I discovered that you could use Pinterest for more than just recipes and remodel inso back in 2018. I started seeing pins for “making money online” and “how to start a blog.” This piqued my interest, and when I clicked on them, it took me to blog posts explaining exactly how you could do just that.
Most of the posts told me I could take some surveys (which was a flop), become a freelance writer for Fiver (also a flop), or sell on Amazon (which the cost to enter was too much for me). But, I did come across a course that taught how to create svg files to sell on Etsy for passive income. So, this was my first experience with digital products and passive income.
I took the course, learned Adobe, created an Etsy shop, and sold digital products. Since then, my Etsy shop has made me $38k! Not too bad for taking a $300 course to learn Adobe!
But I soon figured out that Pinterest was a great platform to market on. So, I learned Pinterest. I stumbled across another course that taught me all the fundamentals and how to become a Pinterest Manager. (my journey to this started with virtual assistant jobs, but Pinterest was my passion, so here I landed.) FYI- the course I learned from is the BEST, and I am still part of her mastermind! She studies everything on Pinterest and keeps us on our toes!
I had already started blogging and used Pinterest to market my blog. So once I learned the real secrets to Pinterest, my posts started getting traffic! From Pinterest!
Why Pinterest?
So you read all of that and you still aren’t sure. You are asking yourself, but why Pinterest? Well, let me tell you why!
Pinterest is not a social media platform. It is a visual discovery search engine where you can connect customers to your pins (and products). When you implement the right strategy, it will take clients from search to discovery to purchase (we will get into this later).
There are 518 Million Active Monthly Users on Pinterest as of 2024. Think of all the eyes that can be looking at your content! The average Pinterest user is a planner or a creative and they are the decision makers in their households.
Most of the people who come to the platform are doers…they are ready to buy. They are looking for a solution to their problem, and you are the answer.
Pinterest users are not your average social media scrollers either, they are engaged on the platform (because its a search engine and they are looking for answers). This is why you should be utilizing Pinterest for your digital products business (or any online business).
Pinterest is an aesthetic platform. Digital products do well on Pinterest because they are visually appealing. You can let your creativity shine with vibrant images, text overlays, and Canva design elements that can make your pins stand out. This will ultimately lead to customers clicking through to what you have to offer.
Plus, the average lifespan of a pin is 6 months to a year! What other platform will offer you that?
Oh and did I mention its FREE!
How to Market Your Digital Products on Pinterest
First, you will need a business page. You will want to make sure that your profile is set up with SEO keywords in mind. These are all the search terms that your ideal customer or client is going to type into the Pinterest search bar to find you.
You can use the Pinterest search bar to see what comes up under your topic or niche and you can also go to trends.Pinterest.com and search there.
Once you have your keywords listed. You can create some boards. I go over how to do this step by step in my Mini-Course and have video modules that guide you through the process as it goes. If you aren’t ready for a course but want some picture examples, I also have an ebook that goes over this plus gives my easy to follow pinning strategy, you can grab that here.
Remember that your boards are like the billboard and the pins are the advertisement. You will want boards to house your pins so make sure they are keyword optimized too.
Once your boards are ready, (start with 3-5 and add more later) you can create your first pin.
I use Canva to design my pins and I have some templates if you don’t know where to start with that. When you go to add your pin, I use the native scheduler and it can be found here. Its the original pin builder and works the best for me. Its under “paid” “create pin for ad”, but this will not actually create an ad…its just the pin builder. (this pin builder has been tested by myself and my colleagues and its what we all recommend)
What to Put On Pinterest
You may not know where to start when you are creating pins for Pinterest. I would start with a freebie that gets them to your email list. Make sure it is housed on a landing page. You can do this on your website, inside Stan Store, or even with Canva (create a website option– I’m adding a module to my mini-course about this).
You can then sprinkle in some pins that go to low ticket offers. Most of the time, unless you have a very well designed pin or a very detailed landing page do higher ticket items convert on Pinterest, but getting them on your email list or inside of your freebie is the way to go. If you set up your freebie correctly, they will get to know you, what you offer and you can provide valuable info and them upsell them at the end. I have had several conversions from my freebie!
If you want an example of a freebie that is valuable and converts, here’s mine. It comes with private label rights so you can rebrand it to fit your business and then offer it to your audience.
I hope this was helpful! If you have any questions at all, find me on Instagram @_its_just_shannon and I’d be happy to meet you in the DMs.
