How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success
The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving. Google is releasing algorithm updates more frequently than ever, and social media platforms are also regularly tweaking their algorithms. As a result, affiliate marketers need to always be on the lookout for new channels to expand their reach and drive additional traffic to higher-paying affiliate programs.
While email marketing remains an extremely valuable asset for businesses and affiliate marketing, Pinterest offers a potential goldmine of opportunities, relevant traffic, and conversions that shouldn’t be overlooked. Leveraging Pinterest for affiliate campaigns can open up new audiences, increase website traffic, and, if done correctly, increase conversion rates and brand awareness. How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success This article uncovers pro tips to help affiliate marketers maximize their success on Pinterest.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is more than just a platform for DIY crafts, recipes, and fashion ideas. It’s a visual discovery engine that millions of users turn to for inspiration, advice, and product recommendations. To successfully promote accounts and share affiliate links on Pinterest, you must study Pinterest SEO and develop a strategy. Everything is the same as with regular promotions on Google or Bing.
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What is Pinterest affiliate marketing?
Pinterest affiliate marketing is a form of marketing where an affiliate marketer, blogger, or business owner promotes affiliate products or services of affiliate partners on Pinterest through visual content and earns a commission when users make purchases through the affiliate links.
How Pinterest works
At its core, Pinterest revolves around ‘pins’ – visual bookmarks that users save while browsing the web. These pins are typically associated with images or videos and linked to their sources, such as a blog post, product page, or tutorial. Users organize these pins into ‘boards,’ which are themed collections.
For example, someone might have a board for ‘summer outfits’ or ‘healthy breakfast recipes.’ The more engaging and relevant your pins are, the more likely it is that other users will save (or repin) the content, increasing the visibility of your content. Pinterest users can also follow other accounts, whether they are individuals or brands, to get their latest Pins directly in their feed.
Pinterest’s Demographics and Why it’s Lucrative
Pinterest boasts a diverse user base, but several features make it particularly lucrative for affiliate marketing. The platform is used by 465 million people globally each month. 60% of Pinterest users are women, many of whom are decision-makers when it comes to household purchases. The male portion of Pinterest’s audience is also growing. It’s currently growing at a rate of 40% year-over-year.
Because Pinterest is a visual search engine and not just a social media network, people use it to get inspiration for future purchases. And they’re not just passive browsers; they’re active seekers ready to discover and buy new products. As reported by the platform, 46% of their weekly Pinners have found a new brand or product on Pinterest. This active intent makes Pinterest a great platform for affiliate marketers because your content won’t disrupt the user experience but instead enhance it.
Organic vs. paid pins
While the majority of Pins on Pinterest are organic (created and shared by users or creators), the platform also offers ‘Promoted Pins’,’ which are paid ads. Organic Pins rely on the natural interest and engagement of the community, while Promoted Pins receive increased visibility based on a budget set by the advertiser. For affiliate marketers, organic Pins are usually the starting point, but as we’ll explore later, investing in Promoted Pins can significantly enhance your marketing efforts how to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
12 Tips for Making Passive Income
Affiliate marketing and Pinterest go hand in hand, and we reveal practical tips and strategies that help affiliate marketers strategically target audiences who will be interested in affiliate products or services.
1: Review Pinterest’s guidelines
Before you create your Pinterest account for affiliate marketing, read Pinterest’s guidelines. This is very important because Pinterest places restrictions on the types of services and products that can be promoted on their platform. Some offers are completely prohibited. Making sure you understand and comply with these policies from the start will help you avoid account suspension How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
2: Target your primary market
Decide which market should be the priority for your affiliate programs. If you are focusing on the US market, all your Pinterest settings should be tailored to the US (pinterest.com).
3: Verify affiliate program guidelines
Before investing significant time and resources into Pinterest, check the guidelines of your chosen affiliate programs to see if Pinterest promotion is allowed and what specific requirements you must meet. For example, when promoting Amazon products, be aware that you cannot create collage images for Pins.
4: Evaluate required resources
Before setting up a Pinterest account, assess the human and financial resources you can allocate. Pinterest works as a visual search engine with its own SEO rules and pinning strategy.
Unlike other social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook, it’s important to pin consistently — for example, two new (fresh) pins every other day or on weekends. To schedule pins, affiliate marketers can use Pinterest’s local scheduling or tools like Tailwind that optimize pin timing How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success
Pro tip: If you can’t produce a good amount of fresh, high-quality video and text pins regularly, you might want to reconsider focusing your efforts on Pinterest.
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5: Leverage business analytics
Convert your account to a Pinterest business profile to unlock analytics and audience insights. Study your audience’s secondary interests and create boards that align with them. This helps you expand your reach to customers who may be looking for affiliate services and related products.
6: Learn Pinterest SEO
Take the time to learn Pinterest SEO, which is less complex than Google or Bing but still extremely important. At its core, Pinterest is a visual search engine, not social media. If your account is managed by a social media expert, make sure they fully understand the requirements of Pinterest SEO How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
As with classic SEO, you may encounter multiple strategies for account structure and pinning cadence. Implementing a consistent strategy, even if it’s imperfect, will be more effective than randomly pinning.
Before you get a Pinterest account up and running, decide on key elements like your pinning frequency, content types, account structure, etc.
Pro tip: For more on Pinterest SEO, check out social media strategist Nadali Bardo’s YouTube channel. Even a basic strategy that is consistently implemented will outperform haphazard efforts How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
7: Optimize pins
One of the biggest benefits Pinterest offers is the ability to create multiple unique Pins optimized for different relevant keywords that all link to a single article or landing page.
For example, Pins focused on “Best Books for Entrepreneurs,” “Must-Read Books for Startup Founders,” and “Top Business Books 2025” can generate traffic to the title 10 Books for Entrepreneurs. When researching affiliate product keywords, use Pinterest’s search bar to find product-related searches.
Also, analyze keywords related to the features of the affiliate products/services, such as customer age range, price points, size options, styles, colors, etc. Next, create optimized boards with keywords related to gift-buying opportunities; pain points your products solve, trends, etc. Including trending topics helps boards gain immediate attention.
8: Avoid over-pinning
Pinterest’s spam filters can limit accounts that pin too many times. Most experts recommend safely pinning 10-15 relevant, high-quality pins per day How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
While some marketers think that joining group boards can increase reach and increase brand awareness, it’s only effective if you can curate what you post. In most cases, it’s better to join relevant Tailwind communities where you control the content and have a high monthly active user base. Tailwind communities let you:
- Control which pins are shared from your account.
- Access established Pinterest accounts or target audiences.
- View analytics on the performance of communities and posted content
Instead of passive group boards, actively curating content through Tailwind communities gives you more control over the number of Pins you post and share.
9: Craft winning Pinterest strategy
Before diving into Pinterest affiliate marketing, do your research. Research popular niches in your niche and analyze successful Pinterest profiles. Pinterest offers flexibility—you can archive boards, create private boards, switch to a Pinterest business profile, or change your target countries. But having a deliberate strategy will accelerate your growth How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
One important decision is whether to have one Pinterest account or multiple niche accounts. Large Pinterest presences take different approaches. Some are more niche (like this account), while others combine topics more broadly, like Nancy Badillo’s. Evaluate the pros and cons of your goals.
Many affiliate marketers also consider whether to focus exclusively on their Pins versus repurposing other people’s content. Most experts recommend emphasizing original Pins. If repinning, stick to an 80/20 ratio – 80% owned Pins and 20% repins How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
While Pinterest allows for flexibility, a focused strategy will help you achieve your affiliate marketing goals more effectively. Define your niche, establish your brand voice, and map out your path to success.
10: A/B Testing—the key to going viral
When creating affiliate pins for Pinterest, A/B testing is key to driving high-converting traffic. Test different pin title words to see which ones resonate the most with your audience. Experiment with pin descriptions by highlighting affiliate product features, pricing, special offers, or customer pain points.
To increase viral potential, A/B tests visual content as well. Try images with and without text, different layouts or collages (if allowed by the affiliate program), lifestyle imagery, flat-lay product shots, and more. Analyze which visuals get the most repins, affiliate link clicks, and conversions.
For example, one campaign used a vintage car with a photo of flowers that went viral for the keyword “flowers for girlfriend,” while pins with just flower images had modest success. The provocative lifestyle outperformed simple product images How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
Constantly A/B testing your affiliate pins will help drive higher click-through rates and maximize conversions from Pinterest traffic.
11: Automate Pinterest tasks
To maximize productivity, use third-party automation tools to publish and create affiliate pins. Scheduling tools like Tailwind allow you to plan posts, leveraging AI to determine optimal times.
Marketers can also use templates to maintain brand consistency at scale. While most automation software can post across different social media platforms, Tailwind’s Pinterest-specific timing algorithm gives it an edge. Before choosing any tool, make sure it has official Pinterest approval. Automated posting is no less effective than manual pinning How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
For e-commerce brands, integrate your CMS with Pinterest to create a feed so new products are automatically pinned. This saves time while keeping your Pinterest presence fresh. While Pinterest automation enables you to scale your affiliate marketing efforts, find the right balance of automation and personal touch for Pinterest affiliate marketing success.
12: Create landing pages to promote affiliate products
Not all affiliate links are created equal, and Pinterest’s spam filters can sometimes prevent your pins from getting the exposure they deserve (even if you enhance them with a great graphic and SEO-rich description) because of the destination URL How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
Amazon affiliate links, in particular, are known as shadowbanned on Pinterest, and sales made through pin clicks are often not recognized or rewarded by the Amazon Associates program.
But there’s a solution – create dedicated landing pages and pin them instead! Anna, the blogging coach and content strategist behind The She Approach, shows her entire process for creating stunning, high-converting landing pages in this video.
When you claim your website and pin pages under that domain, Pinterest rewards you for creating unique content. You can embed any affiliate links you need directly on these pages, linking to product images, buttons, or calls to action How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
Follow this method if you want to increase affiliate sales and exposure for your Pinterest graphic without fear of shadow banning!
FAQs by Affiliate Marketing
What are some effective Pinterest affiliate marketing strategies?
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to Pinterest affiliate marketing. Success depends on many factors, such as your business type, target audience, and the quality and quantity of your content. However, some best practices can help increase your affiliate sales on Pinterest: a) Plan and organize Pinterest boards strategically,y b) Optimize your boards and pins for SEO c) Pin content to relevant boards d) Switch to a Pinterest Business account and check your Pinterest analytics e) Permanently link your pins through permanent linking f) Hashtags g) Follow Pinterest Community Guidelines to avoid account bans or other penalties h) Include trending and seasonal keywords to promote your affiliate programs i) Diversify your content formats by publishing videos and text pins How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
How can I drive high-quality traffic to my affiliate links on Pinterest?
To attract visitors, you need to create an effective affiliate Pin with an eye-catching image or video of the affiliate product—videos perform better at this point. Refine Pin details like the title and description, and include direct affiliate links with disclosure. Publish or schedule content on Pinterest or use a third-party tool like Tailwind How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
What types of affiliate programs work best for promotion on Pinterest?
Marketers can find success with any affiliate program by following the tips in this guide. Some popular affiliate programs that see good conversion rates on Pinterest include: a) Amazon Associates, CJ Affiliate, Awin, b) Home decor affiliate programs (furniture, accessories,) c) Travel sites (hotels, flights, tours, house sitters, etc.) (food, supplies, doctor services, insurance) g) Online business or education h) Healthcare/beauty and fashion, etc. The key is to choose reputable affiliate networks that offer products or services that Pinterest users will be genuinely interested in.
How important are affiliate links in Pin descriptions on Pinterest?
When adding affiliate links to Pins, you have two options: 1) You can add a direct affiliate link to the Pn, as long as it meets Pinterest’s policies and affiliate program requirements. Be sure to check the guidelines before using direct links and displaying affiliate links. This can be on a website, blog, Instagram, YouTube, etc. The goal is to create compelling Pins that generate interest so that Pinterest users click on the affiliate content and complete the desired action, such as making a purchase, uploading, or booking a consultation How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
What are some common mistakes to avoid with Pinterest affiliate marketing?
Many affiliate marketers make the mistake of treating Pinterest like other social media networks, without optimizing Pinterest SEO. Some other common pitfalls that can limit success include: 1) Lack of a focused strategy for the account, boards, and pins 2) Not including trending or seasonal keywords 3) Using a personal Pinterest account for affiliate marketing 3) Not regularly analyzing performance with Pinterest or third-party tools 4) Using low-impact or low-cost Pinterest strategies 6) Not utilizing Pinterest’s full capabilities, such as paid advertising 7) Not disclosing affiliate partnerships in pin descriptions 8) Focusing more on quantity than quality of pins 9) Posting affiliate pins to irrelevant boards that don’t reach your target audience. 11) Having a non-working destination link. To see the best results on Pinterest, avoid these mistakes How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing Success.
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