How to Sell On Pinterest: Guide for Making Money with Pins

With 433 million active monthly users across the globe, Pinterest remains to be one of today’s hottest social media platforms. And for business owners like you, to sell on Pinterest is a goldmine of opportunities to drive traffic to your website and boost your sales.

If you’re not already selling on Pinterest, there’s no better time to start than now. Hence, we’ve put together all the information you need to get started and help you make money with your pins. Let’s check them out!

Why Sell On Pinterest?

Before we get into the specifics of how you can sell on Pinterest, let’s have a quick look at the reasons why you should make this social media platform a part of your sales strategy.

People on Pinterest Are Looking for ‘Great Finds’

Pinterest users are always on the lookout for new and interesting products to buy. And here are just some figures according to Pinterest Business and its Feed Optimization Playbook that can solidify this claim:

• 83% of Pinterest’s weekly active users have purchased a product based on pins they’ve seen posted by different brands on the platform.
• Pinterest users are 75% more expected or likely to say they’re “always” purchasing or “shopping” items, whether in-app or offline, compared to non-users.
• 85% of Pinterest users say that the platform is their go-to when they’re looking for inspiration for their projects.
• 46% of the weekly active users have found new brands or products on Pinterest.

It’s Free To Use and There Are Little to No Barriers to Entry

Creating an account on Pinterest is free. You don’t need to pay anything to start sharing your pins and promoting your products on the platform.

What’s more, you don’t need to have a huge following or massive website traffic to start selling on Pinterest. You can still drive sales even if you’re starting from scratch.

You Can Reach a Wider Audience With Pinterest Ads

While the app is free, of course, there are more perks for those who are willing to spend a little. With Pinterest’s Promoted Pins, you can put your pins in front of more people who are likely to be interested in what you’re selling.

This is a great way to give your pins and your products more visibility and reach a wider audience.

It’s a Visually-Driven Platform

Aesthetic and eye-catching content are what drives people to stay on the platform. After all, people go on Pinterest to be visually stimulated and get inspiration for their projects.

This is good news for businesses because it means that you can get creative with your pins and design them in a way that will grab attention and stand out.

It Can Drive Traffic and Sales to Your Online Store

As you’ve probably guessed by now, one of the main reasons why you should sell on Pinterest is that it can help increase traffic to your website or online store.

Since pins can be linked back to your website, every time someone clicks on your pin, they will be redirected to your store or site. This is a great way to increase brand awareness and get people interested in what you’re selling.

It’s Measurable

Unlike other marketing platforms, Pinterest is very measurable. You can track the performance of your pins and see which ones are getting the most engagement.

This way, you can adjust your strategy accordingly and make the necessary changes to ensure that your pins are performing well.

Is Pinterest for Your Business?

Alright, but is Pinterest really for your business?

This is a valid question because, as we all know, not every platform or marketing strategy works for every business.

The answer is… maybe.

Pinterest is a great platform for businesses that are visual in nature. This includes businesses in the lifestyle, fashion, beauty, home decor, food and drink, art and photography, weddings, and DIY industries.

Basically, if your products are something that can be photographed and pinned, then Pinterest is a great platform for you to sell on.

Here are some stats on Pinterest user demographics that might also help you figure out if it’s really for your brand:

• As of January 2022, 76.7% of Pinterest users worldwide are female, while 15.3% are male, and 8% are not specified (Statista).
• The majority of Pinterest users in the US are adults, 50 to 64 years old who make up 38% of the platform’s user base (Statista). This is followed by people in the age groups of 30 to 49, and 18 to 29 years old that account for 34% and 32% respectively.

How Do You Sell Your Products on the Platform?

Now, onto the main event.

How do you actually go about selling your products on Pinterest? Is it as simple as just creating a pin and sharing it?

Well, yes and no. To make things make more sense, we’ve broken down the process of selling on Pinterest into 6 simple steps.

Create Your Own Pinterest Business Account

Let’s say you already have a website powered by Shopify or WooCommerce, or it could also be an online store on Etsy. Now, you want this shop to be discovered by pinners and potential customers on Pinterest as well.

The first step, then, is to create a business account on Pinterest. If you already have a personal account, you can do this by simply clicking “Add a business account” from the settings menu. This will prompt you to fill out some basic information about your business, such as your name, website, location, and ad preferences.

If you don’t have a personal account yet, you can directly go to the Pinterest Business Account create page. Just like any other social media platform, you’ll need to sign up with your name, email address, and password. You can also sign up using your Google or Facebook account.

Link it To Your Existing Online Store

Once you have secured your own Pinterest business account, the next step is to link it to your existing online store. The process may be different depending on which platform you’re using, but here’s an overview for the three e-commerce platforms we’ve mentioned earlier.

Shopify

There are two ways to link your Shopify store to Pinterest. The first one is by installing the Pinterest for Shopify app which lets you automatically share your products to Pinterest and track your account’s performance on the platform.

The second one is by manually adding the Pinterest tag to your website’s code. This will require you to get your own tag ID from Pinterest ads and paste it into your theme.liquid file, then add a checkout event.

If you’re not comfortable with code, we recommend that you go with the first option.

WooCommerce

Similar to Shopify, you can easily connect your WooCommerce store to your Pinterest account by installing and activating the plugin in your site. After this, you’ll just have to go to the Marketing tab and choose Pinterest. You’ll then be directed to a page where you can sign in to your Pinterest account and authorize the connection.

Etsy

If you have an Etsy shop, connecting it to your Pinterest business account is pretty straightforward. Just log in to your Etsy account and use the website’s social media tool to link your Pinterest account and manage it from the Shop Manager.

Optimize Your Profile

Your next step is to make sure that your profile is complete and informative. This is important because it will help you build trust with potential customers and show them that you’re a credible source of information.

Here are some tips to optimize your profile:

• Choose a category that best describes your business.
• Upload a high-quality profile photo.
• Verify your website.
• Fill out your location.
• Add your business logo.
• Keep your description short but catchy and informative.

Start Creating Pins

And now, for the fun part. It’s time to start creating pins that will help you promote your products and sell on Pinterest!

Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating your pins:

Choose The Right Images

Your images are what will showcase your products, so make sure that they’re high quality and that they catch the eye. Pinterest is a very visual platform, after all.

Apart from making sure that your images are clear, you can also adjust their filters and use the same color scheme for all your pins to create a cohesive look.

Make Every Word Count

Pinterest allows you to use up to 500 characters for your pin descriptions, so make sure that you use them all wisely.

Your descriptions should be concise, informative, and rich in SEO keywords (but not too much). This will help you not only in getting your pins seen by more people, but also in ranking higher on searches.

Organize Your Pins Into Boards

Your pins will be more organized and easier to find if you put them into boards. You can create as many boards as you want, and you can even collaborate with other users.

Just make sure that your boards are relevant to your products and business, and that they have catchy names and descriptions. You can also use these boards to categorize your products and make it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for.

Promote Your Pins

So you’ve got pins and boards all set up. The next step is to start promoting your pins so they can reach a wider audience. Apart from making your followers on other social media platforms aware of your presence on Pinterest, there are other ways to do this without leaving the platform. Here are just some of them:

Use Hashtags Strategically

As mentioned, you get to have 500 characters for your pin descriptions. This means that you can use around 30 hashtags without making your description look spammy.

Just make sure that you’re using relevant and popular hashtags so your pins can be easily found by other users. You can also use Pinterest’s search function to look for related pins and see what hashtags they’re using.

Join Group Boards

Joining group boards is a great way to get your pins seen by more people. When you join a group board, your pins will be seen not only by the other members of the board, but also by their followers.

Create Rich Pins

Rich pins are special kinds of pins that include extra information such as the price, ingredients, or reviews. They are designed to automatically update when you change the information on your website, and they can be a great way to showcase your products.

To create rich pins, you’ll need to configure your tags and have your pins validated by Pinterest. You can learn more about how to do this here.

Run Ads

And last but not least, you can also use Pinterest ads to reach a wider audience. Pinterest ads work similarly to Facebook ads, and they can be a great way to get your products in front of pinners who might be interested in them.

Track Your Progress, Analyze Your Traffic to See What’s Working To Sell On Pinterest

Of course, you can’t just set everything up and hope for the best. You need to track your progress and analyze your traffic to see what’s working and what’s not. Fortunately, Pinterest provides users with access to analytics so you can easily see how your pins are performing.

With Pinterest Analytics, here are just some of the things you can track:

• Your pins’ impressions
• Engagements
• Number of clicks
• Outbound click rate
• Saves
• Monthly total audience

And many more! By checking these metrics from time to time, you’ll get to see which of your pins are getting the most engagement and figure out what you need to do to improve your performance.

Start Creating Money-Making Pins Today!

And there you have it! These are just some of the things you need to do to start selling on Pinterest. With the right pins and strategy, there’s no doubt your store will get the attention it deserves.

So what are you waiting for? Start creating those money-making pins today! And don’t forget to have fun while you’re at it!

*Please note that Etsy is a trademark of Etsy, Inc. This content is not created or endorsed by Etsy, Inc.