your respective website or blog.
Marketing your products or brands on Pinterest is a sure shot for converting pins into sales. For someone who has no clear idea about the kind of product they are looking to buy, Pinterest is the destination. The exhaustive catalog of diverse topics and ideas gives users an interesting insight into various designs available. It is just like a search engine that gives visual ideas. People browsing on this platform are potential consumers of your product or service. Make your pictures attractive and link your website, blog, or sales link.
Here are four sure-shot and easy ways to make money on Pinterest
Affiliate marketing
Content marketing is not the only way to create a brand or product buzz on Pinterest. If you are looking to make money on Pinterest without much investment, affiliate marketing is the best way to get started. The huge advantage of Pinterest is that users share good quality content from time to time. If your niche is beauty and lifestyle, it is highly likely that the users who engage with your posts interact with your content.
Affiliate marketing is nothing but selling other’s products and earning commission from every sale. Pinterest has a higher conversion rate. If done right, you can make good money from this platform with minimal investment. Affiliate marketing on Pinterest is for people who have no products or merchandise yet passionate about selling online.
Buyable pins
Visual centric pins are valuable and easy to use. You can monetize your Pinterest account by generating traffic to your respective blog or website. But for doing so, people should know your brand. Pinterest is not all about posting attractive pictures and getting followers. It is also about the engagement you can generate.
For selling something online, the first rule is to create a distraction-less path for making any purchase. The problem with the re-directing links is they take time to load and process. Verified profiles on Pinterest allows the account to use Buyable Pins. These pins help pinners to buy the products on the current page without leaving the activity. But in order to get a verified profile, there’s a process to be followed. Find out more about how to get verified on Pinterest.
Brand Promoter
If you know the secret to drive content marketing on Pinterest, this is the best way for you to get started. Brand collaboration need not be a fancy profile with thousands of followers. You can promote affiliate links and make money on Pinterest. Businesses are investing in micro influencing these days.
Micro influencing is nothing but collaborating with profiles with authentic followers and targetting customers. With such practices, brands can reach their target customers with less investment and convert sales.
Conclusion
To make money on Pinterest, one needs to have a knack for creativity along with persistence. It is a visual search engine for finding ideas, pictures, inspiration, and authentic art. For making good money on Pinterest, even the slightest things matter. Right from the logo to the image resolution, everything needs to be carefully selected.
For a competitive platform like this, below are some basic aspects that need to be in place.
- Create a website or blog for selling or promoting your niche.
- Post quality images with good resolution.
- Use keywords in your bio, Board pins.
- Always link your website or blog to your posts.
- For affiliate marketers, leverage pins.
When you get the basics right, promoting and making money will be a cakewalk. For someone who just started on Pinterest, it is absolutely fine if you don’t see a flood of followers initially. It takes time. It is important to maintain consistency and quality to drive engagement.
To know more about how Pinterest makes money or Pinterest’s business model, refer to this article. What are you waiting for? Get started and make money on Pinterest.
