In this blog, we go through different ways Pinterest creators can find opportunities to monetize their pins and their online social media presence.
For a few years now, brands have been using influencer marketing as one of their strategies and have been seeking out brand influencers on various social media platforms that align with their brand messaging and have offered them brand deals.
Normally the big platforms get influencers that are on YouTube, Instagram, and/or TikTok. However, Pinterest is a platform where you can get brand deals too.
Below are three different ways that you can use Pinterest to broker brand deals for yourself.
1. Social Media Optimization.
First, you will want to make sure that you have claimed your Pinterest account. You can also link your Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok accounts depending on the social media influencer platform you choose.
You can also choose to link the specific social media account as your business account because you are a business person.
By linking them not only will you see some analytics and data, but also you see trend data that you can use as you’re building out your brand and as you’re building out your account on Pinterest.
2. Brand On the App
The second way you can use Pinterest to get brand deals is through the app.
So before you can do that you have to make sure that your Pinterest account is fully optimized.
If you have a brand that you’ve been using across platforms i.e. brand colors, brand aesthetic, brand thoughts, etc, your content has to have the same look and feel across platforms, so if they were to leave Pinterest and discover you on Instagram or on YouTube, they’ll see there’s continuity.
When you go on Pinterest, make sure that your brand matches aesthetically on other platforms. So visually, and then also not just visually, but then also your niche.
3. Repurpose the Best Content from other platforms onto Pinterest
You might have seen your reach and engagement go down in the recent past. That’s because the platform recently changed in 2021.
Pinterest started optimizing and prioritizing idea pins (idea pins or one to 20 slides). It could be a static image or a video, but they usually say they prefer a video first.
So anything you’ve been doing on other platforms as a trader, whether on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, your Podcasts, or blog, take all of that content and bring it to Pinterest because it’s fresh, especially if it is video content.
Pinterest and LinkedIn are what I call content deserts because everyone’s flocking to TikTok, and Instagram where everyone’s competing. I don’t think it’s oversaturated but everyone’s competing for the eyeballs on those two platforms.
Meanwhile, platforms like LinkedIn, for example, are starving for people like you. So when you go in there, you have a better chance of actually blowing up or getting attention because you are essentially, a big fish in a small pond versus Instagram, a small fish in a big pond to borrow that.
How to Get Discovered on Pinterest
As you create idea pins or Pinterest pins you get discovered by brands or people working at the brands.
For those who are starting out, you can use Pinterest to drive people to a platform where you have a higher following by creating static links or video pins.
There are people on social media who click on Pinterest after searching for something on Google and that includes people who work at brands. I have been on Pinterest for 10 years and I speak from experience.
When I got on Pinterest, brands found me and reached out to me and offered me brand deals. This is because they saw what I was pinning was aligned with their message. They saw that I reached an audience that was similar to their intended audience and customers.
Obviously, one thing you must do is make it easy for brands to reach out to you. You can do this by having email in your bio, you know have someplace for them to reach out quickly.
Whatever niche you just decide to hone in on that you stick to that because that’s also going to help you get more followers. and also to kind of have a sense of, oh, this is what she’s doing on Pinterest. This is what she’s selling. This is what she has to offer on this platform.
Mention the words creator influencer, Blogger, or podcaster this is because now on Pinterest when people search, the results are gonna get actual maybe blog articles, places you can shop, and profiles.
Tag Brands in Idea Pins then Pitch
When you are creating for Pinterest, it is important to have in mind that the beauty of idea pins is that you can tag brands and have affiliate links.
You can have your own affiliate links to products that you own on Reward style, Shopstyle, Amazon Associate, Skimlinks, or any one of these various different affiliate marketing platforms.
For example, if you are doing a video on how you detangle your hair, you can show in the video the paddle brush and comb that you use. Then tag that comb in that video, and have the call to action say buy this brush.
So, when your idea pin blows up all the people who watch the idea are also going to see your tag on the comb the links will go to a link on Pinterest. They buy it and here’s where the influencer branding comes in. You draw in the maker of that brush by tagging them so you can actually tag people and you can tag the product.
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While you’re making money because you’re tagging your affiliate link to that product, you also tag the brand person who sees that. They will see that, if that idea pin blows up like I’ve had idea pins blow up, you’re getting a lot of engagement it’s going pretty well. The brand knows that you are not just doing well with your idea pin you also promoting them by tagging them.
The natural thing is if they don’t reach out to you, but that idea pin is blowing up for you, t reach out to them!
Send them the link and say, “Hey, I love your product. It’s great. It’s wonderful. I think we have a partnership opportunity and maximum success. You saw how well this can do, and we can start a strategy.”
Whatever it is, structure your brand deals and pitch to them, because you already have what’s called social proof. You can show them that this pin has been shared outside of Pinterest a number of times and they shared it to other places. So you’re telling the brand, here’s my social proof that I am successful, and I can be successful in promoting a brand.
Create Brand Offer
Create your own brand deals. You don’t have to wait for someone to come to you or you don’t have to pitch and hope that someone says yes, you can create your own deals.
Log into sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and other independent marketing or independent contractor platforms where people can go if they need to get someone to edit their website or create some CSS or do something those platforms are there for folks who are creatives, and they’re selling the services.
What you might be asked also by those people who have active Pinterest accounts is:-
- If you have a large following if you have a large reach
- If you have even one pin go viral
That’s enough for you to fashion a media kit that says that I know how to make viral pins, I can pin your product and charge them a certain amount of money. Offer them a KPI, that includes, what you can do for them, how often you’re going to do that, whether or not you know, you know what level of access, you’re giving them to that content that you create, whether you’re gonna be doing it organically, whether you’re going to be creating the content, or whether you’re gonna get users and just repin their thing onto your account.
Influencer Marketing Apps
There are different influencer marketing apps and now that they have recognized Pinterest as a platform, they are trying to cater to influencers, the creators, and the people who make the pins on the Pinterest app. The Pinterest platform is doing more to bridge brand deals.
They are in the process of creating their own sort of brand management that can be the intermediary between Pinterest, creators, and brands.
Sites like Izea and Aspire now allow you to connect your Pinterest account, especially those of you who have a good reach and Pinterest and have a good following inside your brand.
So while you’re also getting Instagram, YouTube, and Tiktok deals, you can also offer a Pinterest deal. If someone comes to you for an Instagram, but not specifically for Pinterest, you can let them know, “Hey, as a bonus, or capital and I can also pin this on my pictures account for X amount of money.”
