Affiliation

How they do it: Rather than offering an affiliate program on its own, some Pinterest users use the platform to publish their own affiliate links. Users adding their personal affiliate link (e.g. for Amazon.com’s affiliate program which redirects to a relevant product) to a popular post generate a lot of clicks and thus receive a share of the revenue. Due to its engaged user audience and scale, users interested in earning an income by posting affiliate links are attracted to the Pinterest platform.

Experience Selling

How they do it: Products displayed on Pinterest (e.g. organic posts by users or ”Promoted Pins”, paid for by brand advertisers) are a form of experience selling. The popularity of a product (often based on its visual appeal) is voted on by the community, and feedback on the product’s experience is provided below the user. A sponsored post is often surrounded by similar posts of the same category or brand, which fosters the unique discovery appeal of Pinterest.

Hidden Revenue

How they do it: In 2014, Pinterest generated its first revenue, when it began charging advertisers to promote their products to the site’s millions of users, consisting of hobbyists, vacation planners, and do-it-yourselfers. It generates revenue by displaying advertisements in the form of “Promoted Pins.” Promoted Pins are based on an individual user’s interests, things done on Pinterest, or a result of visiting an advertiser’s site or app (via re-targeting).

Leverage Customer Data

How they do it: Like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest lets marketers access the data collected on its users. By granting access to users’ data, Pinterest lets marketers investigate how people respond to products. The so-called Pinterest Analytics compares to Google Analytics. It is a service that generates comprehensive statistics on a specific website’s traffic.

Peer-to-peer

How they do it: On the Pinterest platform, users come together in order to share experiences and information, mainly via images. Through ”pinning” articles, users can express their interest and participate in peer-to-peer voting, in turn surfacing the most relevant posts to like-minded users.