How to sell on Pinterest: 2024 guide

Updated Jan 15 2024

Pinterest is far more than a simple social network. It’s a visual search engine with more than 5 million monthly searches that span from ‘floral wall art’ to ‘custom drinkware.’ It’s also the fifth most popular social commerce platform in the world. In fact, Pinterest has become a leading social media platform to promote and sell a range of ecommerce products like apparel and accessories.

The sheer number of Pinterest users — called ‘Pinners’ — who engage with the platform for social commerce has grown over 20% year-over-year. Now, ecommerce entrepreneurs and crafty hobbyists are all wondering the same thing… how to sell on Pinterest! Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place to learn how to transform Pinterest from a social network to a selling platform.

Let’s get started!

• The Pinterest social media network has become a lucrative opportunity to build a recognizable ecommerce brand and drive online sales.

• As a highly visual platform, Pinterest is ideal to shop and link products, post organic and paid content, and even develop user-generated content.

• Sellers must establish an online storefront, create a Pinterest business account, and connect both platforms to begin selling on Pinterest.

• Tips for how to sell on Pinterest include using high-quality product images and social commerce tools like paid advertisements.

Selling on Pinterest is a lucrative opportunity for small business owners looking to expand their online operations. More than 85% of weekly Pinners have made a purchase based on a pin they saw from a brand, and another 80% discover a new brand on Pinterest each week. And because nearly half of Pinterest users boast an annual income of over $100,000, Pinners are ready to buy.

The addition of robust Pinterest analytics helps sellers identify a target audience with ease, which makes it a breeze to structure paid ads on the platform. With product catalog creation tools and seamless Shopify store integration in just a few clicks, Pinterest provides everything sellers need to expand their online store onto a new platform that attracts new customers and further drives sales.

When discovering how to sell on Pinterest, there are a few steps you’ll need to take before you can begin attracting Pinterest users and converting them into customers. Follow this step-by-step guide on how to sell on Pinterest for the best methods of jumpstarting fruitful Pinterest social commerce!

Pinterest may be the latest social commerce destination, but it is not an ecommerce platform — which means those looking to sell on Pinterest must first establish an online store. Online shoppers will be directed to this store from wherever they are browsing on Pinterest, where they can then learn more about a product and make a purchase. Popular ecommerce platforms that provide Pinterest integration include Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Squarespace.

Once you’ve selected the ecommerce platform you wish to build your online store, you’ll need to establish a few merchant details, including your website URL, preferred payment processing, and store policies. You can then begin constructing your website to your specific needs using pre-existing website templates or professional design help. Once laid out, you can finalize your online store setup by uploading your products and supplying them with high-quality descriptions and images.

Pro Tip: When creating products for your online store, consider Gelato’s print on demand catalog for a wide range of customizable products, including wall art, tote bags, t-shirts, photo books, and phone cases!

Now that you’ve established your online store, you can create a Pinterest business account! Signing up for a free business account is quite simple and will only require you to input your business email, set a password, and select your birth date. From here, you will be walked through the steps of building your business profile, including your brand name, overall business goals, the type of business you are in, and the sales channels you wish to connect.

If you have already built an impressive following on a pre-existing Pinterest account, it’s important to know that these accounts can be converted into Pinterest business accounts. Simply locate your Account Management settings, select ‘Convert to a Business Account,’ and follow the directions to add your desired sales channels. And don’t worry — a business account can always be converted back to a personal Pinterest account if things ever change!

With an online store in one hand and a Pinterest business account in the other, now is the time to connect the two! Connecting your online store to your business Pinterest account will allow online shoppers to browse your various Pinterest boards and pinned products. If Pinners like your products, they can be redirected to your ecommerce storefront to learn more about your brand.

Integrating other platforms with your Pinterest profile is pretty straightforward and will require you to locate the integration settings of your selected ecommerce platform to then connect these two accounts. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify also provide a dedicated Pinterest plug-in under their app store that can be easily installed to streamline this connection process and further enhance the overall visibility of your business analytics and advertising efforts.

Pinners use Pinterest as a visual search engine, which means discoverability should be a priority. So, you must develop robust product boards to not only help boost your brand’s visibility in search but also to better attract your target audience! Pinterest product boards each contain a collection of product pins (referred to as shopping pins) that provide Pinners with a look at your product offerings — plus, these boards can direct Pinners to your online store if they wish to learn more.

As you curate product boards, remember to consider both the product types you sell and the target audience you market them to. For instance, if you run a clothing brand, you’ll want to break down your varying product types into different product board themes, such as men’s clothing, women’s clothing, and children’s clothing. This will boost your Pinterest profile’s discoverability during user searches while also providing followers with a detailed look into each of your products.

As mentioned above, product boards are a collection of product pins that users will browse to learn more about what your brand has to offer. However, for these product pins to accurately inform users of current product availability, pricing, and purchase options, you must enable the use of rich pins. Unlike a standard pin, a rich pin is auto-synced with your ecommerce store to reflect current website information — like whether an item is in stock — in real-time on Pinterest.

Rich pins can take the shape of recipe pins, article pins, or product pins, often called shopping pins. But readers, be warned: Even if you want to experiment with a single pin, you will first need to validate your rich pins so they can be reflected within your product boards accurately. Validating rich pins eliminates the time and effort spent manually updating your product pins.

For ecommerce entrepreneurs looking to flourish through Pinterest social commerce, it’s crucial not to overlook the capabilities of Pinterest Catalogs. Catalogs are available to sellers with a Pinterest business account who possess a claimed website, meet specific merchant guidelines, and have a data source that lists all products and accompanying details. For many, this data source is likely your online Shopify or WooCommerce store, which already contains your catalog of products.

Once these criteria are met and your Catalog is set up, you will find that you now have a “Shop” tab directly on your Pinterest profile. Under this Shop tab, Pinners can browse a feed of shoppable pins that are automatically synced with your online store daily and will reflect any existing sales found in your online store. These shoppable pins will also appear when users conduct a general Pinterest search to help boost your overall discoverability, engagement, and chances of landing a sale.

When discovering how to sell on Pinterest, there are a few steps you’ll need to take before you can begin attracting Pinterest users and converting them into customers. Follow this step-by-step guide on how to sell on Pinterest for the best methods of jumpstarting fruitful Pinterest social commerce!

It cannot be overstated enough that Pinterest is a visual platform, especially since imagery is the only media that shows during a Pinterest search. You must supply high-quality product images to coax Pinterest users into browsing your product boards and exploring your various pins. While using a professional photographer is ideal, you can also produce high-quality product imagery through photo editing software such as Canva and Adobe Photoshop.

As a bonafide search engine, Pinterest SEO (search engine optimization) is a must to enhance discoverability and drive traffic to your Pinterest profile. Pinterest SEO primarily refers to leveraging relevant keywords frequently used in the Pinterest search bar to locate specific boards and product pins similar to yours.

Plugging top-performing SEO keywords into the titles and descriptions of your Pinterest product pins and boards increases the chances of your content ranking higher during user searches. Many readily available Pinterest SEO research tools, like Keyword Tool, can help you understand which relevant keywords pertaining to your products have the highest search volume.

Unlike other social media platforms offering complex (sometimes confusing) ad services, Pinterest Ads are pretty straightforward. Pinterest ads take the shape of promoted pins and, like organic pins, will appear as a promoted shopping ad within a Pinner’s Pinterest feed.

Using the Pinterest Ad tools, you can select a pin you wish to promote and set your ad spend budget, overall ad campaign objective, and the audience demographics you wish to target with this pin. The Pinterest Ads Manager also allows you to add interests and keywords to ensure your promoted pins reach your desired target audience more efficiently and support a good return on investment (ROI).

Another perk of a Pinterest business profile? The free-to-use analytics system! Pinterest Analytics provides an in-depth look into both organic and promoted Pinterest content to better understand your performance across the board. To help you identify weaknesses and areas for improvement, Pinterest Analytics presents insight into a wide range of key performance metrics, including pin engagements, impressions, saves, clicks, outbound clicks, profile visits, and more.

Remember that as a social network, Pinterest can be the key to your marketing strategy. Help create a loyal Pinterest following and drive traffic to your online store with consistent community engagement. Take the time to respond to messages, comment on other users’ pins, and even ask for permission to repost other Pinner’s posts as user-generated content (UGC). Frequent engagement paired with real Pinners using or wearing your products can help promote new sales.

Few social media networks have nailed the aspect of social commerce quite like Pinterest. With an aesthetic interface filled with product imagery, it’s no secret why so many consumers find new products and brands on Pinterest every day! And with the above tips for how to sell on Pinterest, now you can join thousands of other sellers who drive revenue from rich product pins.

Unsure how you will maintain product demand once you start selling on Pinterest? Consider partnering with a print on demand (POD) service like Gelato! The Gelato POD model requires no initial investment or inventory; you only pay for the products you sell. Discover Gelato’s low-risk, high-reward approach to selling custom products on Pinterest today!

Merchants who wish to sell on Pinterest face no fees when setting up a business profile, developing product boards and pins, or integrating their online store. However, Pinterest sellers will require an ad budget if they wish to develop and run promoted pins for their available products.

Pinterest is excellent for selling products as it allows sellers to reach consumers who are already on the hunt for new items but may not already be aware of your brand. Your rich pins on Pinterest can quickly inform users of your products and easily redirect them to your online storefront.

When it comes to selling on Pinterest, it’s more important to have a quality website than to have a lot of followers. By using effective SEO and pin optimization, you can effectively reach both following and unfollowing Pinterest users (and generate sales!) by directing them back to your online store.

Some of the most popular products sold on Pinterest include various apparel items, including but not limited to t-shirts, hoodies, and children's clothing, along with accompanying accessories such as tote bags, phone cases, and customizable drinkware.