Jennifer Leach is self-employed and runs her own business and blog, Millennial Nextdoor. Her work includes regularly posting content on social media for herself and her clients, writing for her blogs as well as freelance writing.
In 2012, she discovered Pinterest and enjoyed the platform for recipes, DIY ideas, and fashion inspiration. Since then, she has used Pinterest as part of her business strategy. In fact, Pinterest has become part of her day-to-day work, and she has grown her account from zero to 15,300 followers in just two years, she told Business Insider.
Some of the content she posts on Pinterest include remote work opportunities, side hustles, money, finance, and lifestyle. “After using Pinterest to gain traffic and grow my audience over the past two years, I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the Creator Hub,” she said to Business Insider.
According to her, she has made close to $13,000 in nearly three months after discovering Pinterest Creator Hub on her profile by accident. “The Pinterest Creator Hub button is on any Pinterest business account’s profile eligible to be in the Pinterest Creator Rewards program. I first noticed it in February. To access the Pinterest Creator Rewards, you have to be over 18 and living in the U.S. You also have to have at least 250 followers, 150 saves on content published in the past month, made three idea pins in the previous month, and use the Pinterest app,” Leach explained.
She said that when she clicked into the Creator Hub, there were five sections with tools to help make and track content. Those five sections were Inspiration, Creation, Engagement, Analytics, and Earn. She chose the Earn tab, which took her to Creator Rewards, where one can make money creating Pinterest pins.
Every month, new campaigns are published under the Creator Rewards program, allowing creators to monetize their Pinterest pins. The campaigns are tied to goals, she said, adding that if one meets a campaign goal, they make money.
Leach started using the Pinterest Creator Rewards program in February this year and earned $900 that month. She then made $5,900 in each of the next two months.
“I can claim rewards for simple things like $250 every time a pin gets 100 saves, or they can be multiple elements bundled together,” she explained. “In April, I was rewarded $600 for posting three idea pins that showed my creative process regardless of how they performed. Idea pins are a series of video pins collated and are new to Pinterest.
“I filmed food content for this $600 campaign goal, creating DIY coffee drinks in my kitchen. The videos took about five to 10 minutes each to make. I’ve hit my ‘content creation’ goal of posting at least one idea pin a week. In April, I was rewarded $1,300 for that campaign.”
Sharing tips on how one can schedule their Pinterest pins to maximize rewards, Leach said she now posts her Pinterest pins directly in line with the monthly campaign goals. Previously, she would post to draw traffic to whatever was on her site.
“I will usually pin one or two pins from other Pinterest users for every idea pin I create. It can be tempting to pin only your content, but it can look spammy if you don’t include pins from other Pinterest creators in your idea pins,” she said. “That behavior can get your Pinterest account suspended, which I’ve seen happen to other creators.
She continued: “I set some guidelines to maximize rewards: Pin to at least one campaign goal daily, pin other Pinterest users’ pins daily, and for goals that require engagement like a minimum of 50 saves wait to see how a pin performs before using it toward a campaign.”
On average, Leach said she spends 20 minutes a day on Pinterest. She advised other content creators on the platform to be “consistent, create and publish your Pinterest pins and others’ pins three to five times a day, and take advantage of the features and tools offered.”
