With the rise of social media, the age of the influencer began. A social media influencer is someone who has gained a following for their expertise and knowledge and because of that, profits off their posts. The most common apps for making money off content are Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok. However, there’s an underdog coming up from behind — Pinterest.
The app that’s known for its aesthetic feeds, endless pins, and the origin of all our favorite style trends might not seem like a lucrative money-making platform, but creators are catching on. Recently, social media users have been making Pinterest influencers a hot topic. On TikTok, the #pinterestcreator has over 14 million views. One Tiktoker shared that in just a week she got up to over 4,000 monthly views on her Pinterest page. Another one said she made $600 in two days on the platform.
Olivia Doces, a Pinterest social media manager, tells Her Campus, “I think that anyone has the opportunity to profit off of Pinterest, it’s just a matter of doing it right. Many people think of Pinterest as just a site for pretty photos when in reality it is so much more. It is a place for brands to showcase their products, and people to share their skills and ideas. Once you figure out how to connect with your audience, and how to stand out and be unique, then success is just around the corner.” Here’s how to make money on Pinterest.
Pinterest operates like a search engine — harp on those keywords.
Before you can start making money on the platform, you must grow in views and analytics. Pinterest is one of the only apps where followers don’t necessarily matter in order to make money. The key analytics on the app are impressions, engagements, saves, pin clicks, outbound clicks, and monthly views. All of these analytics are increased by understanding your audience and what they are searching for, especially through keywords.
“Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest’s business model has had the consumer in mind from the start. To make this possible, Pinterest works like a search engine. People go to Pinterest to look for everything from inspiration, instructions, and products. This posting structure allows users to target their intended demographic in a more strategic way,” says Doces. “Once you understand who your audience is, or what they are searching for, Pinterest makes it easy to directly target these people through keywords, descriptions, and tags on each post. This makes Pinterest one of the easiest places to make money on the internet right now.”
Some of the keywords popular on the app are dinner recipes, quotes, hairstyles, nails, Halloween costumes, short hair styles, and fall outfits. By including these in the description of your standard pins or the notes of an idea pin, you are expanding your reach.
Pinterest incentivizes its users through Creator Rewards.
On other social platforms, you often need a large following to gain profit. On Instagram, the typical macroinfluencer has between 100,000 to 1 million followers. However, Pinterest understands that content creation is very common, so they are giving small creators an opportunity to profit off their pins through the Creator Rewards program. Through the Creator Rewards program, Pinterest will post goals on a frequent basis and creators will submit an idea pin in response. Depending on the success of the idea pin, there will be a payout. To be eligible for the program, you must have a Pinterest business account, at least 250 followers, created three idea pins in the last 30 days, and have 150 saves of your pins in the last 30 days.
The Pinterest Creator Fund gives specific opportunities to different niches, allowing everyone a chance.
On a bigger scale, there is the Pinterest Creator Fund, which targets more specific content verticals. They announce a new fund cycle every quarter: The current cycle focuses on health and wellness and wants to highlight underrepresented creators in the LGBTQ+ community and people of color. This allows creators to share their voice specifically on their niche without having to compete with other verticals in the fund.
Doces explains, “Right now, the program is only open to select users. For accepted users, each month, new campaigns or goals are posted within the app. These range from hitting a certain number of saves, to creating a certain number of pins, to obtaining a certain amount of views. Users are able to view their earnings on the Pinterest app under their ‘creator hub’ and then ‘earnings.’”
Contrary to the Creator Rewards program, the Creator Fund has stricter requirements and focuses more on content creation as a career. If you are accepted, the creator fund opens up potential brand partnerships, gives you access to conferences, and gives creators a $25,000 cash grant.
Idea pins are your best friend to grow on the app.
In May 2021, Pinterest launched idea pins, which have since become the main source of content creation and traffic on the app. Idea pins pop up at the top of a Pinterest profile and are a great way to expand your personal brand. Doces shared on her TikTok account, which she uses to spread advice on Pinterest growth, that idea pins are like permanent story posts and the standard pins are in-feed posts. She goes on to say that idea pins allow you to tag keywords and more links than a typical story post, which allows you to grow and gain more traffic. Idea pins are your best friend when growing on Pinterest.
One tool under idea pins is the paid partnership tool. Through this tool, you can tag brands. If the brand approves the partnership, the brand name will show up on your pin, and brands can choose to use your pin as a promotion. If the brand uses your pin, this will increase your reach to even more people. You will work directly with brands to negotiate pay.
You can also earn commission by tagging products on your idea pins. If you have any affiliate links through programs, such as the Amazon Affiliate program or LTK, then you can tag products in the post with the link and users can go directly there to shop.
Content creation is becoming a source of income for many members of Gen Z, but it’s not always fast-growing. Rebecca Malloy, a full-time content creator, tells Her Campus, “I started taking content creation seriously in August of 2021, and I just started making a real income from it in May. It takes a while to get started and get your profiles running, but I would say it’s definitely worth the time. I’ve been doing content creation full-time for the last few months and I can say that if you have engaging content and an audience that can learn from you, you can redirect them to all your other platforms and even offer consulting services to help people do this on their own! I’ve made $4,000 just from the Pinterest Creator Fund since June, but I also get income from one-on-one consulting meetings with people from my audience that want to learn, as well as brands reaching out to collaborate with me on social media.”
With the rise of Pinterest’s popularity, many social media users are sharing their advice like Doces and Malloy, such as @Ryryboom on TikTok. If you’re not sure where to start, turn to them for help or do what you do best: Pin your favorite clothes, styles, or aesthetics.