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Getting Started with Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest
You’re probably at least somewhat familiar with the concept of affiliate marketing, where you promote other people’s products in exchange for a commission. (If you’re not, check out our “What is Affiliate Marketing?” post.)
Basically, with affiliate marketing, you get credit for generating online sales for another company by placing a special tracking link in your content – when a customer clicks your link and makes a purchase, you get a commission!
This affiliate marketing thing is pretty common if you have a blog, a YouTube channel, a paid ads campaign, or even a social media account like Instagram.
But is Pinterest really a good opportunity for affiliates?
As we’ll show you, the answer is yes – especially if you’re interested in a great source of free organic traffic!
How Does Pinterest Work?
Pinterest was created in January 2010 and has gone on to see more than 400 million monthly active users.
Right off the bat, one of the coolest features of Pinterest is the fact that it’s a search engine/social media hybrid, with an emphasis on images and social bookmarking.
Basically, you create a “board” – think a digital bulletin board – and post “pins” that can be discovered organically by others in your network on Pinterest. However, if you include the right keywords in them, your pins can also appear in the search results when users do a search in the platform’s search bar and generate engagement that way.
Search bar in Pinterest
It’s true that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social networks feature hashtags as searchable keywords, but search is a much bigger part of the Pinterest experience (and it’s generally less competitive than those bigger platforms).
So, why does Pinterest’s SEO search function matter?
But what if you could build a backlog of quality posts that generated more and more organic traffic long-term, just like a blog or YouTube channel can?
With Pinterest, optimized pins can continue to receive engagement after a year, compared to a typical post lifespan of 48 hours on Instagram, 6 hours on Facebook, and 15 minutes on Twitter.
Sound interesting? I’ll show you how to make Pinterest work for you in 5 simple steps!
Step 1: Set Up Your Pinterest Profile
To make money with affiliate marketing on Pinterest, your first step is to set up a Pinterest account.
Now, if you’re new to the world of Pinterest, the first question you’ll probably ask is, “Should I get a personal or business Pinterest account for affiliate marketing?”
The answer is simple: If you’re planning to use the account for commercial activity – promoting a blog or pointing traffic to an affiliate offer – then you should definitely get a business account.
Don’t believe me? Here’s what it says in Pinterest’s TOS:
If you want to use Pinterest for commercial purposes you must create a business account and agree to our Business Terms of Service.
Beyond legal compliance, though, the business account gives you a few other key benefits:
Account analytics and audience insights
Special Pin formats, including Rich Pins
The opportunity to advertise on Pinterest’s paid platform
Technically, your account and your pins will look the same with either a personal or business account. But since you’re going to be making money with Pinterest, the business account is recommended.
The good news is, setting up a Pinterest business account is easy enough – if you have a Google email address, you can just use that to sign up. You can also convert an existing personal Pinterest account to a business account.
Building Your Pinterest Business Account Profile
Once you’ve signed up, Pinterest will ask you to build your profile, so fill in those details and answer their questions on what type of business you are over the next few screens.