Pinterest is a powerful platform for affiliate marketing with 537M+ monthly active users, combining visual appeal with a targeted audience. Here’s a guide on how to leverage Pinterest to generate commission (some percentage of a sale/amount for a conversion action) income through affiliate marketing.
Understand Pinterest’s Unique Audience and Affiliate Guidelines
Pinterest users are often looking for inspiration, whether it’s for home decor, fashion, recipes, or lifestyle hacks. This intent makes them more receptive to discovering products, which is ideal for affiliate marketing.
Before starting, familiarize yourself with Pinterest’s Community & Affiliate Guidelines and ensure affiliate links comply with their policies. For example, you should clearly disclose that a pin contains an affiliate link (e.g., adding “#affiliate” or “#ad” to your pin descriptions).
Choose an Affiliate Program and Niches That Fit Pinterest
Affiliate programs like Amazon Associates, Cuelinks (15+ categories including likes of fashion, electronics, health, and food), and Flipkart Affiliate work well with Pinterest. However, choosing a niche that aligns with popular Pinterest categories—such as fashion, beauty, home decor, travel, or DIY—is key to capturing Pinterest’s audience.
Make sure to select products and services that resonate with your niche. Avoid promoting random items, as your audience will respond better to content that aligns with their interests.
Based on your niche/product/service, different affiliate campaigns like CPL (cost per lead), CPC (cost per click), CPS (cost per sale), CPI (install), CPA (acquisition), etc. will be available. These are the commission earning classifications and determine how you are paid for a successful action/conversion. For instance, if your niche is fashion then you can go for the Shein Affiliate Program which works on CPS model and gives upto 9.45% commission earnings.
Create a Pinterest Business Account and Optimize Your Profile
To build credibility and reach on Pinterest, start by converting your personal profile into a Pinterest Business account, if you haven’t already. Business accounts offer analytics and tools like promoted pins to help you track performance and grow your reach.
Optimize your profile with a clear bio, keywords relevant to your niche, and a link to your blog or website if you have one. Use high-quality profile and cover images that reflect your brand or niche. Make a note to follow Pinterest’s paid partnership guidelines.
Why is Pinterest Affiliate Marketing Better compared to Pinterest Brand Partnership?
The Pinterest Business account glimpse you saw above is mainly for advertisers/brands. They use it to generate Paid Pins for promotion. On the publisher/content creator’s front, you can tag brand partners (Adidas, Samsung, Lakme, etc.) and if they approve then you both can decide an affiliate earning mechanism. Pinterest doesn’t handle affiliate programs so you have to directly deal with different brands. On the other hand, Pinterest Affiliate Marketing Networks (Amazon Associates, Cuelinks, Rakuten, etc.) work for you as well as the advertisers. For you, commission rates, affiliate campaign type (CPS, CPC, CPI, etc.), tracking, validation, payout, promotional materials, and many more important affiliate metrics are well defined and worked-out with the brands so you just need to focus on your content and monetization is taken care of. They also have simplified analytics tools which you can browse through at your convenient intervals to keep a check on your affiliate earnings.
Conduct Keyword Research
Pinterest functions as a search engine, so keyword research is essential for discoverability. Use Pinterest’s search bar to find keywords that are trending within your niche. For example, if you’re promoting fashion items, try searching terms like “summer outfit ideas” or “fall trends.” Incorporate these keywords into your pin titles and descriptions to boost visibility. The Pinterest Trends tool is very handy for this. Besides, you can also use Google Keywords Planner and Google Trends.
Create High-Quality Pins
High-quality, visually appealing pins are crucial for attracting users to click on your affiliate links. Design attractive images that showcase the product, or use lifestyle imagery to convey its benefits.
- Use Tools Like Canva: Canva is a popular design tool that offers Pinterest templates, making it easy to create visually striking pins even if you’re not a graphic designer.
- Image Size: Pinterest recommends a 2:3 aspect ratio for pins (e.g., 1000×1500 pixels) for optimal display.
- Add Descriptive Text Overlays: Use short, catchy text overlays to convey the main benefit of the product quickly.
Write Compelling Descriptions
A pin’s description is just as important as the image itself. Use clear, engaging language that encourages viewers to click, emphasizing the product’s benefits. Include relevant keywords naturally and use phrases that speak to your audience’s needs, like “perfect for summer” or “must-have for organizing.”
Use Affiliate Links Directly or Indirectly
You can use affiliate links directly in your pins, but some affiliate programs may prefer that you route traffic through a blog post or landing page. Here are two ways to use affiliate links on Pinterest:
- Direct Linking: Simply add the affiliate link to the pin’s URL. This is quick and efficient but be sure to add “#affiliate” to disclose the relationship. You can tag upto 5 relevant products in a pin. For example, if you have a DIY pin of a toy balloon, and this/similar product is selling on Amazon then add that Amazon product affiliated link generated via the Amazon Affiliate Program.
- Indirect Linking: Link to a blog post or landing page with embedded affiliate links. This is effective if you want to offer more information or a list of related products, improving engagement and potentially increasing clicks. For instance, your pin showcases a holiday location so here you can link your trip video so users can explore the location in detail, and in the YouTube video description can find trip package, hotels, flights, etc. affiliate links from Yatra, Expedia, Etihad, or other affiliate programs from around the world.
Post Consistently and Leverage Pinterest’s Scheduler
Consistency is key to growing your presence. Pinterest’s native scheduler allows you to post pins at optimal times, ensuring your content reaches more users. Pinning regularly (e.g., 5-10 times per day) can boost engagement and keep your content fresh.
Track Your Performance and Adjust Strategies
Monitor your pins’ performance with Pinterest Analytics. Look for metrics such as clicks, saves, and impressions to understand which pins resonate most with your audience. For affiliate marketing, focus on click-through rates, as they indicate whether people are taking the next step.
- Optimize Underperforming Pins: If a pin isn’t performing well, try tweaking its title, description, or image.
Test and Refine Your Approach
Experiment with different types of pins, such as carousel pins or video pins, to see what your audience responds to best. You might find that certain formats work better for specific product types.
Tips for Success
- Be Transparent: Always disclose affiliate links to build trust.
- Engage with Your Audience: Reply to comments or questions on pins.
- Research Trends: Stay up-to-date with Pinterest trends to keep your pins relevant.
Using these strategies, you can tap into Pinterest’s unique platform to build a profitable affiliate marketing venture.
Sahil Ajmera is content writer with more than 7 years of work experience in field of Affiliate Marketing, Digital Marketing etc.
He loves saving money on everything. His aim is to get my readers what they are looking for and that too without wasting much of their time. Whatever he is writing on, you are sure to find a way to earn big and save good!
