With over 300 million monthly active users and about 200 billion pins saved, Pinterest is becoming one of the most popular social media platforms today. Initially designed to be a place where people can share and discover new recipes, home tips, style inspirations, and other unique ideas, this channel can now be your very own global bulletin board. Whether you’re self-employed, a start-up or growing brand, or already an established business, Pinterest is a must-have channel that can grow your social media marketing strategies and be a means to earn. Here are some effective tips for how to make money on Pinterest.
- Get to Know Everything About Your Audience
The first thing to do is identify who your Pinterest content is for. Choose a target market and learn the important things about them, like demographics, interests, and values, so you can create boards that will appeal to them.
Deep dive into their habits and interactions on the platform – what they look for in a pin, what kind of content they’re drawn to, and what makes them click through on links. Understanding all of these things about your intended audience will help you capture relevant leads and generate more sales.
Pinterest is an excellent platform to boost brand awareness and consumer engagement. But you don’t need millions of followers to be successful on the channel. You just have to attract the right audience and create opportunities for them to follow your boards.
- Determine the Kind of Content You’re Passionate About Sharing
Now that you have a better grasp of your target market, the next move is to decide on the content you’ll be sharing. Get serious about learning a new skill, creating something unique, or providing a one-of-a-kind service based on what you’ve learned about your audience. Whether it’s giving ideas on new recipes, decorating a bedroom, or making origami art, your content should appeal to your followers and be something you enjoy and love doing. This will make it easier for you to create relevant and interesting boards and pins that people will want to follow.
- Test Everything to Gain New Insight
It’s important to learn how to run and sustain a successful Pinterest business from those who’ve done it. Seek out training programs, tutorial videos, or online courses to see what established accounts look like and how they engage with users. Study which strategies and best practices make them effective on the channel.
However, keep in mind that businesses and industries differ from one another. What works for them may not have the same results for you. This is still a continuous learning process that requires at least a little trial and error, so be open to trying out various techniques to find out which ones will help you grow and achieve your business goals.
- Build Your Authority and Credibility
Even with your tremendous knowledge and experience, if people don’t consider you an expert, they might not be drawn to check out your boards. To be a credible figure, lay out everything you’ve learned from the platform and from your research. Share concrete examples of your milestones or success stories from early followers to prove that your techniques actually work. This will show that you’re the real deal and you know what you’re talking about. If you look at pins that perform well, this is a huge factor: The person/brand sharing them has clearly demonstrated their expertise on the subject matter.
Another way to build your authority and bolster your reputation is to post on other websites and offer your expertise in online forum channels. Go to other social media platforms, find threads about your topic, and help answer the questions or offer solutions to the problems. You can even link relevant blog posts, boards, and pins to applicable queries. Not only will this position you as an expert, but it will also help drive traffic to your pages.
- Do Affiliate Marketing
Another way to make money on Pinterest is to find companies that sell products you can promote on your own boards. When you sign up and become their affiliate, you get a unique link to include in your posts. And when readers click on the link and make a purchase, you get paid a fee.
Here are some useful tips about affiliate marketing on Pinterest:
- Use Bitly to manage your links and track the clicks on your pins or boards.
- Use affiliate links when you tag products for Shop the Look pins. But first, you have to join the ShopStyle Collective network.
- Find affiliate programs through networks like ShareASale, FlexOffers, or Amazon.
- Before you can be an established affiliate marketer, you have to grow your following, create pins on a regular basis, and boost your monthly page views.
Also remember that the products or services you promote, though they’re not your own, are still a reflection of who you are as a business. So, make sure to advertise only the items that you believe in or have experience using.
- Implement Smart SEO Strategies
You have to create opportunities for people to find your boards and pins. Thus, it’s important to use effective SEO strategies to become more discoverable on the platform.
Make the most of your About section by being clear and descriptive when describing your business to people. Be sure to include keywords that you expect searchers to use when they’re looking for content like yours.
Take advantage of the 500-character description on each pin by using popular keywords and relevant links to make it more searchable. Remember to incorporate these naturally, where Pinners can easily read and understand, instead of adding random terms and running the risk of being spammy.
- Contribute Content to Brands
Coming up with pins takes a lot of time and effort. That’s why brands often partner with people who can help them with this task. If you have strong creative skills and a unique style, showcase these in your own pins so brands can find and potentially link up with you. As their creator, you’ll help create fresh and visually-appealing pins that catch their followers’ attention and stand out from their competitors.
Do note that with this kind of partnership, the final pins only get published on the other brands’ Pinterest boards. They usually won’t reference you as the creator, so you might not get credit or be able to post them on your board. However, if you’re wanting to learn how to make money on Pinterest, this is certainly an effective option.
Free Online Courses for Social Media Marketing
- Social Media Certification
Offered by Hubspot Academy
Hubspot Academy’s social media certification course ranks number one on our list of the best free online courses for social media marketing. It takes just under five hours to complete and includes nine lessons, 40 videos, and 34 quizzes. It is designed to help businesses attract new customers by building an effective social media strategy.
The curriculum is comprehensive and packed with valuable information that will work for beginners and experienced marketers alike. Students will learn about content marketing, building one-on-one relationships, and the basics of digital marketing. The course also teaches professionals how to measure their social media return on investment so they can see what is working and what is not.
In addition to being completely free, the online social media certification through HubSpot is worth master’s degree credits at Northeastern University’s social media concentration program. This can be done both at their Boston campus and online. Hubspot also has an online community and local user groups for members to meet up with their peers to exchange information. These features make it not only an ideal educational experience but also a terrific networking opportunity.
While the course does not offer certification, you will receive a badge upon completion that can be uploaded and shared to your website, LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV. HubSpot’s top-notch free courses are industry-recognized and can help you build on your current skills to become an expert in your field.
- Social Media Marketing Course
Offered by eMarketing Institute
Founded in Copenhagen in 2014, eMarketing Institute is on a mission to allow anyone to get their beginner’s certifications in the field of digital marketing, regardless of income level. Their courses are 100 percent free, and unlike many others on the list, they do not require you to pay to get your official certification. You will, however, need to pass the exam.
With this free online social media marketing course, you get over 165 pages of in-depth material that is easy to follow at your own pace. There are 25 chapters covering social media topics like:
- Marketing for mobile
- Blogging
- Target Audiences
- Content sharing
- Creating a strategy
- Promotion
- Return on investment
- Analytics
- SEO
That is just a shortlist of the types of content covered in the program. Upon completion, you will be allowed to take the final exam. There are 50 multiple-choice questions, and you need to get at least half of them right to pass. Once you pass, you can download your completion certificate to include in your LinkedIn Profile, CV, and anywhere else you want to share it.
- Social Media Marketing Specialization
Offered by Northwestern University through Coursera
This thorough social media marketing specialization course is offered by one of the top universities in the country through Coursera. By engaging in the training for four hours a week, the course can be completed in about five months. The syllabus is comprehensive. Students who are looking for the most inclusive free curriculum on social media marketing will find this to be one of the top choices.
Certificates for the specialization can be obtained at the paid level of Coursera. The paid course has graded assignments, and a capstone project, and allows students the ability to share certifications on their websites, Linked in profiles, or cover letters. However, each module of the course can be audited for free. Auditing the course allows you to read and view all of the content, but you won’t be graded or receive any certifications. Students who would like the certification but cannot afford the fee have the option to apply for financial aid.
The all-inclusive program is designed to teach users social media analytics, influencing, marketing strategy, and metrics. All-in-all, students should walk away from this course with a complete understanding of how social media marketing works and the ability to begin creating their own strategies.
- Strategic Social Media Marketing
Offered by Boston University through edX
This advanced six-week course is taught by Barbara Bicket, Senior Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Marketing at Boston University. During the program, students will learn about:
- Developing social media marketing strategies
- Delivering engaging content across a variety of platforms
- Analyzing the effectiveness of their efforts
- Utilizing social media to monitor consumer behavior
- Social media management
The syllabus is exhaustive and created for advanced-level learners. For individuals who want to learn practical and strategic methods of utilizing social media to grow their brands or the brands of their employers or clients, the program is all-inclusive.
Students can opt for the paid version, which gives them an instructor-signed shareable certificate with the Boston University logo, but this is not a requirement. The online social media marketing course can be taken in its entirety in the audit version for free.
- Social Media Advertising
Offered by the University of Colorado Boulder through Coursera
The Social Media Advertising course offered by the University of Colorado is course three in a four-part series titled Digital Advertising Strategy Specialization. Like all Coursera programs, it can be completed in audit mode for free or in the paid version where students receive a shareable certification.
The 14-hour free online course in social media marketing teaches an understanding of the basic social media advertising types, which ones are most likely to succeed, how to implement targeting parameters to reach specific demographics, and how to execute social media advertising campaigns. It covers Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and includes plenty of case studies so students can understand the practical applications of the course.
- Social Marketing Training
Offered by: Hootsuite Academy
Hootsuite Academy’s Social Marketing Training Course is a six-hour-long industry-recognized program meant for skill levels from beginner to intermediate. The comprehensive curriculum consists of six chapters and encompasses nearly 80 lessons, with topics ranging from optimization, strategy, growth, content, paid advertising, and more. The training covers the following platforms:
- YouTube
- Snapchat
Students who want to take the exam at the end to earn their certification can do so for $199; however, it is not a requirement. Users can still take the online social marketing course in its entirety for free, and the exams in each module will provide an accurate assessment of the knowledge gained.
- Free Social Media Analytics Course
Offered by quintly Academy
Quintly is a social media analytics and benchmarking tool for businesses. With a friendly and responsive team of 30 members working across the globe, their platform has become of the best all-in-one solutions in social media marketing analytics. It’s not surprising then that the bootstrapped company created a beginner’s course in social media analytics that mirrors its excellent user interface.
The free course covers all the basics of social media analytics and is suitable for both beginners and marketers who need to expand upon their knowledge. It takes about 11 hours to complete and is self-paced. There are three basic modules with quizzes, an introduction, and a conclusion. While it’s not as comprehensive as some on this list, it serves as an excellent starting point for those on the fence about more in-depth studying.
