Using Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing: 9 Tips for Success

Are you interested in affiliate marketing and considering starting your journey on Pinterest? Good idea, and here’s why: 

Whether you’re creating a New Year’s vision board, looking up a DIY project, or finding ideas for home renovation, Pinterest is a visual search engine platform that can offer inspiration. Pinterest now has its highest number of monthly active users since 2016, reaching 518M in the first quarter of 2024. This underscores the fact that it’s a powerful tool for content sharing and ecommerce. 

Source: Statista.com

In this post, we’ll share some useful affiliate marketing tips and answer the most common questions. Let’s dive in!

Is affiliate marketing allowed on Pinterest? 

Pinterest is a popular platform widely used among affiliate marketers, helping to expand their reach. However, as with any social media platform, there are some community guidelines you need to follow when sharing affiliate content. These include:

• Disclose your affiliation. When posting affiliate content you have to include clear and noticeable disclosures. It’s a requirement that all content creators who receive a commission or other forms of payment from their posts have to follow, regardless of the social media network chosen for their marketing purposes.

• Don’t shorten your links. Using link-shortening tools like bit.ly for affiliate links is against Pinterest’s community guidelines since it’s perceived as “masking” affiliate activities. To align with fair browsing practices, you have to use the direct affiliate link so all Pinterest users can see the link’s destination. 

• Don’t create fake re-Pins. Pinterest posts (Pins) with more re-Pins (people pinning your post to their boards) appear higher in the results after searching for a keyword. While you may want multiple re-Pins to help your posts rank better, creating fake accounts to re-pin your posts is against Pinterest’s guidelines. 

Is Pinterest good for affiliate marketing?

The short answer is yes. Pinterest is a good platform for affiliate marketing for many reasons. Here are the top ones: 

• It’s a visual platform. Pinterest is a visual search engine where results are shown as pictures or short clips—and people like visual content. It’s engaging, easily digestible, and quickly communicates information. This makes Pinterest an advantageous platform for affiliate marketers to promote their products in a captivating way.

• Post longevity. Unlike on other social media platforms where posts remain on the timeline for only a short period and are influenced by the algorithm, Pinterest Pins repeatedly “pop up” in search results and continue to drive traffic for a long period of time.

• You don’t need a big following. To work as an affiliate on Pinterest you don’t need a following for your Pins to get noticed. Unlike Instagram or other platforms where a large number of followers can signify a wider reach, Pinterest is a platform where the follower count won’t directly impact your success in affiliate marketing. 

Pinterest affiliate marketing strategy: 9 tips for beginners

Now that we’ve clarified why using Pinterest for affiliate marketing is a good idea, let’s tackle some tips for success. 

1. Always disclose affiliate links

Here’s a biggie: always be transparent with your audience by clearly disclosing your relationship with the brands you promote. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires anyone who receives compensation from their online content to disclose their relationship with the brands they promote. That includes affiliate marketing. 

The FTC’s main principle regarding paid content disclosure is to be clear and prominent. Any attempts to mask or draw little attention to the disclosure are considered to be in violation of FTC guidelines.

To stay on the right side of FTC guidelines while promoting affiliate links on Pinterest, remember to be upfront with your disclosures. Our advice? Start your posts with labels like #ad or a simple disclaimer like “This post contains affiliate links” to keep everything transparent and compliant. 

By following these guidelines, you not only stay compliant but also build trust with your audience, which is key to long-term success in affiliate marketing.

2. Focus on the right niche

Regardless of the platform you use for promoting affiliate products, to be successful you have to choose your niche wisely. And it’s no different for Pinterest.

Focusing on a specific niche allows you to target a Pinterest audience that is more likely to be interested in the products you’re promoting. We recommend going with something that aligns with your interests. Why? It’ll help you understand buyer’s needs and create content that’ll get you sales. 

Sticking to this niche also ensures that your content is relevant for your audience and that your Pinterest profile is perceived as a reliable source of information or inspiration within your niche. For example, if you’re passionate about interior design, your Pinterest strategy could be to promote home decor, furniture, wall art, household appliances, etc., so that people who are currently renovating their homes can find your Pins and possibly make a purchase through your affiliate links. 

Some of the best and most profitable niches for Pinterest in 2024 are: 

• DIY

• Lifestyle and wellness 

• Fashion

• Interior design

• Food recipes

• Wedding planning

If you’re interested in doing affiliate marketing for clothing or home and lifestyle items, check out Printful’s affiliate program. By joining, you can customize various print-on-demand items with your designs, promote them, and earn a 10% commission from each sale. 

3. Research keywords and optimize Pins

SEO is always going to help you boost visibility, but it’s a must on Pinterest. Why? It’s an SEO-friendly platform, and optimizing your Pins will help you rank better in search results. One way to do it is by researching keywords related to the products you’re trying to promote. 

There are multiple ways to do Pinterest keyword research. Pinterest has a guided search bar, similar to Google, that gives you an insight of what are the most popular searches when you type in a relevant word. 

Source: Pinterest

For example, when you type in “living room” you can get insights on more detailed search examples that are currently trending. Use these additional words in your Pins for them to rank higher. 

Another way to find relevant keywords is by pressing Search and seeing what words appear in the colorful bubbles in the header section and the “Related searches” section. As you can see in our example, all related keywords that Pinterest users search for in addition to “living room” pop up. 

Source: Pinterest

After you’ve gathered the keywords you can use for your affiliate content, it’s crucial to incorporate them into your Pinterest account in places like:

• Your business profile name

• Board titles

• Pin titles

• Pin descriptions (including hashtags)

• Pinterest ads

• Image file names

Incorporating these keywords into your Pinterest strategy not only boosts your content’s visibility but also aligns your Pins with what potential customers are actively searching for, making it a powerful tactic for driving targeted traffic and increasing affiliate sales.

4. Create high-quality Pins

Our next tip: make sure your visual content stands out. Although affiliate marketers can promote other companies’ products without any start-up costs, creating unique content by showcasing the products in a real-life scenario will always beat the white background product images. 

Either order your selected items or generate graphic content using tools like Canva to make sure your Pinterest content is authentic and stands out from other search results. You can also try showcasing one product in different ways and create multiple Pins for each item.

After doing keyword research within your niche, including the relevant keywords in the pin’s title and description is a way to make your Pins rank better in the search results. Make sure that the description is concise and responds to your target audience’s needs. You can also add your Pins to relevant Pinterest boards to increase pin visibility. 

Source: Pinterest

While creating your pin, always select different tagged topics that comply with your content. Doing so will help you to reach a wider audience interested in these topics. 

Source: Pinterest

Creating multiple high-quality Pins for one affiliate link is also a way to approach different keywords and therefore different audiences. 

Taking an orange mushroom lamp as an example: it appears for both “retro home decor” and “Y2K home decor” search results. Experimenting with different product images, titles, and descriptions can ensure that your content will attract a diverse audience and result in higher click-through rates. 

5. Pin consistently

A tried-and-true strategy? Persistence. Pinterest, like all search engines, rewards consistency. And that goes hand-in-hand with being a successful affiliate marketer. 

It’s simple: posting multiple Pins for each product and being consistent with it increases the likelihood that your Pins appear higher for different search results ensuring your affiliate links have a wider reach. 

And regularly posting fresh content makes your Pinterest profile appear more professional and trustworthy, which can help to gradually build an audience that engages with your Pins. 

6. Join group boards

Sharing affiliate links on Pinterest group boards is a strategic way to promote your Pins and increase your reach. Pinterest boards are often created for specific niches/moods where people with similar interests share ideas and seek inspiration. By posting on group boards, your Pins will appear for all members. Think about joining group boards that align with your niche to ensure that your Pins resonate with what other members are posting. This will increase your chances of reaching a broader audience interested in your niche and drive more affiliate conversions through shared visibility. 

To find relevant group boards for your marketing purposes, type applicable keywords into the search bar and add “group board” at the end. Then, make sure to change your search filter to Boards only. 

Source: Pinterest 

Boards that have multiple profile pictures next to their title are the group boards you’re looking for.

Source: Pinterest

You can click on each to read the group board’s description and request to join. After you’re accepted you can start sharing your Pins there. 

Source: Pinterest

By leveraging group boards strategically, you can significantly enhance your visibility, connect with like-minded audiences, and boost your affiliate marketing success on Pinterest.

7. Promote your Pins

Another great way to thrive on Pinterest as an affiliate marketer? Buying Pinterest ads for your affiliate content—a powerful tool to drive traffic to your Pins. Because Pinterest users vary across a wide range of interests and demographics, you’ll need to make sure that your marketing efforts are reaching the right audience.

To do it, choose the Pins you want to promote and click on Create campaign in the drop-down menu. 

Source: Pinterest

There you’ll find all the necessary information about how to create a Pinterest ad, select your audience, set your bidding amount, schedule it, and more. 

Whether your affiliate links are for home decor, fashion, or something else, mixing organic Pins with paid ads is an effective way to tailor your affiliate content to your target audience.

8. Rely on analytics 

News flash! Analytics are key for affiliate marketing on Pinterest. They provide insights into what content resonates most with your audience, allowing you to optimize your Pins, refine your strategies, and ultimately increase your click-through rates and conversions. By understanding which Pins drive the most traffic and sales, you can focus your efforts on what works best, improving your overall affiliate marketing performance.

How can you do it? In your Pinterest business account, click on the drop-down menu at the upper left corner of the screen you’ll see the Analytics section. 

Source: Pinterest

Here’s what you’ll find:

• Analytics overview provides you with insights on key metrics like pin impressions, saves, click-through rate, and more

• Audience insights provides you with data to analyze different demographics that have interacted with your content

Pinterest trends allows you to discover the latest keyword search trends and even filter according to your preferred niche and target audience. 

Source: Pinterest

Utilizing these analytics tools will allow you to make data-driven decisions that enhance your strategy, maximize your reach, and drive more conversions, helping you to excel as an affiliate marketer on Pinterest.

9. Make a blog and use rich Pins

Last but not least, enabling rich Pins can be an ace up your sleeve for your Pinterest affiliate marketing strategy. With enhanced information and increased visibility, it’ll give your content the extra edge it needs.

What is it? Pinterest rich Pins are Pins that are synced with another website by adding rich metadata tags to the content of the site. 

What do they do? Enabling rich Pins ensures that if you pin content from your website to Pinterest, it automatically pulls information from your site and makes updates on your Pins, ensuring that the information on them is up-to-date. 

Who can enable rich Pins? There are 3 types of rich Pins:

• Product Pins that update the product description, price, and in-stock availability 

• Recipe Pins that include information about ingredients, cooking times, and serving sizes

• Article Pins that show the headline, author, and a brief description of the article

If your niche for affiliate marketing fits one of these 3 types of Pins, you should think about enabling rich Pins. 

How can you use them as an affiliate marketer?

Although Pinterest lets you insert direct affiliate links on your Pins, you can also link them to a blog that contains them. For example, you can create a personal blog where you review products, share shopping tips or recipes, etc., and attach your affiliate links to the applicable articles.

Then, you can set up the appropriate type of rich Pins for your blog’s website and pin content from your articles on your Pinterest account. 

What are the benefits? 

You don’t have to disclose that it’s affiliate content or a product ad on your Pinterest Pins, as this information will be disclosed in your blog. Your Pins will also look more trustworthy which can lead to a higher click-through rate. 

Learn more about enabling rich Pins here. 

Mastering Pinterest for affiliate marketing success 

Hopefully by now you’re ready to leverage Pinterest to drive affiliate sales. But remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Affiliate marketing can get time-consuming and won’t provide you with a consistent income at the start. But with the right affiliate strategy and some effort, it’s possible to build an audience and turn this side hustle into a passive income source. 

Use these tips, be patient, and get your affiliate game on!