Why do you need Pinterest as an artist?

Dear artists, this week’s post is a bit different from my usual writing style, and that’s because this article is less about techniques and practices and more about why you need Pinterest as an artist and how you can use that to put yourself out there and show your work to the world. 

This article’s main inspiration is the book SHOW YOUR WORK by one of my favorite creative authors of all time, the one and only AUSTIN KLEON. 

You need to read this. (Source: trust me bro!) 

This article will cover:

• What is Pinterest?
• Why Pinterest?
• What to post on Pinterest?
• How to make money with Pinterest?
• How to grow your Pinterest account?

What is Pinterest? 

Opposed to what people think, Pinterest is NOT only a social media platform. Pinterest is actually a search engine, a visual discovery engine to be exact! yep, just like Google but with an enhanced visual aspect. And that is exactly why I’m putting the time to write about Pinterest instead of Instagram or Tiktok. 

There are over 478 million active users monthly on Pinterest and a significant number of these users are young people with talents like art, fashion design, cooking, dancing, and so on. The rest of the Pinterest users are people who have bought a product at least once through the website. And that’s what makes it a great place for business owners, bloggers, and artists. 

Why do you need Pinterest as an artist?

Here’s a list of reasons why I used and still use Pinterest every day for my business:

• Pins on Pinterest have a life span of years, so your chances of selling or driving traffic from your Pinterest presence are higher than on social media platforms.
• Pinterest is a drama-free corner of the internet. I literally post and forget about it! No stress, no struggle, so I highly recommend it for introverts and not-so-social media people.
• You can put direct links with your posts that lead to your website, portfolio, IG, Tiktok, YouTube…
• In 2022, Pinterest paid the creators for having a US bank account. And although Pinterest decided to not continue on the creator rewards program for the following year, you can still make money with it through affiliates, and direct selling with the Pinterest merchant accounts. 
• People clicking on the links from your posts, are people willing to learn more and actually read the articles you attach with your posts if you’re a blogger, so you are guaranteed a lower bounce rate and a higher time per session. You are getting free quality traffic with your Pinterest presence. 

I’m sure these are just some of the many reasons why Pinterest is one of the best platforms and the most underrated. And you’ll figure out many more reasons with your own experience.

What do I share on Pinterest?

The answer is pretty simple! Share what you do. If you’re in the very early stages of learning a creative skill, share your influences and what’s inspiring you. If you’re in the middle of creating a painting or any art project, write about your methods or share works in progress. If you’ve just completed a project, show the final product, share scraps from the cutting-room floor, or write about what you learned. 

You can reshare your Instagram posts on Pinterest and link your profile to bring people who like your work to know more about it or even hire you through your preferred ways to do so. 

I personally use Pinterest especially to get traffic to my blog, and I use Canva to create Pinterest promo posts like the following:

This way I am sure the people who came by the posts and clicked the link get what they are expecting so I can keep my bounce rate as low as it possibly could get and have them spend more time per session. 

I also post idea pins (short video content like reels and tiktoks) that would make people click on my profile and visit my blog for more insights and longer format content.

How to make money with Pinterest?

Let’s move to the juicy part, and although I am not really an expert or anything, I have made over £15k on Pinterest in 2022.

The first way I did this was through the Pinterest creator rewards. 

1-Pinterest creator rewards

I joined the program around June or something and by the end of the year, I have made exactly £12,450 in total through the saves on my idea pins and my consistent content posting. By the end of the program, Pinterest offered me an additional bonus of $750 that they shall send me by the end of the year. With that being said, I don’t own an American bank, so I am not able to withdraw the money or the bonus. This in my opinion is the biggest downside of the creator reward program but if you are a US citizen, good for you!

Pinterest chose to discontinue this program for 2023 and instead, added the possibility of attaching external links to idea pins which makes affiliate marketing on Pinterest very convenient.

2- Affiliate marketing

As I have previously mentioned, Pinterest is a social media network-cross-search engine where users find new things. The pins are attached to an external link. People save these pins to their own boards, acting as a virtual mood board for ideas, products, or inspiration. 

As an affiliate marketer, you can use Pinterest to drive traffic to your affiliate content. My blog strategy is mainly driven by affiliate marketing, but you can also promote affiliate landing pages, Tiktoks, or YouTube videos to make money through affiliate marketing on Pinterest. After all, the more people who see your link, the higher chance you have of generating affiliate sales and earning a commission.

To do affiliate marketing on Pinterest, you need to:

1. Find affiliate programs and networks with products you want to promote ( I use the amazon associates program, CJ, impact, and many more)
2. Create pins (like the previously shown ones above) and add your affiliate links
3. Add proper disclosures and publish your pins (make them SEO-friendly for the best results)

Before you start sharing your affiliate links, it’s important to have a firm understanding of Pinterest’s rules and guidelines around affiliate marketing.

Some important affiliate rules for Pinterest include:

• Do not use URL shorteners like bit.ly to “mask” your affiliate link. You need to be transparent about affiliate links.
• Only operate one Pinterest account in which you promote your affiliate links.
• You must disclose an affiliate link when one is used.
• Do not create affiliate pins “repetitively or in large volumes” as this may appear as spam
• You can’t comment or reply to comments with affiliate links 

Understanding and following Pinterest’s affiliate guidelines is essential. If you fail to comply with Pinterest’s rules, your account may be suspended or deactivated.

3- Verified Merchant Program

This is another way to make money on Pinterest. If you already own a store (your website, a Shopify store, an Etsy store…) you can become a verified merchant on Pinterest and have your items listed directly on your Pinterest profile where customers can click the link and make the purchase straight away.

Products from verified merchants can show up within dedicated shopping experiences like related Pins. This puts your products right in front of people looking for new brands.

You can also read this article if you’re interested: How to make money with society6 for artists?

How to grow your Pinterest account?

A tip to take, not only for Pinterest but for every other platform you choose to market your art or products in is that: QUANTITY MATTERS MORE THAN QUALITY!

Literally, stop stressing about what you should be posting and get posting instead! Post anything and everything, the more you post, the more you figure out both the algorithm of the platform you’re at and what works best for you.

When it comes to Pinterest, make sure the title, description, and board of your pins are coherent! Also, the content of the landing page shall match the data you provide and show on Pinterest. Algorithms don’t appreciate surprises and lack of data.

Here’s an example:

My Pin on Pinterest and the landing blog post I attached to it all refer to the exact same topic, which is “pencil drawing for beginners” So, what my Pinterest viewers expect is what they really get, and that explains why I get enormous amounts of traffic to my blog through Pinterest.

Conclusion

I hope this article provided the info you were looking for, feel free to leave me any questions in the comments section or reach out to me through my contact page.

Enjoy creating <3