$14,100 from Pinterest in 4 Months — Here’s what I’ve learned

Over $14,000 from Pinterest in the past 4 months. $12,700 up until June with another $1,400 coming later this month.

I joined their Pinterest Creator Rewards program in late February and since then, they’ve been paying me to create and publish Pinterest pins.

I’ve written a lot about this…

You can even check out my story in Business Insider here:

Here’s what I’ve learned…

Pinterest is an ever-changing beast

Since I joined Pinterest Creator Rewards a few months ago, it’s changed a few times.

What I like is that they are being more lenient in their guidelines, allowing more creators to join.

As of this writing, here’s what you need in order to be considered to join:

You only need 250 followers as opposed to the 1,000 follower requirement a few months back. It’s open to the U.S. now with possible plans to open up to other countries later this year.

Once you’re in, you’re in.

When you are in, be prepared for more changes to come in the future.

Changes galore

In addition to the guidelines changing, their payouts have changed a lot, too.

In February, there was no cap on how much you could make from the program.

I wrote a story on Medium about a creator making over 300 pins and earning more than $70,000 that month from Pinterest Creator Rewards!

She went on to make another $50,000+ before Pinterest started putting caps on earnings.

More content, less money?

My highest earning month made me $5,900 and I made that amount twice, two months in a row!

Today, the monthly cap seems to be around $2,000 to $3,000 with limitations on how many creators can participate in each campaign.

Once it hits the max capacity for the campaign, it’ll close and you’ll no longer be able to submit pins to it, until the following month.

The campaign goals are also more challenging today, compared to a few months ago.

The highest-paying campaign goals require some big goals like hitting 50 to 100 saves per pin. Other campaigns require a larger volume of pins created to make money.

So, some major changes are happening but, I’m still happier than ever to get paid to create social media content. It’s easy enough to take a few minutes and make a Pinterest pin to post online. I’m happy that it’s open to more creators now.

Less is more with Pinterest

It can be tempting to go nuts and start creating gobs of pins to make the most money possible quickly with the program but, hold back.

In my first month of the program, I got suspended twice for making pins too rapidly. Their system can read that activity as spammy, especially if it’s outside the norm for your pinning activity.

For me, both suspensions were reversed but each time took a few days which took me off Pinterest and took time away from me being able to earn.

So, once you’re in Pinterest Creator Rewards, my best advice is to start slow and steady.

Pin at your normal pace and if you decide you want to pin more, try increasing your pinning volume gradually so no potential red flags are raised.

Use Pinterest to its full potential

It’s great that you can make thousands from their creator program but, you don’t want to forget about all the other ways you can be using Pinterest to your benefit…

• Growing your email list
• Selling products and services
• Driving traffic to your website or blog

Don’t rely solely on this creator program. There are so many more amazing and lucrative ways to use the visual search engine.

Final Word

It’s been a fun and bumpy journey as a Pinterest creator. I’m happy with everything that I’ve learned so far, good and bad.

I hope Pinterest’s creator program still continues on for a long time in the future.

Are you using Pinterest?

What do you think about their creator program?

Want to read more stories like this? Check out my Substack where I talk about side hustles, social media, content creation and business.