If you’re a blogger who promotes affiliate products, then this post is for you! Today, I’m sharing the 4 pin types you NEED to use to make affiliate sales on Pinterest!
Did you know that there are multiple pin types on Pinterest, aside from the standard, static image? I’ve talked about them before in previous posts, like this one, but today I’m going to dive a bit deeper into why affiliate marketers should be varying types, and how they can do so to increase traffic and overall sales.
Let’s dive in!
Pin Type 1: The Standard Pin
Yes, the oldie but goodie! The standard pin image is by far the most commonly used pin type across the Pinterest platform. It is also the easiest to create and they still work for affiliate sales!
When Pinterest was first created, people were pinning anything and everything. Square images, vertical images, horizontal images where some of the picture ended up cut off…you name it! There really was no standard.
Until a few years later when Pinterest came out and updated pinning guidelines stating that vertical was the way to go.
Your vertical pin images should have an aspect ratio of 2:3. What does this mean? It means that your Pins should be 600px x 900px OR 750px x 1125 OR 1000px x 1500px.
Optimizing your images for Pinterest is a crucial step in the overall pin creation process! Pinterest has found that vertical, optimized images perform 2-3 times BETTER than non-optimized images.
So if you find that most of your image stock consists of landscape images, don’t fret! Upload those images to Canva and try to crop them in a way that works vertically. Then try adding more vertical images to your workflow in the future.
To increase affiliate sales, use standard pin images to link to your blog posts with affiliate products!
Pin Type 2: The Video Pin
If you’ve spent any amount of time on this blog (or my Instagram page), you already know that video is all the rage on Pinterest! In fact, with things like Reels, Stories, Lives and TikToc, video content is becoming king in the online space.
Which is why you absolutely need to be leveraging video pins to make money with affiliate sales on Pinterest!
When the Pinterest algorithm updated at the beginning of 2020, with it came some changes as to how they prioritized content. We’ve talked before about the NEW vs. FRESH content, but along with that is video pins.
If you’ve done any searching on Pinterest lately, you may have noticed that many times there is a video pin in the top line of your search results. That’s because Pinterest is trying to encourage the use of video pins, so when they are keyworded correctly and relevant to the search topic, you bet they’re going to be prioritized.
Plus, Pinterest really likes it when you utilize their new features 🙂
For bloggers who are promoting affiliate sales, this is the perfect pin type to increase traffic to your website and ultimately your affiliate products.
For example, if you are a fashion blogger doing a video try-on on Instagram, repurpose that into a video pin! Or maybe you’re really good at Reels on Instagram. Perfectly primed for Pinterest.
If I want to create more of a design around a video, I like to use Canva. They already have some design templates for video pins that work great. Here’s an example of a video pin I created for a client in Canva:
Pin Type 3: The Carousel Pin
Very similar to the Instagram Carousel post is the Carousel Pin. Just like Instagram, the Carousel Pin is designed by using multiple images that the user can swipe through. However, unlike Instagram, Pinterest allows you to attach a NEW URL to EACH image. This is the key feature of Carousel pins!
Let’s start with an example.
Let’s say you are a lifestyle blogger and with Thanksgiving right around the corner (true story at the writing of this post!), you want to feature your most popular Thanksgiving blog posts that are full of your favorite affiliate products and links (ex. Thanksgiving outfits, decor, recipes, etc.)
Start by creating a pin on Pinterest. Drag and drop or upload the main picture you wish to feature. Add your Pin title, description, and the URL that this image should go to. TIP: don’t forget your keywords in the pin title and description!
Next, select “Create Carousel” at the bottom of the image. You can do this for up to 5 images. Link this to the main URL that features your first image.
For the second image, you want to highlight your Thanksgiving decor post. Follow the steps above, but when you get to where the URL goes, use the URL that links to your Thanksgiving decor post!
Does this again for all the Thanksgiving posts you want to include, making sure you update the URL and pin title/description each time.
Again, similar to video pins, Pinterest is prioritizing use of one of their newer pin types. Check out the stats below from a recent carousel pin I created for one of my clients. The result was an increase in overall site traffic which then led to more affiliate sales.
Pin Type 4: Shop the Look Pin
Lastly, and probably one of the best pin types you can use for affiliate sales on Pinterest, is the Shop the Look Pin.
These are great for gift guides, round ups, clothing/outfits and more! It can be a little tricky as not ALL affiliate links work here (sorry, Amazon affiliates), but the majority of times, my clients’ affiliate links work for shopable pins.
Similar to the Carousel Pin, you start a Shop the Look Pin by creating a new pin image on Pinterest.
Once you upload the image you would like to use, on the left side of the image, you will see a small menu with a pencil, shopping tag and a trash can. Click on the shopping tag.
After you click on the shopping tag, click the plus sign, then URL. Add your affiliate link and see if it’s applicable, click the image you’d like to use and wah-la. You’ve added your first product tag!
Of course the benefit here for bloggers that also do affiliate marketing, is that users can essentially shop your image and go directly to your links straight from the Pinterest platform. This pin type makes affiliate sales on Pinterest simple and achievable.
And there you have it. The 4 pin types you NEED to use for affiliate sales on Pinterest! I use a variety of all pin types for each of my clients to create a unique strategy based on their overall Pinterest goals. If you’re curious as to how to implement using alternate pin types into your Pinterest strategy, or just want an expert to do it for you, drop me a line and let me know! My affiliate clients LOVE my Ascent package for the traffic it drives to their website and affiliate products!
NOTE: The 5th pin type, the story pin, was not addressed in this article due to the overall topic of increasing affiliate sales. The story pin is designed to give users a step by step process to follow and does not have an option to link outside of Pinterest. Since this article was about driving traffic to YOUR website and affiliate products, this pin type does not apply. If you’re interested in learning more about Story Pins, send me a message and let me know!