Pinterest is one of the most well-known social media platforms. There are 445 million Pinterest users, and this provides plenty of opportunity for influencers on the platform to earn some money from Pinterest partnerships. In this article, we will look at how you can get the best-paid partnership deals that can help you earn a good living.
We will also detail how Indy can help your influencer career, including support in negotiation and making your Pinterest account seem more attractive to a potential brand partner.
How to Earn Revenue as a Pinterest Influencer
Pinterest is a great social media platform where you can display idea pins to an audience and direct followers to take action. Social media influencers have convinced 40% of the audience to purchase organic content. And Pinterest is one of the best social media platforms because audiences spend twice as much after viewing content on that platform than they do on other platforms.
There are several ways you can earn revenue from an idea pin. For instance, you can charge for publishing the content, or you could charge based on engagement, views, or pins. It all depends on the business goals of your brand partner.
The rate that you can charge will depend on several factors including:
- The engagement rate of the audience you've built up.
- The amount of work you have to do.
- Whether you're boosting the content with Pinterest ads.
- What other platforms you're working with.
- The results the business can expect.
- The number of followers that you have.
It is important to note that the number of followers you have on your Pinterest business account is not really a major factor in the costs. You could have a following of over one million, but with little engagement, there is little valuation. However, those with smaller communities and higher engagement rates can often get more money because they show there is a valuation in what they are offering.
Steps to Get a Branded Content Relationship to Succeed
When it comes to generating revenue, you need to make sure you have a branded relationship with top-quality companies who are looking to promote their products/business services on your account. There are several ways that you can go around this, so here are some of the ways to get from proposal to sale.
Step 1 - Read the prospective client's email
The first contact that you're going to get is a message from the brand. They will likely contact you via social media or email. You need to read the email carefully and determine what their business goals are and what they want you to do, and also note any conditions that they've listed.
Ideally, you want to list down everything so you can refer to it again later. Hopefully, they've written down what they expect in the email, but not every business does this.
Step 2 - Check the business profile
For you to promote the business to your followers, you need to make sure that your brand matches the potential partner. If you're a recipe influencer offering homemade food and a ready-meal brand approaches you, it is a mismatch. Your audience isn't going to be interested in the content.
And it isn't just about the product/service that they're offering. It is also about their presence on social media. You need to automatically reject any proposals that are sent to you where the brand's online presence is counter to your demeanor. If this is the case, you can skip to step 5.
You might be able to find some information about the brand on their website. Or you can look at their social media content.
Step 3 - Collect statistics
Now you need to collect statistics that are going to help you. You need to link to the goals of the business that they hopefully sent you in the initial contact. For instance, if they asked for more app downloads, then you can talk about how many people took action after views in your pins.
You might also want to include other information that will help you win the sponsorship. For instance, how many pins will you use their product in, how much of your audience will share your pin, and other important information that can make a difference to your proposal.
Some tools can help you to collate all the information you need. They can record all the results from creators, from how many people are shopping using specified tags to the engagement of ads that they create.
Step 4 - Create a Pinterest proposal
Now you need to consider how you're going to work with the company for the best results. Brands want to know not what you're going to do, but rather the benefits that you offer. So remember to sell these for your brand. Concentrate on the results and how other brands have worked in partnership with you and achieved great success.
If you have a proposal template then it makes this rather simple for you. It allows you to send out creator proposals quicker and has all the statistics already included. All you need to do is edit the creator proposal.
Be sure that you match the benefits and goals of the campaign to the brand goals as they discussed in their email. If they didn't give any goals, you can be more generic, but remember that 60% of brands are looking to reach a new audience.
If you don't have enough information, you could always contact the interested business and request further information.
Step 5 - Respond to the initial communication
Now you need to respond to the initial communication from the company. You need to thank them for their contact, say how pleased you are that they think you can work together, and add a little bit more flattery. Creators are often not flattering enough with potential clients, so partnerships don't happen.
Include examples of what you've created in the past. For instance, include an idea ad, idea pins, and other content you've used. Ideally, you want to ensure you've got enough information to showcase how your Pinterest account with Pinterest ads can add value to the business.
Talk about costs at the end of the proposal, offering several different levels that the brand can utilize, allowing them to choose a package that meets their budget. Sometimes brands don't like to speak about costs, so if you don't create a budget that is within their means, they will often leave.
You want to make sure that your proposal is professional but also friendly and open to communication. Create a proposal in your voice too. You don't want the brand to think that you're not sincere when you create pins on your platform.
Step 6 - Wait for the response
Now you need to wait for the response from the brand. Sometimes when a brand approves the proposal that you have, they will respond very quickly. Sometimes it can take some time. A paid partnership alongside a creator is a massive investment for numerous brands, so they need some time to think about the budget and whether your proposal matches their needs.
Step 7 - Follow up
If you've not heard from the partner, then you can send a follow-up email. This contact should be sent about three days to one week after the paid partnership proposal has been sent to the brand.
There are templates you can use on Indy that can help you craft these follow-up emails for your Pinterest sponsorship deals. You can access these whether you're on a free or paid account.
In the follow-up email, you want to highlight the important aspects of your proposal. For instance, you need to include information about the audience you're going to be creating pins for. You will also want to detail what you're going to create for the brand, what results they can expect, and how easy it will be to work with you.
Step 8 - Negotiate with the business
There might be a moment when you will need to negotiate with the business if they're interested but don't have the budget or would like a few amendments to the proposal you've sent. They might, for instance, think they can create some of the content for your pins. Or they might want to be less involved in the creating process.
Sometimes creators need to be more inventive in how they approach negotiations with a potential brand partner. However, by getting all the information about what you can offer, you can be in a stronger position.
Negotiations can take several rounds of emails or you can have a video conference call. If you are going to have a video call to negotiate partnership details, remember to act professionally and provide more information.
At the end of the negotiations, you should have clear expectations about what you need to create and what they want from the campaign.
Step 9 - Send a contract
While the negotiations might have resulted in an agreement, what is said in a video conference is not legally binding. Therefore, you need to send over a contract to the brand and get them to sign and return it.
Creators can often lose out because they take a 'gentleman's agreement' with a brand and the business doesn't fulfill their obligations.
The contract should be very specific about what you're offering and how much it is going to cost the brand. You should include a timeline, the responsibilities of both you and the brand, and other information you think is reasonable to include.
Send the contract and wait for the return before starting any work.
Step 10 - Work on the contract
Now you can start on your work. You can use a paid partnership tool that can help you to manage the contract. It can include drafts for all the pins you create, the music you use on other platforms, drafts of paid ads, and any tags that are essential for the success of the partnership.
You can manage the work with a productivity tool, where you can include tasks and subtasks to help you manage the work alongside other projects that you might have. This can be particularly interesting if you have several projects on the go and want to continue building your Pinterest presence.
Be sure that you include the brand in all aspects of the timeline and tasks. You might need the brand to send you important information. For example, you might need them to forward the product to you for you to create the content for the pins.
You can use some workflow management software to help you upload files for the client to review before you publish them on your Pinterest business account.
Step 11 - Send an invoice
Be sure that you send an invoice at the appropriate time. You need to look professional for partnerships to work. Therefore, you should use an invoice template and be sure to label denoting what you delivered, what was agreed, and payment terms.
Many brands utilize payment terms that allow between 14 days and 60 days to pay. Creators need to specify these at the beginning of the contract. Otherwise, you might annoy brands that have different expectations.
How Can Indy Help Pinterest Influencers?
Indy, the comprehensive freelancer toolkit, has the potential to drastically streamline the management of sponsorships on Pinterest for freelancers. The platform equips freelancers with the ability to track billable hours, create invoices, and process payments all in one place, making it a perfect companion for those managing sponsored posts or collaborations on Pinterest. As freelancers often juggle multiple clients and projects, Indy's organized workspace, integrated calendar, and time tracker can ensure they stay on top of their Pinterest sponsorships, never missing a deadline or forgetting a task.
- Indy's proposal and contract tools help freelancers to establish clear terms and conditions with their sponsors, ensuring a professional and smooth working relationship.
- The invoice creation tool, integrated with major payment options like PayPal and Stripe, allows freelancers to bill their sponsors easily and receive payments promptly.
- With its CRM capabilities, freelancers can keep tabs on their Pinterest sponsors, tracking all the invoices, files, and shared documents.
In a world where freelancers are often forced to use multiple platforms for different aspects of their work, Indy provides a refreshing one-stop solution. Indy’s ability to streamline various tasks not only saves valuable time but also reduces the potential for error that often comes with managing data across multiple platforms. Whether it's managing Pinterest sponsorships or any other freelance project, Indy can help you to work more efficiently, professionally, and profitably.
Conclusion
Promote your Pinterest business right, and you will get businesses contacting you to improve the brand's presence on the platform. However, you will want to be sure you're maximizing your revenue by ensuring you're demonstrating your worth in partnerships.
When creating the content for your proposals and communications, be sure to use Indy. They have the tools, resources, and knowledge on their website to help you make the most from your Pinterest business.
