Influencer and Content Creator Best Practices: How to Use Pinterest for Affiliate Marketing

Published on March 20, 2024

When it comes to vision-boarding any milestone or aesthetic—be it wedding plans, summer fashion looks, or fresh interior design ideas—we all know that Pinterest is the place to go (no scissors or magazines required!).

Pinterest is the perfect platform for influencers and content creators with fabulous taste in fashion, furniture, makeup, and so on to share their visions with their loyal followers. Beyond that, Pinterest positions itself as the ideal stage for promoting affiliate links—after all, “Pins” live forever where they are on the internet, as opposed to the Instagram stories that exist but for a fleeting 24 hours, and they tend to be organized in a way where users revisit them often.

Whether you’re already a major Pinterest-Amazon affiliate or someone just getting started as an influencer, this post is perfect for those looking to make money with affiliate marketing on Pinterest. In addition to providing an outline of best practices, we’re going to give you the low-down on how creating Pinterest app links (or mobile app URLs) is key to increasing your commissions by way of ensuring your followers are sent directly to the desired app where they’re already logged in and can purchase the item you’re promoting right away (also ensuring that you get the credit and commission for the purchase!)

And on top of that, we’re going to give you a how-to tutorial on generating these magical Pinterest mobile app URLs—it’s as easy as 1-2-3!

How to Get Started and Make Money With Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest

So, where does one start? What’s the fastest way to get more followers on Pinterest once you’ve taken the leap? How does one start promoting Amazon affiliate links on Pinterest? Or Target affiliate links? Or Walmart? Let’s get into it!

How to Get Followers on Pinterest

1. Cross-promote across all channels

Well, assuming that you are already somewhat established on other social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and/or YouTube— you might even have an online blog—we suggest you use those followings to your advantage by way of cross-promoting all socials across all channels (something you may already be doing!).

And if you haven’t already, we highly suggest that you create a LinkTree account to consolidate all your marketing channels on one page (and take it a step further to generate mobile app links for each button to send users to the designated app!).

Learn how mobile app deep links in your social media bio can increase by 2x-5x in this video:

Youtube Video

2. Pin, Pin, Pin away!

One effective strategy, particularly tailored to Pinterest, for boosting your follower count is to utilize the Pin feature liberally. While it's essential to maintain relevance to your niche or targeted keywords, don't hesitate to Pin your own content. Additionally, consider Pinning content from other bloggers or users.

If you come across a board relevant to your niche, consider Pinning or saving it to curate a diverse content stream within the platform. This active engagement demonstrates to your followers that you're interacting with a variety of content, potentially enticing others to follow you if they find your content engaging.

3. Post High-Quality Content

Pinterest thrives on visual content, and there's no shortage of it out there.

But if you're aiming to grow your followers, your content can't just be run-of-the-mill. People gravitate towards quality, whether it's things or personalities, and your content is no different.

The better curated and higher quality your content, the more likely you'll attract new followers and generate buzz for your blog. There's a common misconception in the Pinterest blogging world that stock images are a no-go.

But the reality is, you can use them or similar content, as long as it's top-notch quality.

4. Post as much as possible!

Consistency is key on Pinterest. Regular posting increases the chances of your content landing on new or trending pages, attracting more interactions.

It might seem like stating the obvious, but sometimes that's what it takes to drive the message home. The first step to growing your Pinterest following? Keep those posts coming regularly. Many seasoned bloggers recommend aiming for about 10 Pins per day to stay in the game.

Now, for the purpose of our tutorial, we’ll specifically generate a Pinterest mobile app URL for an Amazon affiliate.

Why are my affiliate links on Pinterest not opening in the right app?

Okay, so before we show you how to update your links, let’s delve a little deeper into why you need them in the first place. In other words, why was your follower kept in the Pinterest app instead of being taken to the Amazon app (or Walmart, Target, Nordstrom, etc)?

Influencer and Content Creator Best Practices: Cross-Promotion & Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest

Well, it's because of a little something called the walled garden, as coined by the industry. Despite its deceptively flowery name, this phenomenon is the nuisance of that web login friction that arises when attempting to go from app to app.

The walled garden—a barrier attached to nearly every app out there, mind you—works specifically to keep users in the app they are using. (This probably made sense years ago, when apps fiercely competed with each other for users’ eyeballs.)

When a user clicks on a link within a social app or any app, they’re sent to the login page of the destination app—in this case, Amazon—thus keeping them in the “walls” of the Pinterest app.

Today, however, consumers prefer to be sent directly from app to app as they shop, do their banking, or whatever it is that the app does or offers, and we at URLgenius have a patented process to make the app-to-app journey easier.

When you generate your mobile app links for Pinterest with us, your users are taken directly to the corresponding page in the right app, which means more commissions and measurable sales for affiliates!

Step-by-Step: How to Generate a Pinterest Mobile App URL for an Amazon Affiliate

At URLgenius, we’ve perfected the process of generating your own mobile app URL for Pinterest, and you don’t need any technical resources, nor is there anything to install.

In fact, you can follow these steps and update your campaign links right now. Open another tab in your browser and follow along.

First, create your Amazon affiliate link for Pinterest like you normally would and enter that link into URLgenius. If you enter the link without your affiliate tags, Amazon cannot measure your commission.

The Amazon icon is highlighted which tells you that URLgenius understands the type of link you pasted. You can customize the end of the link to match your campaign to make it easy to find later.

Click “Compose,” which takes you to the settings page for your Amazon affiliate Pinterest mobile app URL. You can copy it to place into your Pinterest post. Test the behavior of the link by scanning the QR code or emailing it.

Note the different features on the settings page. Contact us if you'd like a demo of all the different features.

Pro Tip: Your app deep link will look like this example but you can use your brand's domain for all your app deep links. This helps you extend your brand name and inspire trust in the link. Watch this step-by-step video on how to brand your app links.

Increase Followers with URLgenius Dynamic Pinterest QR Codes

Looking for an extra shortcut to get immediate Pinterest exposure and followers? URLgenius’ state-of-the-art dynamic QR codes can do just that!

Follow the same exact steps as before, but instead of inputting your affiliate link into the URLgenius generator, pop in your Pinterest page link!

Exactly like our app links, with every time the QR code is scanned, users will be directed to your Pinterest page in the app, where they can follow and interact with your Pins and links right away!

Not only that, you can customize your QR codes however you’d like with our “QR Code Design Studio” as shown above! Cool, right?

Place this QR code online or offline—whether on a YouTube video, email, or any type of display!

Make More Money With Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest with URLgenius Mobile App URLs

More in-app engagement, more $$$—need we say more? It’s time to maximize your Pinterest affiliate marketing efforts today.

At URLgenius, we're here to help! Contact us for a demo or with questions at info@urlgeni.us about Pinterest app links.

If you found this post helpful, check out our other popular how-to posts for affiliate app deep linking:

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