Pinterest has long been known as a place for bloggers to drive a massive amount of traffic to their blog in a relatively short period of time. More traffic meant more affiliate sales and all was good in blogger land.
That has since changed and Pinterest has made it clear they want people to stay on their site versus clicking over to an outside website.
Understandably so, content creators and affiliate blog owners such as myself were feeling rather discouraged with this news. What would be in it for us if we could no longer drive traffic to our blogs and affiliate offers?
Well, do not despair!
Pinterest also announced that creators would now be able to pin affiliate links directly to the site using a new feature called Idea Pins. This makes the Pinterest platform an ideal place to make money with affiliate marketing and start earning $100 per day!
What are Idea Pins
Pinterest Idea Pins are sequences of short video clips similar to Facebook™ reels and TikTok videos, but with much longer life spans. So, they’re worth doing especially if you plan to make money with affiliate marketing for the long haul.
Heads up! Idea pins are now called video pins again. But the same instructions below apply for how to pin affiliate links on your video pins. Also, you can post one long video now without having to cut it into 60 second frames. This blog post will be updated real soon!
Each frame can be up to 60 seconds in length, while you can add up to 20 frames for each Idea Pin. These can be created with static images or with short form video content. I would definitely recommend doing them with video vs. images for maximum reach.
The recommended Idea Pin size is 1080 x 1920 pixel size (9:16 ratio) for creatives that extend to take up the full screen.
Other Idea Pin features include:
- Some Idea Pins can have shoppable tags that consumers can click on to shop products.
- Closed captions can be generated from the video’s audio to include lines of text on the pin.
- Some Idea Pins can be downloaded with the creator’s watermark, and be re-purposed on other social media platforms.
- Idea Pins can be created from your smartphone or on desktop, unlike FB reels which can only be created from a smartphone at the time of this writing.
Why use Pinterest Idea Pins
Statistics have long shown that consumer preferences are changing and more people prefer to consume video content on social media versus other forms of content. So it’s no surprise that Pinterest is pushing for more video pin uploads on their site, and rewarding creators who publish this form of content.
I have only recently started to create Idea Pins on Pinterest, but have already witnessed firsthand the benefits of this new feature.
As you can see from the image above, within the last 30 days my pin impressions have increased by 88%, and my audience engagement has morphed by 71%!
More people are sharing my pins, commenting and reacting than ever before, and it’s driving more people to check out my Pinterest profile, where they’ll find my linked blog.
And as you would imagine, it’s generating more traffic to my affiliate blog and ultimately helping me produce more affiliate sales.
Additionally, within 2 weeks of creating Idea Pins, I was invited by Pinterest to join the Creator Rewards program, where they pay me for my Idea Pins. It’s something I wasn’t expecting, and it really pumped me up to create even more on Pinterest!
I would say that’s more than enough reasons to get started with Idea Pins, but if you need one more, then here it is….
The added perk to using Idea Pins is you can safely do Pinterest affiliate marketing without a blog, and with Pinterest’s consent! With the shoppable tags feature and affiliate disclosure built in, nearly anyone with an internet connection and a phone can make money on Pinterest.
It’s one of the best side hustles you can start today with little to no money!
How to Add Affiliate Links to Idea Pins
Adding affiliate links to your Idea Pins is a great way to generate additional revenue for your business. But there are some limitations to it at the moment.
For one, you must have a Pinterest Business account to access the product tagging feature, which is where you would insert your affiliate links.
Secondly, the program is currently only available in the US and UK.
So if you’re not in these regions, then you’re out of luck for now. Though, Pinterest has said it’s planning to roll out the program to other areas in the coming months. So keep an eye out for that!
Thirdly, not all affiliate programs are supported on Pinterest for product tagging / shoppable pins. Currently, only three affiliate networks are supported including Amazon Associates, ShopStyle Collective, and Rakuten Advertising.
And if you’re wondering if you can use the tagging feature to link out to your website or landing page, then the answer to that is no. But keep reading and I’ll share with you some tips on how to use Idea pins to get more traffic to your site and other affiliate offers.
Pin Amazon Affiliate Links on Pinterest
If you meet the criteria mentioned above, then here’s your quick tutorial for how to start pinning Amazon affiliate links on Pinterest. First, you’ll want to have a creative ready to pin. As mentioned earlier, video creatives get the most views on Pinterest, so I would recommend doing that. They are pretty simple to make. I use the free clips app on my iPhone to create these short videos.
Here’s an example of a Pinterest Idea Pin I created using the clips app and Canva:
When you’re creating video Idea Pins for tagging with Amazon affiliate links, I would recommend showing the product in use. Give your viewers a visual representation of how the item works in real life. This will help you get more conversions and ultimately make more affiliate sales!
If You Need Help Making Professional Looking Video Creatives, then NLC is the best! I’ve used them many times over the years and highly recommend them. Plus, if you use Promo Code: PILAR50 at checkout, you’ll get 50% off your first month! Check them out here.
Once you have a creative then you’ll want to send it to yourself so that it’s saved onto your mobile phone. That’s because product tagging is only available on mobile. So don’t try this on desktop. Otherwise, it won’t work.
Next up, grab your Amazon affiliate link by signing into your Amazon Associates account. You can then use the Site Stripe bar on any product page on Amazon to nab your affiliate link for that product.
Again, you’ll want to send this link to yourself by email or text, so that you can easily ‘copy + paste’ it from your mobile phone to your Idea Pin.
Now from your mobile phone, open the Pinterest app and click on the ‘+’ sign on the bottom center of the screen. Then click over to create an Idea Pin.
Upload your creative and then click on the ‘stickers’ tab on the bottom of the screen. This will open up a series of fun graphics you can add to your pin, and is also where the hidden product tagging feature is located.
Scroll down until you see the product tagging sticker and click on it.
Now click on the ‘Use a Link’ tab and enter your Amazon affiliate link in the box below. Press done and give Pinterest a few seconds to find the product. Once that happens, you’ll see a few things pop up.
- Affiliate Disclosure – Make sure the toggle is ‘on’ as shown in the picture below. This will mark the product pin as an affiliate link or Sponsored product (which the FTC requires).
- Set of Product Images – Select any image for this. It will link your Idea pin to your affiliate link for the product.
- Create Tab – On the upper right-hand corner will be the ‘Create’ button when you are ready to publish your finished Idea Pin.
Per Pinterest, you can add up to 5 product tags (affiliate links) per page and up to 20 product tags per Idea Pin. Do note that once you hit ‘publish’ you can’t go back and edit the tags. So just give your pin a second look and make sure all the links are correct and as you want them.
Lastly, Pinterest will automatically create a secret board on your profile called ‘Products You Tagged’. As you may have already guessed it, the board will be of all the product pins you’ve created. Only you will be able to see this board.
I recorded a quick tutorial on TikTok if you want to see how to add affiliate links to Pinterest Idea pins.
Tips for Affiliate Marketing on Idea Pins
One of the drawbacks to doing affiliate marketing with Pinterest Idea Pins is the inability to link to any affiliate product. If you’re an Amazon affiliate, then you’re in luck, but outside of the three approved networks mentioned above, you’re left out in the cold.
For example, some high ticket affiliate programs such as ClickFunnels and the Pinterest VA program, are not taggable links on Idea Pins. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use Ideas Pins to drive more traffic to your affiliate offers!
Since starting Idea Pins, my Google Analytics has shown an increase in traffic to my blog coming from Pinterest. This is all within my first month of posting Idea Pins, which is pretty incredible considering how long it takes to rank your blog on Google.
So while you may not be able to drive direct traffic to your high commission affiliate offers with Idea Pins, you can use this to get more traffic to your blog. In turn, your affiliate links have a greater chance of being found and earning you a sale.
Tips to Increase Traffic to Your Affiliate Blog with Idea Pins:
- Include a call-to-action at the end of your Idea Pin for people to go to your blog for more tips on ‘xyz.’
- Add your website address on the bottom throughout your Idea Pin where it’s consistently visible.
- Breakdown a blog post into 5 actionable pieces and direct viewers to the full blog post on your site.
Try it out for yourself and see what kind of results you get. You may very well be surprised at just how much traffic Idea Pins will bring to your blog site!
Pinterest Idea Pins Conclusion
The Idea Pins product tagging feature is one way to add another income stream to your online business. But with limited approved affiliate partners, it may not be a worthwhile venture for everyone.
In that case, you may want to leverage Pinterest Idea pins to drive traffic to your affiliate blog as a whole, and direct people to your other money making offers.
Seeing that Pinterest is currently rewarding creators who publish Idea pins, now is an opportune time to get started and reap the rewards!
You may also be interested in reading these other 5 Ways to do Affiliate Marketing without a Website.
